Medical examiner testifies at Twitchell trial

A forensic pathologist who examined skeletal remains discovered in a north Edmonton sewer testified on Thursday that less than half the bones of a human body were recovered from the sewer.

Dr. Bernard Bannach, Alberta’s assistant chief medical examiner, took the stand at Mark Twitchell’s first-degree murder trial. Twitchell is accused of killing 38-year-old Edmonton resident, Johnny Altinger, and dismembering his body.

Bannach was part of a team from the medical examiner’s office that recovered human remains from a sewer in an alley near 87th Street and 130th Avenue on June 4, 2010, following a request from police.

It’s alleged that Twitchell killed Altinger on Oct. 10, 2008.

Court has previously heard that police went to the sewer, which is located less than two blocks from Twitchell’s parents’ house, after an interview with Twitchell.

Many of the bones recovered from the sewer had been deliberately cut, Bannach testified. Some of the bones appeared to have been broken.

Crown prosecutor Avril Inglis read several graphic passages of a document called “SKconfessions” that has previously been entered as evidence during the trial. The 40-page document was recovered from Twitchell’s Toshiba laptop and prosecutors allege it is a diary of Twitchell’s “truly lived experiences” around the time that Altinger disappeared.

In the passages read into court, the author writes a detailed description of dismembering a human body. Inglis asked Bannach if the descriptions were medically “credible.”

Bannach said they were.

Twitchell is accused of posing as a woman on the Internet and inviting Altinger for a date. Twitchell is accused of killing Altinger in a garage he had previously rented to film a horror movie.

On the first day of trial, Twitchell tried to plead guilty to indecent interference with human remains. Prosecutors rejected the plea, and proceeded to trial on the first-degree murder charge.