Lansing police investigate deaths of five homeless men along 1-mile stretch of Lansing River Trail

Five homeless men have died over the past year after severe injuries along a 1-mile stretch of the Lansing River Trail, and Lansing police are investigating whether the deaths are connected.

The attacks happened between the city's Old Town neighborhood and Kalamazoo Street downtown, Lansing Police Chief Robert Backus said at a press conference on Oct. 2. All five victims appeared to be homeless, and police suspect each was injured in the early morning while lying down, possibly while sleeping.

"Based on how we found our victims and their surroundings, it would lead us to believe that this could be a pattern," Backus said.

Backus was asked directly whether a serial killer might be responsible.

"Do we have a serial killer in Lansing?" Backus said, citing the top question police have received. "What we need the public to know is we are investigating all of these cases. They are all active investigations. We are looking at the idea or the possibility that these may be related cases."

The most recent death was that of Louis Woodruff, 57. Woodruff was found unconscious with facial trauma on Aug. 30 along the trail in the 200 block of East Cesar Chavez Avenue, according to Lansing police. He died Sept. 1.

The youngest victim was Daniel Lusk, 22, of Lansing. Lusk was stabbed and killed on the trail at the 300 block of East Michigan Avenue on Aug. 20, according to Lansing police. Edward Joseph Smith, 23, has been charged with open murder in Lusk's death.

Backus said Lusk's case differs from the others because Lusk was stabbed. The other four men suffered blunt injuries, Backus said.

Denis Dunnebacke, 70, was found injured near the Kalamazoo Street Bridge on July 9 and died July 16. Robert Smith, 57, was found with severe head trauma on July 13 and died four days later.

Gino Chouinard, 54, was found unconscious with head trauma and other injuries on the trail in the 300 block of East Oakland Avenue on Oct. 14, 2025. He died Oct. 27, 2025.

Robert Chouinard, Gino Chouinard's uncle, said he is worried about the unsolved killings and the broader effect on the city.

"I'm really concerned for the community," Robert Chouinard said. "It's (the place) where I grew up and lived. To know that this has happened too much, too often, there has to be a better effort to stop this."

Carmelo Scott-Daniel Simpson, 22, who has been homeless in Lansing since he was 16, said he has experienced violence while living on the street. Simpson said someone once threw a chair at him outside a popular eatery on the Lansing River Trail, and that he suffered a gunshot wound many years ago and waited so long for police to respond that he "could have been dead."

"Certain things put us in this position, and we don't know fully why," Simpson said. "We're just trying to keep on living, you know? It's sad to see others that I've seen on the street just die."

Police have not released a suspect in the other four deaths.