FILE 401 / 29 June 2023 / 175 MIN / full

A Seriously Crazy Cuisine

Morrice, MichiganListen

The town

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We're going to Morris, Michigan, which is central Michigan, about a half hour outside Lansing; it is spelled MORRI CE and is in Shiawassee County. about 0:05:07

History, in brief

1838

In 1838 William Morrice, newly married, came to the area, bought 160 acres north-west of another family's farm and built a cabin; they slept on the ground while wolves howled at the door.

about 0:06:31

Town note

His three brothers settled nearby and Scots were the first people in the area.

about 0:07:10

1839

In 1839 the first Presbyterian church of Bennington was founded, later renamed Morrice, on a platform of abstinence from alcohol.

about 0:07:32

1911

The town incorporated in 1911 and celebrated fifteen years later with barbecue lunches, free coffee, a three-legged race, a bicycle race, an obstacle race, wrestling, tug of war, a pie-eating contest and greased pole climbing.

about 0:08:34
All 5 history facts

1838

In 1838 William Morrice, newly married, came to the area, bought 160 acres north-west of another family's farm and built a cabin; they slept on the ground while wolves howled at the door.

about 0:06:31

Town note

His three brothers settled nearby and Scots were the first people in the area.

about 0:07:10

1839

In 1839 the first Presbyterian church of Bennington was founded, later renamed Morrice, on a platform of abstinence from alcohol.

about 0:07:32

1911

The town incorporated in 1911 and celebrated fifteen years later with barbecue lunches, free coffee, a three-legged race, a bicycle race, an obstacle race, wrestling, tug of war, a pie-eating contest and greased pole climbing.

about 0:08:34

Town note

The town grew in the 1990s as professors at Michigan State University found it a forty-five minute drive, and it is one of the few communities left with no chain stores or franchises.

about 0:09:21

The figures, as told

Religious

32.8%

about 0:13:33

Who lives here

White 94.5% · Black 0.7% · Asian 0.0% · Hispanic 3.1%

Ethnicity can overlap race.

Crime / national average

Property crime
▼ about one third below

about 0:23:01

Violent crime
▼ under half

about 0:23:07

Cannibalistic homicides as a share of all killings tracked in the U.S. from 1960 to 2018
0.01%

about 2:18:07

Money

Median home value$187,200
Two-bedroom rent$990
Median household incomeabout $200 below
Cost of living84

For sale

$78,900

Three-bedroom, two-bath house, 1,344 square feet

about 0:15:50

For sale

$104,900

Three-bedroom, two-bath house, 1,680 square feet

about 0:16:42

For sale

$144,900

Three-bedroom, two-bath house, 1,960 square feet

about 0:17:18
All figures and comparisons, as told in 2023

Property crime

"about one third below"

Comparison: "national average". Direction: below.

As told in 2023 about 0:23:01

Violent crime

"under half"

Comparison: "national average". Direction: below.

As told in 2023 about 0:23:07

Population

"1,521"

No direction stated.

As told in 2023 about 0:12:16

Female share of the population

"54%"

Comparison: "way out of whack". No direction stated.

As told in 2023 about 0:12:25

Median age

"33.4"

Comparison: "much lower than the average". Direction: below.

As told in 2023 about 0:12:31

Share of the population aged zero to nine

"20%"

No direction stated.

As told in 2023 about 0:12:45

Married residents

"54%"

Comparison: "higher than normal, with a lower divorce rate". Direction: above.

As told in 2023 about 0:13:02

White residents

"94.5%"

No direction stated.

As told in 2023 about 0:13:14

Black residents

"0.7%"

No direction stated.

As told in 2023 about 0:13:18

Asian residents

"0.0%"

No direction stated.

As told in 2023 about 0:13:21

Hispanic residents

"3.1%"

No direction stated.

As told in 2023 about 0:13:21

Religious residents

"32.8%"

Comparison: "50% is the normal national figure; the highest share here is Catholic". Direction: below.

As told in 2023 about 0:13:33

Median household income

"about $200 below"

Comparison: "national average for median income". Direction: below.

As told in 2023 about 0:13:55

Cost of living index

"84"

Comparison: "100 is the average". Direction: below.

As told in 2023 about 0:14:23

Median home cost

"$187,200"

Comparison: "the lowest". No direction stated.

As told in 2023 about 0:14:29

Average two-bedroom rent

"$990"

Comparison: "cheaper than normal". Direction: below.

As told in 2023 about 0:14:57

Three-bedroom, two-bath house, 1,344 square feet

"$78,900"

No direction stated.

As told in 2023 about 0:15:50

Three-bedroom, two-bath house, 1,680 square feet

"$104,900"

No direction stated.

As told in 2023 about 0:16:42

Three-bedroom, two-bath house, 1,960 square feet

"$144,900"

No direction stated.

As told in 2023 about 0:17:18

Houses for sale in the town

"four"

No direction stated.

As told in 2023 about 0:17:25

Cannibalistic homicides as a share of all killings tracked in the U.S. from 1960 to 2018

"0.01%"

No direction stated.

As told in 2023 about 2:18:07

The reviews

4.5 / 5 · average of 2

5 stars

“A beautiful small town with friendly neighbours, kept clean and nice, with always great service at local businesses.”
about 0:10:36

4 stars

“A small village halfway between Lansing, Flint and Owosso, with easy access to I-69, a bank, post office, hardware, superette, grocery store, gas station, its own class D school and its own police and fire departments.”
about 0:10:57

In Michigan

Closest episodes

  1. A Chance EncounterWebster Township, Michigan · 4 October 201858 km / 36 miShow on map
  2. I Killed The Devil... You're WelcomeJackson, Michigan · 1 August 201968 km / 42 miShow on map
  3. Killing On ConsignmentNashville, Michigan · 5 March 202079 km / 49 miShow on map
  4. The Not So Missing SpouseCanton Township, Michigan · 28 January 202382 km / 51 miShow on map
  5. A Messy Web Of DeathHastings, Michigan · 22 July 202192 km / 57 miShow on map

The story

Morrice is a village of 1,521 people in Shiawassee County, central Michigan, half an hour from Lansing. James says locals pronounce it Morris, although the spelling is Morrice. It was settled in 1838 by William Morrice, a Scot who bought 160 acres, built a cabin and slept on the ground while wolves howled at the door. His brothers followed, and in 1839 the first Presbyterian church of Bennington was founded on a platform of abstinence from alcohol; the church later took the town's name. The village incorporated in 1911 and ed the anniversary fifteen years later with barbecue, free coffee, races, wrestling and a greased pole. In the 1990s it grew a little as professors from Michigan State University found the drive manageable, and it remains one of the few communities in the state with no chain stores or franchises.

He was valedictorian of Morrice High School in 1987, ran cross country, belonged to the National Honor Society, the quiz bowl and forensics teams, and served as senior class treasurer. He took a chemistry degree at Central Michigan University in 1991, interned at Dow Chemical, added a master's at Iowa State and came home to work as a research chemist for Flint Inc, which made commercial printing inks. In his early thirties mutual friends set him up with Emily. They married in 2001, bought a house at West Tyrrell Road and had four children, a son in 2003 and three daughters in 2004, 2007 and 2010. They kept goats, chickens, ducks and rabbits on five acres, took annual holidays to Disney World and seemed, by Emily's account, to be doing well. He later worked for American Chemical Technologies in Fowlerville and earned more than $100,000 a year.

A couple of weeks after the youngest child was born in 2010, Emily noticed a change. He began saying that he was not his mother's son but her brother, that the family was hiding an inheritance from him and that people were watching to see that he said and did the right things. He was diagnosed in 2010 and again in 2012 with severe recurrent chronic major depression with psychotic features, adjustment disorder with depression, anxiety, paranoid schizophrenia and borderline personality traits, and was hospitalised repeatedly. He took his medication only briefly, and when he stopped he watched torture films, talked to himself, wandered outside all night, threatened the children's animals and said his son was not his. He also admitted affairs with men he met online. Emily moved out with the children in May 2012 and filed for divorce. American Chemical Technologies had sacked him in February 2019 after twelve years. Jamie left in September 2019.

Kevin Bacon was born in 1994 in Swartz Creek, Michigan, the son of Carl and Pamela Bacon and brother of Jennifer. He was in the band and among the top ten graduates of Swartz Creek High School, then worked as a receptionist at the JC Penney beauty salon with ambitions to be a stylist. He was a large man, six foot two or three and about 280 pounds, bald by twenty-five and given to dyeing what hair he had in bright colours. Friends described depression, body image problems, self-harm and an overdose in October 2018 after seeing A Star Is Born, and said he looked for affection on dating apps, often attaching himself to men he called projects.

Carlson travelled by bus to Michigan. He went back to the house because his return ticket was a week away, and left two days later. On 15 October neighbours reported a man searching a ditch near the house. Police had been called to the house about a dozen times in seven years.

Kevin Bacon, then 25, arranged through Grindr to meet a 50-year-old bearded man calling himself Olicos. At 6.12 p.m. he texted his roommate Michelle Myers to say he would be out late. He hung the body upside down from the ceiling with ropes and pulleys and bodybuilding weights, letting the blood drain through a trap door onto the dirt outside. He removed the testicles, cooked them in a frying pan with Worcestershire sauce and ate them, taking a photograph. At 2.15 a.m. on Christmas morning he texted Carlson that he had killed Kevin Bacon, with the photograph attached.

Carl Bacon expected his son for breakfast at 9 a.m. When Kevin did not answer his phone all day he called police at 5 p.m. The car was found in a plaza car park near a Family Dollar with his phone, wallet and clothes inside. Friends searched fields and woods near Sports Creek Raceway on 26 and 27 December. Trooper Robert Viviano found the hidden room and Bacon hanging upside down, naked. A dehydrator he had ordered was intercepted in the post. Bacon's DNA was found in the frying pan and on the knife, and the cause of death was blood loss from sharp force injuries to the neck.

Kevin Bacon's family raised $36,000 for his funeral after Jeffrey Star donated $20,000; his parents later divorced.

The case

Murder of Kevin Bacon

Victims

Kevin Bacon (25). hairstylist at a JC Penney salon in the Flint area, from Swartz Creek

Accused and outcomes

As told in the episode, on 29 June 2023.

Accused

Outcome

Other people

Jamie Arnold. his husband from 2015, who left him in September 2019
James Carlson. a man he tied up in his basement in October 2019, who later sued him
Carl Bacon. Kevin's father
Pamela Bacon. Kevin's mother
Michelle Myers. Kevin's roommate and long-time friend
Robert Viviano. Michigan State Police trooper who found the body
David Kaiser. police lieutenant who briefed the press
Mary Chartier. his defence attorney
Alex Deal. bought the house at auction in February 2020

The timeline

  1. 1969 is born to Jack and Ruth and grows up on the family farmabout 0:24:34
  2. 1987 He is valedictorian at Morrice High School, on the cross country, quiz bowl and forensics teams and in the National Honor Society (Morrice High School)about 0:28:06
  3. 1991 He earns a chemistry degree at Central Michigan University, interns at Dow Chemical and later takes a master's at Iowa State (Central Michigan University)about 0:30:06
  4. 2001 He marries Emily after about a year of datingabout 0:35:06
  5. 2001 They buy the house at West Tyrrell Road in Morrice ( house)about 0:35:25
  6. 2003 to 2010 Their son is born in 2003 and three daughters follow in 2004, 2007 and 2010about 0:35:40
  7. 2010 Weeks after the youngest is born he starts saying he is his mother's brother and that an inheritance is being hidden from himabout 0:41:16
  8. 2010 and 2012 He is diagnosed with major depression with psychotic features, adjustment disorder, anxiety, paranoid schizophrenia and borderline personality traitsabout 0:45:11
  9. May 2012 Emily and the children move out and she files for divorceabout 0:55:59
  10. September 3, 2013 He walks into the police station calling himself William Gregory Dean and saying he killed with the stroke of a pen (Lansing Police Department)about 0:59:21
  11. September 14, 2014 Police near Grand Rapids find him walking down the street wearing only a sock on his right footabout 1:04:25
  12. 2015 He marries Jamie Arnoldabout 1:08:59
  13. February 2019 He is sacked by American Chemical Technologies after twelve years (American Chemical Technologies Inc.)about 1:10:31
  14. August 22, 2019 Emily files for a custody hearing to suspend his parenting timeabout 1:12:34
  15. September 2019 Jamie Arnold leaves himabout 1:13:16
  16. October 10, 2019 James Carlson is introduced to and they begin chatting online about BDSM and cannibalism fantasiesabout 1:15:36
  17. October 2019 Carlson travels from New York, is tied up in the basement and escapes with a butcher's knife and car keys ( house)about 1:22:24
  18. October 15, 2019 Neighbours call police about a strange man searching around a ditch near the house ( house)about 1:27:14
  19. December 24, 2019 From 7.30 a.m. he makes 56 searches for knives and buys a Gerber hunting knife at Walmartabout 1:53:00
  20. December 24, 2019 Kevin Bacon leaves home shortly after 5 p.m. and meets at the Dollar General on Miller Road (Dollar General on Miller Road)about 1:52:25
  21. December 24, 2019, 6.12 p.m. Bacon texts his roommate Michelle Myers to say he will be out lateabout 1:56:10
  22. late on December 24, 2019 kills Bacon in the hidden basement room, hangs him upside down to drain the blood and cooks and eats his testicles ( house)about 2:04:03
  23. December 25, 2019, 2.15 a.m. He texts James Carlson that he killed Kevin Bacon, with a photograph of the testicles cookingabout 2:08:36

Last meals

Places and phrases

N ↑Public placePublic placePublic placePublic placePublic placePublic placeTown centre (approximate places)
Static locations; no street basemap. Places and details. OpenFreeMap © OpenMapTiles Data from OpenStreetMap.

Places in the story

Public places are marked on the map.

Heard in this episode