MI - Samantha Woll, a Detroit synagogue president, fatally stabbed *Arrest*

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"Brown and Elsey both said there was a witness who heard a woman speaking loudly around 1:30 a.m. Oct. 21.

Elsey said the man thought it was an older woman’s voice he heard.

But Brown said the witness
'tried to convince himself he did not hear Samantha Woll scream or make a statement'.

He said the witness changed his statement
and said it couldn’t have been around 1:30 a.m. and thought it was earlier based on when he let his dogs out and went back to sleep."

 
"Brown and Elsey both said there was a witness who heard a woman speaking loudly around 1:30 a.m. Oct. 21.

Elsey said the man thought it was an older woman’s voice he heard.

But Brown said the witness
'tried to convince himself he did not hear Samantha Woll scream or make a statement'.

He said the witness changed his statement
and said it couldn’t have been around 1:30 a.m. and thought it was earlier based on when he let his dogs out and went back to sleep."

First of all, the neighbor's watch data showed that he walked outside (3 buildings away from Samantha's --something like 300+ yards away) -- from 1:22 to 1:26 a.m. We also know that Samantha was INSIDE her home using the phone from 1:29 to 1:36a.m. (during which time no motion was detected on her security system). The neighbor also testified that he later recognized the sound he heard on the night of Sam's death as coming from protestors at Greektown chanting over a megaphone. So there's that.
 
Though I understand why this would anger people, I just look at it objectively.

The defense attorney is duty bound to present a plausible alternative theory that he or she thinks a jury might accept. This defendant might not have given him or her much to work with in regards to plausible alternative theories.

So, the plausible alterative theory defaults to: Another male from the victim's dating history could have committed the crime.... . In the end, if this is the best plausible alternative theory, the defense attorney would not be fulfilling their oath if they did not present it.
Excellent post! Unlike the policy here on Websleuths, courts are not necessarily "victim-friendly".
 
Herbstman has since said he was at his home when Samantha Woll was killed and his cellphone was with him.

Brown: "You stated that some suspects leave their cellular devices at home when they go out to commit a crime."

"That is a possibility, yes," Martinez said.

Brown continued to try to create reasonable doubt - questioning the detective about another ex-boyfriend.

Brown: "Aaron Pergament had a key to Samantha Woll's residence - isn't that correct?"

"Yes," Martinez said.

Brown: "Aaron Pergament was being deceitful when asked about that key to Samantha Woll's house by Officer Crenshaw - correct?"

"Yes," Martinez said.

Brown: "That particular key was never returned back to Samantha Woll - correct?"

"Yes," he said.
Top left: Samantha Woll, bottom left: Suspect Michael Jackson Bolonos. Main photo: MSP Det. Alexander Martinez testifies.

 
Herbstman has since said he was at his home when Samantha Woll was killed and his cellphone was with him.

Brown: "You stated that some suspects leave their cellular devices at home when they go out to commit a crime."

"That is a possibility, yes," Martinez said.

Brown continued to try to create reasonable doubt - questioning the detective about another ex-boyfriend.

Brown: "Aaron Pergament had a key to Samantha Woll's residence - isn't that correct?"

"Yes," Martinez said.

Brown: "Aaron Pergament was being deceitful when asked about that key to Samantha Woll's house by Officer Crenshaw - correct?"

"Yes," Martinez said.

Brown: "That particular key was never returned back to Samantha Woll - correct?"

"Yes," he said.
Top left: Samantha Woll, bottom left: Suspect Michael Jackson Bolonos. Main photo: MSP Det. Alexander Martinez testifies.

So what? There is no evidence that Jeff or Aaron or anyone else was at Sam's condo when she was murdered. You know who was though? The guy who was wearing surgical gloves and had a knife on him; the guy who was breaking into cars, including one in Sam's parking lot, and stabbed the tires; the guy who was seen on surveillance footage running away from the scene of the crime 3 minutes after her security system detected motion; the guy who had Sam's blood on his jacket and backpack; the guy who got mad at his gf during a recorded jail house call when she talked about washing his jacket; the guy who was googling how to get a "same day" passport in Detroit right after police released Jeff from custody (and long before he was on police's radar). That guy is the defendant, Michael Jackson-Bolanos.

All of the other "evidence" that people are talking about as raising "reasonable doubt" as to the Defendant's guilt can be easily reconciled. The neighbor who claimed he heard a woman's voice at "1:30am" later explained that he recognized as chants coming from protestors via a megaphone near Greektown. His watch data shows that he was outside--THREE BUILDINGS and 300+ yards away--from Sam's condo from 1:22 to 1:26am. But we KNOW Sam was in her home and alive at that time because she was on her phone until 1:36am. We also know that she was home alone because she fell asleep on the couch with her cellphone and there was no motion detected in her home from 1:24 until 4:20am. In other words, she was on the couch using her phone and no motion was detected.

Jeff's confession doesn't mean anything. The police thoroughly investigated any connection and found none. It seems obvious that he had a psychotic break and his confession was false. -I will be interested to see if they have evidence from Jeff's home security cameras confirming that he was at his home all night.

The bottom line is that ALL the evidence points to Sam being killed at the very moment that ONLY the defendant was at her home with the means and opportunity to kill her. The evidence (so far) supports this conclusion beyond a reasonable doubt.

Have you ever seen video footage of a prison shanking? It can (and does) happen very quickly--a matter of seconds. I believe that this ghastly situation was no different. MJB entered the home, triggered the motion sensor when he reached the living room, was surprised/confronted by Sam, stabbed her and left her for dead. This was not a crime of "passion" -- in which case you would expect someone to have sustained more wounds than was necessary to kill them. Here, Sam may have lived for up to an hour after receiving a series of wounds that were not immediately fatal. Everyone needs to accept the fact that MJB was able to trigger the motion sensor at Sam's at 4:20am/come into contact with Sam's blood and was seen ~3 minutes later running across the Monroe Street bridge a couple blocks away. We KNOW he can (and did) do that. The only question is did he have enough time to also stab her 8 times? To me the answer is OF COURSE he did; it would've only taken him a matter of SECONDS.
 
Detroit — Cell phone records place the man accused of killing Detroit synagogue president Samantha Woll in the area of her home around the time prosecutors say she was killed, according to testimony from an FBI agent who reviewed the data.

FBI Special Agent Bryan Toltzis went through the GPS data Tuesday morning from Michael Jackson-Bolanos’ cell phone from midnight through 7 a.m. Oct. 21, when Woll was found dead outside her Lafayette Park townhouse by a neighbor. She had been stabbed eight times in the head and neck.

At the same time as Woll’s alarm system detected motion in her living room, at 4:20 a.m. Oct. 21, Jackson-Bolanos’ phone was in the “immediate area of the crime scene,” Toltzis said...
 
Detroit — Cell phone records place the man accused of killing Detroit synagogue president Samantha Woll in the area of her home around the time prosecutors say she was killed, according to testimony from an FBI agent who reviewed the data.

FBI Special Agent Bryan Toltzis went through the GPS data Tuesday morning from Michael Jackson-Bolanos’ cell phone from midnight through 7 a.m. Oct. 21, when Woll was found dead outside her Lafayette Park townhouse by a neighbor. She had been stabbed eight times in the head and neck.

At the same time as Woll’s alarm system detected motion in her living room, at 4:20 a.m. Oct. 21, Jackson-Bolanos’ phone was in the “immediate area of the crime scene,” Toltzis said...
Importantly, we know that Sam was using her cellphone -- in her home where it was found -- at 1:36 a.m., and that her home security system did not detect motion in her house from 1:24am until 4:20am when MJB arrived. In other words, we know that Sam was not killed before 4:20am -- otherwise her security system would have detected motion (but it did not).
 
Detroit — When police questioned the man accused of killing Detroit synagogue president Samantha Woll, he denied all involvement in a murder and originally thought he was being accused of stealing a pair of sunglasses, according to a video of the interrogation.

Michael Jackson-Bolanos, 29, of Detroit, was arrested Nov. 30, more than a month after Woll was stabbed eight times in the head and neck and was found dead outside her Lafayette Park townhome.

When Jackson-Bolanos was interrogated by Detroit Police Department Detective Patrick Lane and Sgt. Steve Ford, his story changed several times, but he never admitted to being involved in Woll's murder or going into her home. Prosecutors played the interrogation video Monday on the 12th day of his jury trial for killing Woll...
 
The defense trying to give the jury insight into why Michael Jackson-Bolanos lied to police about seeing Woll’s body.

Once Jackson-Bolanos realized she was dead, he said he panicked and ran away. He claimed all he was trying to do that night was break into cars.

“I didn’t shake the body. I checked the neck and put my hand like in between right here, no air -- no breath or nothing,” Jackson-Bolanos testified. “Once I realized I just touched a dead person, I grabbed the bag and left.”

He said he did not enter Woll’s home and had nothing to do with her murder and that when he found her body, he was checking on her.

“I didn’t know whether she had like fallen outside or was drunk. Me as a person -- yeah, I am out doing wrong -- I still wanted to make sure that this person was OK,” Jackson-Bolanos said. “When I realized she was dead, I wanted nothing to do with the entire situation. I’m a black guy in the middle of the night breaking into cars and I find myself standing in front of a dead white woman -- that doesn’t look good at all.”
 
Detroit — The man accused of killing Detroit synagogue leader Samantha Woll again denied killing her but testified Monday that he lied to police about seeing Woll's body on the sidewalk in her Lafayette Park neighborhood because he worried about her murder being pinned on him.

Michael Jackson-Bolanos, 29, took the stand to testify in his own defense in his jury trial for killing Woll. Jackson-Bolanos, who first took the stand on Wednesday last week, testified that he did not kill Woll, but he came across her lying on the ground and he touched her neck to see if she was alive. He said he didn't panic when he saw her body but was "shocked" and "in disbelief."

“It was a terrible thing but it had nothing to do with me,” said Jackson-Bolanos, who acknowledged that he did not call 911. “I did not kill her.” ...

 
Detroit — There are simply "too many coincidences" to suggest that anyone other than Michael Jackson-Bolanos killed Detroit synagogue president Samantha Woll in her Detroit townhouse in October, according to Wayne County prosecutors.

But Jackson-Bolanos' defense attorney, Brian Brown, said the case involved the “wrong person who just happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time” and that a shoddy police investigation left a lot of questions unanswered.

Jackson-Bolanos, 29, has been standing trial for Woll's murder for the past four and a half weeks. He is charged with felony murder, first-degree murder, home invasion and lying to police...
 



This is a very interesting case- However, I have not followed it closely. The Defendant alleges he stumbled across her body outside of her home and stopped and took her pulse, accounting for the blood that ended up on his jacket. From my perspective, his statement that he took her pulse does not ring true. What thief is going to take the pulse of someone lying on the ground-? A thief is just going to keep running. To my way of thinking, he is trying to account for the blood found on his jacket. On the other hand they have the confession of her boyfriend (who recanted)-- Looking forward to the verdict
 
I'm not finding updates this morning but assume that the jury continues to deliberate as they did not reach a verdict yesterday. On WDIV news at 4:00PM yesterday, it was reported that the jury began deliberating at 9:00AM, continued to deliberate through lunch, and were dismissed for the day at 3:45PM. They had no questions for the Judge and did not ask to view any evidence. The jury was expected to continue deliberations this morning at 9:00AM.
 
I'm not finding updates this morning but assume that the jury continues to deliberate as they did not reach a verdict yesterday. On WDIV news at 4:00PM yesterday, it was reported that the jury began deliberating at 9:00AM, continued to deliberate through lunch, and were dismissed for the day at 3:45PM. They had no questions for the Judge and did not ask to view any evidence. The jury was expected to continue deliberations this morning at 9:00AM.
 
Totally bizarre :confused: I don't see that article anywhere on my version of the WDIV website.
 
No deliberations today.


After a full day of deliberations, the jury in the Samantha Woll murder trial did not reach a verdict Wednesday, though it will take a daylong break on Thursday due to a scheduling conflict involving one of the jurors.
 

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