Lansing police examine possible links among five River trail deaths

Lansing police are investigating whether five men found with serious injuries along a one-mile stretch of the Lansing River Trail between October 2025 and August 2026 were victims of related attacks. Police Chief Robert Backus said the cases remain active investigations; authorities believe the incidents occurred overnight or in the early morning.

Police identified the men as Gino Chouinard, Denis Dunnebacke, Robert Smith, Daniel Lusk and Louis Woodruff. Their deaths included homicide rulings, while the medical examiner has not issued a finding in Dunnebacke’s case and classified Chouinard’s cause of death as undetermined.

In Lusk’s killing, prosecutors charged 23-year-old Edward Smith with open murder. Police have not identified Smith as a suspect in the other cases. Backus said he had no concerns about River Trail safety outside the early morning hours.

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