Mayor Andy Schor called Lansing safe in an Oct. 8 WLNS report, pushing back on viral social media posts that claim a serial killer is stalking the city's River Trail.

Police are investigating five deaths involving men found along a roughly one-mile stretch of the River Trail over the past year. Videos speculating about a serial killer have drawn millions of views online, and the story has attracted national coverage. Schor said many of the posts come from people outside Michigan. WLNS reported that some posts omitted details police had released.

"This narrative that's being pushed by some that Lansing is not safe, I think is false," Schor said in the WLNS report. "But we're going to take every avenue we have to show that it is safe and make sure that people feel safe."

Lansing Police Chief Rob Backus held a press conference on Friday, Oct. 2, where he said investigators have identified patterns in the five deaths but stopped short of confirming a serial killer. He said the cases "may be related" and that the department was still waiting on medical examiner findings, WKAR reported.

Backus said all five men were believed to be unhoused and identified their shared race and gender—white men—as part of the possible pattern. Investigators suspected their injuries occurred overnight while they were lying down, possibly sleeping. Four were found with blunt-force trauma injuries. No weapon had been identified in those cases. The incidents occurred within roughly one mile, according to Lansing City Pulse.

The four men found with blunt-force injuries are Gino Chouinard, 54, who died Oct. 27, 2025; Denis Dunnebacke, 70, who died July 16; Robert William Smith, 57, who died July 17; and Louis Woodruff, 57, who died Sept. 1. As of the Oct. 2 briefing, Robert Smith's and Woodruff's deaths had been classified as homicides. Chouinard's cause of death was ruled undetermined, and the medical examiner had not yet issued a finding for Dunnebacke, according to WKAR and WILX.

A fifth man, 22-year-old Daniel Lusk, was stabbed and found at 3:54 a.m. Aug. 20 under the Michigan Avenue Bridge. He was pronounced dead at the scene. Edward Joseph Smith, 23, was arraigned Sept. 3 on an open murder charge in Lusk's death, according to WILX, citing the Ingham County Prosecutor’s Office. Smith is presumed innocent.

The lack of surveillance cameras along the river has hampered the investigation, Backus said Oct. 2. The one arrest in the Lusk case was linked to surveillance images, according to Lansing City Pulse. The department was exploring permanent camera installations near overpasses and bridges, according to WILX.

Police had increased patrols and deployed camera trailers. Backus said the department worked with advocacy groups to reduce the number of unhoused residents along the trail during early morning hours, reporting a 50% drop in people in those areas, according to WILX’s Oct. 2 report.

Backus said at the Oct. 2 press conference he did not have safety concerns for trail users outside the pre-dawn hours when police believed the injuries occurred, according to Lansing City Pulse.

The Michigan Association of School Boards (MASB), which is holding its annual conference in Lansing Oct. 15–18, added extra security in response to the concerns, executive director Don Wotruba said in the WLNS report.

Anyone with information can call the dedicated tip line at 517-483-6023 or submit anonymous tips to Crime Stoppers at 517-483-7867, according to WKAR’s account of the police briefing.