DETROIT (WXYZ) — The suspect in the murder of Samantha Woll faced a judge Tuesday.
Woll was the president of the Isaac Agree Synagogue in Downtown Detroit. The 40-year-old was found stabbed to death outside of her apartment on Joliet Pl in Detroit in October.
A few weeks after Woll's body was discovered, Detroit Police announced they had a person of interest in custody. That person was released two days later. Then in December police arrested a second person of interest.
The second suspect was 28-year-old Michael Jackson-Bolanos.
Tuesday, Jackson-Bolanos appeared before a judge at 36th District Court for a preliminary hearing, a process in which the court will determine if there's enough evidence to take a case to trial.
The preliminary hearing started with a neighbor of Woll's. Kevin Mull says he was out for an early morning walk with a friend's dog when he discovered Woll lying near the front entrance of a home.
"I saw an individual that I wasn’t even sure was a body at first," Mull said on the witness stand. "As I got closer, I realized that it was a person. As I approached to see if that person was in need of assistance, I realized that that person was in a very bad situation."
Mull testified after touching her body and noticing discoloring on exposed skin, he knew she was already deceased. He says he ran back home to call 911.
The next person to testify was a Detroit police officer who responded to the scene of the crime. Officer Daron Zhou described finding Woll in the fetal position just a few feet left of her apartment. He also described a very bloody scene and what appeared to be a fruit bowl that had been disturbed with several pieces of fruit thrown around the apartment.
The prosecution then admitted a medical examiner's report into the record. The prosecutor highlighted the locations of each of the 8 stab wounds the victim received.
The prosecution then moved on to call on three more law enforcement agents including a Michigan State Police officer who helped to arrest the suspect, a Detroit Police Sergeant, and a detective with the Detroit Police.
The detective spoke about her work to analyze the victim's phone and the suspect's phone. She testified that her team conducted a phone extraction of each device which is a process where investigators make a digital copy of the contents of a cell phone. Detective Sarah Markel said the records also showed the time the last text was sent from Woll's phone and when it was unlocked a short while later.
Michigan State Police trooper Elizabeth Stockmeyer is the officer in charge of the case. She took the witness stand Tuesday. The prosecutor spent the first several questions asking the witness about Woll's security system. Stockmeyer told the court the security system's records show Woll's front door was opened at 1:01 AM with no data that it ever closed. Stockmeyer also said there was a motion detected in the living room at 4:20 AM.
Stockmeyer went on to speak about the search of an apartment on Alexandrine St. where the defendant lives. The trooper said inside the apartment, investigators found a NorthFace jacket that she believes Jackson-Bolanos wore the night of the stabbing. Stockmeyer went on to say she observed Jackson-Bolanos wearing the jacket on CCTV footage from a nearby school. Stockmeyer also later added lab results indicated there was "a possible presence of blood" on the jacket.
During cross-examination, the defense asked Stockmeyer about a lock box at the victim's home. The witness testified that Woll had a lock box at her home for a spare key and that spare key was missing. She also said Woll had her personal key in her purse however it's unclear if Woll regularly kept a spare key in the box.
The defense also asked if investigators were able to find any DNA or fingerprints of Jackson-Bolanos in the apartment to which Stockmeyer answered no. The defense also asked if police had footage of Jackson-Bolanos walking into Woll's home to which Stockmeyer also answered no.
The last person the prosecution called to the witness stand was a special agent with the FBI. The agent spoke about software that allows investigators to track a person's location over a period of time through their cell phone and the towers it connects to.
The prosecution says they still have at least four witnesses in line to testify. It was unclear how many witnesses the defense intends to call.
The preliminary hearing will resume on Jan. 23rd at 1:30 PM.
