A Detroit man has been charged with the death of a synagogue president in October, adding that there was no evidence of a hate crime.
Michael Jackson-Bolanos, 28, has been charged with the murder of Samantha Woll, 40, during a home invasion, according to a Detroit Police Department post on X, formerly Twitter.
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The murder on October 21 occurred at a time when hate crimes against Jews and Muslims were on the rise in the United States as a result of the Israel-Hamas conflict in Gaza, which began on October 7.
At the time, police cautioned against drawing any inferences that Woll, the rabbi of the Isaac Agree Downtown Synagogue in Detroit, was slain in an anti-Semitic incident.
"Let me state very clearly... There are no facts to suggest that this defendant knew Ms Woll, and certainly no facts to suggest that this was a hate crime," Wayne County prosecutor Kym Worthy said at a news conference Wednesday.
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Woll was discovered dead with several stab wounds to her body by emergency personnel. A blood trail led detectives to Woll's adjacent home, where the crime is thought to have taken place.
Woll, who has led the synagogue since 2022, was also involved in Democratic Party politics, working for US Congresswoman Elissa Slotkin and Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel's campaign, according to the Detroit Free Press.
According to the article, Woll was involved in a grassroots organization aimed at connecting young Muslims and Jews.
