For the second time, the Detroit Police Department has taken a “person of interest” into custody in the death of a well-respected Jewish leader in a case that has garnered national attention.
Police said in a statement Sunday night that the unnamed person has been taken into custody in the murder of 40-year-old Samantha Woll but declined to reveal additional details. Charges have yet to be filed. Woll was found dead outside her Lafayette Park home on Oct. 21 with multiple stab wounds and a blood trail leading to the home where there was evidence of a struggle
“Additional information will be released in the near future,” the statement said.
Citing anonymous sources, The Detroit News reported the person appeared to be a “random stranger.”
The person is different from the first “person of interest” taken into custody last month who was an acquaintance of Woll’s. But police released the person after 72 hours without filing charges.
Woll’s vicious murder garnered national attention because it was initially thought it could be a hate crime as the Israel-Hamas war was just ramping up at the time of the murder. But Detroit Police Chief James E. White has reiterated police do not think Woll’s religion played any role in her death.
Samantha Woll, president of the board at the Isaac Agree Downtown Synagogue poses for a photo in Detroit, Oct. 13, 2022. Samantha Woll, a Detroit synagogue president was found stabbed to death outside her home Saturday, Oct. 21, 2023 police said. The motive wasn’t known. (David Guralnick/Detroit News via AP)
White previously said at an Oct 23 press conference that Woll, the board president at Isaac Agree Downtown Synagogue, attended a wedding the night of Oct. 20 and returned home early Oct 21. While she was inside there was a struggle, she was stabbed several times and she stumbled outside where she collapsed, according to White. She was outside for “quite some time” before she was discovered, White said. The chief said that detectives had identified persons of interest and were “just short” of naming one of them a suspect.
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Woll’s stabbing death comes amid rising concerns over antisemitic and anti-Palestinian attacks as the war between Israel and Hamas rages on in the Middle East. But White repeatedly said the slaying was not a hate crime.
Mourners gathered at her Oct. 22 funeral to remember Woll, who went by Sam.
“You so deeply wanted peace for this world. You fought for everyone regardless of who they were or where they came from,” her sister Monica Woll Rosen said during the service, according to WDIV. “You were the definition of a leader. Our world is shattered without you.”
About 1,000 people attended the funeral at the Hebrew Memorial Chapel in Oak Park. Among those in attendance was Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel who gave a eulogy. Woll had worked on Nessel’s campaign.
“She was at every campaign event, every political protest, every religious service, every ribbon cutting. I think I saw her in a picture of the moon landing,” Nessel joked. “I don’t know how she could be so many places at the same time.”
Her obituary said she was born and raised in Metro Detroit and attended the University of Michigan. She was described as a “ray of sunshine” to those who knew her.
“While Sam was a traveler and loved to explore the world, she spent her life in and around the Detroit area. There was no one who loved the city of Detroit more,” the obituary said.
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