A Michigan man who pleaded guilty to murder and the mutilation of a dead body will spend the rest of his life in prison.
Mark Latunski, 53, pleaded guilty on September 22, just three weeks before his trial was supposed to start, Fox 2 Detroit reported. That was also nearly three years after the body of Kevin Bacon, 25, was found in Latunski’s home.
Bacon was reported missing on Christmas Day in 2019 after he went out to meet up with a man he met on a dating app. Three days later, Bacon’s body was found in Latunski’s home, naked, and hanging from the rafters by his ankles.
Latunski reportedly told police that he stabbed Bacon in the back with a knife and then slit his throat. He also allegedly told police that he wrapped rope around Bacon’s ankles to hang him from the rafters and then cut off his testicles to eat later.
Latunski pleaded guilty to open murder in September and faced a rare degree hearing this week to determine whether he was guilty of first-degree murder, second-degree murder, or manslaughter. On Wednesday, Circuit Court Judge Matthew J. Stewart ruled that Latunksi was guilty of first-degree murder, which carries a mandatory sentence of life in prison.
“The court finds that this is a crime of cold calculation,” Stewart said, according to MLive. “Kevin Bacon’s death was Mark Latunski’s design.”
Latunski also pleaded guilty to one felony count of mutilation of a body. Because he pleaded guilty to open murder, a degree hearing was required, which used evidence from the case to determine to what degree of homicide Latunski was guilty.
Shiawassee County Prosecutor Scott Koerner argued during the hearing that Latunski could have reconsidered killing Bacon at any time, but decided to go ahead with the murder. Koerner also brought up Latunski’s admissions to law enforcement, which included details about buying a dehydrator to make jerky out of Bacon’s corpse and his intention to make bone meal out of Bacon’s bones.
Reporting has shown that Bacon may have had a “dark side,” according to someone who knew him who spoke to Fox 2, and may have been aware of Latunski’s violent sexual fetish, but it has been emphasized that Bacon likely got in over his head.
“That’s not what Kevin wanted. Kevin wanted a fetish,” Koerner said during the hearing, according to MLive. “He wanted to be protected. He wanted to make sure he was going to go home.”
Latunski’s attorney, Mary Chartier, argued that her client did not premeditate the murder, citing the fact that Latunski invited police into his home knowing Bacon was hanging from the ceiling in the basement.
“A person in Mr. Latunski’s shoes, in his mindset, has to have fully evaluated the consequences of the killing,” Chartier argued.
She also pointed to text messages between Latunski and Bacon where her client asked if the victim had any medical issues that could interfere with their fetish play, arguing that showed Latunski didn’t plan to kill Bacon.
The judge, however, disagreed, and ruled that Latunski was guilty of first-degree murder.
