Possible serial killer targeting homeless men along Lansing river trail

Five deaths along a 1.5-mile trail in Lansing, Michigan, may be linked to a serial killer, police warn. All victims appear to have been homeless.

Five deaths on Lansing trail prompt serial killer warning

Lansing Police Chief Robert Backus warned last week that a series of five deaths along a short stretch of river trail in Michigan's capital city may be the work of a serial killer, nbcnews.com reports. All victims appear to have been homeless men, and the deaths span nearly a year, beginning last October.

"One question that we are being asked is 'Do we have a serial killer in Lansing?'" Backus told reporters. "What we need the public to know is that we are investigating all of these cases. They are all active investigations, and we are looking at the idea or the possibility that these may be related cases."

Three of the five deaths have been ruled homicides. The manner of death for the remaining two remains unresolved — one was classified as undetermined, and a finding has not yet been issued in the fifth case.

A suspect, Edward Smith, 24, was arrested in connection with one of the homicides: the Aug. 20 stabbing of Daniel Lusk, 22. Smith has not been charged in any of the other deaths, and his attorney did not respond to a request for comment.

The four remaining deaths share a distinct pattern. Backus described blunt force traumatic injuries to the face in each case, and no weapon has been identified. The victims are:

• Gino Chouinard, 54, who died Oct. 14, 2024
• Denis Dunnebacke, 70, found unresponsive on July 9 and died three days later
• Robert Smith, 57, found unresponsive on July 13 and died four days later
• Louis Woodruff, 57, hospitalised Aug. 30 and died Sept. 1

All four men were found along a roughly 1.5-mile section of trail near downtown Lansing.

Backus acknowledged the difficulty of the investigation. There are no cameras or witnesses along the trail, and police believe the assaults took place in the early morning hours. "When I'm reporting these patterns to you, I wish I had more information to share," he said. "I wish I could be more certain and concrete in what I say, but there are challenges in these cases."

In response, the department has installed camera trailers along the trail and assigned night shift officers to patrol the area.

Backus was also asked at the news conference why the public had not been warned after Dunnebacke's death in July — the second man to die. He said it was not immediately clear that the death resulted from an assault, as hospital staff initially believed it may have been caused by a medical issue. The case was nonetheless investigated by major crimes investigators and treated as a "suspicious situation." The manner of Dunnebacke's death has still not been determined.

Source: Google News MT — Crime (en)