An eastern Kentucky woman was arrested in November on charges relating to human trafficking. A Morgan County grand jury has now indicted Elena Sparenberg on charges of conspiracy to human trafficking, solicitation to murder and sexual abuse and distribution of obscene matter.
The West Liberty Police Department said in a press release on December 11 2024 that they first detected the alleged crimes in September, after receiving an investigation referral from the Kentucky Department of Corrections Internal Affairs regarding conversations between an inmate and a visitor.
Sparenberg, a former youth counsellor from Illinois, was identified as the visitor, talking with a Harlan County man who had been in jail for murder and other charges since 2021.
While investigating, police searched Sparenberg’s home in Illinois and took electronic devices. They allege that Sparenberg and the inmate had shared images, videos, electronic messages, letters and calls.
Their conversations referenced minors and adults regarding sexual abuse, rape, kidnapping, murder, mutilation, torture, satanic rituals, cannibalism, human trafficking, abuse of a corpse, collecting human remains for sexual purposes and more.
Police say images they found showed children from a sporting organisation. Their coaches and parents were notified, along with others who are thought to be in danger as future victims.
A friend on TikTok, where Sparenberg posts charming videos of her baby, asked:
Sparenberg’s LinkedIn account, which lists her position as counsellor in Illinois, ironically states:
“…until then, I believe in starting at the bottom. By doing this, I am able to work my way up.”
Not clear if the alleged cannibalism planned to follow the same progression?
Sparenberg was extradited from Illinois to Kentucky on a Morgan County warrant.
She is being held at the Rowan County Detention Center.
This case wasn’t in my summary of 2020 cannibalism incidents because it just missed out – it happened on Christmas Eve, 2019. So I thought I’d wait until it went to trial, and that took until OCTOBER 2022!
Anyway, Mark David Latunski and Kevin Bacon (not that one) have finally found their place on this blog. Mark Latunski has just entered a plea of guilty as charged to open murder and mutilation of a body. Open murder can cover both first- and second-degree murder. His lawyers had been working on an insanity defence, but just as his trial was due to start on October 18, Latunski changed his plea to guilty.
Lutunski, 53, from the Shiawassee County — a man with an extensive history of psychiatric diagnoses — confessed to inviting Bacon, 25, to his Bennington Township home — about 90 miles northwest of Detroit — after meeting him on Grindr, a dating app catering to the LGBTQ+ community. Bacon left his Swartz Creek home for Latunski’s house some 20 miles away on Christmas Eve 2019 and was reported missing by his parents when he failed to show up for the family’s Christmas breakfast.
Latunski told police he had met Bacon on December 24 in a parking lot in Clayton Township, the same place Bacon’s vehicle was later discovered. At Latunski’s house, Bacon stripped naked and put on a blindfold, earmuffs, ankle restraints and wrist restraints, Latunski said.
He admitted to the court that he had stabbed Bacon in the back of his neck, just below the hairline. When he realized Bacon was not dead, police said Latunski told them he didn’t want Bacon to suffer, so he slit his throat as well. He then hung his body from the ceiling of his basement, to let the blood drain out, police said. It dripped onto the dirt under an open trap door, which had been set up so Bacon’s blood could fertilise the plants outside the house.
He described how he then cut off Bacon’s testicles before frying and eating them. According to some sources, other body parts may also have been eaten.
Latunski told police their agreement was that he would end Bacon’s life and utilise his body. He would use bone meal to plant tulips, his intestines to grow chestnuts or peach pits and his muscles to make jerky, he said. After the murder, the U.S. Postal Service intercepted a package for Latunski containing a dehydrator.
Police found Bacon’s car at a Family Dollar store parking lot, about five miles from his home. Inside was a cell phone, which contained messages between Bacon and Latunski, leading authorities to Latunski’s home. There, investigators found Bacon’s naked body hanging upside down from the basement rafters, the victim stabbed and his throat slit. Latunski confessed to the murder, as well as removing Bacon’s testicles for consumption, but claimed he was only carrying out a sexual fantasy with Bacon’s permission.
Latunski claimed Bacon was a willing participant and that the homicide was merely a matter of granting Bacon’s alleged wish to die. In 2020, a judge had denied Latunksi’s motion to have assisted suicide charges added to his existing criminal charges because, according to state law, defendants cannot add on charges.
Latunski previously told investigators the pair had even discussed how they could get rid of Bacon’s body before Latunski killed him, according to the Lansing State Journal.
The charges against Latunski on 30 December 2019 were “murder and mutilation of a corpse”. He was not charged with cannibalism, because cannibalism is not a crime in 49 of the 50 US states.
At a special hearing on 18 October, the judge found Latunski guilty of first-degree murder after finding he had acted with “cold calculation” in the murder. He was sentenced to life imprisonment. Latunski’s house was sold at auction in February 2020 for $101,000.
If Latunski is telling the truth (although the court seems to think otherwise), the situation is similar to the 2001 case in Germany in which Armin Meiwes met Bernd Jürgen Brandes, whose greatest desire was to be eaten. After they had sex, Meiwes cut off the victim’s penis, which they cooked and attempted to eat together (unsuccessfully – it was overdone and too tough). He left Brandes to bleed out in a bath, but when he found he was still alive hours later, cut his throat, and then dismembered his body and consumed his flesh over several months. Another German case in 2022 saw a young man known only as Stefan R. convicted of murder after killing a man he met on a gay/bi/trans dating website called Planet Romeo. Mr R. was found to have cut off the victim’s penis, which was never found.
Sigmund Freud would have loved a chat with these guys.
The Cannibal Guy 