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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)
Detroit police Chief James E. White reiterated at a press conference Monday that investigators do not believe the heinous murder of a beloved synagogue board president was a hate crime.
“We believe the motivation is very different than a hate crime,” he said a press conference broadcasted on the department’s Facebook page.
Cops say they were called to a home in the city’s Lafayette Park neighborhood near downtown for an unresponsive person. Once there, authorities said they found Samantha Woll, the board president at Isaac Agree Downtown Synagogue, with multiple stab wounds and declared her dead at the scene. While there, police said they saw a trail of blood leading to the victim’s residence and think that’s where she was killed. There was no signs of forced entry.
White said Woll attended a wedding on Friday night, left around 12:30 a.m. and went home. 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 police chief was careful with his words as the investigation is ongoing, but said detectives are working through what they have identified as persons of interest.
“We are just short of calling one of the people a suspect,” he said.
White declined to say whether she left the wedding alone, say how many times she was stabbed or if she had any defensive wounds.
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.
“The investigation into the death of Ms. Woll remains ongoing. At this time, however, no evidence has surfaced suggesting that this crime was motivated by antisemitism,” White said in a statement Sunday evening.
Local NBC affiliate WDIV reported that initial conclusion was partially based on the fact that investigators found a large Israeli flag in Woll’s home that was untouched.
White said Detroit police are working with the FBI “to forensically analyze all of the information obtained up to this point in an effort to ascertain the timeline that ultimately led to Ms. Woll’s death.”
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“Individuals with information that may further this investigation are being interviewed,” he said. “I again ask the community to remain patient while our investigators and law enforcement partners continue their work.”
Mourners gathered on Sunday at her funeral to remember Woll, 40, 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.
As Law&Crime previously reported, the killing comes after U.S. Attorney Merrick Garland said in a news conference on Thursday that he directed all 94 U.S. Attorneys’ Offices and the FBI to be in close touch with federal, state, and local law enforcement partners in their districts amid bloody violence in the Middle East.
“Yesterday I met with, and today and tomorrow I will continue to meet with, our U.S. Attorneys and federal, state, and local law enforcement officials here in Florida,” he said. “I have also directed our U.S. Attorneys to reach out to religious and other community leaders in their districts to reaffirm our commitment to them and to assess what additional support they may need.”
The Anti-Defamation League reported a spike in antisemitic incidents in 2022 — the third time in five years that the year-end total was the highest number recorded.
Police were asking anyone with information on Woll’s death to contact the Homicide Section at 313-596-2260.
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