Kevin Bacon, 25, was murdered by Mark Latunski on Christmas Eve 2019 after the two men met on the hook-up app Grindr. Latunski had been reported to police several times by previous dates who became ‘spooked’
Gemma Strong Lifestyle Writer
08:14, 26 Dec 2025
Mark Latunski (Image: Shiawassee County Jail)
Christmas is meant to be a season filled with happiness and festivities for families across the country, but for Kevin Bacon’s loved ones, the holiday will be permanently marred by heartbreak.
The 25 year old vanished on December 25 in 2019 after failing to return home for Christmas breakfast with his family. As his relatives became increasingly worried about Kevin, who was known as an excellent student and gifted hairdresser, his flatmate disclosed that he’d arranged to meet someone from the dating app Grindr the previous evening.
This crucial information directed detectives to Mark Latunski’s residence, where they encountered a horrifying discovery. Officers discovered Kevin had been savagely killed, with his unclothed body suspended upside down from the ceiling in a concealed room.
However, that wasn’t the only disturbing find awaiting them inside the residence.
Latunski subsequently confessed to authorities that he stabbed Kevin, slashed his throat, and then suspended him with rope from the rafters. He also admitted to cutting off a portion of his genitalia and consuming it, according to court documents, reports the Mirror.
“He obviously got into something he wasn’t prepared for,” Kevin’s father, Karl Bacon, told local media. “We all make mistakes. It’s gut-wrenching to hear the details, and we’re just beside ourselves.”
The police were ill-prepared for such a gruesome scene, but it wasn’t their first encounter with Latunksi.
The murderer had been on their radar for months prior to the 2019 killing, and according to The Washington Post, some of Latunksi’s other Grindr dates had previously escaped his home during “basement bondage sessions”.
One of the soon-to-be killer’s dates scaled a fence in the dead of night and dialled 999, recounting tales of leather ankle straps and a chain used to restrain him. Another man fled from Latunksi’s home clad only in a leather kilt, pursued by the murderer who told police he merely wanted his clothing returned.
Both men declined to press charges against Latunski, according to police. They stated that their sexual activities with him were consensual and they had simply become “spooked”.
The Michigan murderer eventually pleaded guilty to murder and mutilation of a body in September 2022, just weeks before his jury trial was due to commence. He entered the plea in a Shiawassee County court nearly three years after Kevin’s death, reportedly against the advice of his lawyers.
Mark Latunski admitted to killing Kevin Bacon (pictured) on Christmas Eve
Mark D. Latunski in court on December 15(Image: AP)
Before his sentencing on 15 December 2022, the court heard a statement from Kevin’s devastated mother Pamela. “Our world has been shattered,” it read.
“Even though we have such great memories of our son, our lives will never be the same or will our family. I don’t understand why anyone could want to hurt our son, especially in such a horrific and unbelievable way.
“Now Christmas for our family will never be the same to us, thanks to you taking our son away from us. Even though we will finally get justice for Kevin, it still doesn’t feel like enough, and you still get to live and do things because a pig like you … can never have remorse.”
The statement went on: “In your sick, twisted mind, you probably think you didn’t do anything wrong, but in reality, you took our world away,” before adding, “This Christmas I hope you suffer like we have. I hope you feel pain because you are all alone with all the years yet to come.”
A Shiawassee County judge handed Latunski, then aged 53, a life sentence behind bars with no chance of parole for first-degree murder. He also received an 11-month sentence to run alongside this for disinterment and mutilation of a dead body.
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