Bill Ruthhart and Ryan Patrick Hooper
Lansing, Michigan: The Lansing River Trail, a greenway that winds through Michigan’s capital, has long drawn walkers and cyclists to the Grand River. But lately, the trail has become known for something else: suspicious deaths.
In less than a year, five homeless men died from injuries suffered in the middle of the night on a 1.6-kilometre stretch near downtown Lansing, Michigan. Each was lying down, possibly sleeping, police said. Four suffered head injuries. A fifth was stabbed.
A suspect has been charged with murder in that attack, but the others remain under investigation.
Public awareness of the deaths among the homeless spread only recently. In September, The Lansing State Journal noted similarities among four of the killings. Soon after, investigators confirmed the details of a fifth. Then Police Chief Robert Backus raised the question that has the city on edge.
“Do we have a serial killer in Lansing?” Backus said during a news conference, adding: “We are looking at the idea – or the possibility – that these may be related cases.”
The prospect of a killing spree in a public park has frightened residents and prompted nighttime patrols by community groups and police. The deaths have also renewed questions about how Lansing handles homeless encampments, park safety and public communication about crimes. The police department has faced sharp criticism from local leaders, homeless residents and a victim’s father for failing to warn the community.
“It’s scary knowing that even if you’re homeless, you can’t even lay out here and go to sleep without somebody beating you,” said Derick Byrd, 56, who has stayed along the river and knew three of the men who were killed.
Backus said that temporary cameras were now along the trail, and that the city was considering better lighting and permanent surveillance. The chief said he considered the trail safe – except overnight.
Along the trail downtown, public squares, playgrounds, art installations and apartment buildings sit near woods with homeless encampments. The path winds under bridges that are dark and isolated at night, serving as popular sleeping spots. Last Friday (US time), homeless people on the trail far outnumbered others.
At Lansing Shuffle, a bar just steps from the greenway, bartenders discussed the deaths, and Austin Smith, 28, a patron, said talk of a serial killer had kept friends off the trail. They “just pass it by, find a different route,” he said, “because why even take the chance?”
Lansing’s homeless population has grown in recent years, officials said, with clusters of tents scattered in the same downtown where Michigan lawmakers and lobbyists gather in marbled hallways and high-dollar restaurants. A 2023 study estimated the city of more than 113,000 had a homeless population of 2371.
Along the river, the string of deaths among the homeless began October 14, 2025, when Gino Chouinard, 54, was found unconscious with injuries to his face. He died 13 days later. The medical examiner listed his cause of death as undetermined, but Backus said it was now under review.
Then, over the summer, four more men died within two months of one another. Denis Dunnebacke, 70, was found under a bridge, unconscious and with facial injuries, on July 9. Four days later, Robert Smith, 57, was found unresponsive and bleeding from his head. Both men died within days. Dunnebacke’s cause of death remains under investigation while Smith’s has been ruled a homicide, police said.
A little more than a month later, on August 20, Daniel Lusk, 22, was found stabbed to death under a bridge. Ten days later, Louis Woodruff, 57, was found with facial injuries under another bridge. Woodruff’s death, on September 1, is being investigated as a homicide, police said.
The next day, police arrested Edward Joseph Smith, 23, and charged him with murder in Lusk’s death. Surveillance footage from nearby buildings captured a man leaving the scene and walking across downtown, including a stop at a drinking fountain to wash his arm, court records show. Police found blood on the fountain, recognised Smith from the video and found a sweatshirt in his tent that matched the one worn by the suspect on the surveillance footage, the records show.
At his news conference, Backus noted that while all five deaths had similar circumstances, Lusk’s was the only one that involved a known weapon – a knife. The stabbing involved a victim and a suspect in their 20s, police said, while the other victims were older than 50.
“We are looking at every case with the idea of, is this a similar suspect or the same suspect?” Backus said. “But we cannot move forward in an investigation thinking that these are all the same person. We have to look at these on a case-by-case scenario.”
He said the investigations had been hindered by limited surveillance cameras, few witnesses and, in some cases, inconclusive or unfinished findings from the medical examiner.
Dean Lusk said the death of his son, Daniel, was too fresh for him to watch the chief’s news conference. Lusk, 67, said his son had battled drug addiction and had been in and out of rehab and jail. He visited him regularly by the river, bringing food and clean laundry.
Lusk said his son’s death might have been prevented had the police said more publicly and increased patrols. “There were incidents that happened down there before my son got murdered,” Lusk said. “The cops were well aware of it, and they refused to do anything about it.”
Walking the trail last Friday evening, Byrd said he had known Daniel Lusk and grown up with Chouinard, calling him “my best friend.” He referred to Woodruff as “Uncle Louis” and said he “didn’t bother nobody” and “would give you the shirt off his back.”
Byrd said he suspected the person or people behind the attacks were not part of Lansing’s established homeless community. Many people along the river have long known one another, he said.
“Everybody here, we’re normal – this is us,” Byrd said. “But when the sun goes down, some people come up in here who don’t live here, don’t know us and we don’t see them.”
This article originally appeared in The New York Times.
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