(NewsInsights.org) – Michigan Judge Kenneth King held a hearing in Detroit on Tuesday, January 23, to determine whether prosecutors had sufficient evidence to bring Michael Jackson-Bolanos, 28, to trial for the murder of Samantha Woll, a prominent Jewish leader. She was killed in the pre-dawn hours of October 21, 2023. Prosecutors charged Jackson-Bolanos with fatally stabbing Woll during a home invasion and lying to police. King added a first-degree murder charge based on forensic evidence. The defendant will face arraignment on January 30 as his first step in the criminal trial process.
Police Chief James White told the court that Jackson-Bolanos came to investigators’ attention as they tried to solve a series of robberies in the same area where the crime against Woll occurred. Using surveillance footage from several sources around the area, investigators tracked the suspect leaving his girlfriend’s apartment downtown at 12:42 a.m. and walking towards the Lafayette Park neighborhood where Woll lived. Additionally, cell phone tower data showed him near Woll’s apartment between 3:50 a.m. and 4:20 a.m.
Defense attorney Brian Brown argued the timeline of Woll’s death remains uncertain. Records show someone last unlocked her cell phone at 1:38 a.m., and neighbors reported hearing a scream at the same time. Woll’s security system registered motion in her living room at 4:20 a.m. Yet, surveillance cameras caught Jackson-Bolanos more than half a mile away on a bridge at 4:24 a.m.
A neighbor found 40-year-old Woll, the president of the Isaac Agree Downtown Synagogue, deceased in front of her home after she tried to seek help after the attack. Investigators accused Jackson-Bolanos of stabbing her at least eight times in the face and neck inside her apartment. In describing the crime scene, King said, “This place was literally covered in blood,” according to media reports.
Police also recovered the jacket they observed Jackson-Bolanos wearing in surveillance footage from his girlfriend’s apartment where he lived. They found droplets of blood on the coat, and the DNA matched Woll’s. However, investigators noted very little blood on the jacket as compared with the crime scene.
Despite objections from the defense, King held Jackson-Bolanos over for trial based on the evidence presented. He also added the first-degree murder charge because he argued that the person who perpetrated the crime “had ample opportunity to reflect on their actions” before they stabbed the victim eight times during an obvious struggle, according to the Detroit Free Press.
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