All victims were white males ranging from 22 to 70 years old

LANSING, Mich. -- Police are investigating the possibility that a serial killer could be responsible for a string of recent deaths along the Lansing River Trail in Lansing, Michigan, according to Police Chief Robert Backus.

Backus provided details on five recent deaths in Michigan's capital city at a recent press conference.

 One question that we are being asked is 'Do we have a serial killer in Lansing?'  Backus said at the press conference on Oct. 2.  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. 

Backus continued,  We look for information. We look for trends. We look for patterns. And we have developed some. 

Backus said some of those identified patterns include the belief that each victim is unhoused, and a suspicion that each of the injuries sustained during these events occurred overnight, specifically in early morning hours.

 We believe that our victims in this case were lying down, potentially even sleeping. We don't know that, but based on how we found our victims and their surroundings, it would lead us to believe that this could be a pattern,  he said.

Backus shared that all victims were white males ranging from 22 to 70 years old.

In one case, where a person has been charged, a victim was stabbed. The four other cases,  involve what appear to be blunt force trauma, traumatic injuries to the facial area  but no known weapon, according to police.

The first incident occurred Oct. 14, 2025, when police received a call about an injured subject and found a 54-year-old male. Gino Chouinard, with injuries to his face. Chouinard died on Oct. 27, police said.

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 The medical examiner's office has issued a finding of an undetermined cause of death,  Backus said.

On July 9, 2026, police working on the trail found 70-year-old Denis Dunnebacke unresponsive. He was taken to the hospital in 

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