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Accused killer of Samantha Woll charged with first-degree murder

No evidence yet suggests a crime motivated by antisemitism.

Samantha Woll
JCRC/AJC board member Samantha Woll lighting candles in March 2018. Credit: Courtesy of JCRC/AJC.

Michael Jackson-Bolanos, 28, faces multiple charges for allegedly stabbing to death Detroit Jewish leader Samantha Woll on Oct. 21.

In a hearing on Tuesday, Judge Kenneth King set an arraignment date for Jan. 30 and added an additional charge of first-degree premeditated murder. Prosecutors had already charged Jackson-Bolanos with murder, home invasion and lying to police.

Woll had served as president of the Isaac Agree Downtown Synagogue and worked on multiple political campaigns.

Police continue to maintain that no evidence indicates antisemitism or that the Oct. 7 terror attacks fueled the killing, and that the apparent motive was robbery. Evidence that was presented on Tuesday showed surveillance footage, data from Jackson-Bolanos’s cell phone, and blood—DNA matched to Woll—on his jacket.

Woll is believed to have been killed at 4:20 a.m. Neighbor Kevin Mull, who discovered Woll’s body, testified he found her barefoot, in a fetal position, and with skin that had turned blue.

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