02x10 - I Know That There Is True Evil Out There

[bunniefuu]

[♪ dramatic music playing]

[narrator] 25-year-old Kevin Bacon
is a hopeless romantic...

[♪ pop music playing]

...looking for that someone special
in his small Midwestern town.

♪♪

Kevin wanted to be someone's person,

but he got friend-zoned a lot.

[narrator]
So, until Prince Charming shows up,

he turns to dating apps
for that feeling of connection.

[Michelle Meyers] Kevin would meet them,
maybe hook up multiple times,

and then that was it.

♪♪

[narrator]
But when Kevin doesn't come home...

[police radio chatter]

Why is his clothing in the car?

[police radio chatter]

[narrator]
...the secrets kept hidden in his phone...

He asked, "Am I gonna be safe?"

[narrator]
...just might link his search for love

to the search for a k*ller.

I know that there is
real, true evil out there,

and this was an example of that.

[♪ dramatic crescendo]

[speaker 1] She solved her own m*rder
from beyond the grave.

[speaker 2]
The fitness app on the phone.

It was overwhelming evidence.

♪ I've been haunted
by the visions ♪

♪ That I've seen
with my own eyes ♪

♪ And the only way to find you ♪

♪ Is to go beneath the lies ♪

[speaker 3]
She did help catch this k*ller.

♪ I wanna take you to
this place I know ♪

♪ I wanna take you to... ♪

[narrator] It's Christmas Eve 2019
in Swartz Creek, Michigan.

♪ I wanna take you to this place I know ♪

While this quaint rural village

in the shadow of Flint, Michigan,
is celebrating the season,


walks out his front door

and vanishes.

-[bells jingling]
-[truck rumbling]

His roommate, Michelle, is the first
to realize that something is up.

[Michelle]
My name is Michelle Meyers.

I was Kevin's best friend,
roommate, confidante.

[muffled clap]

[♪ ominous music playing]

When I woke up in the morning,
I got a call and a text from his sister,

who had asked where Kevin was.

Since it was Christmas morning,

he was supposed to have
breakfast with his family.

This is unlike Kevin to not
show up on Christmas morning,

and to not text me anything
and let me know,

like, where he is.

[line ringing]

I called several times and got no answer.

♪♪

Kevin was super punctual,
so him not being there,

I was a little bit,
you know, weirded out.

[line ringing]

[narrator] Kevin's connection to Michelle
and his family is strong,

and if he isn't answering
either of them,

something must be up.

So, as the afternoon passes
with still no word from Kevin,

his worried parents call police.

[line ringing]

[Joshua Dirkse]
I'm Detective Sergeant Joshua Dirkse.

I work for the Michigan State Police
out of the Flint post.

Metro Police Department took
the original missing person report

and started the investigation looking into
potentially where he could be.

Who his associates are, who he had
been talking to, where he had gone.

[♪ ominous music continues]

[narrator] Investigators don't know
much about Kevin,

but they do know the holidays are tough.

Kevin could have voluntarily
disappeared for a little while.

People do that all the time,
especially around the holidays.

They just, they need to get away.

[narrator] All police know
is that Kevin is an adult

who didn't show up for breakfast.

That's not necessarily
a cause for concern,

but Kevin's loved ones just know
there's something wrong.

♪ Chasing shadows out our windows... ♪

I've known Kevin since he moved
to Swartz Creek in 4th grade.

♪♪

We knew each other, we were friends,
and kind of hit it off more

as we got into middle school.

And then, by the time we graduated,
we were, like, best friends.

♪ Chasing shadows ♪

He was just like, I don't wanna say weird,
but like, the good kind of weird.

Like, I'm weird, and he's weird,

so we just clicked in
our weirdness together. [laughs]

He was an all-around just bright light
that, you know, everybody really needed.

♪♪

Kevin was one of my best friends.

[♪ upbeat music playing]

Kevin was tall, bald...
[giggles]

and always had nails
and makeup on.

He cared about the way he looked,

and I think that he liked making
other people feel that same way.

[hair dryer whirring]

[♪ gentle music playing]

He was big on tattoos,
and he had some beautiful artwork.

"Beauty k*ller" across his chest,

'cause that was
Jeffree Star's cosmetic line.

He had a couple Taylor Swift ones

and a couple of Lady Gaga ones also.

Man, I'm like, "I'm so jealous! I haven't
gotten a tattoo in, like, two years!

I don't have the money anymore."
He's like, "I don't either, but...

[laughs]
it makes me feel good."

He had a really big personality.

He was a lot of fun. Big heart, too.

Anything you needed help with,
he was there.

[♪ ominous music playing]

[narrator] Kevin may have
been smiling on the outside,

but inside, he often
struggled with his sexuality

and his search for
connections with others.

♪ Breathing in, breathing out ♪

In high school, even if I think he knew
deep down that "I'm g*y,"

I don't think he felt like
he could even admit it to himself.

And we, like, tried to make him
feel comfortable about that.

[narrator] Finding acceptance
with your friends is one thing.

-[keypad clacking]
-Finding someone to share

the rest of your life with
is something else.

And he often discussed the struggle
with his good friend, LeRae.

Kevin was looking for love.
He wanted to be in a relationship.

[♪ soft music playing]

Kevin wanted to be
someone's person.

He would put all
of his feelings out there,

but they were never returned
from the other side.

[narrator] If that lasting
connection is out of reach,

at least there are plenty of guys eager
for a hookup on the dating apps.

He got friend-zoned a lot,
so then he would go look

for a quick fix on one of the sites.

[♪ electronic crescendo]

[narrator]
The last time Michelle saw Kevin,

he was getting ready
for a hot date with a new guy.

[Michelle]
A lot of people do date online.

And by the time Kevin
moved in with me,

he was pretty comfortable
meeting men on the dating apps.

♪ Coming for you, coming for you,
coming for you, coming for you ♪

[Michelle]
Kevin would meet them, they'd hook up,

maybe they'd chat,
maybe sometimes befriend each other,

or they'd maybe hook up multiple times,
and then that was it.

[narrator]
All Michelle knows is that Kevin was going

to meet someone
on Christmas Eve.

She has no idea who that is.

Kevin told me he was going to meet
with a guy in Swartz Creek.

He just said,
"Hey, I'm going to meet with this guy,

and I'll be back later."

[♪ ominous music playing]

This is where Kevin was last seen.

We had a Nest Doorbell

that captured footage of
him leaving our house.

[insects chirping]

He went straight to his car,
and then-- and that was it.

[car engine starting]

[narrator]
Kevin's parents know he's g*y,

but they don't know about
his online dating habits.

And Kevin wants to keep it that way.

But it's now been nearly 20 hours
since Michelle last heard from him,

and she feels she has no choice.

[♪ soft electronic music playing]

It put me in a very tight spot

because I don't know how to say
that he was meeting up

with a stranger online
and hooking up with them,

because his--
at this point, like, his--

his family didn't know
any of that stuff at all.

[line ringing]

[voicemail] Your call has been forwarded
to an automatic voice message system.

[narrator] Michelle puts Kevin's safety
before his secrets.

So, I texted Kevin, and I just told him,

"I'm really sorry,
but I don't have a choice."

♪ There's no turning back now ♪

[Michelle] "I'm gonna have
to tell them that you've met

with a stranger and some details
about your lifestyle."

♪ There's no turning back now ♪

[♪ ominous music playing]

[narrator] Kevin's father, Carl,
rushes over to Michelle's

to find out what she knows.

[Michelle] I told Kevin's dad
he was meeting with somebody

on a dating app for a hookup.

He didn't really know about Kevin
being more sexually active.

It was kind of like an awkward
conversation, I guess.

[narrator] Michelle tells police
about Kevin's mystery hookup, too.

[phone ringing]

And they get to work
figuring out who he is.

But at the moment,
they're more focused on Kevin's past

and his history of self-harm.

[Dirkse] We knew that he had
struggled with some depression

and had suicidal ideations.

You know, a lot of times,
holidays can bring that on.

[♪ somber music playing]

[narrator]
Kevin's struggles with depression

are something his friends
are all too aware of.

I remember in early high school,
I would look at Kevin,

and I'd see marks on
his arms from cutting.

We would ask Kevin
if he had been seeing a therapist

or if that was a possibility.

And it was difficult

because just money was tight financially

for him and his family.

[narrator] It all boils over
into a suicide attempt in 2018.

[Michelle] Kevin sent me a text.
He had cut himself quite bad.

[echoing text bloops]

And then, he did tell me
that he had overdosed.

And then, his mother contacted me

and told me that he was
admitted to the hospital.

[machines beeping]

[narrator]
Alarm bells go off for investigators.

Did Kevin's depression
take over again?

We are trying to follow up.
There's been no indication

that anything tragic
has happened to Kevin.

Kevin did in the past suffer

from some mental health struggles
and had been suicidal.

[♪ ominous tone playing]

[phone ringing]

[narrator] While detectives are working
through all potential leads,

they get an unexpected call
from Kevin's parents.

They've been driving around town
looking for Kevin themselves

and they just found something troubling.

[police radio chatter]

[Jim Moore] Kevin Bacon's vehicle
was found by his parents

in the strip mall on Miller Road,

approximately a mile and a half
from his residence.

[narrator] What the investigators
discover inside the car

turns this holiday into a horror.

♪♪

[♪ ominous music playing]

[narrator] 25-year-old Kevin Bacon
goes missing on Christmas Day.

His history of self-harm
has his family and friends worried,

and the discovery of his car
in a strip mall parking lot

does little to ease their minds.

[Michelle]
His parents were concerned,

so they started driving around.

Because it's Christmas,

all these parking lots are vacant
at these stores.

So, his car kinda stuck out
like a sore thumb.

And his mom pulled in and saw the car,
reported it to police.

-[♪ mysterious music playing]
-[police radio chatter]

Shortly after his vehicle was found,

the police responded to there,

and went through
Kevin's vehicle.

♪♪

[narrator]
What's inside is shocking and confusing.

His wallet, his keys,

and his neatly folded clothes.

Why is his clothing in the car,
and where is he?

[narrator] The clothes match
what Kevin was wearing

when last seen on his home cam.

It was just getting worse,
'cause it's like,

Kevin wouldn't leave his clothes
and everything behind.

[narrator]
If Kevin committed self-harm,

why would he leave his clothes?

But more concerning
is the discovery

that Kevin left his cell phone
in the car as well.

[♪ ominous music playing]

That's really alarming,
because in today's age,

most people carry
their cell phones on them.

Why is Kevin's phone in the car?

[narrator]
It's Christmas in Michigan,

and he couldn't have
wandered off far in the cold.

The police search the area
and come up empty,

so they turn
to his phone for clues

and any insight into
Kevin's life it may provide.

[Dirkse]
Having the phone would help.

You can see who he's been talking to,
leading up to him going missing.

-[police radio chatter]
-[keypad typing]

[narrator] But of course,
Kevin's phone has a passcode.

Investigators need a warrant
and a forensic expert to unlock it.

And that's gonna take time.

[police radio chatter]

But time is not a luxury they have.

[♪ dark music playing]

[birds chirping]

So, investigators turn to
Kevin's friends for help.

Kevin's car was found here,

and then the, the detectives
called us down here.

♪♪

Until we found the car, I was kind of--
I was kind of feeling like

there was still a chance that
maybe he was just somewhere.

But actually seeing
the car and Kevin's clothes

and everything in there,

things started to feel

that something had
really had gone wrong.

[♪ ominous sting]

I remember the-- So, the detective
approached me with Kevin's phone.

♪♪

And then I said that,
"I think I know the code.

I'm pretty certain I can unlock it."

They handed me the phone over.

I put in passcode.

♪♪

And it worked, first try.

[Moore] Once the passcode
was correctly accessed

and his phone was unlocked,
the phone was transferred

to the Computer Crime Scene unit
of the Michigan State Police.

[narrator] While investigators pick apart
Kevin's phone for clues,

Michelle conducts her own
investigation with Kevin's dad.

They go through his computer,

hoping they can find the identity
of his Christmas hookup.

[keyboard keys clacking]

Christmas night, we were up
pretty much all night

just trying to log in on everything.

I had, like, some of his
emails and passwords.

Kevin's dad also had
some passwords to try,

like, just to see if we could
get in on his laptop,

potentially get on iMessage

and try to see anything from there.

We got into pretty much
every dating app that Kevin had.

The messages are either

nothing or very little,
or it had nothing to do with the meetup.

We could not find anything.

It was hard because, you know,
my thought was that

wherever he is, he's in a bad situation.

[narrator]
Michelle isn't waiting for the police

to figure out where Kevin is
or who he's with.

She starts compiling her own list
of men Kevin has dated.

Kevin met with
a lot of married men

that did not want
their families knowing

about what they were doing.

[narrator] And she remembers one with whom
Kevin seemed to have a special connection.

[Michelle] Kevin had been meeting
with a guy named Chad.

He had met with him multiple times,

and it got to become a more
emotional relationship.

♪ How will we know it's time ♪

Kevin's dream was, you know,
to find a partner,

um, find a man that he could marry.

♪ I try to heal ♪

I think Kevin wanted
for them to be, like, official,

or something at some point.

[LeRae Johnson]
They had a great time,

and I guess Kevin had asked,
like, if they-- what they were.

And he was like,
"Oh, I just look at you like a friend."

[narrator]
Kevin was crushed.

But now,
Michelle can't help but wonder

if somehow Chad
was back in Kevin's life.

It might have something to do
with whatever happened to Kevin.

Michelle shares the name
with investigators.

We were able to, to get
a name of a person.

Now, we can start investigating
who that person is.

[narrator] It's now almost two days
since Kevin went missing.

And as investigators consider
the different men in Kevin's life,

his phone gives them their first lead

on the identity
of his mysterious Christmas hookup.

Kevin had taken screenshots

of a chat log of a dating app
that Kevin had used.

And what was found was that
Kevin was communicating

with a male,
and the messages between them

appeared to show that Kevin
and this unidentified male

were gonna meet up
on Christmas Eve.

[narrator] The screenshots confirm
that Kevin was going on a date.

Not with Chad, but with someone
new and anonymous.

And they reveal
that even Kevin was concerned

that this meetup might
go horribly wrong.

Kevin asked the male,
"You're gonna keep me safe, correct?"

[narrator] Now the race is on to find out
who this mysterious person is...

[knocking]

...before his family's worst
nightmare comes true.

♪♪

[♪ ominous music playing]

[narrator] 25-year-old Kevin Bacon
is looking for a special connection.

But right now, his friends
and family are looking for him

after he goes missing
on Christmas morning.

♪ Your fall is mine ♪

[♪ electronic music playing]

But investigators just
got access to his phone,

and screenshots Kevin took hint that
he was so concerned for his safety.

♪ You'll never know ♪

[Dirkse] Kevin's text messages
were pretty specific,

pretty detailed.

They were talking about role-play

that was gonna happen between him

and this individual from
the dating app that he was talking with.

They were talking about
taking clothes off,

having nothing with him,
none of his belongings,

leaving it in his car, locking it up,

and then getting in the vehicle
with this other individual.

[narrator]
It's all part of the pre-meetup ritual

that's part of the BDSM lifestyle.

[Rachel Prenzler]
My name is Rachel Prenzler.

I'm an outpatient therapist.

The majority of my clients
are q*eer or trans, LGBTQ+.

And also, I see a lot of
non-normative relationships,

so polyamorous, BDSM, kink.

Kevin was looking for a connection,
but also fulfilling a fantasy,

a sexual encounter
based on a fantasy.

When I was reading that text,
there were no red flags,

and you know, I could have
saw myself in that situation.

[keypad typing]

It's all about trust and consent.

We call it playing with someone, right?
Or setting up a scene.

So, before you do that,
you have to sit down with each other

and talk about, like,
your boundaries, right?

Like, what are you wanting
to get out of this?

So, it's very planned out.

[narrator] Then, the screenshots give
investigators their first real lead --

a profile photo and a name
of the guy Kevin was meeting.

His nickname on this mobile app
was Olykos.

[♪ ominous sting]

Kevin asked him...

♪♪

"You're gonna keep me safe, correct?"

And Olykos indicated that yes,
he would keep him safe.

[narrator]
It's a huge lead.

But like most things online,

Olykos probably isn't
this guy's real name.

And it doesn't appear
on any police database.

Who is he?
Where is he?

And does he know anything
about where Kevin is?

For answers, investigators turn
to the screenshot image

of Olykos on Kevin's phone.

[Moore]
With that information,

in trying to identify who Olykos was,

the Computer Crimes Unit
sent the image of Olykos

to our facial recognition unit
in Lansing.

[narrator]
One thing's for sure, he isn't Chad,

or any of the other men whose names
Michelle had given to the investigators.

[Dirkse]
It was definitely a race against time.

We needed to decipher
who he was talking to.

[whooshing]

[narrator]
Michelle isn't going to wait around

for the police
to solve Kevin's case.

I put together a search party
with his family.

We had several news stations,

and the posts had gotten,
I guess viral, in a sense.

Time is of essence.
If Kevin's alive somewhere,

and he's obviously in
an unsafe situation,

we need to work fast.

♪ Walk away ♪

So, this is the park where
we kind of all met and gathered.

We had about


uh, just to kind of break apart
into as many groups as possible

and cover as much
ground as possible.

Right here.

♪ I write that song, that song ♪

♪ Always something, something ♪

Like, I could just remember,
you know, looking over,

making sure there was
nothing in the river,

or just looking through trees,

trying to find some little symbol
that he was in this area.

But we honestly--
we never came up with anything.

[♪ somber music playing]

[narrator]
The search may have come up empty,

but the social media buzz pays off.

♪ They're coming out ♪

That night, Michelle gets some
unexpected information

that raises even more red flags.

♪ Don't let them catch you ♪

[Michelle] I got a message
from one of my friends saying,

"Hey, there's been
an individual in our town.

"They've had people escape their basement.
It was in the news.

Like, this guy's really strange."

♪ Too late to think ♪

And it was a screenshot
of a conversation

between two people,

and they were
discussing this weird stuff

has been happening at this guy's house.
What if?

And they sent a screenshot
of his Facebook profile.

[narrator]
The incident the tipster is referring to

just happened four weeks earlier,

and not very far
from where Kevin lives.

The responding officer that night
was Robert Viviano.

[deep clap]

[Robert Viviano] My name is
Detective Trooper Robert Viviano.

I'm a detective
with the State Police.

I'm currently on
an undercover assignment

for the State Police right now.

♪♪

In 2019, I was assigned
to Shiawassee County.

It's kind of more of a rural area.

Lots of farms.

In November of 2019,

a call came over the radio

that someone was
running down the road,

wearing a kilt,
covered in blood,

and was knocking on people's doors,
yelling for help.

We made contact with this individual

who said that he had
escaped from this house...

[♪ eerie music playing]

...pointed out the house,

and said that he had
been held c*ptive.

♪♪

We made contact with
this individual at this house,

who turned out to be a gentleman
by the name of Mark Latunski.

[♪ ominous music playing]

And he was also dressed
in nothing but a kilt,

a leather kilt, which we found strange.

After talking to Mark and this subject

that had quote-unquote
"escaped" from this house...

we thought it was some type of
sexual role-play kinda gone bad.

Someone got scared and ran
outta the house kind of thing,

which is kinda how Mark described it.

So, we just kinda took it at that.
Nobody wanted to press charges.

There's nothing else
that we could really do

other than document it
and kinda leave it at that.

[♪ ominous music playing]

[narrator]
The incident is about 10 miles away

from where Kevin's car was found.

As Michelle learns more
about it from her online tipsters,

her heart begins to race.

I was going 100 miles an hour,
and I can't think of anything else.

What if this ends up
being the person that did it?

So, I gave the screenshot
of the profile to the detectives.

♪♪

[narrator]
With this new information,

the detectives start
investigating Latunski

and discover this isn't
the first scary incident

reported at his house.

A man known only as James
had a similar terrifying journey.

A person named James
had been to that house

in the fall of 2019,

had been to the house with Latunski.

They had different role-play
and scenes they had.

But at one point, it went too far.

And James was scared,

thought that Latunski
was gonna hurt him,

thought he was being
held against his will,

was able to escape at one point.

-[♪ dramatic music playing]
-[panting]

Running down the road,
calling 911, asking for help.

[narrator]
When the police learn the full extent

of James' troubling tale,

they fear that Kevin may
have met a similar fate.

[♪ ominous music playing]

[narrator] It's been three days since
Kevin left his house on Christmas Eve.

He was looking for love,
or at least something like it,

and hasn't been seen since.

♪♪

But thanks to screenshots
Kevin took of a conversation

that he saved on his phone,

investigators know who he was meeting up
with on Christmas Eve.

Now, police wonder if this man,
known only as Olykos,

might be a sexual predator

who has been stalking other victims,

including a man named James
just four weeks earlier.

♪♪

[siren wails]

[narrator] When Michigan State Police
catch up to James,

he's shaken, but unharmed.

♪ I see your evil ♪

James was very adamant that he didn't
wanna pursue criminal charges,

if there was anything criminal
that had happened.

[police radio chatter]

James was embarrassed,

said, "I came here on my own free will.
I wanted to be here."

♪ Your wicked ways ♪

"I just wanna leave.
I just want to get outta here."

So, he did.

[♪ ominous music playing]

[narrator] As investigators race to learn
all they can about Mark Latunski's past,

the results from the facial
recognition lab come in.

The Michigan State Police
facial recognition unit,

they were able to obtain the probe image,
as it's called, of Olykos.

And they take that probe image,
and they put it into

the facial recognition software.

And the software gave
an investigative lead,

which doesn't mean
it's 100% this person.

But in this case,
their lead was Mark David Latunski.

♪♪

[♪ tense music playing]

[narrator]
Suddenly, it all comes together.

The man who the tipster
had warned Michelle about,

the man who two potential victims
had escaped from,

and the man on Kevin's phone
are now all one and the same:

Mark David Latunski.

So, with that,
that was the next logical person

-for them to go see or talk to.
-[echoing knock]

Was, "Hey, you've been
talking to Kevin.

Do you know where he's at?"

[narrator]
Trooper Viviano gets the call again.

It's only been a month
since he last saw Latunski.

[Viviano]
Mark answers the door,

shirtless, wearing a leather kilt,

and holding a little dog
with a pink bow in its hair.

It reminded me of the movie
Silence of the Lambs,

where that particular
serial k*ller, Buffalo Bill,

had a little dog with
a bow in its hair.

And it was kinda surreal.

It was odd.

And he goes, "Oh hey,
Trooper, how you doing?"

And I kind of explained to him, like,

"Hey, we're looking
for someone who went missing.

His name's Kevin Bacon.
Do you know him?"

And he just kinda went,
"Mm, no. Never heard of him."

"Hey, do you mind if we come in
and search the house,

"check the house real quick,
just to make sure everything's good

and no one's here?"
And he just paused,

and waved me in and said,
"Sure, come on in."

♪♪

I was thinking Kevin
was probably here at Mark's house,

and it was probably that
they were hooking up.

They met on a dating app,
so he didn't want anyone to know

what he was doing,
like, that kind of thing.

That's what I thought.

I'm like, okay, he's gonna be here,
sitting in the kitchen, whatever,

or in the living room, you know,
and they're just hanging out.

We searched the first floor.

Don't find anything remarkable,

nothing that kinda
piques our interest.

We go upstairs, search the upstairs
where Mark's bedroom is.

There's Viking swords and helmets.

Nothing that spoke crime.

[♪ ominous music continues]

We make our way to the basement.

[echoing footsteps]

And I kinda was looking on the ground,
and there's a miter saw,

and there's fresh-cut wood and sawdust.

So, I put my hand on the wall

thinking that I was gonna touch this wall
and it would be cold to the touch,

like your basement walls,
but it was room temperature.

So, I thought that was very odd.

So, I push on it,
and it gives a little bit.

Then I push on it again,
and it popped open.

And it was kinda like
a secret door, and it swung open.

♪♪

I peered into the opening,
and I exclaimed, "Oh, my God!"

[♪ disturbing music playing]

It was just a crazy horror movie
that I was in the middle of.

♪♪

[♪ ominous music playing]

[narrator]
Three days after he goes missing,

investigators are looking
for Kevin Bacon at the house

of a potential predator.

But even they aren't prepared
for what they are about to find.

[Viviano]
At first, I didn't think it was real.

[♪ disturbing sting]

That's not real.

It's like a dummy or something
that's fake, you know?

And then, my sensibility
got the best of me,

and I was like, "Oh no, it's real."

♪♪

I've never seen anything like that.

I'm still shocked to this day
that we found him like that.

♪♪

My partner's head is peering around
the corner from the top of the stairs,

kinda like giving me like
a "What's going on?" kinda thing.

So, I look up at him, and I give him
the universal sign that we use

for cuff somebody up,
put handcuffs on him.

-[siren wails]
-[police radio chatter]

I go up to my sergeant.

I said, "Sarge, he's in there."

"Oh good, you found him?"

"No, Sarge, he's dead.

♪♪

He's hanging from
the ceiling in the basement."

[narrator] Detectives Moore and Dirkse
meet Trooper Viviano at the scene

and take Latunski back to the station.

[Moore] Mark told us
that he did know Kevin

through the dating app,

that Kevin had approached him

about consensual sexual activity.

Kevin was gonna act as if he was
kidnapped, and Latunski facilitated that.

[door creaks]

That was part of the role-play.

[♪ ominous music continues]

[Moore]
As he's being led into the house

and down into the basement,

once they went into this room,

the sexual activity occurred.

Mark stated that he stabbed Kevin

in the back of the neck with a knife.

[♪ tense music playing]

He then used the rope
to hoist Kevin up by his ankles.

You're not prepared to hear the things
that he was telling us,

but we have to keep
our emotions in check.

[narrator]
Latunski admits to k*lling Kevin,

but he insists that it wasn't a m*rder.

Mark told us after
the sexual activity occurred,

that Kevin wanted Mark to k*ll him,

to end his life.

Latunski thought, you know, in his mind,
this was an assisted suicide.

What in the world, you know?

What is this guy all about?

...160 pounds.

There's no doubt in my mind,
there's no doubt in anybody else's mind

that Kevin did not want to die.

He did not go into this
looking to commit suicide.

♪ My eyes closed ♪

Kevin had mentioned
in the text messages

that he wanted to make sure
that he was gonna be safe.

He asked, "Am I gonna be safe?"

♪ Won't you leave my mind? ♪

He expected to be home
with his family for Christmas.

[♪ tense music playing]

At the end of the interview, he wanted
to know when he was going home.

And we ended up breaking it to him.
"Sorry, you're going to jail.

You're not going home."

"You're being arrested for
the m*rder of Kevin Bacon."

[Dirkse] I've dealt with a wide range
of different people throughout my career.

There's usually a little bit of humanness
and a little bit of...

remorse most of the time.

But there was nothing.

He didn't think anything
he did was wrong,

which was hard to understand.

♪♪

[♪ somber music playing]

[narrator] Investigators finally
know the grisly truth

and are burdened with
informing his loved ones.

[Moore] I mean, parents aren't
supposed to bury their kids,

let alone in this fashion.

So, to see them and to see their reaction
was kind of heartbreaking.

♪ It all starts somewhere ♪

♪ The innocence and fantasies ♪

My phone immediately
started blowing up.

Ding, ding, ding, ding,
ding, ding, everywhere.

And I just knew. Even before
I opened my phone, I just knew.

♪ And it all goes nowhere ♪

[Michelle] I cannot even
encapsulate how painful

that moment was for me then.

A pain that I've never,
ever experienced before.

♪ Broken-hearted dreams ♪

♪ You were my friend ♪

♪ You were my treasure ♪

[narrator]
The social media world now turns

from searching for Kevin to mourning him.

And when Kevin's personal idol
hears about the tragedy,

he reaches out to help.

I'm so devastated for the Bacon family.

Um...

[sighs] I don't know.

Here is sweet Kevin,
and I want you guys

to, um, be able to link to his GoFundMe.

So, if you guys wanna swipe up.

Kevin, I love you.

[LeRae] He had a really beautiful,
beautiful service.

And honestly, a lot of that,
thanks to Jeffree Star,

and all of the followers,
'cause they donated the 20K.

♪ I bet it's so nice up in Heaven
since you arrived ♪

It was just so good
to see, you know,

so many people out to just
make sure he was done right.

♪ 'Cause here on Earth,
everything's different ♪

[♪ somber music playing]

[Scott Koerner] I'm Scott Koerner,
the elected prosecutor

of Shiawassee County.

Latunski's initial defense counsel filed

what's called the notice
of insanity defense,

which means that
if he was found insane,

he would not be responsible
for the crime.

[narrator] That leads to
two and a half years of legal motions,

competency evaluations,
and psychiatric hospitalizations.

[Koerner] He was aware
of what he was doing.

We had internet searches

that were taking place
the night before

about a certain type of knife.

We have receipts
from the Home Depot

where Latunski went
and purchased that knife

just prior to the m*rder,
the night before.

And then, we had his confession.

So, we felt confident
there was a lot of evidence.

[♪ dramatic music playing]

As to premeditated m*rder, Mr. Latunski,

it is the sentence of this court

that you serve out
the remainder of your life

in the Michigan Department
of Corrections,

without the possibility of parole.

♪ Deep down, you go ♪

[Pamela Bacon]
But it don't bring Kevin back,

but at least now,
we got some type of closure.

♪ And though you wonder ♪

[Michelle] Kevin was m*rder*d
in someone's basement

by a person that he trusted.

He was missing this aspect that he wanted
of, like, a long-term connection,

and I think he didn't know
what could happen.

♪ And the ghosts are gone ♪

[narrator] While Latunski's conviction
is a small comfort to Kevin's family,

law enforcement believes
that the screenshots he took

led them to a budding serial k*ller.

To them, Kevin is a hero.

Kevin probably saved a lot of lives.

[Moore] Had Kevin not taken
those screenshots,

we don't know how quickly
Mark would have been identified

as a person of interest.

And it is very likely that Kevin's body
may never have been found.

[Dirkse]
It cost him his life,

but we got a true predator off the streets

and put in prison in Latunski,

all thanks to Kevin.

♪♪

[LeRae] He's kind of always
in the back of my head,

like, almost to make sure
that I'm still kind of a good person.

I just wanna make sure
that I do him proud up there.

♪ I don't know where
my head is lately ♪

♪ Have I lost my mind? ♪

♪♪

[exhale]

♪ But I know that I have a secret ♪

♪ And it's only mine ♪

♪♪

♪ And the only way to find me ♪

♪ Is to go beneath the lies ♪