Suspect arrested in murder of Samantha Woll, Detroit synagogue president and community leader as police have up to 48 hours to levy charges against un-named person of interest.
A suspect has been arrested in connection with last month’s murder of Jewish community leader, Samantha Woll, Detroit police announced, Wednesday night.
Police arrested an unnamed suspect in slaying of Woll, 40, a Detroit synagogue president who was found fatally stabbed outside her Detroit-area home last month. In a statement, Detroit Police Chief James White said that while the development is ‘encouraging,’ the investigation is ongoing.
‘While this is an encouraging development in our desire to bring closure for Ms. Woll’s family, it does not represent the conclusion of our work in this case,’ White said according to NBC News. ‘The details of the investigation will remain confidential at this time to ensure the integrity of the important steps that remain.’
Murder thought to be stemming from domestic dispute
Despite her prominence in the Jewish community, police have said from early on the crime lacked any sign of antisemitism. Poll’s murder which came two after Hamas’ deadly October 7 attacks on Israel has left the Jewish community unnerved.
Investigators are treating Woll’s death the result of a domestic dispute and not extremism, according to a law enforcement source familiar with the investigation, CNN reported.
To date, the suspect who remains in custody has yet to be charged with any crime as police attempt to link the person of interest to Woll’s death, the Detroit News reported.
Woll, board president of Isaac Agree Downtown Synagogue, was found stabbed to death outside her home in the Lafayette Park neighborhood on the morning of October 21. Investigators said they believe she was killed inside her home after returning from a wedding early that morning, and that blood spatter evidence indicated she stumbled outside after she was attacked.
Detroit Police Chief White declined to say if Woll left the wedding alone, saying that detail was a key part of the case investigators are building.
Police have 48 hours to levy charges or release suspect
Woll was an adviser to Democratic politicians, and her death sparked an outpouring of emotion among Jewish and Democratic leaders.
‘She was one of those people that lots and lots of people have told me they had a very special, personal relationship with Sam like they were this special person,’ Woll’s rabbi, Ariana Silverman, said Monday.
Woll was remembered as a patron of theater, opera and music and a keen hiker of mountain trails, according to an obituary published on the website of the Hebrew Memorial Chapel, where her funeral was held.
Detroit Police Chief White said that so far, the details uncovered in the murder seem ‘very different from a hate crime.’
Charges must be brought within 48 hours of the arrest unless police can present an emergency reason for holding the person beyond that time period, per a 1991 U.S. Supreme Court decision.
