Lansing police investigating possible serial killer after 5 deaths

The River Trail in Lansing, Michigan, cuts right through downtown and runs for about 20 miles, but a mile-long stretch between Old Town and Kalamazoo Street has seen five violent deaths of unhoused men. Lansing police are considering the possibility that the deaths could be the work of a serial killer. "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," said Lansing Police Chief Robert Backus. The five men who were found along the River Trail range in age from 22 to 70. According to police, they were all unhoused.

They've been identified as Gino Chouinard, Dennis Dunnebacke, Robert Smith, Daniel Lusk and Louis Woodruff. "We have a definite victim type. If these are connected and we have a definite M.O., they were all around the bridge. They were probably all sleeping rough," said David Hayes, a criminologist. Hayes said unhoused men are a particularly vulnerable population for violence. "What it looks like is, if they are connected, then there could potentially be a single offender with this," Hayes said. Investigators said four of the men died from injuries on and around their heads, but one man, 22-year-old Daniel Lusk, was stabbed