Jessica Mathews / news@whmi.com


A man has been ordered to stand trial in the October stabbing death of a Detroit synagogue leader and former aide to a local congresswoman.

A judge determined there was evidence to bind the case over to circuit court for trial. 28-year-old Michael Jackson-Bolanos is charged with murder, home invasion, and lying to police. A 1st-degree premeditated murder charge was also added during the court hearing.

Jackson-Bolanos is accused of fatally stabbing Samantha Woll, the president of the Isaac Agree Downtown Synagogue. She was found dead outside her home after returning from a wedding. Investigators believe she was attacked inside the residence. She had been stabbed to death several times.

Prosecutor Kym Worthy earlier said there was not a “shred of evidence” that Woll was killed as a result of anti-semitism or any hate crime.

Besides her work for the synagogue, Woll had worked for Local Congresswoman Elissa Slotkin and on the political campaign of state Attorney General Dana Nessel.

Meanwhile, Congresswoman Slotkin renamed her annual interfaith meeting to honor Woll, who worked in Slotkin’s first district office in 2019, who was said to have dedicated herself to building understanding across faiths. A press release is below.


LANSING, Mich. – To mark the beginning for Martin Luther King Jr. Day, U.S. Rep. Elissa Slotkin (MI-07) convened her annual meeting with faith leaders from around the district under a new name: The Samantha Woll Interfaith Roundtable.

The name change honors Sam Woll, who was a former congressional staff member for Slotkin during her first term and ran community engagement – specifically interfaith engagement – for the office. She was tragically killed in October. Most recently Woll led the Isaac Agree Downtown Synagogue in Detroit as Board President.

Slotkin shared the following statement Monday morning in memory of Woll:

“Sam did for Team Slotkin what came so naturally to her: helping others and serving constituents. She helped set up and implement our internship program, and was a thoughtful and inspiring mentor to the young people who joined our team.

“Sam also oversaw a ton of different programs, but her passion was really in interfaith work. At a time when interfaith engagement is needed more than ever, we believed it was the right moment to rename our annual meeting on Martin Luther King Jr. Day and honor her memory for years to come.

“May her memory continue to be a blessing, and a moral compass as we continue to work to build bridges across faiths, backgrounds and communities.”