Man, 50, charged with murdering and mutilating Kevin Bacon – a hairstylist he met on gay dating app Grindr
A MAN has been charged with killing and mutilating a hairstylist called Kevin Bacon after meeting on Grindr on Christmas Eve.
Mark Latunski, 50, met 25-year-old Bacon — no relation to the famous actor — around 5pm after the two arranged to meet through the gay dating app, police said.
Bacon, a psychology student and hairdresser, texted his friend he was having fun and wasn’t sure when he’d be back, .
The 25-year-old’s dad grew concerned when Bacon didn’t show up for Christmas breakfast at their home in Michigan, and hours later contacted police about his disappearance.
Bacon’s car, with his belongings inside, was soon found in a parking lot, police said.
The man’s body was found dead three days later inside Latunski’s house in Bennington Township, roughly 80 miles northwest of Detroit, officials said.
“For obvious reasons I’m thinking this morning about the friends and Family of this young person Kevin Bacon,” the star wrote.
The “Footloose” star continued: His life was taken from him much too soon. His love was hair dressing. I bet he would have done a great job on this mess on my head. RIP KB.”
Star shared a link to a GoFundMe in support of Bacon’s family and donated $20,000.
Latunski was charged in 2013 with custodial kidnapping — and was initially declared incompetent to stand trial — but when a psychiatric center deemed him competent enough, the alleged victim dismissed the charges.
The 50-year-old was being held without bond. He has a preliminary exam scheduled for January 8 and a pretrial hearing on January 14.
Years before Bacon’s murder, Stephen Port, a British man nicknamed “The Grindr Killer” was convicted of drugging and killing four men he met on the app.
In 2016, Port was sentenced to life in prison after Anthony Walgate, Jack Taylor, Daniel Whitworth and Gabriel Kovari died from an overdose of date-rape drug GHB.
Bacon’s death was at least the second Grindr-linked murder in Michigan in 2019 after Demetrius Nelson, a 26-year-old from Detroit, fatally shot a man he met on the app.
Nelson also left another man critically wounded. Prosecutors said they were targeted because of their sexual orientations.