Serial killer fears are gripping Lansing, Michigan, after five men died along the same river trail in just 10 months.
Gino Chouinard, 54, was discovered with facial injuries on the Lansing River Trail on October 14, and died in hospital 13 days later. The medical examiner could not determine his cause of death. Nearly nine months passed before the next fatality: Robert Smith, 57, was found with severe head trauma and died on July 17, with his death ruled a homicide. Denis Dunnebacke, 70, was found unresponsive on July 9 and passed away in hospital on July 16, his death later classified as indeterminate. Daniel Lusk, 22, was found fatally stabbed on August 20, and Louis Woodruff, 57, was discovered with injuries on August 30, dying two days later on September 1.
Police Chief Robert Backus addressed the mounting speculation at a press conference. “We are looking at every case with the idea of, is this a similar suspect or the same suspect?”
“But we cannot move forward in an investigation thinking that these are all the same person,” he continued. “We have to look at these on a case-by-case scenario.”
Authorities have noted a potential pattern involving homeless white men being targeted, though they have not confirmed all five deaths are related. A 23-year-old man was arrested and charged in September 2026 in connection with Lusk’s murder, but he has not been charged in the other four deaths and no link has been established between him and the remaining cases.
Lansing Mayor Andy Schor has pushed back against the national narrative surrounding the deaths. “We don’t want to see anybody preying on the unhoused, which is why we have put law enforcement resources into that area,” he said during a press conference.
Schor took particular issue with brief media segments that stripped away context. “This is a really detailed situation,” he told Fox 5 Las Vegas. “We’re getting a 90-second-clip where someone just says, ‘Is there a serial killer in Lansing?’ and it’s a lot more complicated than that.”
He added: “Without giving details or background, they’re putting out there that Lansing is dangerous, but it’s not.”
The mayor confirmed that officers were being deployed along the trail and that the city was working to place people in shelters where possible. The cluster of four deaths within weeks this summer, following Chouinard’s death last fall, has left residents and the unhoused community on edge as investigators work to determine whether a single perpetrator is responsible.