Mark Twitchell's murder trial focused Thursday on the bizarre story he told friends and police of how the St. Albert filmmaker ended up with his alleged victim's car, for just $40.
Twitchell, charged with first-degree murder in the death of Johnny Altinger, told friends and police he paid $40 for a red 2005 Mazda 3 after a stranger approached him and offered to sell the vehicle for whatever cash Twitchell had in his pocket.
In his version of events, the mystery man, who Twitchell knew only as "Mark," told him he had a wealthy new girlfriend and he didn't need the car anymore.
The vehicle, which police eventually recovered at the home of one of Twitchell's friends, has been identified as belonging to Altinger.
Joss Hnatiuk, a friend of Twitchell's who worked on several film projects with him, told the court Twitchell called him about the vehicle and recounted the entire story about the $40 purchase.
Hnatiuk said Twitchell asked him to meet him at the southside garage where they had worked on their last movie project, the suspense film House of Cards.
Twitchell needed Hnatiuk to move the vehicle because he couldn't drive standard transmission. Hnatiuk told the jury he agreed to keep it at his house for a few days until Twitchell could figure out what to do with it.
Twitchell told the same story to police four times, first in an email to a detective, then in person to another detective, in a formal witness statement, and finally in a recorded interview with Edmonton homicide Det. Bill Clark the jury watched Thursday afternoon.
In the video, recorded in the early morning hours of Oct. 20, Clark asks Twitchell to guide him through the story and focus on the small details.
Twitchell said after Mark drove the car to his garage he showed him paperwork and though he admitted he didn't look at it very closely, he thought it was legitimate.
"I thought if he is going to show the insurance and registration it had to be legitimate," Twitchell said.
Toward the end of the portion of the video the jury saw, Clark pressed him on the suspiciousness of the deal, saying taking the car was practically "wilful blindness."
"You are not some young 16-year-old kid here," Clark said.
Twitchell countered the man seemed normal and there was no damage to the vehicle that might indicate it had been stolen.
Early morning phone call
Hnatiuk also testified about a call he received from Twitchell early on Oct. 19, shortly after the accused's first interview with police.
Hnatiuk told the jury Twitchell called at nearly 5 a.m. and said he was worried he might be being set up as part of the missing persons case.
"He said that he was really stressed out."
Hnatiuk brought up the issue of the Mazda 3 and said Twitchell seemed to have almost forgotten about the vehicle.
He testified he was interested in purchasing the vehicle, he also told Twitchell to tell the police about it because it might be stolen given all the circumstances.
