Man charged in U.S. synagogue president's murder

A Detroit man has been charged with the murder of a synagogue president who was found dead with stab wounds in October, police said Wednesday, adding there was nothing to suggest it was a hate crime.

Michael Jackson-Bolanos, 28, was charged with slaying Samantha Woll, 40, during a home invasion, the Detroit Police Department said in a post on X, formerly Twitter.

The murder on October 21 came as hate attacks targeting both Jews and Muslims were on the rise in the United States over the Israel-Hamas conflict in Gaza, which began on October 7.

At the time, police warned against drawing any conclusions that Woll, who presided over the Isaac Agree Downtown Synagogue which serves metropolitan Detroit, was murdered in an anti-Semitic attack.

"Let me state very clearly... There are no facts to suggest that this defendant knew Ms Woll and there are certainly no facts to suggest this was a hate crime," Wayne County prosecutor Kym Worthy told a news conference Wednesday.

Emergency personnel found Woll dead with multiple stab wounds to her body. A trail of blood led officers to Woll's nearby home, where the crime is believed to have occurred.

Woll, who led the synagogue since 2022, was also active in Democratic Party affairs, working for US congresswoman Elissa Slotkin and on the campaign of Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel, the Detroit Free Press said.

The paper said Woll had been active in a grassroots organization aimed at building ties between young Muslims and Jews.