Altinger's friends concerned about murder victim's 'date', trial hears

The close friends of murder victim John Altinger took to the stand Tuesday in the first-degree murder trial of Mark Twitchell.

The individuals testified about their last contact with the victim and how they became concerned and suspicious following some emails.

Friends said that before John Altinger disappeared, he informed some of his friends about a woman named Jen who he had met online.

Altinger forwarded the directions to Jen's place to a friend.

One friend recalled the unusual nature of that email.

"She wouldn't give him a phone number or address and he was to use the garage."

Another friend, Dale Smith, told court that what stood out was the instructions on how to meet the girl.

"The instructions were out of the ordinary with a non-address to meet behind a garage," he said.

Smith asked Altinger to phone him when he got to the garage.

"He phoned me and said she wasn't there and that he met a guy in the garage. He said the guy in the garage was making a movie and he showed him a replica handgun."

The jury heard how in another email, Altinger informed his friend that the woman returned and how he went back to the house.

Smith read an email to the jury that was sent from Altinger's account three days after he went back to the house.

"I've met an extraordinary woman named Jen who has offered to take me on a nice long tropical vacation," the email said. "Phone number to follow soon."

Actors who worked with Mark Twitchell on a horror movie the struggling filmmaker wrote called 'House of Cards' also took the stand on Tuesday.

They said that several weeks after the movie was filmed, a cryptic email was sent from an address Twitchell was using at the time.

"For now I have to recommend everyone stop talking to the police or not to start talking if you haven't already. If you aren't sure what I'm referring to, then you will soon," the email read.

The Crown's theory is that in Fall 2008, victim John Altinger believed at the time that he was corresponding with a woman online named Jen, that Altinger met Jen at a garage in south Edmonton and that Altinger was ultimately killed in that garage, which is the same garage that Twitchell was renting at the time.

Also read to the jury Tuesday was the seven-page draft script for the horror movie Twitchell was making.

The plot is about a man, Roger, who plans to cheat on his wife Jenny after meeting someone online.

The Roger character pulls up to a house where he is attacked and knocked unconscious.

According to the script, Roger wakes up strapped to a steel chair and is then killed.

With files from Vinesh Pratap