Michigan prosecutors charged a 28-year-old Detroit man for the murder of Jewish community leader Samantha Woll.
Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy announced the development on Wednesday and the suspect was identified as Michael Jackson-Bolanos. He was charged with felony murder during a first-degree home invasion and is believed to have acted alone in the Oct. 21 murder of the victim.
Samantha Woll Murder Suspect Charged
Worthy noted that the suspect did not personally know the Jewish leader and allegedly entered the victim's Lafayette Park home and stabbed her multiple times using what officials said was a "straight-edge cutting instrument."
The prosecutor added that on the same day, the defendant allegedly lied to detectives about stealing and attempting to steal from cars from the area where Woll's home was located. Jackson-Bolanos has retained an attorney who maintained that the suspect is innocent following an arraignment hearing on Wednesday.
He noted that police had previously fingered a different suspect in the murder of the Jewish leader. Attorney Brian Brown said it was significant that law enforcement authorities originally arrested an individual before arresting his client, as per the Detroit Free Press.
The attorney added that he would look at the circumstances around that particular part of the case. Brown noted that it was due to a lot of publicity that the case was receiving that piled pressure on the Detroit Police Department to come up with someone who could be the suspect in the murder.
After the charges against Jackson-Bolanos were announced on Wednesday, Woll's family expressed gratitude to law enforcement officials. The family spoke through their lawyer, Brian Legghio, and said that they thanked the hard-working men and women of the DPD Homicide Task Force who tirelessly worked for weeks to investigate the tragic crime.
The family also expressed gratitude to everyone who supported them through this time of grieving and asked for privacy. They said that Woll's death was an unspeakable tragedy that affected everyone who knew her.
Michael Jackson-Bolanos' Alleged Crime
The case involves 40-year-old Woll, who was found dead outside of her home a few hours after she returned from attending a wedding. Investigators believe that the victim was attacked while she was inside and she later went out, according to Fox News.
Law enforcement personnel said that they found no signs of forced entry and that an anonymous caller alerted emergency responders after finding the dead body at around 6:30 a.m. There were snippets of the emergency dispatch heard on the police scanner early that morning that said it was a suspicious death that involved a trail of blood.
The Jewish leader was a well-respected synagogue president known to be politically active. She previously worked for Democratic U.S. Rep. Elissa Slotkin and on the political campaign of state Attorney General Dana Nessel.
Detroit police chief James White said that the suspect in the case was arrested a few weeks ago for separate crimes on the night of the murder. He was released and recently arrested after investigators allegedly gathered enough evidence to link Jackson-Bolanos to Woll's murder, said Fox2Detroit.
