Samantha Woll murder trial continues Monday

DETROIT (FOX 2) - The trial for Michael Jackson-Bolanos resumes Monday for the murder of Samantha Woll. 

Watch live above starting at 9 a.m.

Jackson-Bolanos is charged with first-degree murder, home invasion, and lying to a peace officer in connection with the October 2023 stabbing of Woll. He was arrested several weeks later amid speculation that Woll's murder was a hate crime due to her position within metro Detroit's Jewish community. However, Detroit police said later on they don't believe that to be the case. 

On Thursday, a lifelong friend of Woll, a Michigan State Police trooper, and the assistant medical examiner for Wayne County testified.

The crime scene was violent, but no trace evidence or footprint impressions came back conclusive, according to testimony. Seven fingerprints, three palm prints and a latent print were tested.

"We had a couple of door knobs that were submitted, a plastic container, a partially-eaten banana with the peel attached to it," Trooper James England said on the stand. "There was a clear window, and then the remainder of those objects are on digital images that were submitted on a CD."

England also told the jury that forensic evidence did not show any matches in the state or FBI database. Some palm prints came back as Woll’s. Other fingerprints were compared to Jackson-Bolanos' and Woll’s ex-boyfriend.

However, "for both subjects, it was inconclusive – it just means I couldn’t identify them; I couldn’t exclude them," England said.

Testimony ended with Croom recounting the nature of Woll’s injuries. She was stabbed eight times in the neck and face, and was left bruised all over.

"That one was a stab wound, and it went through some of the muscles in the neck and then ended in a part of the spine," Assistant Medical Examiner Nicole Croom said. "And that one was 4-6 inches in depth."

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