Investigators testify to cellphone, motion sensor data in Samantha Woll homicide hearing

Cellphone data, surveillance footage and Samantha Woll’s blood all link Michael Jackson-Bolanos to the Jewish leader and Democratic activist’s slaying, investigators testified in a lengthy Tuesday hearing that revealed new details of the case against the Detroit man with a history of car theft.

Jackson-Bolanos, 28, is accused of fatally stabbing Woll eight times in the head and neck during an Oct. 21 home invasion in Detroit's Lafayette Park neighborhood, just east of downtown.

In a preliminary exam to determine whether there’s enough evidence for the case to proceed to trial court, Assistant Wayne County Prosecutor Ryan Elsey unfurled the state’s case against Jackson-Bolanos as the suspect sat handcuffed, his face obscured by a surgical mask, and Woll’s parents looked on, at times growing emotional.

The hearing included testimony from six law enforcement officials and a neighbor and will continue Jan. 23. At least four more people are expected to testify before the hearing in 36th District Court concludes.

Jackson-Bolanos was near Woll’s home shortly before she was found dead the morning after attending a wedding, authorities said, citing cellphone tower data and surveillance footage. Police believe he was there when Woll’s home security system detected motion in Woll’s living room, where she was believed to be sleeping on a couch. The system also showed her front door had been left open ahead of the attack, authorities testified.

Jackson-Bolanos later allegedly made his way to a Midtown block where police previously said his girlfriend lives. There they retrieved a black North Face fleece with a fleck of blood matching Woll’s, Elizabeth Stockmeyer, the Michigan State Police detective in charge of the case, testified. It’s the same jacket that was worn by a person captured on security footage near Woll's home, Stockmeyer said.

However, there’s no DNA, fingerprint or other physical evidence placing Jackson-Bolanos inside Woll’s home, Stockmeyer testified. Nor is there camera footage showing Jackson-Bolanos entering or exiting Woll’s home, she acknowledged.

Bolanos was charged with the killing Dec. 13 and held without bond after a previous suspect was arrested without being charged and later released. Brown has previously called his client the victim of circumstance.

Woll’s door was left open shortly after she returned from a wedding at 12:30 a.m. on Oct. 21, Stockmeyer said, introducing a timeline of security system activity.

It showed motion in the living room when Woll arrived home, Stockmeyer said. At 1:01 a.m., it showed the front door was left open, and that a corresponding alert was sent to Woll’s phone. The last outgoing interaction from the phone -- a text -- was meanwhile sent at 1:02 a.m. and the phone was last unlocked around 1:30 a.m., Detroit police detective Sara Markel testified.

Motion was detected in the living room again at 4:20 a.m., when cellphone tower data indicates Jackson-Bolanos was in the area. Between 3:50 a.m. and 4:20 a.m, his location was consistent with being in or around Woll’s home, FBI Special Agent Bryan Toltzis testified. By 4:30 a.m., he was traveling west and into downtown. By 4:54, he was back at the Midtown block where authorities say he’d been earlier in the night, Toltzis testified.

Woll’s body was discovered outside at about 6:20 a.m. by a neighbor who had been walking a dog. Kevin Mull testified to finding the 40-year-old lying in the fetal position on the sidewalk, barefoot and blue.

"I approached to see if that person was in need of assistance and I realized that person was in a very bad situation and decided I needed to go for help," Mull said.

As he spoke in the courtroom, Woll’s mother dabbed her eyes with a tissue. Woll’s father briefly walked out.

Inside Woll’s home, there were possible signs of a struggle, according to Sgt. Daron Zhou, a Detroit police homicide supervisor.

A fruit basket on a dining room table had been “disturbed,” Zhou said, with fruit lying on the floor and near the couch. Woll meanwhile had bruises to her face, knees and elbows.

"There was a lot of blood leading to the interior of the residence," Zhou said.

Blood soiled the entryway and living room, including the couch where authorities have said they believe Woll was sleeping before she was stabbed. There was also blood in the stairwell leading to the basement.

Bolanos-Jackson's defense attorney, Brian Brown, sought to poke holes in the state's case.

There was so little blood on the jacket that it was not visible to the naked eye, Stockmeyer testified under his questioning, but a forensics analysis found a swab from the sleeve was a likely match for Woll’s blood.

Stockmeyer said the police investigation also did not include a determination as to how long it takes for Woll’s security system to go into idle mode. The living room motion detected at 4:20 a.m. was shown as "idle" two minutes later, while the living room motion detected after Woll came home around 12:30 a.m. was shown as idle at 1:24 a.m, according to a log presented in court. According to the website of ADT -- the system Woll had -- motion sensors go idle "if no motion has been detected in the last 60 minutes."

Brown also zeroed in on a spare key found at the scene, the latent prints on which Stockmeyer said were not cross-checked with Woll’s because “the autopsy was conducted very quickly.” Woll was buried one day after her body was found, in accordance with Jewish tradition.

The display on Woll's phone also came on five times after it was last unlocked, until 4:41 a.m., Markel testified, which can be the result of notifications or the phone being touched.

Jackson Bolanos was initially taken into custody on Nov. 30 when he was pulled over in Roseville in a 2007 Dodge Charger registered to him following a surveillance operation, Michigan State Police trooper Alexander Martinez testified. He was arrested again in early December.

He previously spent two years on probation after being convicted of receiving and concealing a stolen motor vehicle in 2019, and four years in prison for a similar offense in 2013, according to the Michigan of Department of Corrections.

Brown has said Jackson-Bolanos was employed full-time prior to his arrest.

The hearing is scheduled to continue at 1:30 p.m. Jan. 23.

This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Investigators testify to motion sensor, cell data in Sam Woll killing