The Ingham County Medical Examiner's Office classified Denis Dunnebacke’s manner of death as "indeterminate," according to Lansing police, City Pulse reported.

The Lansing Police Department announced the finding Wednesday, Oct. 14, and said it will continue to investigate Dunnebacke's death as suspicious. The case remains open and active, according to the department.

Dunnebacke, 70, was one of five men whose deaths on or near the Lansing River Trail have been investigated in the past year. Officers working the trail found him unresponsive beneath the Kalamazoo Street bridge around 1:30 p.m. July 9 with apparent facial injuries, according to police. He was taken to a hospital in critical condition and died July 16.

Investigators had been trying to determine whether Dunnebacke was assaulted or suffered a medical emergency. The announced classification does not establish that he was killed.

Another case, the fatal stabbing of 22-year-old Daniel Lusk on Aug. 20, led to an open murder charge against Edward Joseph Smith, 23. City Pulse reported Sept. 3 that Smith had been arraigned in 54-A District Court. No arrests had been reported in the other four cases as of the Oct. 14 reporting.

Lansing Police Chief Rob Backus said at an Oct. 2 press conference that investigators were seeing "patterns" among the cases. He said police believed the men were experiencing homelessness and suspected injuries occurred overnight while they were lying down or sleeping. Police had not identified an obvious weapon in the suspected beating cases, according to City Pulse.

Police have not established that all five deaths are connected, WKAR reported.

"I wish I had more information to share with you … I wish I could be more certain and concrete in what I say," Backus said at the Oct. 2 press conference, as reported by WKAR. "But there are challenges in these cases."

As we reported Oct. 13, dozens of residents gathered at Lansing City Hall on Monday, Oct. 12, to call for an emergency overnight shelter in response to the deaths.

Anyone with information can call the Lansing police tip line at 517-483-6023 or Crime Stoppers at 517-483-7867.