Resolution for 17-year-old Lansing cold case, suspects deceased

After almost two decades of waiting, Edric Hinton’s family finally has answers to the previously unsolved 2009 homicide of the 19-year-old.

During a news conference on Monday, the Lansing Police Department’s cold case investigator Shannon Thielen said a tip from a confidential source “who had firsthand knowledge (from) the involved parties” led to the resolution. 

The gun, investigators said Monday, was a shotgun that was recovered due to the new tip.

According to a Crimestoppers of Mid-Michigan bulletin issued by officials at the time of the incident, Hinton was visiting acquaintances at 916 W. Cavanaugh on Aug. 1, 2009, when a bullet, fired through an apartment window from the outside, hit him. He stood but fell instantly.

Emergency services were called, Lansing Police Chief Robert Backus said, and transported Hinton to the hospital, where he was pronounced dead less than 30 minutes later. 

“At our department, when someone’s murdered,” Backus said, “it brings us a specific response with an influx of resources.”

Backus said police believed a shotgun was likely the weapon, and the shots were fired from outside of the apartment. Detectives located witnesses and developed suspects, but reached a dead end. “Ultimately, we ran out of evidence,” Backus said.

A City Pulse cover story in March 2013 planned to profile years’ worth of cold cases, but reporters learned the police had little organization of their cold cases and were not able to produce basic information like names and dates, and the story became an exposé.

Within two months, then-Mayor Virg Bernero funded a new full-time investigator at $100,000 a year and credited the City Pulse investigation.

A City Pulse investigation in 2013 was credited with jump-starting the city’s cold case investigation unit.

After the original team investigated the homicide, two more cold case investigators handled the case before Thielen was assigned in 2019. 

Thielen said she “crossed paths with someone” and built a relationship with the individual who shared information about where the murder weapon was buried. According to Thielen, in the fall of 2025, a 12-gauge shotgun and other corroborating evidence were recovered by crime scene investigators. Thielen said shotgun shells found at the crime scene were determined to have been fired from the shotgun.

The suspected shooter, Esteban Reyes Jr., and the suspected getaway driver, Lee Anthony Lynn, are both dead.

“While this means that no criminal charges can be brought forward,” Thielen said, “the recovery of the weapon, the forensic confirmation and the corroborating statement allow us to provide answers to the Hinton family that they’ve waited too long for.”

When asked about the suspects’ connection to Hinton’s acquaintances, a spokesperson for the police department said, Hinton was an innocent bystander.

Hinton’s twin brother, Eric Hinton, spoke on behalf of the family. 

“To have this come full circle … is devastating, and nobody knows until you go through it,” he said. “This is not the outcome that we wanted, but this is the best one that we’re going to get.”

With the resolution, Eric said he hopes his family can move forward lighter and freer. “All through life, you set these milestones … I had always wondered what 21 would look like for us and what 30 and 40 would actually look like.”

“My 40th is coming around in a few years, so I plan to throw us a birthday party and hopefully [add] some aspects that he would have enjoyed.”

Eric said he hopes people do the right thing in the future. “There are people in this community that I know to be home … that knew this and didn’t step up and do the right thing.”

“That’s a reflection of us.”