Tag Archives: Book

NBC Dateline’s ‘Deadly’ House of Cards

EDMONTON — American TV news magazine Dateline NBC will feature my forthcoming book on the Mark Twitchell case and trial during a two-hour special to air this Friday.

Dateline has released a teaser trailer for Friday night’s episode, titled “Deadly House of Cards”:

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I was interviewed extensively by the program, detailing my initial reporting as a police reporter at the Edmonton Journal to conducting years of research as I completed the upcoming true crime narrative.

In April 2011, aspiring filmmaker Mark Twitchell was convicted in the first-degree murder of Johnny Altinger, a crime that blended reality and fiction, and became known as the “Dexter” slaying. Elements of one of Twitchell’s own movie scripts (House of Cards) had been re-enacted in real life in a plot that drew inspiration from Dexter Morgan, the fictitious serial killer profiled on the Showtime television series.

Twitchell is currently serving a life sentence in Saskatchewan and is not eligible to apply for parole for 25 years. He is appealing his conviction.

The book will cover the entire case and trial, focusing on the lives of both Twitchell and Altinger, as well as the police investigation that unravelled the bizarre motive. It will be published across USA and Canada by McClelland & Stewart and Random House.

A release date has been tentatively scheduled for February 2012 (pre-orders of hardcover or eBook available).

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First draft done; 2nd Twitchell charge dropped

MELBOURNE — With my first draft of the book on the Mark Twitchell case completed this week, I wanted to revisit a legal decision that had a major impact before and after the first-degree murder trial.

Back in mid-June, about two months after Mark Twitchell was sentenced to life in prison for the murder of Johnny Altinger, the Crown stayed an attempted murder charge related to his first alleged victim.

This decision to drop the second charge may seem odd to those who have followed the case closely. Detectives were adamant they had gathered a mountain of evidence — much of it revealed during the murder trial while even Twitchell himself admitted on the witness stand to committing the attack.

So why abandon it? The reasons can actually be found within the various pre-trial motions that set a path through the legal system that was pretty hard to change once it was decided upon.

In preparing the case for trial, the Crown had argued in court for both the attempted murder and first-degree murder charges be heard simultaneously as they were part of the same “transaction” of allegedly becoming a “serial killer.”

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Twitchell book research ending

EDMONTON — My book research in the city on the Mark Twitchell case and trial is coming to an end next week.

I’ve spent the past six months in Edmonton conducting interviews, finding documents and sitting in on every minute of the murder trial.

My last day in the city will be June 14th so anyone still out there wanting to contact me can do so by calling 780-802-3835 or e-mailing me at steve [at] stevelillebuen [dot] com.

The courthouse has Mark Twitchell scheduled to appear briefly in court next week.

The hearing is meant to deal with the outstanding attempted murder charge related to the attack on Gilles Tetreault. It’s not known what will happen at this stage. The Crown has not said if it will proceed with the second charge, nor as Twitchell’s lawyer, Charles Davison, said if he will continue to represent his client in future court hearings. We could find out at that hearing.

His appeal has not gone anywhere at this time. As I said earlier, it could take months or up to a year to move forward, if it does at all.

On the book front, the title and cover design are being worked on right now and should be finalized in the next few weeks.

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