Christmas, typically a time of joy and festivity for many families, holds a somber note for those connected to Kevin Bacon. The 25-year-old went missing on Christmas Day, failing to return for a family gathering. Concern heightened as details emerged that Kevin, a respected student and skilled hairdresser, had arranged to meet someone from Grindr the previous night.
This crucial information led authorities to Mark Latunski’s residence, where a gruesome discovery awaited them. Kevin had been viciously murdered, his lifeless body suspended upside down in a concealed room. The horrors did not end there as further unsettling revelations came to light upon entering Latunski’s abode.
Latunski confessed to police that he had fatally stabbed Kevin, slit his throat, and hung him from the ceiling with a rope. Shockingly, he also admitted to mutilating Kevin’s body by removing a part of his genitals and consuming it. Karl Bacon, Kevin’s father, expressed profound distress upon learning these harrowing details, acknowledging the tragedy that had befallen their family.
Unbeknownst to many, Latunski had been on law enforcement’s radar prior to this heinous act. Reports indicated that some of Latunski’s previous encounters through Grindr had ended abruptly, with individuals fleeing his residence during what was described as “basement bondage sessions.”
The case took a legal turn when Latunski pleaded guilty to murder and body mutilation in September 2022, just before his scheduled trial. Despite counsel’s advice to the contrary, Latunski entered his plea in a Shiawassee County court nearly three years after Kevin’s untimely death.
Prior to Latunski’s sentencing in December 2022, a heartfelt statement from Kevin’s mother, Pamela, was read in court. She expressed the profound loss their family had endured, lamenting the irreversible impact of Kevin’s tragic demise on their lives and future Christmases.
In a final judicial ruling, Latunski, aged 53 at the time, was sentenced to life imprisonment without the possibility of parole for first-degree murder. Additionally, he received an 11-month concurrent sentence for disinterment and mutilation of a deceased body, bringing a semblance of closure to this harrowing chapter.