Kevin Bacon wanted to spend the night before Christmas in company. And so this 25-year-old stylist from Michigan went to find a known man through the Grinder dating application. He arrived at his house and even assured his roommate in a message that he was having a good time. But he never left that place
On December 28, the police went to the house of the man Bacon went to visit, identified as Mark Latunski; The agents encountered a scene of pure terror. Bacon's body was without clothes, tied by the ankles and hung from a beam in a hidden room, explains NBC News , who had access to court documents on the case.
Latunski confessed to stabbing him and also revealed a chilling detail: he had cut the victim's testicles and cooked them to eat them.
The horrific crime shocked the victim's family and the small rural community of Morrice, Michigan, where the suspect's house is located. Latunski is now detained and under investigation.
Police began investigating this case after Bacon's family denounced his disappearance, on Christmas Day. According to Newsweek , his loved ones waited for the young man to have breakfast in the morning, but they were alarmed to see that he did not appear.
Through their conversations in Grindr, an application aimed at the LGTBI community where people can chat, share content and decide if they are left in person, the researchers arrived at Latunski's house, details The Washington Post .
The lawyer of this 50-year-old man, now accused of murder and mutilation of a body, requested that he be considered incapable of his actions, according to the Detroit Free Press . Judge Ward L. Clarkson ordered an evaluation of his mental conditions.
Possible other cases and warnings
The authorities also discovered that people with whom Latunski was in the past through Grindr had serious problems with him. One jumped a fence in the middle of an October night to call 911.
In November, another man ran out of his house with a leather kilt as the only garment, chased by Latunski, who said he only wanted to recover that skirt because it was expensive. Now the police are worried that other people involved in slavery activities at home do not want to testify.
Bacon's father told local broadcaster WILX , an NBC affiliate, that his son faced a situation "he was not prepared for." He also said that what the police found revealed a "dark side" that he and other loved ones did not know. Family members described him as an outstanding student and a talented stylist.
Grindr said in a statement that she is "disconsolate and horrified" about what happened to Kevin Bacon and that "she is totally committed to working with the police," but declined to comment on individual users, citing privacy reasons.
https://www.instagram.com/p/B6s601bHy9Z/?utm_source=ig_embed
Instagram message from actor Kavin Bacon, who expressed his condolences for the death of his young namesake.
Warnings
Michigan state police said that while many people use smooth dating applications, "you have to be careful," according to NBC News.
"You have to wonder what happens if it is in your mind, what happens if it is not true, what happens if it is for something bad," said community service agent Steve Kramer at the local WJRT news station.
In a widely known case of 2016, a man in London used dating applications aimed at young gay men, including Grindr, to find victims, take them to his apartment to drug them and rape them after they fell unconscious, a jury found. The psychoactive drug was intentionally administered in fatal doses, the BBC reported, resulting in the deaths of four men.
Court records presented by Latunski's lawyer indicate that his client is obsessed with conspiracy theories and even believes that he is part of a noble family in Wales, to the point that he has provided a false identity when he was asked for his.
The order of the judge who requested an examination of his mental health conditions requires that Latunski be transferred from the Shiawassee County Jail, Michigan, where he is being held without bail, to the Saline Center for Forensic Psychiatry, in the same state, to be evaluated, reported The Flint Journal .
This process can take between 60 and 90 days, if not more, and additional court sessions are suspended until the report is submitted.
Look also: "He got angry and threw the acid in my face": Immigrant was the victim of a hate crime in Milwaukee
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