A man being held in connection with the slaying of Detroit synagogue leader Samantha Woll was charged with murder, prosecutors said Wednesday.
The suspect, identified as Michael Jackson-Bolanos, 28, of Detroit, had been taken into custody Sunday as part of the investigation into Woll’s death in October, said Wayne County Prosecutor Kim L. Worthy. She added that there are “no facts to suggest” that he knew Woll or that it was a hate crime.
The announcement of a person in custody was the second in as many months after investigators said in November they were holding someone — then released them three days later without further explanation.
Friends and loved ones of Woll, who had served as board president of the Isaac Agree Downtown Synagogue in Detroit and worked in Democratic politics in Michigan, said they were hopeful that investigators could find her killer.
Investigators continued to reiterate there was no information suggesting the 40-year-old’s death was a hate crime, although Woll was a high-profile member of the city’s Jewish community and her slaying came amid heightened tensions and growing antisemitic and Islamophobic incidents in the U.S. following the conflict in the Gaza Strip.
“Everyone is very eager for the perpetrator to be found and brought to justice,” said Rabbi Asher Lopatin, the executive director of the Jewish Community Relations Council/AJC, a nonprofit organization in metro Detroit with which Woll was involved. “It will not, of course, bring back Sam, but it would provide some closure, which is important to all those who knew her and for the entire community.”
Woll had attended a wedding before leaving at about 12:30 a.m. Oct. 21, police said. About six hours later, a 911 call was placed to report a person lying on the ground unresponsive outside of Woll’s home in Detroit’s Lafayette Park neighborhood, with a trail of blood leading inside.
Investigators believe Woll was attacked inside the home, then stumbled outside and collapsed in the yard, Detroit Police Chief James White previously told reporters.
White said in a statement Monday that the latest person of interest had been detained “within an hour of the new information surfacing because investigators were familiar with their whereabouts.” There was no immediate danger to the community because the person was under “continuous investigation,” he added.
“The public must understand that in the context of complex homicide investigations, it is not unusual for there to be a number of suspects, persons of interest, investigative leads, and evidentiary follow-ups that must be thoroughly examined before investigators are ready to submit a warrant to the prosecutor’s office,” White said. “In this case, new evidence surfaced with respect to this particular person of interest that necessitated their arrest at this time.”
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