Clutch Justice · Research Reference · Live Case
Where the Men Were Found
A schematic of the downtown and Old Town stretch of the Lansing River Trail, with the locations police gave for each of the five deaths and the earlier cases on Clutch’s review list. Select a location for details.
Schematic, not to scaleLocations are plotted by the block or landmark named in police statements, in north-to-south order. Exact scene locations have not been released. Gray markers are earlier cases that have not been connected to the 2025 and 2026 deaths.
E. Cesar Chavez Ave. (Old Town) E. Oakland Ave. E. Michigan Ave. Kalamazoo St. bridge Grand River – – River Trail N 5 B 1 3 4 2 A
Locations · numbered in the order found

Gino Chouinard, 54

Found Oct. 14, 2025 · Died Oct. 27, 2025

Found unconscious with serious facial injuries on East Oakland Avenue near Washington Avenue around 7:45 a.m. Medical examiner ruled the cause undetermined.

Sources: WILX, Oct. 27, 2025; Oct. 2, 2026

Dennis Dunnebacke, 70

Found July 9, 2026 · Died July 16, 2026

Found by officers under the Kalamazoo Street bridge, unresponsive, with apparent facial injuries. No press release was issued. No medical examiner finding yet.

Source: WILX, Oct. 2, 2026

Robert Smith, 57

Found July 13, 2026 · Died July 17, 2026

Found bleeding from the head in the 300 block of East Oakland Avenue, the same area as Chouinard. Ruled a homicide September 18.

Sources: WILX, Sept. 21 and Oct. 2, 2026

Daniel Lusk, 22

Found and died Aug. 20, 2026

Stabbed in the 300 block of East Michigan Avenue near the Lansing Center around 4 a.m. Edward Smith, 23, is charged with open murder and is presumed innocent.

Sources: WILX, Aug. 20 and Oct. 2, 2026; City Pulse

Louis Woodruff, 57

Found Aug. 30, 2026 · Died Sept. 1, 2026

Found with severe facial injuries in the 200 block of East Cesar Chavez Avenue in Old Town. Classified as a homicide.

Sources: WILX, Sept. 2 and Oct. 2, 2026

Man in his 20s, unnamed

July 26, 2016 · Earlier case

Found under a bridge on the trail near Kalamazoo Street with a belt around his neck tied to a railing. Police called the death suspicious. Same bridge as Dunnebacke. Not connected to the recent deaths.

Source: CBS Detroit, citing the Lansing State Journal, July 26, 2016

Man, 49, unnamed

April 2026 · River recovery

Recovered from the Grand River near the Brenke Fish Ladder by the police dive team. Circumstances not released. Police say it is not among the assault-related cases.

Source: WILX, April 2026

What the map showsThree of the five men were found within a few blocks of each other at the north end of downtown and in Old Town, two of them on the same stretch of East Oakland Avenue nine months apart. Dennis Dunnebacke was found under the Kalamazoo Street bridge, the same bridge where a man was found dead in 2016. A separate, undated knife attack on an unhoused man near Frandor, east of this map in Lansing Township, is listed in the timeline.
Clutch Justice · Lansing River Trail Case Library · Back to the library Compiled by Rita Williams · Last updated October 4, 2026