4 - The One Who Got Away

Summary

Summary of "The Man in the Black Mask" – Episode 4: "The One Who Got Away"

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Introduction

In Episode 4, titled "The One Who Got Away," of NBC News' podcast series "The Man in the Black Mask," hosted by Keith Morrison, listeners are taken on a harrowing journey that blurs the lines between fiction and reality. This episode delves into the terrifying true story of Joe Tetro, a young director whose encounter with a masked assailant mirrors the plot of his latest horror film. Through detailed narration and investigative insights, Morrison unravels a mystery filled with illusion, deception, and unanswered questions.

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Joe Tetro’s Background and Motivation

Timestamp: [01:21] - [02:14]

Joe Tetro, a rising young director, relocated to Edmonton from a small prairie town with his wife in pursuit of better opportunities. However, the move left him isolated and lonely in the sprawling city. As Joe grappled with his deteriorating marriage, he decided to join the online dating platform Plenty of Fish to overcome his loneliness.

Notable Quote:

Jill Tetro: "My wife and I moved up here to get a better living."
Timestamp: [01:21]

Jill Tetro: "I tried to make the marriage work, but she didn't want to. She wanted to move on."
Timestamp: [01:55]

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Meeting Sheena on Plenty of Fish

Timestamp: [02:14] - [03:11]

Through Plenty of Fish, Joe met Sheena, a strikingly attractive woman with blonde hair. Their online interactions were initially promising, with Sheena appearing very forward and flirtatious. Sheena swiftly moved the conversation towards an in-person meeting, suggesting dinner and a movie for their first date.

Notable Quote:

Keith Morrison: "Newly single and alone in a big city, Joe Tetro couldn't believe it when he connected online with a woman with a name so alluring. Sheena."
Timestamp: [03:11]

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The Date and the Attack

Timestamp: [03:42] - [07:01]

Joe arranged to meet Sheena at her basement apartment. Punctuality was stressed, and Sheena refused to provide her phone number for security reasons, heightening Joe's anxiety. On the day of the meeting, Joe arrived late and found the garage door partially open as Sheena had described. Entering the garage, the environment quickly turned sinister when a man wearing a black and gold hockey mask attacked him with a stun gun.

Notable Quotes:

Joe Tetro: "I touched the knob to open the door, and all of a sudden, somebody attacked me from behind."
Timestamp: [06:11]

Keith Morrison: "It was the moment Joe understood he had been caught by a horror movie come to life."
Timestamp: [06:40]

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The SK Confessions Connection

Timestamp: [05:54] - [07:10]

Detective Bill Clark notes eerie similarities between Joe's account and the narrative found in SK Confessions, a mysterious text that detailed brutal assaults with alarming precision. This connection suggests that the attacker may have been drawing inspiration from the very story he enacted, raising questions about the boundaries between reality and fiction.

Notable Quote:

Detective Bill Clark: "It's chilling. He's telling me things, and I know what's coming next. I've read the SK Confessions, and everything Joe is telling me is almost like he wrote it himself."
Timestamp: [05:54]

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The Struggle for Survival

Timestamp: [07:01] - [15:22]

As the attack unfolds, Joe employs sheer willpower and adrenaline to fight back against the masked assailant. Despite being physically overpowered and experiencing paralysis-like symptoms from the stun gun, Joe manages to exploit a brief moment when the attacker almost loses his grip. Seizing the opportunity, Joe escapes the garage and flees towards safety. However, his ordeal doesn't end there; he later discovers that Sheena's online presence has vanished, leaving him with no evidence to pursue legally.

Notable Quotes:

Joe Tetro: "I started tearing up, and it was like life flashed before my eyes... I knew he's gonna pull the gun out again."
Timestamp: [08:12]

Jill Tetro: "I couldn't believe they weren't going to help me out."
Timestamp: [17:25]

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Aftermath and Investigation

Timestamp: [15:22] - [25:58]

In the aftermath of the attack, Joe's physical injuries include swollen facial features and persistent pain from the assault. His attempts to gather information about Sheena are thwarted when her profile and all correspondences vanish from Plenty of Fish, leading him to feel ashamed and reluctant to report the crime. Detective Bill Clark emphasizes the significance of proving the connection between the man in the black mask and SK Confessions, as well as the search for the missing Johnny Altinger—a central figure presumed to be linked to the case.

Notable Quotes:

Detective Bill Clark: "The part we'd never had. We never had Johnny."
Timestamp: [25:22]

Joe Tetro: "I felt almost ashamed. I just want to put this behind me. I just don't want to think about it."
Timestamp: [23:22]

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Conclusion

Timestamp: [25:58] - [27:14]

The episode concludes on a cliffhanger, highlighting the unresolved mysteries surrounding Johnny Altinger's disappearance and the true identity of the man in the black mask. As investigators delve deeper into the convoluted relationship between the fictional SK Confessions and the real-life assaults, the tension builds, leaving listeners eager for the next installment of the series.

Notable Quote:

Keith Morrison: "What was that story true, too? And was that what happened to Johnny Altinger?"
Timestamp: [24:57]

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Key Takeaways

• Intersection of Fiction and Reality: The episode explores how fictional narratives like SK Confessions can eerily mirror real-life events, raising questions about the perpetrator's motives and inspirations.

• Isolation and Vulnerability: Joe's move to a new city and subsequent loneliness made him vulnerable, highlighting the potential dangers of online dating without sufficient safeguards.

• Investigative Challenges: The disappearance of digital evidence and the lack of immediate police reporting complicate the investigation, emphasizing the difficulties in solving modern-day crimes intertwined with online interactions.

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Notable Quotes with Timestamps

1. Joe Tetro on Loneliness:

   "I didn't know anybody. Nothing. Nobody."
   Timestamp: [01:35]

2. Joe Tetro on the Attack:

   "I touched the knob to open the door, and all of a sudden, somebody attacked me from behind."
   Timestamp: [06:11]

3. Detective Bill Clark on SK Confessions:

   "It's chilling...Everything Joe is telling me is almost like he wrote it himself."
   Timestamp: [05:54]

4. Joe Tetro on Fighting Back:

   "I'd rather die my way than his way."
   Timestamp: [08:12]

5. Detective Bill Clark on Missing Person:

   "We never had Johnny."
   Timestamp: [25:22]

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This comprehensive summary encapsulates the intense and suspenseful narrative of "The One Who Got Away," providing listeners with a clear understanding of the episode's key events, themes, and unresolved mysteries.

Transcript

[Al Roker]

Look around. You can find cars like these on autotrader, like that car riding your tail. Or if you're tailgating right now, all those cars doubling as kitchens and living rooms are on autotrader too. Are you working out and listening to this ad at the same time? Well, multitasking. Pro cars like the ones in the gym parking lot are for sale on autotrader. New cars, used cars, electric cars, maybe even flying cars. Okay, no flying cars. But as soon as they get invented, they'll be on autotrader. Just you wait. Autotrader.

[Jill Tetro]

Every morning, we choose how to begin our day.

[Keith Morrison]

This is today.

[Jill Tetro]

I think about the people at home.

[Keith Morrison]

They tune in because they are curious. They care about their world and they.

[Jill Tetro]

Care about each other.

[Al Roker]

There's always something new to learn, whether a news event or a new recipe. And when we step through the morning together, it makes the rest of the day better.

[Keith Morrison]

We come here to make the most of today.

[Jill Tetro]

We are family.

[Keith Morrison]

We are today. Watch the Today show with Savannah Guthrie and Craig Miller. Weekdays at 7am on NBC. Jill's Tetro was lonely. He'd been miserable, too, and sad. But now mostly just lonely in the big city. He did not know. How he got that way is a story that's been told before and will be again.

[Jill Tetro]

My wife and I moved up here to get a better living.

[Keith Morrison]

Growing up, they'd known just about everybody in their little prairie town. Now in Edmonton, they were surrounded by strangers. How many people did you know? Anybody?

[Jill Tetro]

I didn't know anybody. Nothing. Nobody.

[Keith Morrison]

No family?

[Jill Tetro]

No family at all.

[Keith Morrison]

But at least Jill's figured they had each other. Except life is not always kind.

[Jill Tetro]

She just fell out of love with me, I guess.

[Keith Morrison]

That's not easy.

[Jill Tetro]

That's not easy at all.

[Keith Morrison]

Was it a difficult breakup?

[Jill Tetro]

It was for. For me it was, yeah.

[Keith Morrison]

You would have made the choice to ever stay if you.

[Jill Tetro]

Oh, definitely. I tried to make the marriage work, but she. She didn't want to. She wanted to move on.

[Keith Morrison]

Boom. It's like a kick in the gut when that happened. Yeah.

[Jill Tetro]

Yeah. That kind of what led to me feeling lonely and wanting to meet people. So that's how I decided to join this online dating website.

[Keith Morrison]

What was it called?

[Jill Tetro]

Plenty of fish.

[Keith Morrison]

The same dating site Johnny Altinger had been using.

[Jill Tetro]

That's when I met this girl. She seemed. When I saw her profile, she seemed very attractive. She had blonde hair and she was shorter than I was about five, six.

[Keith Morrison]

Sheena was her name.

[Jill Tetro]

We started talking back and forth for a bit online. Online? Yeah. And all of a Sudden, she became really forward and asked me what I was doing the following Friday. I said, well, what do you have in mind? And she messaged back. She said, how about dinner and a movie? So she asked me if I could pick her up. I just can't remember everything we talked about, but yeah, but I kept asking.

[Keith Morrison]

Flirtatious in her book.

[Jill Tetro]

Oh, definitely. Yeah. Like how very flirty. She said something like, oh, if the date goes well, you never know what can happen.

[Keith Morrison]

Oh, Jill's had no idea. I'm Keith Morrison and this is the man in the Black Mask, a podcast from Dateline. Episode 4 the One who Got Away. Newly single and alone in a big city, Joe's Tetro couldn't believe it when he connected online with a woman with a name so alluring. Sheena.

[Jill Tetro]

She looked beautiful in her profile.

[Keith Morrison]

And she wanted. Jill's wanted to see him as soon as possible. Sheena sent him directions to her place. It was a bit complicated, she said, because she lived in a basement apartment that faced the backyard. So best to come in that way.

[Jill Tetro]

Go through the back alley, and she'd leave the garage door open for me. I go through the garage to the other side, get into the yard and go knock on the back door to pick her up.

[Keith Morrison]

But what if he couldn't find her place, he wondered. What if he was delayed? He asked for her cell phone number. No way, said Sheena.

[Jill Tetro]

And she would not give me her phone number. She basically said that for security reasons, she had people that she met before that stalked her. And so for security reasons, she didn't want to give me her phone number.

[Keith Morrison]

And Sheena had made it clear she wanted Jills to pick her up right at 7. Except now he was late, 15 or 20 minutes late. His one chance with this beautiful woman, and was he blowing it already?

[Jill Tetro]

I thought, oh, my God, I hope she can forgive me because I'm going to be a little late. Because she said, be on time. First date? Yeah, exactly.

[Keith Morrison]

Be on time.

[Jill Tetro]

Yeah, be on time. And I'm already late. So I tried to get there as fast as I could.

[Keith Morrison]

And then as hope was fading, he saw it. The alley, the one she told him about. And there was the garage with the big door partly open just as she said it would be.

[Jill Tetro]

The door was high enough that I didn't have to crawl under. I just had to squat under and I get into the garage.

[Keith Morrison]

At that hour at that time of year?

[Jill Tetro]

Yes.

[Keith Morrison]

Is there any light?

[Jill Tetro]

Yeah, actually it was quite light out still. But once you got into that garage, it got Kind of dark.

[Keith Morrison]

So in that dim light, late and anxious, Jill's made a beeline through the garage doors toward the door leading to the back patio. And this, said Detective Bill Clark, is when Jill's Tetros account merges seamlessly with the story in SK Confessions.

[Detective Bill Clark]

I mean, it was chilling. He's telling me things, and I know what's coming next. I've read the SK Confessions, and everything Jills is telling me is almost like he wrote it himself. That's how precise the story writing is of the SK computer.

[Keith Morrison]

So you know what's coming next. And he says, what's coming next?

[Detective Bill Clark]

That's right.

[Jill Tetro]

I touched the knob to open the door, and all of a sudden, somebody attacked me from behind. I kind of turn back to look to see what's going on, and I see this man wearing this black and gold hockey mask. And this guy was much bigger than me, prodding me with this stun gun. And I still get chills to this. Got one. Actually, just seeing him wearing this mask.

[Keith Morrison]

It was the moment Jill's Tetro understood he had been caught by a horror movie come to life. It was just like the penny dropped. You realized, this isn't a date.

[Jill Tetro]

I've been lured to this garage.

[Keith Morrison]

It's an attack.

[Jill Tetro]

That's right. Right then and there.

[Keith Morrison]

Would he live? Would he die? He didn't know. Jill's Tetro was simply terrified.

[Jill Tetro]

Very terrified. Yeah. It was the most horrible feeling. I've never. I've never been mugged, ever. Or attacked.

[Keith Morrison]

Yeah.

[Jill Tetro]

So you don't look like you're a fighter type. I'm not normally. No.

[Keith Morrison]

And you're not a very. Forgive my saying, but you're not a large person.

[Jill Tetro]

I'm not. Yes. And this guy was much bigger than me. He was about 5 10.

[Keith Morrison]

How tall are you?

[Jill Tetro]

I'm about 57 or 5 8. And he was stun gunning me on my chest, all over my chest. And whenever he triggered it, it just turned blue.

[Keith Morrison]

He's wearing this pocking mask.

[Jill Tetro]

Yeah. Looking like that was terrifying.

[Keith Morrison]

You know, some slasher movie guy.

[Jill Tetro]

Yeah. And so I tried to make a run for it. And that's when he actually pulled out a gun.

[Keith Morrison]

What is that like when somebody pulls a gun on you?

[Jill Tetro]

I was terrified. I didn't know what to do. It was like, oh, my God, I think I'm going to die. Then he yells, get down on the ground. Put your face down. Close your eyes and put your hands in the back. I don't know where he had it, but he took out duct tape, and he ripped off a piece. And then that's when he covered my eyes with it.

[Keith Morrison]

And just about then, Jill's tetro decided he had come to the moment of his own death.

[Jill Tetro]

I actually started tearing up, and it was like life flashed before my eyes, and it was quite emotional. I'm like, oh, my God. My family's never going to see me again. I never told anyone where I was going that day. And all of a sudden, he comes towards the back of me by my legs. And so I hear his belt jiggling. I immediately thought, he's gonna rape me. So I'm like, you know what? I better fight for my life. I said, I'd rather die my way than his way. I knew he's gonna pull the gun out again. And you know what? If it kills me, it kills me. So I get up and rip off the duct tape. And I yell at him, I said, I can't do this. I'm not going down like this. And he started yelling at me, get back down on the ground. Back down on the ground. So I just darted for the gun, grabbed the end of it, and pushed it away from my body. It was the best feeling I ever felt in my life because I felt plastic when I grabbed it.

[Keith Morrison]

Just immediately, immediately.

[Jill Tetro]

So you suddenly realized it was fake gun.

[Keith Morrison]

And in that moment, he, Jills, became the attacker.

[Jill Tetro]

And I think I'm high on adrenaline now, and I'm like, I'm going to break this gun. And I kind of see it bending a little bit, and that's when I look down, and on the ground, there's these black metal handcuffs. And that just set me off because I'm like, wow, he was actually going to handcuff me now. I'm like, that's what the clinking was? Yeah, that's what it was. I had no idea. And it just made me even more angry. I went down, grabbed the cuffs, put it around my knuckles so that I have some kind of weapon so I strike him with. But I realized he's wearing that hockey mask. So the only way to be effective was I'd need to hit him in the back of the head because of this hockey mask was on in the front.

[Keith Morrison]

Like somebody wearing armor.

[Jill Tetro]

Yeah, yeah, exactly. So I decide that the cuffs are no good, and it's getting him very angry and more agitated. So I decided I'm just gonna throw these handcuffs to the corner of the garage where there's a whole bunch of junk over there, and make it a little harder for him to go get these cuffs in. He needs to use him again later. And that's when he grabbed me by the arms. And we're kind of struggling all over the garage, so I tried to kick him, but as I did that, he saw me going to do that. So he actually went and swiped my leg. And I almost fell down, and I almost lost my shoe. And I'm thinking, wow, I can't get down. If I get down on the ground, I'm. I'm.

[Keith Morrison]

You're cooked.

[Jill Tetro]

Yeah, exactly.

[Keith Morrison]

His adrenaline had been pumping so ferociously, he was quite unaware of how the shocks from the stun gun or cattle prod or whatever it was had sapped his strength.

[Jill Tetro]

And I'm thinking, what? Why am I so weak? My muscles just couldn't move, and I was just so weak. He goes forward and tries to headbutt me. That's when he says, because you didn't cooperate, this is the way it has to be. And then he starts punching me in the head.

[Keith Morrison]

Jill's stumbled backwards with every blow, closer and closer to the open garage door.

[Jill Tetro]

I'm letting him punch me, punches me again multiple times on the side of the head. And I moved again. And all of a sudden, I looked at the door, and he grabs my jacket. So then I slipped out of my jacket, rolled underneath the garage door, and finally made it out of that garage. So I start to try to run, and all of a sudden it was like my legs were paralyzed and I just couldn't move, and I just fell right on my face. And it's like being in the nightmare.

[Keith Morrison]

Where you can't get away from the.

[Jill Tetro]

Yeah.

[Keith Morrison]

Monster.

[Jill Tetro]

And I start crawling away on this unpaved driveway. Sure enough, he comes back underneath the garage after me and grabs my legs, and he starts dragging me back. And I'm like, oh, no, what am I? I have nothing left. There's nothing else I can do.

[Al Roker]

1, 2, 3, 4. Those are numbers. But you already knew that. If you want to know what number you're going to pay each month for your car, use Kelley Blue Book. My wallet on AutoTrader. They're really good at numbers. Auto Trader.

[Keith Morrison]

Now they had the final answer. Or did they? Nothing has more suspense than a Dateline mystery. And no one wants to wait to find out what happens next. That's why everyone needs Dateline Premium, where listening is always ad free. You get the whole story and nothing but the story. Or do you? Yes, actually, you do. Subscribe now on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or Dateline Premium dot com. Hey, everybody. I'm Al Roker from the Today show. Let's kickstart your wellness journey with the all new Start Today app. Everything you need for a healthier you all in one place. Fitness challenges for all levels, meal plans that are easy and delicious and so much more. It's built to fit your lifestyle and our experts will guide you every step of the way. Come on, let's do this. To subscribe, download Start Today from the App store on your Apple device now. Terms apply. Cancel anytime through Apple under profile settings. Jill's Tetra was exhausted from his fight with a masked man. Paralyzed from repeated shocks from a cattle prod or stun gun, and quite powerless as his attacker pulled him across the gravel driveway toward his apparent doom. Here's Gills.

[Jill Tetro]

And so he drags me back and throws me back into the garage underneath the grid door.

[Keith Morrison]

But the author of SK Confessions admitted he too was exhausted. My energy was depleted and the human survival instinct is one of the most powerful forces on earth. And sure enough, in one last surge of adrenaline fueled energy, Jills fought back. He tried to grab my mask and came quite close to pulling it off, which created a brief life saving opportunity. The masked man momentarily let go of Joseph's leg.

[Jill Tetro]

And I'm thinking, hey, he doesn't have a hold on me anymore. So I'm like, this is my chance. I can maybe get away again. And then I rolled back underneath the garage door. I got back up and in my head I was like, there's no way. I am not running this time.

[Keith Morrison]

Legs carry me.

[Jill Tetro]

Yep. And I made my legs move and then I ran off. But it wasn't really running. I think it was more like a jog. So I turn left and to my surprise, there's actually a walking path right beside this house. So I get onto the walking path and I'm so weak, I stumble and I fall down. I get back up and I look up, there's this couple walking their dog. They're coming towards me and I, I yell to them, there's a man after me. He's trying to mug me. Please help me.

[Keith Morrison]

They were, of course, Trevor and Marissa, who you'll recall described their encounter with Jills this way.

[Jill Tetro]

He looked at me and said, I'm being robbed. Can you help me? And it was just an instant bad feeling. It was like everything in my body just tensed up. I felt bad. This is a bad situation. I knew right away something was wrong. And I'm hunched over trying to get my breath and I look stunned. I didn't know what was going on. And to me, it felt like it was taking the masked man forever to come after me. He comes toward me. I'm standing close to the couple. I tell him, hey, that's the man. And then as I looked up, the attacker almost actually ran into me. It's like every nightmare you had as a child after watching a scary movie. Every nightmare you've ever had, all of a sudden it's right here. Like this mask is standing there. Once he saw the couple there, he goes, hey, Frank. Or come on, Frank. That's what the guy in the mask said to me. Hey, come on, Frank. Come on, Frank. And then he pretends like he's going to lift the mask up like we're playing, but he doesn't. And then he turns around and he starts walking back to the garage.

[Keith Morrison]

So he's making out like you've just been having fun, right? Which is when Marissa and Trevor took off, believing somehow that it was all an act and that they had been the intended targets of a mugging.

[Jill Tetro]

I couldn't believe they weren't going to help me out. So I'm like. I yelled towards them, I said, aren't you going to help me out?

[Keith Morrison]

But Marissa and Trevor had already helped, whether they knew it or not, merely by stopping. When they did, they may have saved his life. And the masked man was gone. For the moment anyway. Jill's had time to catch his breath and regroup and get help.

[Jill Tetro]

I can go onto the street, flag a car down, or I could go to a neighbor's house. Maybe they might help me out.

[Keith Morrison]

Or he could have called the police on his cell phone, which was still sticking out of his back pocket. But Jill's did not do any of those things. No, but Jill's decided to do instead was go back to the garage.

[Jill Tetro]

For some reason, thought it was the best thing at the time was to actually go back to the garage on my own because I figured I had the advantage and he didn't know the couple had left me. So I go back, start going back. And from a distance I can see him pacing back and forth in the garage.

[Keith Morrison]

But he's not looking out.

[Jill Tetro]

No, no, he's still. He's completely in the garage and he's pacing back and forth.

[Keith Morrison]

Just see his feet down.

[Jill Tetro]

I just see his feet.

[Keith Morrison]

The man could see him any second. Jill's looked at the door, at the pacing feet, at his truck. His mind worrying.

[Jill Tetro]

So I'm thinking, okay, once I slam the door, I gotta do everything at the same time.

[Al Roker]

1, 2, 3, 4. Those are numbers. But you already knew that. If you want to know what number you're going to pay each month for your car, use Kelley Blue Book. My wallet on autotrader. They're really good at numbers. Autotrader.

[Keith Morrison]

It was late past midnight when they broke into the farmhouse.

[Jill Tetro]

Never in a million years would you think that you'd see your parents house taped off by that yellow tape and they said you remembered it being killed.

[Keith Morrison]

They left behind a wall of blood and a clue that a case of double murder on a long, strange trip.

[Detective Bill Clark]

She looked at me and she said, I'm screwed.

[Keith Morrison]

Murder in the Moonlight, a new podcast from Dateline. Listen to Murder in the moonlight for free starting Monday, February 17, or unlock new episodes right now by subscribing to Dateline Premium on Apple podcasts, Spotify or Dateline premium.com. maybe he was in shock or had a concussion or was just stun gun silly. Whatever the reason, Jill Cetro became fixated on getting to his prized truck. A black Ford Ranger parked right on that gravel driveway outside the garage where Jill's had just fought for his life.

[Jill Tetro]

So I decided I was. The smartest thing was to actually go back and get into my truck because I'd be safer in a locked vehicle. You'd have to break the windows to get to me.

[Keith Morrison]

So. Willing himself into silence, Jill's tiptoed across the crunchy gravel driveway. The masked man just a few feet away on the other side of that partially opened garage door.

[Jill Tetro]

I got the keys out of my pocket and I quietly open the door and quietly get in.

[Keith Morrison]

So you're trying to do all of.

[Jill Tetro]

This without him hearing you, right?

[Keith Morrison]

You're sneaking, right?

[Jill Tetro]

So I'm thinking, okay, once I slam the door, I gotta do everything at the same time. So that's what I do. I slam the door, start the truck up right away and lock the door and then put it into reverse and I peel out of that driveway and I took off.

[Keith Morrison]

You put that car into drive and tore down that alleyway. What was it like?

[Jill Tetro]

Oh, it's like an amazing feeling. I'm like, I can't believe I got away.

[Keith Morrison]

Must have been shaking.

[Jill Tetro]

Yeah, I was shaking. I started coming down off the adrenaline after a bit, and then all of a sudden everything started hurting.

[Keith Morrison]

My ribs were hurting and Jill's began to feel woozy, sick to his stomach.

[Jill Tetro]

And the punches he gave me, the side of the head just started throbbing and I just sweating. I feel sick. I. I feel like I want to throw up, but I can't. And I just, I couldn't drive anymore.

[Keith Morrison]

So Joe's pulled over, drank some water. Maybe he wasn't out of trouble after all.

[Jill Tetro]

And I'm so tired and in pain. So I rest a little bit.

[Keith Morrison]

But not for long. A few minutes later, Jill's willed himself back onto the road, forced himself to drive home, where he stood, barely comprehending, in front of a mirror.

[Jill Tetro]

I'm like, wow, my face is all swollen up on my left side, and I'm just red and I'm sweating.

[Keith Morrison]

What in the world just happened? Why had he, of all people, been attacked? And who was that man who seemed to want to kill him? The man behind the mask.

[Jill Tetro]

And then I. I decided, you know what? I need to go back onto that online dating website. I want to get as much information as I can.

[Keith Morrison]

Sure.

[Jill Tetro]

So I can give this to police. And so I go back on. And all of a sudden, everything was gone. Her profile was gone. All the sent and received messages that I got from that person were all gone.

[Keith Morrison]

What is it like to be sitting alone in your apartment in front of your computer with that realization in your head?

[Jill Tetro]

I felt almost ashamed. It was like, I can't believe I got duped by this woman. It's like, you know what? I just want to put this behind me. I just don't want to think about it. I want to move on.

[Keith Morrison]

And did not call the police.

[Jill Tetro]

No, I. I didn't.

[Keith Morrison]

And sure enough, the author of SK Confessions had anticipated perfectly what would not happen when his intended victim escaped. It was as if he had been reading the mind of the terrified Jules Tetro. It was the fear in his eyes that told me deep down he wouldn't report the incident. But why did that man in the black mask attack Chills in the first place? It must have been he himself who wrote about it later. And in such incriminating detail. Though for now, the why of it all wasn't the important thing to the investigators. What was important was proving that the man in the black mask and the author of SK Confessions and Mark Twitchell were one and the same. And most important, finding their missing man. Was he dead? Was he alive? Where was Johnny Altinger? SK Confessions described two vicious assaults. One of them, the attack on Jill's tetro, was accurate in every one of its bizarre details.

[Detective Bill Clark]

How he's tasered and it's not really working. And this is all in the SK Confessions. And then he gets knocked down and he gets duct tape put on his eyes.

[Keith Morrison]

And of course, both in real life and in the story, the victim survived, but the other story in SK Confessions. In that one, the victim died a particularly horrible death. Was that story true, too? And was that what happened to Johnny Altinger? If it was, then where was his body?

[Detective Bill Clark]

The part we'd never had. We never had Johnny.

[Keith Morrison]

Still no sign of him anywhere. Unless just about then, the tech people uncovered something else in the Twitchell laptop. It had been erased, of course. Buried so deeply, it might have disappeared forever. Three more paragraphs from SK Confessions in which the masked man leaves a clue. Truth or fantasy?

[Detective Bill Clark]

He talked about dumping the body in a sewer. And then it ended.

[Keith Morrison]

In the next episode of the man in the Black Mask, our guy pretended.

[Detective Bill Clark]

He was going to invest in his movie making business.

[Keith Morrison]

So if he wants to give you 30, $35,000, come and meet me.

[Detective Bill Clark]

Yeah, come and meet me.

[Keith Morrison]

The man in the Black Mask is a production of Dateline and NBC News. Vince Sterle is the producer. Brian Drew, Deb Brown and Marshall Housefeld are audio editors. Justin Ratchford is field producer. Leslie Grossman is program coordinator. Adam Gorfin is co executive producer. Paul Ryan is executive producer, and Liz Cole is senior executive producer. From NBC News. Audio sound mixing by Katie Lau. Bryson Barnes is head of audio production.

[Al Roker]

Look around. You can find cars like these on autotrader. Like that car riding your tail. Or if you're tailgating right now, all those cars doubling as kitchens and living rooms are on autotrader, too. Are you working out and listening to this ad at the same time? Well, multitasking pro cars like the ones in the gym parking lot are for sale on autotrader. New cars, used cars, electric cars, maybe even flying cars. Okay, no flying cars. But as soon as they get invented, they'll be on autotrader. Just you wait. Autotrader.