LANSING, Mich. — Police in Michigan's capital city are investigating whether a serial killer is responsible for the deaths of five unhoused men found along the Lansing River Trail over the past 12 months, Chief Rob Backus said at a news conference Friday.

Backus laid out a timeline stretching back to October 2025, when 54-year-old Gino Chouinard was found injured near the 300 block of East Oakland Avenue and later died. Four more men have died in separate incidents since, and investigators say they've identified similarities across the cases that make them impossible to treat as unrelated.

A question, not yet an answer

"Do we have a serial killer?" Backus asked reporters, according to CBS News. The department has stopped short of confirming one, saying all five investigations remain open and active, with no arrests and no named suspect.

DO WE HAVE A SERIAL KILLER?

The pattern has rattled a city that rarely sees this kind of violence against its most vulnerable residents. All five victims were unhoused men, and all five cases cluster along the same stretch of trail that winds through downtown Lansing near the Grand River — a corridor well known to the city's homeless population for its tree cover and proximity to day shelters.

Police have responded by increasing patrols along the trail, deploying mobile camera trailers at known gathering spots, and working with outreach groups to relocate unhoused residents to safer, better-lit areas. Backus said detectives are re-examining physical evidence and witness statements from all five cases side by side for the first time.

Local outlets, including Lansing's own news affiliates, have been covering the case since Friday's announcement, with several noting that investigators have not ruled out that more than one person could be involved, or that some deaths could ultimately prove unconnected once lab and autopsy results are finalized.

What's next

The Lansing Police Department is asking anyone with information about any of the five deaths to come forward. Backus said the department will provide updates "as soon as we have something concrete to share," but declined to set a timeline for an arrest.

For now, the city's homeless outreach network says it has seen a spike in people seeking shelter indoors rather than along the trail — a sign, advocates say, that fear is already reshaping behavior even before police reach a conclusion.