Is a SERIAL KILLER Terrorizing Michigan?

One question that we are being asked. is, do we have a serial killer in. Lancing? >> Five suspicious deaths all in a year and. all on the same walking trail in. Lancing, Michigan, leaving a frightened. community begging for answers. >> We are looking at the possibility that. these are related. >> A suspect is now in custody in. connection with one of the victims, but. law enforcement is left piecing together. the rest of this harrowing mystery. We. are breaking down what we know so.

[music] far alongside an expert on. serial killers. Welcome to Sidebar. presented by Law and Crime. I'm Jesse. Weber. Look, I don't know about you, but these. days I don't really hear the phrase. serial killer thrown around too often. So, when you see something like this, a. case like this, a story like this, it's. a pretty big deal to say the least. And. it's kind of different than what we. covered in the past of other suspected. serial killers because you listen to the. words from law enforcement and you.

wonder, is there something here? When. there's concern that a serial killer. could be somewhere out there, it can. leave entire neighborhoods, cities, states on edge. And here we have five. deaths all along the same trail all. within a year. And in this case, we're. on the river trail in Lancing, Michigan. This is a paved pathway, spans over 20. miles. It passes through numerous parks. and national scenery, the city's. downtown area. It's great for cyclists, great for walkers, all alike. But.

according to local reports, there are. homeless encampments that are also found. in a wooded area alongside the trail. And this is where police began. connecting the dots. In fact, here's. Lancing Police Chief Robert Bakis at a. press conference earlier this month. We. believe that all of our victims are. members of our unhoused community. We suspect that in these instances, the. injuries occurred overnight. To be even. more specific, in the early morning.

hours. >> Now, police mention even more. similarities during this press briefing. And we're going to get into those in a. little bit because I think that's pretty. significant that they say that. But I. just want to walk you through the. timeline to get a better idea of what. exactly is going on here. Our first. incident occurred on October 14th of. 2025, and this was on the River Trail in. the 300 block of East Oakland. Lancing. police received a call for an inse. injured subject around 7:35 a.m. And. when officers arrived, they found our. victim. >> So, the first victim was identified as.

54year-old Gino Shannard, described in. the Lancing State Journal as a former. high school star athlete, military. veteran, served in Iraq. According to. police, he was seen with facial injuries. and transported to a local hospital, but. he was pronounced dead 13 days later on. October 27th. Police cited the medical. examiner's report, which initially ruled. his death undetermined, though that. determination is of course subject to. review pending new information. But. there hasn't been an identified suspect. in this case, but we'll get more on that.

later. Meanwhile, Shannard's family told. the Lancing State Journal that he. suffered massive trauma to the back of. his head, numerous broken ribs, that. there was allegedly no defensive wounds. on his knuckles or knees. They believe. the assault was carried out with a. weapon similar to a baseball bat. So, you're maybe seeing a surprise attack. >> The second incident occurred on July. 9th, 2026. And just for reference, this. is 268 days after the death of Mr. Shinard. At approximately 1:30 p.m., our.

Lancing police officers were working on. the river trail and located our victim, 70-year-old Dennis Dunbeck, under the. Kazoo Street Bridge. He was unresponsive. at that time. >> Now, according to police, Dunbeck, described in his obituary as an avid. musician, a music teacher. He was. breathing at the time he was found. Apparently covered in vomit, had. apparent facial injuries, too. was. transported to the hospital in critical. condition and was pronounced dead seven.

days later. And it appears there was. some debate as to why police didn't make. this case public initially. Here's what. the chief had to say. >> In our conversations with the medical. staff at that time provided some. conflicting information or at least. information to consider. The hospital. time at that time without further. analysis noted that this entire incident. could be medical in nature and not. criminal. It's important to focus on this case. because I need to explain that when we. have unknown instances where we don't.

know the cause of injuries, we treat. these as suspicious situations. In the. case of Mr. Dunbec, we investigated this. as a serious assault, as a suspicious. situation. And that is showcased by the idea that. we used our major crime detectives and. our crime scene investigators who. responded to the initial scene at the. time of this incident. In instances like. this where we do not have a. determination of whether this is. criminal in nature, when the medical. information that we're being shared says.

this could be just a medical incident. until we know more, we do not regularly. share that out to the widespread media. So, back in September, Dunbeck's cousin. Teresa Sumpter spoke with local station. WKAR News, and she spoke about the. family allegedly being in the dark about. what was going on here. And she also. said that Dunbec had several spinal. fractures, brain trauma, and according. to Sumpter, he also suffered a heart. attack at the time of his death. She.

said, quote, "It almost sounds like he. was beaten with an object and then. kicked, maybe while he was on the. ground." So again, as we talk about. this, do you see apparent similarities? Now you fast forward to October 14th, and the medical examiner officially. ruled Dunbeck's death indeterminate. Police said his death still remains. suspicious. The investigation is open. and active. Okay, real quick. For. anybody who owns a business, manages a. business, runs a business, you look, you. don't need me to tell you running a. business is tough enough. The question I. have is why make it harder doing things.

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odo.com/sidebar. >> The third incident occurred on July 13th. of 2026. This is that this occurred at. 7:50 in the morning. Officers were. called to the river trail again to the. 300 block of East Oakland. And here. officers discovered 57year-old Robert. Smith who was unresponsive and bleeding. from his head. Mr. Smith was transported. to the local hospital with. life-threatening injuries. Now, police. pointed out that Smith's death was. noticeably similar to Shannard's 9. months earlier, especially since they.

were both found in the same block of the. trail. And they did, by the way, put out. a Crimes Stoppers post online regarding. Smith's assault. But no suspects have. been named in connection with his case. Smith was pronounced dead on July 17th. This was just a few days before his 58th. birthday. But it wasn't until September. 17th, so two months later, that the. medical examiner ruled his death a. homicide. >> The fourth incident occurred on August. 20th at approximately 3:54 a.m. again on. the River Trail. This was under the.

Michigan Avenue Bridge. And our victim. in this case is 22-year-old Daniel Lusk. He was found stabbed to death. >> According to his obituary, Lusk was. known for his witty sense of humor, unforgettable laugh, love of fishing. Now, this case is different from the. others in two ways because this appears. to be the first time we see a stabbing. and police were able to nail down a. suspect through video security footage. That suspect is 23-year-old Edward. Smith, now facing a murder charge, currently being held in the Ingam County.

Jail without bond. His next court. hearing is scheduled for December 14th, which his docket labels as a forensic. status review. But there's one more. there's one more incident to get. through. Our fifth incident occurred on. August 30th at 3:24 a.m. And in this. incident, officers were called to the. river trail in the 200 block of East. Caesar Chavez under the bridge. Officers. found 57year-old Lewis Woodruff with. apparent facial injuries. He was. transported to a local hospital with. life-threatening injuries. So Woodruff.

was pronounced dead 2 days later on. September 1st. His obituary described. him as a man with a big heart and a. generous spirit. Police said that. Woodruff's case was shared publicly for. more information to come in and his. death is currently a homicide. investigation, but to be clear, no. suspects have been publicly named as of. yet. But this brings the question, right? Is there a serial killer in. Lancing, Michigan? As you heard at the. beginning of this episode, the police. chief is looking into that possibility. that these cases could be related. And. there are already some similarities that.

the chief spoke about. The fact that all. five victims were on the same river. trail, all homeless. Police believe the. attacks all took place either in the. overnight hours or early in the morning. And the police chief pointed out even. more similarities while also making note. of the differences in Lusk's killing. >> We believe that our victims in this case. were lying down, potentially even. sleeping. We don't know that, but based. on how we found our victims and their. surroundings, it would lead us to.

believe that this could be a pattern. All of our victims are white males and. they rage they range in age from 22 to. 70 years old. One of these incidents is different than. the others. Our charge case involves a. victim who's been stabbed. Our other. four incidents involve what appear to be. blunt force trauma, traumatic injuries. to the facial facial area, but no weapon. being used or no known weapon being.

used. >> But as investigators work to determine. whether these deaths are connected, there are some clear challenges here. Some of those challenges include the. location of where these crimes are. occurring on the river trail, the time that they occur. results in a lack of witnesses, and we also because of the location, we don't have a lot of surveillance. footage. And that's a hot topic right.

now. And I do believe more surveillance. would help us, more cameras would help. us in this scenario. it would give us. that objective evidence especially. during the times and locations that. we're covering today. I've also introduced to you that one of. the challenges is the medical. information that comes to us and I've. shared that we've had some medical. opinions or theories from the hospitals. that have impacted how we're addressing. these cases or how we're classifying.

these cases and how we're sharing. information. We also don't have all the information. from the medical side and I've mentioned. that we have pending medical examiner. results that we're still waiting on. So. we don't have all the information about. injuries or a medical examiner's. conclusion on the cause of death. But again, this is fluid. And then the. police chief addressed the possibility, something that I'm sure a lot of you.

have been thinking about, whether or not. Daniel Lusk's alleged killer, that. suspect, could he potentially be the. suspect in all the other cases? >> I want to be very clear that that is a. challenging question to answer, but one. I have to be very cautious on. A primary. theory in how you investigate crimes is. you let the evidence. lead you to what transpired in an.

incident and two suspects in that order. Using a suspect. and then with that name using that to. develop or find evidence that meets your. theory. That leads you down a road of. inappropriate charges. misidentification, some very big problems. So, in law. enforcement, our responsibility. and our ethics demand that we approach.

this in the right manner. >> Let me just make something clear. Edward. Smith has not, at the time of this. recording, has not been charged with any. of the other four deaths in this case. Okay. But where do we go from here? Where does the investigation go from. here? Police department has offered. resources to contact them with new. information. We've set up a tip line. specifically for our River Trail. assaults. We'll be sharing that out to. the media, but for anyone watching, that. phone number is 517. 4836023.

We continue to have uh to offer the. ability to report this anonymously, any. information anonymously to Crimestoppers. at 4837867. And then finally, we have an options. through social media to contact us if. anyone has information. >> And as police continue their. investigation, how can something like. this be prevented moving forward? This. summer, Lancing PD says it's placed more.

officers near the river trail around the. clock. Additional security, they added. camera trailers along the trail, increased mental health resources. focused on the homeless population. living near the trail to help find safer. housing. Is there any reason for the. casual trail user to be concerned about. safety? At this point, >> what we have repeatedly said is that we. identify a pattern of these instances. happening in the early morning hours. You heard our calls and our responses,

4:00 a.m., 3:00 a.m. And we've relayed. to the public that our incidents are. isolated between these times. I do not. have concerns your safety on the river. trail outside of those hours. >> Let me bring in retired police sergeant. Troy Hillman who's an expert on this. Troy, good to see you. Thanks for taking. the time. Um, what I find so significant. about this and what's different from. other cases that we covered like Lady. Bird Lake and all this is this is not.

police coming out and saying that's. nonsense. It's there's no serial killer. That's absurd. Don't let the online. theories, you know, guide you. They seem. to suggest it's possible that they have. to look into it given certain. similarities in the time frame here. I. think that that is significant. No. >> Yeah. I mean, it's uh you. [clears throat] got to look at each case. individually, but you also are are. staring in the face of a pattern. Um. you've got uh over 50 typically males.

being targeted homeless um under bridges. uh in the dead of night. Um so yeah, you've got a you've got a definite. pattern here. Um and uh you know what do. they say? One is one is one. Number two, you start to go towards less than a. coincidence. And three, yeah, it's. something something's going on. >> Are homeless individuals targets for. serial killers? Generally speaking,

>> yeah, they they fit um unfortunately in. the high-risk lifestyle. Uh meaning they. they don't have a home uh to protect. them. You know, they they generally. don't always carry cell phones. Um you. know, they they sleep in areas that are. secluded, dark, you know, at night. Um. and and they generally don't check in. with their families. Um and then that. kind of thing. So, it is a high-risisk. lifestyle, almost like a sex worker. Do. you get the sense from the description. of these deaths that these could. potentially be surprise attacks while.

they're sleeping or unconscious? >> Yeah, absolutely. When I first looked at. it, you know, they said elderly, but you. know, a 50ome year old male is going to. and even a 70 is going to fight back um. when you're being attacked um and. they're not easily overcome. So my my. guess is yeah, it was a blitz style. attack um to the to the face and head. and it happened, you know, very quickly. and and it's just, you know, awful to to. read these details. >> I mentioned before that there seems to.

be speculation about whether a baseball. bat or heavy object was used. Do you. think the evidence would support that. from what we know so far? Yeah, and that was something interesting. I saw from the chief's uh press. conference was there was kind of this uh. back and forth with a medical examiner. um as to what they were saying. Um you. know that that's definitely a medical uh. [clears throat] thing that they should. be able to tell um typically what type. of instrument was used if it was beyond. you know a hand or a foot. But at this.

point it's it's unknown or they're not. sharing it with the public. Do you find. it surprising that in some cases it's. undetermined or indeterminate about what. happened to them? >> Yeah, honestly I was surprised. Um and. it's it's um. it's inexplicable if you have multiple. uh head wounds. Um obviously something. happened or something did this to you. So again, I'm not in a position to. quarter armchair quarterback the medical. examiner, but uh I did find that odd.

when I looked at that that uh there was. not a ruling. But sometimes if they. don't have enough, they just leave it. undetermined. >> Now, of course, there's been arrest in. connection with at least, you know, one. of these deaths. The stabbing is an. outlier, right? So, let's presume from. let let's just think for a second. I. made it clear before, I'll say it again, this guy hasn't been charged in. connection with the other deaths, but if. you think about it, stabbing would be. different in your experience. Would a. serial killer use a different method of.

attack to throw investigators off? Is it. maybe the circumstances? You know, sure. there could be blunt force trauma or. what appears to be blunt force trauma in. other cases, but doesn't mean they. won't, you know, resort to guns or. stabbings. Um, in your experience, I. know you always talk about a pattern and. an MO, but is it possible that a killer. could switch things up to throw. investigators off? >> Yeah, that's an excellent question. It's. definitely possible. Um because these. types of serial killers enjoy and they.

target people that are vulnerable and. then they they kill and that's that's. kind of where they get their um. sensation and excitement. So it's. definitely they could switch it up and. it's something that they could throw off. investigators. Um but looking at that. one crime where a knife was used um they. have the perpetrator under arrest. To. me, that would be you'd need to unlock. what he said during his interview and. and really his his background to see if. that was just a random or if this. something typically a serial killer will. develop over time. And something that I.

learned on the canal murders was they. develop uh you know, starting typically. at a at a young age and you can see this. pattern developing. >> How do they potentially connect this one. suspect to the other deaths? Well, it's difficult because there's. there's not uh it doesn't appear that. there's DNA left at the scene um that. who but but who knows uh at this point. because they're going to keep some. information back from the public because. they want to they want to make sure it.

goes through the court system if they do. apprehend a perpetrator later on down. the road. So, that's very difficult to. say to be honest. >> Do you think they're all connected? Do. you think it's all one person? My gut. feeling was uh the first or the four uh. where you have facial injuries and head. trauma are connected and the other one. is a outlier. But I always said in. investigations it's important to uh you. know not rule anything out and keep an. open mind.

>> What seems so difficult about this and. it was mentioned in the press conference. is it's kind of this area late at night, right? You know, no cameras. I think now. they're putting in more cameras. They're. putting on more patrols. We'll talk. about that in a minute, but you know, no. eyewitnesses. Is it going to be a really difficult. challenge to try to solve these cases? >> Yeah, it's it's definitely not going to. be easy. Um, but you do have uh, you. know, there somebody may have seen. something or heard uh, you know,

somebody scream out and and and. typically the unhoused uh, homeless. don't um, they don't associate with the. police. Uh, and so I think the police. and the chief said that they're trying. to work through advocacy groups and. community groups to try to get these uh. unhoused homeless to come forward and. give information. I think some somebody. given that there's been four, somebody. would have seen something and there's. something out there and and I always go. back to the case we worked with the. canal murders was it was in our files.

and somewhere along the line somebody. will will see or say something and the. perpetrator uh you know will have. screwed up and and and done something to. where he gets caught. But it's. definitely not an easy um and I I'm. fearful uh you know that these may go go. cold but uh hopefully they'll they. sounds like they have a lot of manpower. on it and a lot of scrutiny and things. are moving forward. >> I also think it's interesting the time. frame right you have this all happening. within a year but there is a separation. of months too. Is that weird to you?

>> Yeah it's it's difficult though but. there are cases of serial killers. Uh I. believe the the most famous one is uh. BTK which uh you know went went dormant. for a while and something I learned from. a profile area was that basically. they're not done with the murder until. they're done with the murder. So meaning. you know [clears throat] we we think. it's done you know basically on this. date of the incident but the the. murderer may be still enjoying that or. getting his excitement off it later. So. there there are periods of dormcancy um.

for various reasons but uh you know. >> and opportunity an opportunity right. opportunity and availability and access. >> Absolutely. And maybe that has something. to do with the the cold weather. Um you. know it was October I think the first. one and then you get into the summer. months for the second one. Maybe um he. didn't want to there weren't that many. homeless unhoused out there at that. time. Are you confident if they're. adding more officers, more security, more cameras that they're going to be. able to see something?

>> Yeah, I I think eventually something. will connect. There's again, you know, if you just had one or two, but again, there's a there's a pattern here. And. and I guess you can't say that they're. all connected, but it sure sure looks. like it. So, at some point there's. there's going to be some I always call. it a nugget of information that's going. to lead investigators down a path, and. that's going to break the case wide. open. From your perspective, another. component of this story, another. narrative is the way law enforcement has. relayed this information to the public. and the families. There's a difficulty.

there, right? Kind of heard it in the. press conference about what information. they're receiving from the medical. examiner, what information they're. receiving, how much they relay it to the. public. There's at least one case that I. mentioned where, you know, the family. didn't learn about what had happened. immediately from law enforcement. Talk. to me about what we should be thinking. about that and what the role is of a. chief of police or police department to. relay information to the public and the. families. Yeah, it's it's such a tight rope um. because you basically want to uh give.

information, as much information as you. can, but you also want to hold some. stuff back because you had certain. people that maybe are are mentally. unstable, insert themselves into an. investigation and send it in another. direction that eats up manpower, that. kind of stuff. So, it's this tightroppe. balance and you definitely don't want to. come out uh with, you know, maybe the. second assault and say, "Hey, this is a. serial um and cause widespread panic.". It's a very difficult position for that. chief to be in and that police. department. Uh and I honestly looking at.

this uh what we went through with the. Phoenix Police Department, we had. similar things and it's just this push. pull of of trying to get as much. information out there but also hold some. tough stuff back because again you don't. want widespread panic. You don't want. wild goose chases, that kind of thing. >> How do you reassure the public that. they're safe? I'm sure there's concern. I'm sure there's fear. How do you. reassure them that they're going to be. okay or what precautions they should. take? What do you say to them? >> Um, well, typically I I think they'll be. there surveillance cameras out there.

now. It sounds like they're working on. the lighting to make better lighting. It. sounds like there's a saturation of. patrol officers out there in that area. So, you you can't police unfortunately. are short staffed. They can't be. everywhere to be at every single crime. scene before it happens. But, uh, you. know, just be aware be aware of your. surroundings. It sounds like this. particular perpetrator is taking. advantage of the fact that it's late at. night. These are vulnerable uh unhoused. people that are sleeping. Obviously, just be careful if you're going to go.

sleep on a park bench or do something. like that. Be safe. >> Do you think the community should be. scared? >> You know, I wouldn't say say scared. I. would say aware. Um, and I I think the. the unhoused uh should have a little bit. more scrutiny about where they stay and. and maybe a buddy system and that that. kind of thing just to make sure that, you know, they're not attacked, they're. not alone, that kind of thing. >> Okay. Really disturbing, really. unsettling. Um, I want to stay on top of. it, see where it goes. Um, yeah. Yeah, I.

this is a this is a weird one. Troy. Hillman, thanks for taking the time. I. really appreciate it. >> Thank you, Jesse. Appreciate it. >> And that's all we have for you right now. here on Sidebar, everybody. Thank you so. much for joining us. I'm Jesse Weber. I'll speak to you next time.