Authorities in Michigan are investigating a string of five killings that may be connected, police said.
The Lansing Police department announced in a news conference that the five deaths occurred over the last year with unnerving similarities linking all of them, FOX 2 reported.
Victims were discovered along the Lansing River Trail, which feeds directly into Michigan State University’s campus.
“One question that we’re being asked is, do we have a serial killer in Lansing? What we need the public to know, is we are investigating all of these cases. They are all active investigations, and we are looking at the idea or the possibility that these may be related cases,” Lansing Police Chief Rob Backus said at a news conference on Friday, FOX 2 reported.
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In each of these five cases, investigators said victims may have been attacked overnight.
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Four out of five incidents involved some sort of “blunt force trauma to the facial area,” Backus said. No weapon has been recovered.
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Timeline of killings
Backus said investigators are exploring whether all five trail deaths are connected to a single killer, possibly the person in custody – but did not confirm he is responsible for all the killings.
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Smith has not been named a suspect or charged in the other four cases.
All victims appear to be homeless, White men who were possibly sleeping, reports say.
Police are actively investigating all deaths.