SHIAWASSEE COUNTY, MI -- Two men ran frantic and terrified from Mark Latunski’s basement on separate occasions just months before Kevin Bacon was allegedly slain at the home, according to 911 calls released to The Flint Journal-MLive on Jan. 23.
Latunski, 50, has since been charged with open murder and mutilation of a body in connection with the Dec. 28, 2019 death of 25-year-old Bacon.
Bacon was stabbed in the back, his body hung from his ankles, his throat cut and parts of him were eaten, say police who searched the house of the man accused of killing him, possibly on Christmas Eve or early Christmas Day.
The Flint Journal-MLive obtained the 911 calls from Shiawassee County Dispatch through a Freedom of Information Act request.
The first man called 911 on Oct. 10, 2019. He told the dispatcher he came from New York to Michigan.
The man, whose name is redacted in the 911 call, tells the dispatcher he was in the state for work purposes. He describes a man hitting on him at the bus station upon his arrival and going out to grab a drink.
The man tells the dispatcher he later woke up in the basement of a home.
“I don’t know if he drugged me,” he says. “I woke up in the ... basement. Chained in the basement.”
The man said he used butcher knife to cut a leather strap on his ankle which was connected to a metal chain. He said he then fled the house.
He says he carried the knife out of the home and wouldn’t put it down until he saw police.
“I’m from New York. I’m walking down the street with a butcher’s knife. Sweetheart, I need help," he tells the dispatcher.
The man also tells the dispatcher he’s lost and doesn’t know what direction he’s headed in, which is why he called 911. He says he doesn’t want to make a criminal case out of it and that it was not a kidnapping situation.
Michigan State Police Lt. David Kaiser confirmed troopers were called to the area and provided the man a ride to a local gas station. The man then contacted Latunski and returned to the home on the same evening, according to Kaiser.
“Nobody wanted the police there. Nobody wanted to file charges,” Kaiser said. “A lot of times people have a professional life and personal life. They don’t want to intertwine the two. Their personal life is very secret, very protected.”
Similarly, no charges were pressed in a Nov. 25, 2019 incident in which a 29-year-old man wearing a leather kilt ran from the home. His name is also redacted from the recording of the 911 call.
The man tells a dispatcher he escaped from a home where he was chained up in the basement. He says he was being chased.
“I’m trying to get away from some creepy guy,” the man says at the beginning of the call. “He had me tied up in his basement.”
The man tells the dispatcher he doesn’t know where he is.
“I don’t know where I’m at,” he says.
An overcast sky settles atop West Tyrrell Road from the viewpoint of the driveway of Mark D. Latunski's house on Wednesday, Jan. 8, 2020 in Bennington Township. (Jake May | MLive.com)Jake May | MLive.com
Police later discovered the reason he was being chased was that he left the home and the leather kilt was expensive.
“He’s after me,” the man says.
The man says he ran down the road and talked to someone who helped tell him where he was at.
“Nobody said anything illegal happened,” said Kaiser of both incidents. “If you don’t have a victim, nothing illegal happened.”
Charges can be filed by the state on behalf of a victim in a domestic situation, but Kaiser said these incidents don’t fall under those guidelines.
Latunski remains in the Shiawassee County Jail without bond.
Shiawassee Chief District Judge Ward L. Clarkson approved a motion submitted for Latunski by a public defender to undergo competency and forensic evaluations.
Latunski will now be moved from the Shiawassee County Jail to the Center for Forensic Psychiatry near Saline for the evaluations. The process may take from 60-90 days, if not longer, and further court sessions are on hold until the report is submitted.
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