The Man in the Black Mask - Ep. 2: The Twilight Zone
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Who is Mark Twitchell and what is his situation?
He's any place, anywhere, as stressful, as confining, as exhausting as a police interview room at 4 o'clock in the morning. Filmmaker Mark Twitchell had been in that little room for five hours, patiently answering Detective Bill Clark's questions about this guy, Johnny Altinger, who'd been missing for more than a week. And now, during a break, a decidedly drooping Twitchell pulled out a cell phone and punched in his wife's phone number.
The problem is that I'm so tired and it's so hard to remember things.
Of course, he wasn't exactly alone. At that moment, he shared the space with a microphone and a camera so that outside the room, Detective Bill Clark could watch and listen. But all Mark Twitchell did was complain to his wife.
It's so hard to remember, like, these minute, specific details about these days that I just didn't ever bother to think about or remember because who the hell does that, you know?
Detective Clark was asking so many detailed questions because... I know I'm not getting the truth.
I know he's lying to me. No doubt in my mind. I know he's involved up to his neck. I still don't know what he's done.
If anything, that is, because really all Clark had was just a feeling that Mark Twitchell had been handing him a whole load of nonsense, fully expecting Clark to believe it. He didn't, but... He'd been letting things develop, organic-like, if you will, patiently. Like he bought it all.
I agreed with everything he said. Like I didn't, this wasn't the time of the interview to start pushing him on it. It wasn't the time to start confronting him. That would come later on.
So the 4 a.m. intermission in this cat-and-mouse play was a time for Clark to dream up an act, too. Almost like he and Twitchell were going through some weird inverse improv routine. Each one in that little room, acting a role without a script, trying to outperform the other.
Did you not think that kind of strange? I mean, I have to ask this. You're paying $40 for a car.
How much did you think the car was worth? I thought it was worth somewhere between $3,000 and $4,000. Which you're paying $40 for?
Yeah. $40 for a used car? It couldn't possibly be true. But why admit that you had the missing man's car and then lie about the price you paid for it? It made no sense. I'm Keith Morrison, and this is The Man in the Black Mask, a podcast from Dateline. Episode 2, The Twilight Zone.
I mean, a lot of what I did in the first part, I was just acting. Sure. You know? Of course. Playing the role. Letting him believe I believe in every word he's saying. Well, you're reading him during that interview. He had been reading you. No doubt. And you probably had made some judgments about your ability as an interviewer, about, I don't know, your intellect. What did he think of you, do you think, during that interview? I don't think he, I think he didn't think I was that smart. I think he thought he was smarter than me.
But just as Detective Clark was getting set to rejoin Mark Twitchell for the start of Fact 2 of their little drama, a patrol officer reported in. The one who'd been sent out to look for that missing red Mazda. The red Mazda that belonged to the also missing Johnny Altinger. He had found it. And it was right where Mark Twitchell said it would be. The patrolman searched it, of course.
But... Nothing untowards about the car. Johnny's not in the car. The guy who got the car has given a statement. And it's basically what Mark told me in the interview that... He bought it for 40 bucks. He bought it for 40 bucks. And that's what he told his friend. And he had his friend drive it over to his house. So what, suddenly your big down arrow is starting to turn up again? Well, I mean, no, I wouldn't say it's turning up, but at least I know he hasn't lied about how the car got to his friend's house. So we discussed strategy at that point. And then I know, I says, you got nothing else. I says, I'm going to have to go in and confront him. And the whole idea of that confrontation is to see his reaction. And see what his answer is.
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Chapters
4 chapters
1
Who is Mark Twitchell and what is his situation?
0:03–4:33
2
What was the interaction between Mark Twitchell and Detective Clark?
4:33–9:36
3
What evidence did the police find regarding Johnny Altinger's disappearance?
9:36–22:49
4
How did Mark Twitchell's personal life affect the investigation?
22:49–28:19