Samantha Woll updates: Detroit police release suspect without charge

A motive in Woll’s murder has yet to be established. The possibility of a home invasion has been ruled out.

Detroit police corporal Dan Donakowski said during an update on Sunday that Woll’s death is being investigated as a homicide but there is no evidence suggesting the murder was a hate crime. He said that investigators had found a large Israeli flag in Woll’s home that was left untouched, according to ClickOnDetroit.

Chief White said on 23 October that his department is seeking a suspect believed to have acted alone, and noted he didn’t think there was a threat to the community at large. He also asked the public to be patient and not jump to conclusions as evidence is reviewed and processed.

“We are not in the position to discuss [details,]” Chief James White said. “There are certain factors that are only shared by the suspect and our investigators.”

Authorities have asked anyone with information to reach investigators at 1-800-SPEAK-UP.

Under Michigan state law, criminal suspects must be charged within 72 hours of their arrest.

Samantha Woll, 40, was stabbed multiple times inside her home, Chief White said on 23 October. It is believed she then stumbled outside the house and eventually collapsed on the sidewalk.

The chief said there was no evidence of forced entry at Woll’s home and there were no signs that she tried to defend herself.

He added that investigators are trying to establish a timeline of the days and hours leading to Woll’s death.

Woll was last seen attending a wedding the evening before, which she left at around 12.30am.

“By all accounts, she was not in any discomfort, she was her normal pleasant self,” Chief White told reporters. Police have also rejected the theory that her death was a hate crime, pointing to an Israeli flag that was left untouched in her home.

Samantha Woll was a wonderful soul who spent her whole life working to uplift others and build bridges across communities. She was a Metro-Detroit native and brought people together. She helped build bridges and advocated for peace and dialogue between different social, political, and religious groups.

Sam was so passionate about unity and bringing people from different faiths together. She believed that by having important – and sometimes difficult – conversations, we could empathize and better understand each other. We could bring more harmony into the world.

As of Friday evening the fundraiser has already garnered over $4,000.

Samantha Woll was attending a wedding mere hours before her fatal stabbing.

Woll, the beloved president at Isaac Agree Downtown Synagogue, was her “normal, positive, pleasant” self. She left the ceremony shortly after midnight, but nothing about her demeanour could have predicted the horrific attack she would endure in the following hours.

“She was happy, she was having fun,” Michigan State Senator Stephanie Chang, a close friend of Woll, told Fox’s LiveNow. “My last memories of her will always be really happy and positive.”

Woll led the Isaac Agree Downtown Synagogue since 2022.

She has been remembered by loved ones as a leader who worked to unite people through her interfaith work. Dawud Walid, president of the Council on American Islamic Relations’s Michigan chapter, called Woll’s death a “tragic loss” and praised her efforts to unite the Jewish and Muslim communities in Detroit.

“We are troubled by the apparent homicide of Samantha Woll, a beloved leader within her faith community in Metro Detroit,” Mr Walid said in a statement. “We also send our sincere condolences to her family and friends and to the Detroit Jewish community as a whole for the tragic loss.”

According to a 2017 article by The Detroit Jewish News, Woll was “instrumental in the founding of the Muslim-Jewish Forum of Detroit,” an alliance that helps build bonds between Jewish and Muslim youth.

Andrea Blanco has the full story…