gifted high school wrestler and football player, was homeless intermittently following a stint with the National Guard in Iraq in the early 2000s, his uncle said.

 Gino was a state champion high school wrestler, an elite athlete, and I checked his knuckles and his knees. There were no defensive wounds, no struggle, no fight at all,  said Robert Chouinard, adding his nephew suffered a crushed skull and six broken ribs.  So apparently he was sleeping and got it in the back of the head. 

It was not until this summer that another man was injured on the same trail and died. Denis Dunnebacke, 70, was found on the trail near the Kalamazoo Street Bridge with facial injuries on July 9, and died days later, police said.

The medical examiner has not issued a finding on the death. Some medical staff at the hospital said the incident could have been  medical in nature,  and police treated the incident as  suspicious,  Backus said.

The next death involved 57-year-old Robert Smith, who police said was found on the trail on the morning of July 13. He was unresponsive and bleeding from his head and was taken to a hospital, where he died days later. Last month, his death was declared a homicide by the medical examiner, police said.

Another man, Daniel Lusk, 22, was found stabbed to death early on the morning of August 20, Backus said. A suspect was charged with murder in connection with Lusk's death, prosecutors said.

The man remains in custody without bond and has been referred for a competency evaluation, court records show. An attorney for the suspect, who has not been linked to the other deaths being investigated, could not immediately be reached for comment.

The fifth death involved Louis Woodruff, 57, who was found with facial injuries on Aug. 30, according to police. He died on the first day of September, and his death has been classified as a homicide.

Backus has said no other  assaultive-related deaths  have been reported on the trail.

 We suspect that in these instances, the injuries occurred overnight… We believe that our victims … were lying down, potentially even sleeping,  the police chief said.

At the time of the incidents, Backus said, there were no cameras or witnesses in the area. Since then, camera trailers have been moved to the trail, patrols have been stepped up, and social workers have been reaching out to unhoused people in the area.

 I don't want anyone to get the idea that we are not paying attention to this,  Backus told reporters,  or that we are not taking this seriously. 

After his nephew's death, Robert Chouinard said he is concerned about the safety of the community he grew up in, and worries whether information about the deaths has not been publicly shared to avoid spreading alarm. Scott Bean, a city spokesperson, said via email,  nothing is swept under the rug. 

 There's a serial killer on the loose, in my estimation,  Robert Chouinard said.  It's either a serial killer or a copycat … Gino was a tough kid, a beautiful kid, beautiful looking, a wonderful personality.