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 to death. Professor Karen Holt with Michigan State University said a change in the manner of death can be especially confusing. 

"In the media that we consume and the portrayals of serial killers, we typically think they're going to do the exact same thing. They're going to leave that signature at every scene. But that's not necessarily the case," said Holt.

Holt said changes in the circumstances leading up to a crime can have a significant impact on how it is actually carried out. She said major improvements in police work and surveillance in just the last 20 years could help catch a suspect. 

"The fact that these are happening in Ingham County in a very close proximity to one another, then it's a lot easier to see that pattern and to, hopefully, to start investigating and to catch that perpetrator quickly," Holt said.