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Mike Ferguson
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Mike Gibson
Hey, I'm doing good. How about you?
Mike Ferguson
I'm doing really well.
Mike Gibson
Good.
Mike Ferguson
You and I just got done recording our Patreon mini episode weekly episode and, you know, talked about all the things that we're watching, things that are going on in our lives. Seem like a lot. Yeah. Especially the amount of stuff we're watching.
Mike Gibson
Pretty busy, guys. Yeah.
Mike Ferguson
Let's go ahead and give our Patreon shout outs. We had Lynn Brown.
Mike Gibson
Hey, Lynn.
Mike Ferguson
Fay Knight.
Mike Gibson
I appreciate that. Faye.
Mike Ferguson
Brie Smith.
Mike Gibson
Thanks, Bri.
Mike Ferguson
Vernon Forward jumped down to our highest level.
Mike Gibson
Well, you're awesome, Vernon.
Mike Ferguson
Caleb Hockenberry.
Mike Gibson
Hey, Caleb.
Mike Ferguson
Gary.
Mike Gibson
What's going on, Gary?
Mike Ferguson
Annie Garcia.
Mike Gibson
Hey, Annie.
Mike Ferguson
It's just Maddie.
Mike Gibson
Good old Maddie.
Mike Ferguson
Arlene McDonald.
Mike Gibson
Hey, Arlene.
Mike Ferguson
Cece Lemon.
Mike Gibson
What's up, CC?
Mike Ferguson
Tim Cosgrove.
Mike Gibson
Hey, Tim.
Mike Ferguson
And last but not least, Michael Kelly.
Mike Gibson
With a name like Michael, you gotta be good.
Mike Ferguson
And then we go back into the vault. This week we selected Debbie Duffy.
Mike Gibson
Thanks, Debbie.
Mike Ferguson
Yeah. Appreciate the new support. We also had some great PayPal donations from Amanda Stewart.
Mike Gibson
Thanks, Amanda.
Mike Ferguson
And Jennifer Brunswick.
Mike Gibson
Oh, awesome, Jennifer.
Mike Ferguson
So thanks to you as well. All right, so right now we have a new episode out on True crime All the Time unsolved, where we're talking about Jody Huzen Troupe. She was a popular anchor at a local news Station in Iowa. She went missing early one morning while rushing out the door for work and has never been found. It's a pretty well known unsolved case. Yeah, from a relatively small town in Iowa. All right, buddy, are you ready to get into this episode of True Crime all the Time?
Mike Gibson
I am ready.
Mike Ferguson
We are talking about Mark Latunsky. Kevin Bacon left home on Christmas Eve 2019 to see a man he met on a dating app that evening after his parents reported him missing. The following day, the police received a tip that led them to the home of Mark Latunski, who was already known to police because of two disturbing incidents earlier that year.
Mike Gibson
All right, hold on. Assuming we're talking about a different Kevin Bacon.
Mike Ferguson
Yes, this is a, a different Kevin Bacon. Not the actor, not the Footloose guy. And we're going to get into everything about this Mark Latunski. It's a lot. I mean, we're talking kidnapping, cannibalism, keeping people chained in his basement. I mean, we're going down a rough road here, and I just want people to be prepared.
Mike Gibson
So maybe not a meal time episode.
Mike Ferguson
No, probably not. Kevin Bacon was born on November 28, 1994 in Lansing, Michigan. He grew up in a close family with his mother, Pamela Van Horn, and his dad, Carl Bacon, and his sister Jennifer Bacon. His parents told mlive that they didn't name him after the actor. They explained that they wanted their son to have the same initials as his father, but they didn't want to name him Carl Jr. But I will say I had a thought, Gibbs, that growing up with the name Kevin Bacon, I mean, we know how kids make fun of other kids.
Mike Gibson
Sure.
Mike Ferguson
For all kinds of things.
Mike Gibson
Yeah.
Mike Ferguson
You're going to get some Kevin Bacon jokes, some six degrees of separation. There's, there's just going to be stuff that comes with it, for sure. But I also, you know, don't know if you want to be named Carl Jr. There just happens to be a hamburger franchise.
Mike Gibson
Exactly. Carl Jr. Bacon. I can see some jokes right there.
Mike Ferguson
Yeah. Because, you know, if you think about. Isn't Carl Junior's the one that, that has those. Or had at one time, all those commercials with like, scantily clad women eating hamburgers like on the hoods of a car.
Mike Gibson
The burger juices.
Mike Ferguson
Yeah.
Mike Gibson
You dripping?
Mike Ferguson
Yeah, I'm pretty sure that was Carl's Jr. Yeah. According to friends and family, Kevin was always there for others. When his loved ones were going through a hard time, he provided a listening ear and offered support. All right, sounds like a good Kid?
Mike Gibson
Yeah.
Mike Ferguson
The Rolling Stone reported that Kevin's flamboyant style made him stand out. He liked to dye his hair bright colors. His friend Sarah Hope Spencer told the outlet, Everyone knew Kevin. He's big, tall, and usually had something crazy going on. And I would say that describes you very well. Maybe not the tall part so much, but the rest of it just got.
Mike Gibson
A lot going on.
Mike Ferguson
A lot of something crazy going on. Kevin had enjoyed doing hair since he was in high school. Kevin told his friends that his dad didn't want him to be a hairstylist. Carl Bacon, who worked as a packaging engineer, wanted his son to go into a technical trade. Okay, I don't know that that's all that uncommon for a dad maybe to try to steer one of his children, maybe to follow in his footsteps or a mom to that. But it's a pretty big difference, right, from what Kevin is passionate about, which is hair, doing hair, cutting hair, all of that, to something in kind of a more technical type of field.
Mike Gibson
You know what, if you're a hairstylist, you can make some pretty good money there. You build up your clientele, you can make some really good money, and you can take that job wherever you go, as long as you can get a license in the next state. You know, if you need a license, it's a pretty good business.
Mike Ferguson
Kevin eventually decided to go to college. He was accepted into Eastern Michigan University, which was his dream school, but he couldn't afford the housing deposit. He attended Baker College instead, but eventually dropped out and earned his cosmetology license. So, you know, it does sound like, okay, he made a run at it. Maybe he was going to try to do what his dad wanted him to do, but realized, hey, this ain't for me.
Mike Gibson
I just can't do it, dad.
Mike Ferguson
And he ultimately followed his dreams. He got a job as a receptionist at a J.C. penney and eventually became a hairstylist there.
Mike Gibson
Do you remember when JCPenney's used to have hair places?
Mike Ferguson
Hair places? Yeah, hair places. No, I actually don't. JCPenney is kind of fading from my memory, unfortunately, as is Sears. They all seem to have vanished.
Mike Gibson
But I think JCPenney's the only one left around. But I don't know if they do hair still.
Mike Ferguson
But do we still have a JCPenney at our mall?
Mike Gibson
I don't know if we have one in near you, but there's still one around. I just don't know how many are left.
Mike Ferguson
Okay, well, I assume there's one around somewhere, but I don't have one. So. But you know, I, I know over the years, some of those places they, they did have a lot of different things going on. They tried different things. I don't remember like a kind of a salon type thing inside the store, but I'm not doubting your veracity at all.
Mike Gibson
I mean, look, it's veracity. I got a lot of veracity.
Mike Ferguson
Yeah, you do.
Mike Gibson
It's. It's a good concept. I mean, I think that's why you see it in Walmarts and places like that. Whatever you could do to drive the business into your store.
Mike Ferguson
Yeah.
Mike Gibson
And hope that they stay and go ahead and do other things. Go get some eyeglasses or do the shopping or go to the pharmacy. You know, longer you stay, keep them there, the more money they're going to spend.
Mike Ferguson
Yeah. So, you know, you're, you're tapping into the idea of one stop shopping. Yes. Kind of. Right. JCPenney was never going to be, quote, unquote, one stop shopping. But it was said that Kevin felt frustrated by the low pay and once told friends he was going to the Upper Peninsula for a job. They didn't know what the job was, but it was supposed to pay well. Kevin returned nine days later and said he was bored in a rural area where there was no dating scene for gay men. And I can imagine that being true. Anybody who has ever been to the UP it's probably not a hotbed for the gay dating scene.
Mike Gibson
Yeah.
Mike Ferguson
It's very rural, middle of nowhere type stuff in some places.
Mike Gibson
Good. If you want to take a snowmobile out.
Mike Ferguson
Yeah. Or be alone. Have a Unabomber type cabin. The UP is probably a good place to set that up.
Mike Gibson
But we love our UP listeners.
Mike Ferguson
I'm not saying they're all Unabombers. I'm just saying there is a lot of places I think you can be alone up there.
Mike Gibson
Secluded areas.
Mike Ferguson
Yeah. Kevin then attended school at the University of Michigan, Flint and did hair on the side. But Kevin had a history of mental health problems. He struggled with depression, body image issues and self harm. And unfortunately, so many people do struggle with some or all of these things.
Mike Gibson
Yeah. I think we both have people in our, in our own personal worlds that struggle with things like that.
Mike Ferguson
Absolutely. Especially depression. I feel like depression has hit a lot of people hard and maybe even more so since COVID Yeah. Because you think about what we all went through being cooped up and I, I think people are still struggling.
Mike Gibson
Isolation can do some damage over time.
Mike Ferguson
No doubt about it. In October 2018, Kevin went to the movies with his friend and roommate, Michelle Myers. According to Michelle, Kevin was out of it after watching a scene in the film that depicts suicide. Okay. She said he was out of it. That's pretty vague, but also a little scary. The following day, Kevin overdosed on pills and had to go to the hospital to get his stomach pumped. A month later, his mother took him back to the hospital because Kevin didn't feel safe. So no doubt he was going through a lot of different things. By 2019, Kevin was still struggling with his mental health, but he looked forward to moving to Chicago to be closer to friends and part of a larger LGBTQ community.
Mike Gibson
Yeah, I think he'll. He would have found that there.
Mike Ferguson
Yeah. I mean, bigger cities. Right. You think about New York, Chicago, L.A. miami.
Mike Gibson
Right.
Mike Ferguson
Places like that, they are going to have a much bigger LGBTQ plus community than the Upper Peninsula of Michigan that there's just no way around it for sure. Kevin visited his friend Kimberly Wynn in the city and loved it so much. He was determined to move there. But he struggled to manage his finances. He had to delay his move until he could save up more money. Now, I love Chicago. I have been there a number of times. There's a lot to do.
Mike Gibson
There sure is.
Mike Ferguson
I love the hot dogs. I think I've mentioned that more than once.
Mike Gibson
You're big into the hot dogs. I know.
Mike Ferguson
I also love the beef sandwiches. No. The butter cheddar popcorn mix.
Mike Gibson
Oh, that's right. You do that Chicago mix.
Mike Ferguson
Not. No, I'm sorry, I said it wrong. Caramel cheese.
Mike Gibson
The Chicago mix.
Mike Ferguson
The Chicago. What they call the Chicago mix. But there's just so much I like about Chicago. The thing is, I think it's pretty expensive to live in Chicago.
Mike Gibson
It is.
Mike Ferguson
So, you know, to think about a guy who is probably not making a ton of money at JCPenney up and moving to Chicago, it's kind of like your son just picking up and moving to la.
Mike Gibson
I know.
Mike Ferguson
It was a little bit of a shock, I think. Oh, for sure.
Mike Gibson
Yeah.
Mike Ferguson
To both of you.
Mike Gibson
Yes.
Mike Ferguson
On how expensive it is to live in certain cities. Very much so, compared to where we live here. At the time, Kevin was living in Swartz Creek, Michigan, but he disliked the slower lifestyle of a small town. And I think that cuts both ways. Right. Some people love that slower pace, small town vibe. Everybody knows each other.
Mike Gibson
Kind of where I'm at now.
Mike Ferguson
Yeah.
Mike Gibson
Yeah.
Mike Ferguson
And that's where I grew up. I loved it. Now, if you're gay and you want to be around other people who share your Same interests.
Mike Gibson
Right.
Mike Ferguson
Maybe a slower paced small town. It's not going to cut it because let's face it, in some of these smaller towns, that scene just isn't there.
Mike Gibson
Yeah, correct.
Mike Ferguson
Yeah. Kevin was also struggling with relationships. His friend Vanessa Woodley told the Rolling Stone, Kevin's biggest thing was he just always wanted to feel loved and he never felt accepted by, you know, men and things like that. And I think that's probably why he was always on the dating apps and, you know, Tinder and stuff like that. Kevin's friend said he dated men who psychologically abused him or used him for things like free rides. They said he was attracted to people he thought he could fix, but then the failed relationships made him depressed.
Mike Gibson
Man, how many relationships have gone bad because you feel like you can save.
Mike Ferguson
Somebody or fix them? You know, you've heard that time and time again. A fixer upper, if you want to use that term. And it's not just women, it's men too.
Mike Gibson
Absolutely it is.
Mike Ferguson
Some people just feel, or maybe they're attracted to that type of person because they think they can really help them. Kevin was at a low point with his mental health. In late 2019, after another relationship ended, his friend Vanessa drove him to a psychiatric hospital twice that fall. His roommate Michelle told the Rolling Stone that Kevin engaged in self harm in November 2019. He checked himself into a psychiatric treatment center two weeks later. So, I mean, there's no doubt he is struggling mightily with his mental health. I think that is so very clear to see.
Mike Gibson
But he recognizes it and gets help.
Mike Ferguson
Yeah. Which is a very good thing. Sure it is. Some people are so, you know, far into the grips of whatever is going on that they can't see what's going on and or are unwilling to go get help. In December 2019, Kevin got a new job at a salon in Swartz Creek. He planned to pursue a psychology degree at the University of Michigan, Flint.
Mike Gibson
Pretty bold.
Mike Ferguson
What part? The new job at the salon or pursuing a psychology degree?
Mike Gibson
Getting that psychology degree.
Mike Ferguson
And why is it bold?
Mike Gibson
Those are not easy degrees to get.
Mike Ferguson
Says the man who got his MD and JD in the same year at the age of 15.
Mike Gibson
Look, I paid the money, got the.
Mike Ferguson
Certificate, printed the certificate. No, I get you. I'm getting with Kevin. Here's a guy who he really wants to better himself. He's not stopped trying to do that.
Mike Gibson
I wonder if he decided on that after going through what he went through.
Mike Ferguson
As far as the mental health issues. It could be. It really could have been. Maybe he Wanted to help other people with some of the same stuff that he had experienced. Kevin only had this new job for a week before he was murdered. His boss, Andrew Paint, told mlive, from the small amount of time we spent together, you could feel how deep and empathetic he was. He was very candid about his battles with depression, and we connected over our shared issues. He was truly so hopefully we've done a good job kind of painting the picture of this man, Kevin Bacon. In the late afternoon of December 24, 2019, Kevin went on the dating app Grindr and connected with a man who lived in Bennington Township. Kevin intended on meeting this man for sex that night. Kevin's roommate Michelle said he was having family problems at the time. And that day, Kevin finished his shift at the salon and met his sister and mother to do their hair. They informed him someone he didn't want to see was coming over for Christmas Eve dinner, so he decided not to attend. Kevin wanted a distraction, which is why he went on Grindr. His friend said this wasn't abnormal behavior. Kevin often bragged about his casual relationships, but he also used sex to escape his problems. While Kevin was on the phone, he chatted with Michelle about her Christmas Eve plans. She was going to a friend's place. Kevin got ready and left home at 5:20pm he texted his roommate at 6:12pm informing her he'd be out for a while and wasn't sure when he'd be back. Kevin's father reported him missing on Christmas Day after he missed breakfast with the family. And you and I talk about this a lot, especially on our unsolved episodes. You know, at what point do parents really get worried? I mean, this kid is an adult, right? Free to come and go, you know, do what he wants. But I think especially around, like, big holidays or big events, okay, he's not going to make the Christmas Eve dinner because apparently there's somebody showing up that he doesn't like.
Mike Gibson
Yeah, he doesn't want to be around.
Mike Ferguson
But it would be shocking, I think, to the family if he's supposed to be there Christmas morning, such a big day, and he doesn't show up.
Mike Gibson
Yeah, if they haven't heard from him, yes, he's not there. This is not normal.
Mike Ferguson
The police found Kevin's car at a family Dollar in Clayton Township. Inside was his phone, wallet, and some clothing. And, man, that comes up in so many episodes. It's one thing to leave your car behind. Okay, maybe something was wrong with the car. Maybe you met somebody and you got in the car. With them. But why would somebody leave their phone and wallet behind? That never, you know, really makes sense to me.
Mike Gibson
Yeah, it's hard to justify that.
Mike Ferguson
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Mike Ferguson
On December 27, the police received a tip from Michelle Myers. She figured out how to log in to Kevin's Grindr account and shared the information with detectives. She also received a tip on Social media. According to MLive, the tipster wrote, I have an idea. There's a guy, routinely on this app, he keeps having guys escape from his basement. The cops keep not pressing charges because the guys who escape admit that they went in consensually. Okay. I think when you hear about someone who keeps having guys escape from his basement. Yeah, that's somebody maybe, you know, we need to look into.
Mike Gibson
I want to just interview him, see.
Mike Ferguson
What he has to say, at the very least. Yeah, absolutely. The tipster sent a screenshot of the man's profile. The police recognized him as 50 year old Mark Latunski, who lived in a rural area 20 miles outside Swartz Creek. Latunsky was known to the authorities because two men had recently called the police to report him for chaining them up in his basement.
Mike Gibson
Yeah, I think if these guys call you and say, hey man, you need to know about this guy. He chained me to the wall of his basement. I mean, luckily I got away, but if I didn't, I don't know what was going to happen. I get like a Pulp Fiction vibe.
Mike Ferguson
Yeah. But I would also agree, you know, if you're the police and you have two different individuals calling in and saying this, that's got to raise the alarm bells, right?
Mike Gibson
Oh, yeah.
Mike Ferguson
Mark Latunsky seemed like a normal man. He was a divorced father of four who worked as a chemist until 2019. At one point he made over $100,000 a year. So he was doing pretty good.
Mike Gibson
Sure.
Mike Ferguson
According to MLive, Mark is the son of a local 4H leader. Growing up, he raised beef cattle to show in competitions. And, you know, a lot of people might not be familiar with 4H or that type of stuff where we live. That was very common growing up.
Mike Gibson
Sure was.
Mike Ferguson
Now, I lived in the subdivision, so I wasn't into raising anything. I didn't have the room. But a lot of my friends kind of lived out in more rural parts of the village that we lived in and they did raise all kinds of animals.
Mike Gibson
Yeah.
Mike Ferguson
And even showed some of them. And competitions. Or sold them later on. Yeah.
Mike Gibson
You either joined 4H or you were part of the Future Farmers of America.
Mike Ferguson
Or you were like me and did neither or didn't either because I knew that I was not going to be a future farmer. Mark excelled in academics and was valedictorian of his 1987 high school class.
Mike Gibson
Awesome.
Mike Ferguson
So he graduated about the same time you did.
Mike Gibson
Yeah.
Mike Ferguson
Now, I'm sure he was quite a.
Mike Gibson
Bit younger two years later than I did.
Mike Ferguson
Yeah. But I'M sure he was still younger, probably a lot younger.
Mike Gibson
But did he have the dual academic awards like I did?
Mike Ferguson
What'd you have?
Mike Gibson
I had the valedictorian.
Mike Ferguson
Huh. Is that similar to the valedictorian? Exactly.
Mike Gibson
I had both of those. We had. We had them both.
Mike Ferguson
You had the valedictorian and the valedictorian. Somehow you were both the valedictorian and the. What is it called? The salute.
Mike Gibson
Yeah, salute.
Mike Ferguson
I don't know. The second. Second one. That's how smart you were.
Mike Gibson
I came in first and second.
Mike Ferguson
Yeah. Mark attended Central Michigan University from 1987 to 1991. He graduated with a master's degree in chemistry from Iowa State in 1995 and started his career as a chemist. So, I mean, this guy, I mean, you'd have to say seems like he had it going on. Yeah, he had it all together.
Mike Gibson
Seems like it.
Mike Ferguson
That year, he sued the city of Ames, Iowa, because he believed the $1 monthly charge for storm sewers was unconstitutional. Strangely, he lost that suit.
Mike Gibson
Can't believe you charged me a dollar to take this stormwater off my property.
Mike Ferguson
He also claimed that his father invented the question mark. His ex wife, Emily Latunski, told him live that Mark's friends set him up on a date with her. He was always a little bit awkward, according to her, but she liked him a lot. He was very considerate and kind, she said. I fell in love with that side of him. He was very gentle. After a year of dating, the couple bought a home in Bennington Township and married in 2001. Their first child was born in 2003. Their other kids were born in 2004, 2007 and 2010. So, all right, fairly quickly. They've got a good sized family.
Mike Gibson
Yeah.
Mike Ferguson
They lived on five acres and raised goats, chickens, ducks and rabbits. Mark was said to be busy but a loving father. However, things changed a couple of weeks after their youngest daughter was born in 2010. Mark began saying things that didn't make sense. Emily told mlive he believed that he wasn't actually his mother's son, but that he was his mother's brother. And they were hiding that from him because there was some sort of family inheritance that he was going to inherit. But he had to do all the right things. He had to say all the right things. He believed that there were people watching him to make sure he did that.
Mike Gibson
Okay, getting a little bizarre there.
Mike Ferguson
Well, we talked about all the mental health issues that Kevin struggled with. It's hard for me not to believe that there's a good chance that Mark was experiencing some mental health issues of his own. Emily convinced him to get help, and he did. To appease her, he was prescribed medication but stopped taking it almost immediately. Around that time, Mark admitted he was cheating on her with men he met online. Emily recalled that he was always working. She said, and now looking back, I think, oh, gosh, I was so stupid. I should have known.
Mike Gibson
It's going to be impactful.
Mike Ferguson
Yeah. Anytime that it is revealed that your partner's cheating on you, that's going to be tough. And I'm sure a lot of people have that same thought, you know, how is this going on, you know, all of these years or however long it was going on, and I had no idea. I feel stupid. I'm sure a lot of people experience that. They went to marriage counseling. But Mark's mental health continued to decline. He accused Emily of being part of a conspiracy with managers of an enormous trust fund he was supposed to inherit. So he really had it that there was all this money that he was set to inherit. But it's like everybody in his life was either conspiring against him or at the very least, watching him to make sure that he was doing all the right things in order to get this money. In 2010 and 2012, Mark was diagnosed with severe, recurrent, and chronic major depression with psychotic features, adjustment disorder with depression and anxiety and paranoid schizophrenia and borderline personality traits.
Mike Gibson
That's a lot of items right there.
Mike Ferguson
It's a lot of different diagnoses, for sure. Mark went to treatment centers twice in 2012 and once in 2013, but it didn't help. Doctors determined his conditions could be treated with medication and. But he failed to take it regularly.
Mike Gibson
That's the problem. Right. If he's not willing to take it and you can't monitor him to make sure he takes it, doesn't do any good.
Mike Ferguson
Yeah, some of the medications they have are great, but they do require you to actually take them. And in a lot of cases, I think take them every day, not skip things like that. Emily wrote in court filings that when Mark failed to take his medication, he would watch torture horror movies, talk to himself, stay out all night, threaten to get rid of the children's animals, claim their son wasn't his child, and fail to shower and shave. And I think, Gibbs, if you're Emily, you're with this man that is the father of your four children. You've been with him for, you know, many years. This has got to be frightening stuff that's occurring.
Mike Gibson
Yeah, they Definitely feel like you would be alarmed.
Mike Ferguson
Mark falsely reported his wife to CPS for child neglect. She and the children moved out, and she filed for divorce in May 2012. And I'm sure as much as she loved him, at a certain point it just becomes too much. You know, you pass the point of no return. And maybe it was, you know, him calling cps on his wife for child neglect.
Mike Gibson
I think that'd be pretty hard to push past if your partner did something like that to you.
Mike Ferguson
Emily was upset when Mark was granted unsupervised visits with the kids. During one 2013 visit, Mark failed to return them at the scheduled time. Emily was fearful and called the police. Mark had taken the kids to a water park and refused to return them. He was arrested and charged with felony kidnapping, but the case was dismissed when he was found mentally incompetent to stand trial in 2014. And it was almost four years before Mark saw his kids again. And that doesn't surprise me. Felony kidnapping, that's a very serious charge. But the mere fact that he's found mentally incompetent to stand trial, you would think, means he's not getting visits.
Mike Gibson
You would think.
Mike Ferguson
In August 2019, his wife filed a motion to suspend his parenting time, which described his mental health history, the kidnapping case, his false claims to cps, and his claim that she and her brother tried to poison his well water. Wow, you do feel a little sorry for her. Yeah. Sounds like she went through quite a bit of hell. After the divorce was finalized, Mark remarried a man named Jamie Arnold. The marriage lasted from 2015 to September 2019 when they separated. Mark's former colleague told mlive his mental illness began impacting his job performance around 2012, saying he just thought everyone was out to get him.
Mike Gibson
Paranoia.
Mike Ferguson
Yeah, exactly. He worked for the same company for 12 years, but he was fired in February 2019 for refusing to take his medication. Mark believed his employer wanted him to put harmful chemicals in products. His ex wife noted that Mark's boss was patient and had given him many chances before firing him. And it sure sounds like it, you know, when you say that his job performance was impacted, and I'm assuming, you know, you add the word negatively in there around 2012, what, seven years later, before he gets fired. So by my way of thinking, his boss or whoever, you know, bent over backwards to try to help him keep his job.
Mike Gibson
Yeah, it really gave him the opportunity.
Mike Ferguson
Mark tried to find work as a handyman but was unsuccessful. Instead, he decided to do escort work under the alias Wilk Olikos. Vilkas. He used the name Olikos on the Grindr profile that communicated with Kevin Bacon.
Mike Gibson
Interesting name.
Mike Ferguson
Yeah, I know another guy who has a lot of interesting names. Aliases that they use on probably all kinds of different profiles. I'm not saying you're on Grindr. I'm not saying you're not. Makes no difference to me either way.
Mike Gibson
Are you saying I'm out on a bunch of different sites?
Mike Ferguson
It wouldn't shock me if you said anything. Nothing would shock me about you and your aliases and your Jason Bourne type missions. I don't know what you have going on.
Mike Gibson
Christina's like, what. What sites are you on? I'm like, I'm on no sight.
Mike Ferguson
She's probably going to want to look at your computer based on what I just said.
Mike Gibson
One of the five.
Mike Ferguson
Sorry. Sorry about that. Now she's going to want to know where all your computers are. I was just joking. You're just digging yourself a bigger and bigger hole. And you know, as we mentioned, two men had already reported Mark to the police for holding them against their will. On October 10, 201948 year old James Carlson called 911 to report that he escaped from Mark Latunsky's basement. He said he cut himself free with a butcher knife, stole his captor's car keys and ran down a three mile stretch of road. He told police that he traveled from New York to Michigan to meet Mark for sex.
Mike Gibson
Yeah. That's a long car ride, bus ride, whatever. Ride New York to Michigan for some sex.
Mike Ferguson
Seems like it, yeah. So there's 2911 calls. I want to go ahead and play it and then we'll talk more about the James Carlson.
911 Caller (James Carlson)
I'm trying to escape from some guy who had me chained up in his basement. He had you fainted in his basement? Where are you calling from? I don't know. After me. I need you to go to somewhere safe. If you can run up to somebody's house. Are you in the road? I have state troopers that aren't very far away. I see the trooper right there. He just. Yeah. And I need a ride. And I met this guy. I'm by. He was cute. He hit on me.
Advertisement Voice
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911 Caller (James Carlson)
We went out to the car. We dropped, we went to the store. I had a soda. I woke up in the basement.
Mike Ferguson
Okay.
911 Caller (James Carlson)
He obviously drugged me. I think this is a cop because that looks like an extra bright light. So I am now putting this down. I am unarmed. It is on the guardrail. Yes sir, I am. I'm not armed. I'm just really happy to see you.
Mike Ferguson
Oh, my God. All right, so he talked about being drugged. He talked about being chained up or locked in the basement. Troopers found Carlson on the side of the road within 10 minutes of his call. He said his attacker was a stranger and declined to pursue charges. In 2023, MLive provided additional context on this incident. According to the police report, Carlson was uncooperative. And after reevaluating the situation, he said he believed it was a form of sexual foreplay and not a case of false imprisonment. MLive reported that James Carlson met Mark Latunski online in July 2019. They chatted for the remainder of the year. They discussed sexual fantasies about cannibalism. Okay. There's a lot of different conversations you can have with people online.
Mike Gibson
Sure is.
Mike Ferguson
There's a lot of sexual fantasies you can talk about with people online.
Mike Gibson
Yeah.
Mike Ferguson
When you start to mix sexual fantasies and cannibalism. Well, now I think you ventured into a very strange area.
Mike Gibson
Very strange. But I believe there's those type of conversations going on all the time.
Mike Ferguson
I'm sure there are 30% of them probably had by you, but, you know, the other 70%, there's people all over the world having conversations.
Mike Gibson
Having conversations.
Mike Ferguson
But here, you know, in all seriousness, why would this guy, James Carlson kind of maybe change up his story a little bit? You know, I don't think I was falsely in prison. I think this was a little bit more of sexual foreplay.
Mike Gibson
Well, if he doesn't want the media spotlight placed on him.
Mike Ferguson
Yeah, we don't know what his situation was. You know, you mentioned it. It's a long drive from New York to Michigan for sex. Maybe he wasn't out to, you know, his friends and family back in New York. I don't know the exact situation, but there was something that caused him to kind of change his story up somewhat.
Mike Gibson
Yeah. And he could have felt threatened also.
Mike Ferguson
He could have. He could have been afraid of this guy. But it was around this time that they were chatting online that Mark constructed a kill room in his basement with caged tamper resistant lights, a 4 inch thick insulated door, and a sliding barn door that revealed the entrance. Carlson believed this room was built for him. Carlson eventually agreed to come to Michigan to meet Mark in person. And that was when he was held captive in the basement.
Mike Gibson
I think if anybody ever said, hey, I built this really cool, let's just call it a kill room. You want to come over and check it out? Let me show you what I've done here.
Mike Ferguson
I'm not sure he said he had a kill room before the guy got there or not, but you know when you're talking about your sexual fantasies with someone and they include cannibalism, and then you make the conscious decision to go meet this person, man, you got to be on your guard. Yeah.
Mike Gibson
You got to wonder if you're going.
Mike Ferguson
To be the main course.
Mike Gibson
Yeah.
Mike Ferguson
A second man escaped mark's house on November 25, 2009. The 29 year old man, who was covered in blood, ran out of Mark's home and called 911. As Mark was chasing him, he told the operator, I'm trying to get away from some creepy guy. He had me tied up in his basement. He's after me. He ran to the home of Mark's neighbor, Michael Parks, who described the incident to Fox 2 Detroit. He said he's got purple hair, he's wearing a leather skirt, and he's got a couple of belts across his chest. The gentleman is grasping my arm with deathly fear, screaming, help me keep him away. Just screaming at the top of his lungs, he wants to hurt me. He wants to hurt me. Another vehicle pulls in my driveway, and out comes who I now find out is Mark wearing a leather skirt, belts across his chest, no shoes, no shirt on. His beard is braided. He was a very odd looking gentleman.
Mike Gibson
Sounds like it.
Mike Ferguson
Well, it also sounds like maybe a couple of guys that were role playing or. Yeah, into the BDSM or whatever you want to call it, lifestyle, and things went wrong. And in the middle of that, this guy runs out of the house. Mark chases after him, but they're in their garb that they were wearing during their. Whatever's going on in that basement. A state trooper came to the neighbor's house, but no charges were filed. State police said there was nothing they could do because the two victims did not want to press charges. A state police spokesman also told the media that Mark was only chasing the man because he was wearing his leather kilt, which was expensive. He wanted that leather kilt back, or skirt, as the other man called it.
Mike Gibson
I just need my kilt back, man. Don't know why he ran off.
Mike Ferguson
It's okay if you don't want to, you know, continue our game, engage in whatever we're doing. But I do think, you know, this is an issue that maybe, you know, has. Has persisted throughout time. You have individuals who are gay who get preyed upon or who are threatened or harmed, and for whatever reason, they're reluctant to press charges. And maybe it has Something to do with their own situation.
Mike Gibson
Yeah, no, I really believe that, you know, that there's the fear of not being believed. There's a fear of it coming out the wrong way. The fear that. The fact that they haven't told people in their life, you know, their family or.
Mike Ferguson
Sure.
Mike Gibson
Work or whoever.
Mike Ferguson
Well, in the old days there was the fear that it was illegal and that as well. Actually not that long ago. Yeah, it was illegal to be gay. So I, I was watching a show, I think it was from the 70s. There was about a case in the 70s. It was set in California and someone said it was illegal to touch another man. And I'm not even talking about sexually. It was illegal to touch another man. That's what the guy said.
Mike Gibson
Handshake only, huh?
Mike Ferguson
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Mike Ferguson
Former Lt. David Kaiser said in January 2020, Nobody wanted the police there. Nobody wanted to file charges. A lot of times people have a professional life and a personal life. They don't want to intertwine the two. Their personal life is very secret, very protected. It's very true. Yeah, I think it's very well said. It might be, you know, just one of the reasons why these individuals didn't want to press charges. So we spent a little time talking about these two individuals. But I think it's relevant, right, to at least put it in perspective that this guy was on police radar, at least to some extent.
Mike Gibson
Sure.
Mike Ferguson
You know, the police are looking into the disappearance of Kevin Bacon and they decide that they're going to go to Mark's house. It was said that Mark didn't appear nervous when the police showed up to his house on December 27. He Let them in without complaint. Once inside, officers found Kevin's body hanging upside down from the basement ceiling. Mark admitted to stabbing Kevin to death, castrating him and committing acts of cannibalism. But he claimed Kevin asked him to end his life.
Mike Gibson
Like that was. It's okay because he asked me to do it.
Mike Ferguson
And that wouldn't be the first time, right, where a murderer has made that claim. Yes, I did it, but this person asked me to end their life, asked me to end their Suffering. Could that happen? Well, sure, it could happen, but then you're going to have to explain how that kind of goes with him hanging upside down and you castrating him and eating parts of him. Did he ask you to do that as well?
Mike Gibson
I'm going to say no, that he didn't say to do any of it. But if he did, I don't think he wanted you to do that.
Mike Ferguson
So I did think it was strange he just let these cops in, didn't put up a fight. He knew that Kevin's body was hanging in his basement. At first he gave the name Wulk Olekos Vilkas, then said he was Edgar Thomas Hill from the Thomas clan of Wales. But he changed his name to Mark Latunski for his own protection.
Mike Gibson
Okay, well, I've done that before with my name. Had to change it to Rex west for my own protection.
Mike Ferguson
But you know what police don't like is when you give them multiple names.
Mike Gibson
Yeah, they don't like that.
Mike Ferguson
I get it. He has an explanation, but it just doesn't seem to make any sense. Mark was charged with open murder, which would allow a jury to determine the degree of homicide and mutilation of a body. On January 6, 2020, MLive obtained court transcripts that included graphic crime scene details. Court documents stated that Kevin was stabbed in the back, his throat was cut, and his body hung by his ankles from the rafters of the ceiling. Mark Latunski admitted to using a knife to cut off Kevin's testicles and eat them.
Mike Gibson
I mean, Mark was a farmer, so I'm assuming he kind of knew how.
Mike Ferguson
To perform a castration.
Mike Gibson
Yeah.
Mike Ferguson
I don't even know what you say to that. I mean, it does give off a little bit of Silence of the Lambs vibes.
Mike Gibson
Oh, yeah, yeah, for sure.
Mike Ferguson
That month, several media outlets spoke to Mark's husband, Jamie Arnold, who said he wasn't aware of Mark's mental illness until July 2019, when Mark was arrested for failing to pay child support. He told ABC12 that he left Mark around September 2019 because he was afraid of him and he exhibited delusional behavior. He said, I knew there was something not right. He would say that the neighbor was contaminating our water, that his children were not his children, his family was not his biological family, that I was some leader of some gray, green eyed people, that the world was going to turn upside down.
Mike Gibson
The old grey green people. Isn't there an old song or something about a one eyed, green eyed purple people here?
Mike Ferguson
Did you say one eyed Green eye. There was a. Yeah. Purple People Eater. I remember that song. Yeah. I don't know exactly how it goes, but, you know, here you. You have this guy's husband who I'm sure had to be very shocked.
Mike Gibson
Oh, I would assume. I'd be like, excuse me, what. What happened?
Mike Ferguson
You cut off this guy's huevos. You ate them. Boy, am I glad I got out of that relationship. And it sounds like he had a good reason to get out. From my way of thinking, Mark's mental illness was manifesting itself in a number of different ways. At the very least, he was extremely delusional.
Mike Gibson
For sure.
Mike Ferguson
Jamie Arnold told WNEM he had no knowledge or involvement in the murder and was working to clear his name from social media allegations. And that is a shame. Right. Obviously, if he had nothing to do with the dark side of Mark Latunsky and people are lumping him in with him.
Mike Gibson
Right.
Mike Ferguson
That's. That's going to be really tough.
Mike Gibson
Sure it is.
Mike Ferguson
To see people saying horrible things about you on social media, and it's probably.
Mike Gibson
Not going to be easy to.
Mike Ferguson
Clear your name.
Mike Gibson
Yeah.
Mike Ferguson
Yeah. Arnold said, I didn't think he would ever hurt me in that type of capacity. I mean, he was my husband. I cared for him. I loved him. I never thought he was capable of such a horrendous crime. And whoever does think. When you're in a relationship with someone whom you love, whoever thinks that this person is capable of doing what Mark Latunsky did. Yeah.
Mike Gibson
I'm sure Dennis Raider's wife never thought he could do what he did.
Mike Ferguson
No.
Mike Gibson
Or the Iceman's wife.
Mike Ferguson
No. I just don't think that you could entertain those thoughts and then continue on with the relationship.
Mike Gibson
Exactly.
Mike Ferguson
If you truly thought that your loved one was capable of that, I think you're looking for the exit.
Mike Gibson
Yeah. Not going to lay down next to him in bed and close my eyes.
Mike Ferguson
No, not at all. Or at the very least, I'm going to be wearing some ironclad jockeys. Arnold noted that he Learned about the November 2019 incident from reporters. After Kevin's body was found, he was asked by a WNEM reporter. Police said that in that incident, the man reported another man being there. That man wasn't you? Arnold replied, no, that was not me. Arnold was asked if he witnessed any disturbing behavior from Mark before he moved out of their shared home in September. He responded for him to say he is someone else. He had this theory that his family wasn't his family, that he was not a Latunski, and that he was somebody else. And this whole connection with the Vikings, that his grandmother was really his mother. I don't know. There's so many crazy accusations that after a while you just start tuning things out for your own sanity. I get that. Right. I'm sure he had to know that something a little strange was going on. But did he think this guy was dangerous? It sounds like he didn't. And he basically said, you know, I just kind of tuned it out. I just let him rant and rave.
Mike Gibson
And kind of like when I come here sometimes, like, go back a year when you thought you were King Ferguson and you're like, call me King. I'm like, I'm not going to call you King. You're not the King. But eventually I'm like, you know what? It's easier if I just go along with it, right. I'm like, hey, King, I'm here. How's it going?
Mike Ferguson
Appreciate that.
Mike Gibson
Yeah.
Mike Ferguson
Arnold acknowledged that even though Mark moved out, they still spoke several times a week. Arnold initially said he last saw Mark on Christmas Day and nothing seemed wrong. However, later in his interview, he said he gave Mark a ride home on December 27, but said he didn't go into the house. And Kevin's body was found just hours later. Arnold was asked if he thought Mark had committed murder before he answered, given the evidence at hand, I think it could very well be possible, considering that he told somebody that I myself could come up missing. And I always think that, yeah, sure. It's like, do you just wake up one morning and say, you know, I am going to kill this person. I'm going to hang them upside down, I'm going to cut off their testicles and I'm going to eat them? Yeah, technically you could, but does it make it seem like more likely you've had some practice? You've done this before?
Mike Gibson
Yeah, potentially. I mean, you always have to have your first, right?
Mike Ferguson
That is true, yeah.
Mike Gibson
Sounds terrible saying that it does.
Mike Ferguson
But there is a first time for everything. On January 8, 2020, Mark entered an insanity plea and the judge ordered a competency test. His public Defender said, per ABC12, he believes he's named someone else. He believes he's from a rural family out of Wales, the Thomas clan. In February 2020, Mark was briefly hospitalized after being found unresponsive during a routine cell check. He had not been eating for a period of time. On February 27, the judge deemed Mark unfit for trial and ordered him to be transferred to a psychiatric facility. The case was put on hold while he received treatment. And with everything that we've said about Mark Latunski and others have said about him, he is either putting on one hell of an elaborate act, or he really is experiencing some very serious mental health issues. And he was diagnosed with a number of different mental health issues. So it doesn't surprise me at all that he was deemed unfit for trial. In June 2020, James Carlson filed a lawsuit against Mark, alleging he tied him down in his home and held him captive in his basement after he traveled from New York to engage in consensual sex. According to the suit, what Mr. Carlson did not expect is that during his stay, defendant Latunski would end up chaining him down in his basement and holding him captive. After he thought defendant Latunski had fallen asleep, Mr. Carlson, terrified, cut himself loose using a butcher knife and ran down the street in the middle of nowhere in order to call the police.
Mike Gibson
Yeah, I think if you went over there for some fun and games, maybe the next thing you found out that you wake up and you've been shackled.
Mike Ferguson
Through the wall, illegally detained.
Mike Gibson
Yeah, I think it's going to change your perspective.
Mike Ferguson
Carlson claimed he met Mark's husband on Facebook and the husband introduced him to Mark. Mark picked him up at a bus stop on October 10, 2019. And once they arrived at the house, he was informed Mark's husband had moved out. And I thought that was a really strange kind of set of circumstances. It almost makes it seem. Now, I'm not alleging this, but it almost makes it seem as though Mark's husband had a little bit to do with setting all of this up. Now, maybe he had no idea what was ultimately going to happen. Yeah, but why are you setting your ex up with someone? It seems strange.
Mike Gibson
Or could you say that maybe Mark had another profile of his husband to help bait people in.
Mike Ferguson
And did the whole thing himself?
Mike Gibson
Yeah.
Mike Ferguson
Yeah, could be. You could make the argument that a person would be more apt to travel to someone's home, that they didn't know if they thought they were married.
Mike Gibson
Yes.
Mike Ferguson
And that the husband was okay with it. John Marco, James Carlson's lawyer, told the Rolling Stone that after he escaped, officers dropped James off at a gas station with no money and no way to get home and did not make any further inquiries into the incident. The lawyer suggested that if James were not a gay man, the situation would have been treated differently. Marco said there should have been further investigation. There should have been further follow up. Just some basic police work and some basic follow up, I think could have changed this whole situation and Mr. Bacon.
Mike Gibson
Might be alive, there's probably some truth behind that.
Mike Ferguson
There is, but you do have to remember that both of these individuals, right. Carlson and the other man who called 911 kind of changed their stories a little bit. I think Carlson said later on that it was just sexual foreplay. He wasn't really detained. Now, we don't know the reasoning behind that.
Mike Gibson
Right.
Mike Ferguson
We speculated on what the reason might be, but, you know, is that what caused the police to just kind of drop it? You're not pressing charges now. You're not even saying that there was an illegal act that took place, so what is there to do?
Mike Gibson
Right.
Mike Ferguson
But could you go at least talk to the guy? I think they could have, yeah.
Mike Gibson
Now, would that have changed anything with Mark, knowing his mental state?
Mike Ferguson
I don't know.
Mike Gibson
Yeah.
Mike Ferguson
I don't know. Kevin's friends agreed with John Marco. Michelle Myers told Rolling Stone. How come Latunsky wasn't questioned then? Is it because it's just gay guys doing stuff in a basement? What would have happened if a girl was chained in the basement and ran out of there, even if she said, don't worry about it, maybe the police would have investigated it more.
Mike Gibson
I think she made a good point.
Mike Ferguson
No, I think there is a good point there. Now, we're not talking about 20, 30 years ago. This is only about five years ago. But still, was there something on the part of the police that said, you know, this is just a couple of gay guys doing their thing. Maybe it got out of hand, but we're really not going to check in on because of that fact. And I think some people have made that argument and it could be correct. I don't know. In 2023, MLive reported that Mark texted James Carlson in the early hours of December 25th. I killed Kevin Bacon. Kevin Bacon is my heroes. The text was accompanied by a photo of food in a skillet.
Mike Gibson
So really messed up there.
Mike Ferguson
Yeah. Because we can imagine what type of food it is. Prosecutor said heroes is a term assigned to a cannibal's victim. Carlson responded, I hope you enjoy them. Can I see more pics of my room?
Mike Gibson
That's messed up.
Mike Ferguson
It is. And it definitely makes it seem as though, you know, this Carlson guy was into some of these same things. Right. Cannibalism. And, you know, he's asking for pics of his room as though he knows about it, he knows what it's for. And I thought this was so strange. Can I see pics of my room? This is a man who said, he escaped from Mark's basement. And then it also appears as though he's definitely okay with the cannibalism aspect and he's okay with the fact that this guy is dead. On October 5, 2020, Mark was declared competent for trial. On October 23, the judge found there was enough evidence for Mark to stand trial. The defense asked the judge to add a charge of assisted suicide because the evidence showed Kevin worked with Mark to end his life. But the judge denied the request. At the hearing, MSP Detective James Moore described Mark's confession to the court. Detective Moore said none of Kevin's messages suggested he wanted Mark to kill him and he even asked for reassurance he would be safe. According to mlive, he Kevin told Mark he was interested in a sexual scenario where he would have a complete loss of control. They agreed that Mark would make Kevin feel afraid to induce a fight or flight response. They agreed once the scene is over, you are returned. Kevin asked, you are going to keep me safe, right? Mark replied, I will show you how. I'm going to transport you and let you determine if I am trustworthy. And to me, this is a very scary situation when you're giving over complete control to someone. Well, how much more vulnerable can you be, Gibbs? Especially if you don't know it, but ultimately you're giving that type of control to a killer. Yeah, really scary, scary stuff. During his interview on December 28, Mark described the sexual fantasy he claimed Kevin asked for. They met at the Family Dollar parking lot in Clayton Township where Kevin's vehicle was found. Kevin removed his clothing and put on a blindfold, earmuffs, ankle restraints and wrist restraints. Latunski drove to his home with Kevin in the back of his van, covered with a blanket. After their sexual encounter, which was consensual, according to Mark, he and Kevin talked about how they could make his body disappear. Kevin told him he was suicidal. In the past. Now, a very important point to make is that this is all coming from Mark.
Mike Gibson
Yeah, it's one sided.
Mike Ferguson
It's one sided. Kevin Bacon can't tell his side of the story. But even if you believe Mark, the point at which he says they started to talk about how they could make Kevin's body disappear, that really starts to kind of veer off the path for me. Could this guy have wanted a scenario as Mark described where he was restrained, he was blindfolded, all of that. Could they have had consensual sex? Yeah, possibly. But then how does the conversation then veer to, well, how do we get rid of Your body.
Mike Gibson
Right.
Mike Ferguson
I don't want you to get rid of my body.
Mike Gibson
Exactly. Whoever said I wanted you to get.
Mike Ferguson
Rid of my body? That's where it just seems to be very strange. Mark stabbed Kevin in the back of the neck. When he realized Kevin wasn't dead, he slit his throat because he didn't want him to suffer. Their agreement was that he would kill Kevin and use his body. He would use parts of his body to grow plants and make jerky out of his muscles. And this use of the word agreement is throwing me for a loop here.
Mike Gibson
Sure it is.
Mike Ferguson
So you're telling me that this guy, Kevin Bacon, during the conversations he had with Mark, was up for being killed, and then his body being used to grow plants and. And be turned into jerky? I'm not saying it's completely out of the realm of possibility. It just doesn't sound very believable to me.
Mike Gibson
Yeah, it's pretty hard to swallow.
Mike Ferguson
A few days after the murder, the United States Postal Service intercepted a package for Mark that contained a dehydrator.
Mike Gibson
Well, clearly, Mark was ready to move forward with the jerky aspect, because that.
Mike Ferguson
Is how you make jerky.
Mike Gibson
Yeah, one of the ways.
Mike Ferguson
What's the other way?
Mike Gibson
Build a nice little fire, put the strips on a log.
Mike Ferguson
Well, you're still dehydrating it. Yeah, but you're just not using a dehydrator. Okay. Yeah, I got you. Kevin's father, Carl Bacon, told him live. I had a hard time believing Kevin would have entered into a suicide pact with anyone. He was planning on going back to school in January. He had just started a new job, and so things were starting to look up for him and the situation that put him in the hospital in November that he put behind him. But I just wonder, Gibbs, had Kevin told Mark about some of his issues and therefore, once caught, Mark kind of used that in his defense.
Mike Gibson
Yeah, I think he exploited those issues.
Mike Ferguson
Over a year later, in April 2022, a new psychological evaluation was submitted declaring Mark competent to stand trial. His attorney felt the evaluation was necessary because Mark's status deteriorated in recent communications. And that doesn't surprise me. I can't imagine it getting better. At a May hearing, the doctor who assessed him testified per mlive he was much less preoccupied with misbeliefs and was able to engage in a give and take conversation with me and then sustain that for a longer period of time. Discussing his options, Mark was also able to ascertain the difference between pleading guilty and not guilty and. And other options available to him. On September 22, 2022, Mark Latunski pleaded guilty to open murder and mutilation of a body just three weeks before his scheduled trial. He made the plea against his attorney's recommendation. His lawyers were interested in presenting an insanity defense at trial.
Mike Gibson
I think his defense team could have went that route, maybe have been successful.
Mike Ferguson
Well, I'm sure they thought they had a chance, but it's not the first time we've heard of this, right. That somebody just days, weeks before their, their trial is set to commence, they plead guilty. Why is that? Because they know they're going to be found guilty. They don't want to go through the hassle of the trial. They don't want to have to talk about certain things, spare the victim's family, according to them. A lot of times they say that I don't believe it very often. His attorney, Marc Chartier said in court, per mlive while this is not an outcome that defense attorney Mr. Krause and I think is in Mr. Latunski's best interest, we do have to follow his wishes. We have discussed this matter inconsistently. He's been very clear more than once, multiple times, on his choice and on his reasoning. A later hearing was scheduled for the judge to determine the degree of murder for sentencing. On October 19, 2022, the judge ruled that Mark was guilty of first degree murder, which comes with the mandatory life sentence without parole. Judge Matthew Stewart said, as quoted by cbs, the court finds that this is a crime of cold calculation. Kevin Bacon's death was Mark Latunsky's design, and it's hard to argue with that statement now. I think the big thing here is that he was found competent to stand trial. Yes. Could his defense team have mounted an insanity defense? Sure, they could have. By and large, I don't think the success rate of those is very high. Sure. So most likely he was going to be convicted. On December 15, 2022, Mark Latunsky was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole for murder and 11 to 120 months for mutilation of a body. Kevin's family has emphasized that Mark Latunsky's claims of a suicide pact are untrue. Although Kevin did have a history of mental health struggles, he was in a better place at the time of his death and was making plans for the future. Mark Latunski had a history of predatory behavior towards men he met online. Kevin was unaware of this when he connected with Mark on the dating app. And that's not something you're going to put in your dating app profile.
Mike Gibson
Yeah, I highly doubt that.
Mike Ferguson
I routinely bring men down to my basement and chained them up, and a couple of times they've gotten away.
Mike Gibson
Probably not going to get the responses that you would get if you left that out.
Mike Ferguson
Kevin's father said after the hearing in October, per Fox 2 Detroit. It's gut wrenching to hear the details, and we're just beside ourselves. What was released Monday shows that Kevin had a dark side. He obviously got into something that he wasn't prepared for.
Mike Gibson
It would be rough to hear that about your child.
Mike Ferguson
Yeah. Yeah, I think it would be rough for any family. Regardless of what someone's sexual orientation is, some people have a dark side when it comes to whatever they're into.
Mike Gibson
Sure.
Mike Ferguson
Some people like to choke themselves with belts.
Mike Gibson
Yeah.
Mike Ferguson
Which has led to some actually pretty famous people dying in, like, the closets of hotel rooms. People are into all kinds of stuff.
Mike Gibson
They are.
Mike Ferguson
Now, what have I always said? If you're not hurting anyone else, I say pour it on.
Mike Gibson
That's what you've always told me.
Mike Ferguson
And it seems you've lived by that or taken that to heart. But if you're Kevin's father and it's coming out that, okay, most likely your son was into, you know, some of this BDSM type stuff, and. And I guess that's what he's calling the dark side. Sure, that would be tough to hear, but as we wrap this one up, Gibbs, I mean, obviously there's a lot going on. I do think that this Mark Latunski was a predator. You know, these two guys escaped from his dungeon, we'll call it. Well, what happens to these two guys if they don't? Do they end up with the same fade as Kevin Bacon did? Possibly. And that dovetails into the obvious question, which is how many more victims could this guy have?
Mike Gibson
Could have been a lot more.
Mike Ferguson
It could have been. It could be that Kevin Bacon was his first murder. I don't know. I never know in some of these situations.
Mike Gibson
But also keep thinking about what Michelle said. Right. If that was a woman that ran up to the police and said, I've been chained in this guy's basement, I think they would have went to the house.
Mike Ferguson
I agree.
Mike Gibson
And found themselves inside that house checking it out.
Mike Ferguson
Yeah, I agree. And it's a sad commentary. You go back to, like, Jeffrey Dahmer, and obviously that was many, many years ago. You can draw some of the. Some similar parallels. Right. One of his victims ran out in the middle of the street. True. And Dahmer Goes out and is able to kind of talk the police into, ah, he just had too much to drink, and. And they let him take this guy back.
Mike Gibson
And we know what happened after that.
Mike Ferguson
Yeah. Yeah, I kind of agree with you. I. I feel like if it was a woman and she said, well, you know, it got out of hand. I don't really want to press charges. But she did say she was chained up in the basement. I think they would have went and checked on it. Yeah, we need to kind of check.
Mike Gibson
On this guy, see what's going on over there.
Mike Ferguson
I really do. But, you know, the way that Mark killed Kevin and obviously what he did to his body afterwards, it's gruesome.
Mike Gibson
Sure it is.
Mike Ferguson
I mean, eating the man's testicles after you cut them off and then kind of claiming that Kevin wanted him to do it, Kevin wanted to die and boasting about it. Yeah.
Mike Gibson
I mean, sending a picture of a frying pan with meat in it to.
Mike Ferguson
A guy who had already escaped his dungeon. I'm still unclear about that part, but I. I feel like it's a real slap in the face of the family. I'm sure they feel that way, too, that this guy came out and said, no, I didn't murder your son. He wanted me to kill him. And so I obliged. And then I just happened to, you know, hang him upside down, cut off parts of him, eat them. And also, obviously, once they deliver my dehydrator, then I'm going into full production mode.
Mike Gibson
Right.
Mike Ferguson
And, you know, like we said for the family, that's got to be just really tough to take.
Mike Gibson
So disturbed.
Mike Ferguson
But that's it for our episode on Mark Latunski. He's. He's where he. He needs to be. He'll die in prison and should. But we got some voicemails. Gibbs, you want to check those out?
Mike Gibson
Let's hear them.
Listener Callers (Michaela and Carla)
Hi, my name is Michaela, formerly known as Dixie Normous. Anyways, I just want to say that I love y'. All. I listen to y' all for a long time. Me and my mom made a joke about the Dixie Norm is waiting for y' all to say it. So thank you for being a good sport. You have no idea how hard me and my mom have laughed. Anyways, I was just listening to Yalls Patreon, and I don't know if I'm just slow or what, but I just realized that tcat means true crime all the time. I don't know how that just clicked, but I was always so confused of why y' all Keep saying tcat. Tcat. And I looked it up, and I was like, is it like an extra, like, thing, like Patreon or what is it? And then I literally just had the epiphany that it is Yalls podcast name. Anyways, I just want to let y' all know that.
Mike Ferguson
And.
Listener Callers (Michaela and Carla)
Yep. So keep doing what y' all are doing. And I think everyone. Everyone always says, keep your own time ticking. Okay, bye.
Mike Gibson
Wait, what? T Cat is the initials of the podcast?
Mike Ferguson
Yes.
Mike Gibson
Really?
Mike Ferguson
But you know what? I guarantee you she's not the only one that doesn't realize that.
Mike Gibson
Really?
Mike Ferguson
Because it's not like we say it all the time.
Mike Gibson
It's true.
Mike Ferguson
We say tcat. We say true crime all the time. We don't say TCAT is short for true crime all the time.
Mike Gibson
We don't go tca.
Mike Ferguson
TT no. Sometimes I do in the ads.
Mike Gibson
Do you?
Mike Ferguson
Yeah. Yeah. Because some people spell it T, C, A, T. Yes, tcat.
Mike Gibson
But that's not it.
Mike Ferguson
No. Because it's all the time.
Mike Gibson
That's right. A bit of lay it down the right way.
Mike Ferguson
But I got a kick out of her and her mom, you know, probably sitting around brainstorming, you know, what name can we come up with that is really going to cause them issues with trying to say it?
Mike Gibson
If they can say that, you know, that one word.
Listener Callers (Michaela and Carla)
Hi, guys. I love your podcast. This is Carla from Washington. Originally Colorado. But I live in Washington now. Anyway, you guys are the best. I have to call. I'm sick of everybody being team Gibby. I am Team Fergie all the way. Come on, y'.
Mike Ferguson
All.
Listener Callers (Michaela and Carla)
Fergie's awesome, too. Anyway, thank you for what you do. You guys are awesome. Keep your head on the swivel. Bye.
Mike Ferguson
All right. Thank you so much. I mean, I, I. You know, I've been thinking that I don't say it out loud very often.
Mike Gibson
You've got so many Team Fergie.
Mike Ferguson
I do. I do. It's, you know, and people make more out of it than what it is. I don't know how we even got started joking around about it, but people take it seriously, as they should. But gibbies, it's okay, you know, it's okay that you have more fans than me. It's the way I've designed your Persona.
Mike Gibson
Or maybe just more of my call in.
Mike Ferguson
It could be, you know, it could be.
Listener Callers (Michaela and Carla)
Yeah.
Mike Ferguson
I don't know. Because they feel like they need to defend you. They feel like I do need to fend it. They feel like you need their support. I do need their support more than I do. I don't know why. No. We love all of you. Whoever you root for, as long as you listen, that's all that matters.
Mike Gibson
You're awesome, no matter if you like freaky or not.
Mike Ferguson
All right, everyone, that is it for another episode of True Crime. All the Time. So for Mike and Gibby, stay safe and keep your own time ticking. Sa.
In this unsettling episode, hosts Mike Ferguson and Mike Gibson (aka Gibby) examine the chilling case of Mark Latunski, a Michigan man convicted of the gruesome 2019 murder of Kevin Bacon (not the actor, but a local man). The episode delves into both victim and perpetrator’s backgrounds, the series of failures leading up to the crime, disturbing details of the murder, and the systemic factors that may have enabled the crime to happen. With their characteristic balance of seriousness and dark humor, Mike and Gibby break down the timeline, the personalities involved, and the lasting impact of the case.
(03:32–13:58)
Background:
Personal Issues:
(18:20–22:00)
Christmas Eve 2019:
Initial Search:
(24:36–36:03)
Background:
Predatory Behavior & Escalation:
(38:13–48:48)
James Carlson Incident (October 2019):
Second Escaped Victim (November 2019):
(49:32–53:21)
Discovery:
Confessions and Mangled Defense:
(62:22–64:31, 76:59–78:13)
(57:18–72:03)
Discussion of Kevin’s mental health and hope for future:
“He was planning on going back to school in January. He had just started a new job, and so things were starting to look up for him…” (70:57, Carl Bacon, Kevin’s father)
On cannibalistic sexual chats:
“There’s a lot of different conversations you can have with people online ... When you start to mix sexual fantasies and cannibalism. Well, now I think you ventured into a very strange area.” (40:12, Mike Ferguson)
On police disregard of LGBTQ victims:
“...if it was a woman and she said, well, you know, it got out of hand. I don't really want to press charges. But she did say she was chained up in the basement. I think they would have went and checked on it.” (77:14, Mike Gibson)
On grief and aftermath:
“It’s gut wrenching to hear the details, and we’re just beside ourselves. What was released Monday shows that Kevin had a dark side. He obviously got into something that he wasn’t prepared for.” (74:51, Kevin’s father, Carl Bacon)
Hosts’ Dark Humor:
“A kill room? You want to come over and check it out? I’m not sure he said he had a kill room before the guy got there…” (42:10, Mike Ferguson)
“I do think that this Mark Latunski was a predator ... how many more victims could this guy have?” (76:24, Mike Ferguson)
Hosts’ final thoughts:
Mark Latunski was a predator enabled by his community’s indifference and own declining mental health, who will now likely spend the rest of his life in prison. The episode calls for greater awareness, less stigma, and better institutional follow-up—because lives, like Kevin Bacon’s, are at stake.
[End of Summary]