DETROIT (WXYZ) — The man accused of killing Detroit synagogue leader Samantha Woll was back in court on Tuesday.
Woll was found stabbed to death in Detroit outside of her Lafayette Park apartment back in October. Michael Jackson-Bolanos has been charged with her murder.
Tuesday seemed to be all about placing the suspect at the scene.
Several investigators took the stand. Jurors heard from FBI agents and Detroit police as they laid out how they collected cellphone records and security footage, ultimately leading them to believe Jackson-Bolanos was responsible for Woll’s death.
First up was special agent Brian Toltzis with the FBI's cellular analysis survey team.
“Homicide task force identified an individual walking in the area of the crime scene around the time that we believe the incident to have happened,” Toltzis said. “He created a map indicating the CCTV (surveillance camera) locations. Traversing, that individual went back far enough that I felt confident that we could potentially identify who this unknown individual was.”
He says Jackson-Bolanos’ phone accessed cell towers consistently in the area of the crime that night.
Watch coverage of Monday in court in the video player below:
After the agent walked jurors through the department’s investigative process, the defense pointed to potential margins of error in the cellphone geolocation data.
“If for instance a phone moves, say 10 feet, I have my phone here and I move over there, could that also give a different timing advance measurement? That small movement?” defense attorney Brian Brown asked Toltzis.
“Once again, it's possible. We're talking about meters and feet,” Toltzis responded.
In the afternoon, jurors heard from Detroit Police Department Sgt. Lance Sullivan. He helped compile camera angles from dozens of locations, painting a picture of the path police say Jackson-Bolanos took that night.
Security footage captured the suspect in Detroit — downtown, Midtown and near a school.
"As with most of the schools that have the systems, there's cameras fixed. Basically, so they can see 360 degrees around the building,” Sullivan said. “A lot of times… these cameras are covering the property. What we were interested in was external cameras only.”
Testimony is set to continue Wednesday morning. If convicted, Jackson-Bolanos faces life in prison.
