Christine Marie Cambric was a 53-year-old Lansing woman remembered for a spunky, energetic personality and a history of caring work as an in-home nurse and a waitress at Zeus' Coney Island, where coworkers called her Red. She enjoyed exercise, kayaking and annual trips with friends and was described as deeply loved by family and community.

On the evening of April 18, 2024, police responded to a reported shooting at a home on the 500 block of Woodrow Avenue. Inside the basement officers found Christine and her 50-year-old cousin, Jason Deon McKenzie, both shot and killed with an assault-style rifle. The investigation focused on Christine’s on-again, off-again boyfriend, 51-year-old Dennis Joshua Whaley, who fled in Christine’s car after the shooting and later surrendered to police three days afterward. Authorities say he led officers to where the rifle had been hidden; an earlier arrest warrant for a January 2024 domestic assault on Christine had not been served.

Whaley has been charged with two counts of open murder and multiple felony firearm offenses; he has pleaded not guilty and claimed the shooting was accidental, saying McKenzie grabbed the rifle’s barrel and it discharged. Many questions remain about motive and the events in the basement that night. Did anyone nearby see or hear something that could clarify what happened?