Police in Lansing, Michigan, are investigating whether five deaths along the Lansing River Trail over the past year are connected, but they have not concluded that a serial killer is responsible.
“One question that we are being asked is ‘Do we have a serial killer in Lansing?'” Police Chief Robert Backus said at an Oct. 2 news conference, ABC News reports.
He said every case remains active and investigators are weighing “the possibility that these may be related cases.”
The victims were men aged 22 to 70, believed to be unhoused, and police suspect they were attacked overnight, possibly while sleeping.
Four suffered what appear to be blunt-force facial injuries and died days or weeks later. The incidents span October 2025 to August 2026.
One case has an arrest: Edward Joseph Smith is charged with open murder in the Aug. 20 stabbing death of 22-year-old Daniel Lusk.
Backus cautioned against assuming the same suspect is behind the others, warning that working backward from a name “leads you down a road of inappropriate charges, misidentification.”
The medical examiner has ruled one death undetermined, and another finding is pending. Police have opened a dedicated tip line.
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