The Bob Crane Murder Notes:

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"Robert Edward Crane (July 13, 1928 – June 29, 1978) was an American actor, drummer, radio host, and disc jockey known for starring in the CBS situation comedy Hogan's Heroes.

A drummer from age 11, Crane began his career as a radio personality, first in New York City and then Connecticut before moving to Los Angeles, where he hosted the number-one rated morning show. In the early 1960s, he moved into acting, eventually landing the lead role of Colonel Robert Hogan in Hogan's Heroes. The series aired from 1965 to 1971, and Crane received two Primetime Emmy Award nominations for his work on the series. After Hogan's Heroes ended, Crane's career declined. He became frustrated with the few roles he was being offered and began performing in dinner theater. In 1975, he returned to television in the NBC series The Bob Crane Show. The series received poor ratings and was cancelled after 13 weeks. Afterward, Crane returned to performing in dinner theaters and also appeared in occasional guest spots on television.

While on tour in June 1978 for a dinner theater production, Beginner's Luck, Crane was found bludgeoned to death in his Scottsdale apartment, the victim of a homicide. The murder remains officially unsolved. Due to the suspicious nature of his death and posthumous revelations about his personal life, Crane's image changed from a cultural icon to a controversial figure..."

— Source: Robert Edward Crane Wikipedia

The Dexter Copycat Killer Notes:

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"Mark Andrew Twitchell (born July 4, 1979) is a Canadian filmmaker convicted of first degree murder in 2011 for killing John Brian "Johnny" Altinger. His trial attracted particular media attention because Twitchell had allegedly been inspired by the fictional character Dexter Morgan. The character appears in a series of novels by Jeff Lindsay and the television drama Dexter.

Twitchell was convicted of first degree murder for the death of Altinger. He still faced an attempted murder charge for his alleged attack on Gilles Tetreault. Tetreault testified that he was lured using the website PlentyofFish expecting a date with a woman, only to be attacked by a man in a mask with a stun baton when he arrived at a garage rented by Twitchell. Tetreault escaped with his life. Crown prosecutors had not immediately decided if they would pursue the charge of attempted murder upon securing a conviction of first degree murder as a conviction of attempted murder would not add to the life sentence Twitchell had already received.

On June 17, 2011, an attempted murder charge against Twitchell was stayed in the Court of Queen’s Bench of Alberta, meaning that Crown prosecutors could resurrect the charge within a one year period.

The attempted murder charge against Twitchell was dropped. 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. In preparing the case for trial, the Crown had argued in court for both the attempted murder and first-degree murder charges to be heard simultaneously as they were part of the same "transaction" of his attempt to become a serial killer. Under Canadian law, charges can only be heard together if they are linked in some way. Court of Queen’s Bench Justice Terry Clackson was not convinced by the prosecution’s argument that the attack on the first victim, Gilles Tetreault, and the murder of Johnny Altinger were part of the same transaction. He ordered the charges to be severed and heard separately. "The offences are related and connected, but remain discrete," Justice Clackson wrote in his reasons for the decision. "As a result, the attempted murder charge cannot stand on the same indictment as the charge of murder because they are different transactions." A conviction of first-degree murder in April 2011 secured a maximum sentence — life in prison with no parole eligibility for 25 years — and, therefore, eliminated any need to proceed with more charges.

In December 2012, Michael C. Hall, the actor who played Dexter Morgan on the Dexter television series, was interviewed by Jian Ghomeshi on the Canadian radio show Q. Hall stated that he did not think Dexter supported the lifestyle of serial killers. "I would hope that people's appreciation was more than some sort of fetishization with the kill scenes," he said. Ghomeshi brought up Twitchell and Hall said, "I wouldn't stop making Dexter because someone was fascinated by it only in that way. I try to tell myself that their fixated nature would have done it one way or the other, but it seems that Dexter had something to do with it. It's horrifying."

In May 2013, it was reported that Twitchell had purchased a television for his prison cell. Twitchell stated that he had caught up on every Dexter episode that he missed since he was arrested and convicted of first degree murder.

Twitchell's case was featured on the American newsmagazine Crime Watch Daily on May 1, 2017. Much of that day's program focused on Twitchell's methods and featured interviews with Gilles Tetrault, his first intended victim, and Steve Lillebuen, author of the book The Devil's Cinema, which focused on case. Part of the report included a return trip by Tetrault to the garage in which the incident had taken place..."

— Source: Mark Twitchell Wikipedia