A man charged with killing a Detroit synagogue leader during a violent overnight encounter in October of last year denied any role Wednesday, telling jurors that he never entered her home but had discovered her bloody body outdoors, The Associated Press reported.
Michael Jackson-Bolanos repeatedly said “absolutely not” when his attorney asked if he broke into Samantha Woll's townhouse and stabbed her last October.
Woll, President of the board of the Isaac Agree Downtown Synagogue, was found dead outside her home with multiple stab wounds on her body on October 21.
Early in the investigation, police said there was no evidence to suggest her slaying, which occurred two weeks after the start of the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza, was a hate crime. The local prosecutor later reiterated this.
Jackson-Bolanos acknowledged that he didn't call police to report what he had found.
“When I realized she was dead I wanted nothing to do with the entire situation,” he told the jury. “I'm a Black guy in the middle of the night breaking into cars and I found myself standing in front of a dead white woman. That doesn't look good at all.”
His testimony was a dramatic moment in the trial. Police said Jackson-Bolanos' jacket had spots of Woll's blood. While there is video of him walking in the area, there's no evidence of him being inside her home.
Investigators believe Woll was attacked inside the residence but got outdoors before collapsing.
Jackson-Bolanos told the jury that he was tugging on car doors at 4:00 a.m. to try to find unlocked vehicles when he saw Woll's body. His story suggested how her blood could have ended up on his coat.
“I didn’t shake the body,” he said. “I just checked the neck — no air, no breath or nothing. Once I realized I just touched a dead person I just grabbed the bag and I left.”
Jackson-Bolanos, who has past criminal convictions, said he feared calling police because he didn't want to explain what he was doing in the middle of the night.
Police initially arrested another person in the murder, but that person was released in November. Jackson-Bolanos, of Detroit, was charged in December.
The trial, which began June 11, will resume Monday.