Lansing police say the deaths of five unhoused men along the River Trail may be related.

Police have a pattern, not a suspect, in four of these deaths. The only man charged is accused in the one death that does not fit the blunt-force pattern, and police have not tied him to the others. A shared trail and shared injuries are a reason to look for a link, and the next real answer will come from medical examiner findings and whatever the new trail cameras catch.

Lansing Police Chief Robert Backus addressed the cases together at a news conference on Friday, Oct. 2, 2026. "One question that we are being asked is, 'Do we have a serial killer in Lansing?'" Backus said, according to ABC News. "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." FOX 2 Detroit reported the patterns he listed: all of the men are believed to have been experiencing homelessness, the attacks happened overnight, investigators believe the men were lying down and possibly sleeping, all were white men, and four involved what appear to be blunt-force injuries to the face with no weapon known. ClickOnDetroit reported the men ranged in age from 22 to 70. Backus did not say a serial killer is responsible.

ABC News laid out the timeline police gave. Gino Chouinard, 54, was found with facial injuries on Oct. 14, 2025, and died Oct. 27. Denis Dunnebacke, 70, was found unresponsive on the trail on July 9, 2026, and died July 16; the medical examiner has not issued a finding in his death, and CNN reported Backus said some hospital staff thought it could have been medical in nature while police treated it as suspicious. Robert Smith, 57, was found bleeding from the head on July 13 and died July 17, and the medical examiner ruled his death a homicide on Sept. 17. Daniel Lusk, 22, was found stabbed to death on Aug. 20. Louis Woodruff, 57, was found with facial injuries under a bridge on Aug. 30, died Sept. 1, and his death has been classified as a homicide.

Lusk's death is the one case with a defendant. ABC News reported Edward Joseph Smith, 23, is charged with open murder in that stabbing, and the Detroit Free Press reported he was formally charged Sept. 3. Fox News reported Smith has not been accused of any crime or involvement in the other four deaths. CNN, citing court records, reported he remains held without bond and has been referred for a competency evaluation, and that an attorney for him could not immediately be reached. The shared last name with victim Robert Smith is not a connection police have described.

CNN reported that there were no cameras or witnesses at the time of the attacks, and that camera trailers have since been moved to the trail, patrols have been increased, and social workers are reaching out to unhoused people in the area. Mayor Andy Schor said in a statement, "These attacks have specifically targeted men who were unhoused and sleeping along the river trail overnight, particularly from midnight to 6 a.m.," adding that the trail and downtown "remain safe for residents and visitors." Fox News reported Michigan State University police said the campus portion of the trail has added LED lighting, emergency phones with cameras, and bike patrols. Gino Chouinard's uncle, Robert Chouinard, told CNN, "There's a serial killer on the loose in my estimation. It's either a serial killer or a copycat." A city spokesperson told CNN, "nothing is swept under the rug."

The open-murder charge against Edward Joseph Smith covers Lusk's death only, and it is an accusation. All defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law. The four blunt-force deaths remain unsolved.