DETROIT — Police reiterated on Monday that the slaying of a prominent Jewish leader was likely not an act of antisemitism and didn’t bear tell-tale signs of a hate crime.
“Right now, the evidence does not take us there,” Detroit Police Chief James E. White told reporters, declining to elaborate on what leads authorities to believe that the murder of 40-year-old Samantha Woll on Saturday morning wasn’t a bias attack.
Though no arrests have been made, the police chief insisted that no other groups of people should believe they’re in immediate danger.
“We believe the motivation is very different than a hate crime,” White said. “It’s horrific and it’s tragic and that’s the focus of the investigation.”
He added: “We believe that there are no other groups or anyone else at risk. We believe this incident was not motivated by antisemitism and this suspect acted alone.”
Without offering any specifics, White said a meticulous process of elimination led detectives to believing this was not an act of antisemitism.
“There’s a process to how we disqualify suspects, how we disqualify persons of interest that the detectives are engaged in,” the police chief said. “We’re confident where we’ve arrived with this particular crime.”
Woll was found fatally stabbed outside her home in Detroit’s Lafayette Park neighborhood.
Her death comes at a time when authorities are concerned about attacks on Jewish, Muslim and Arab-Americans because of tensions surrounding the Israel-Hamas war.
Investigators are focusing on “persons of interest” and a “number of different theories,” said White, who stopped short of saying police had a suspect in mind.
She was stabbed inside her house and stumbled into her front yard before a 911 caller reported seeing the body hours later.
Responding officers discovered a “trail of blood” that led back into Woll’s home, which showed no signs of forced entry, the chief said.
Woll’s body might have been outside for several hours before that 911 call him as White said: “We’re confident that she was there (outside) for a while.”
Woll had been at a wedding on Friday night and left the event at about 12:30 a.m. on Saturday, police said.
“By all accounts she was not in any discomfort or in any distress,” White said. “She was her normal positive and pleasant self.”
Woll, board president of the Isaac Agree Downtown Synagogue, was active in Michigan Democratic Party politics.
State Sen. Stephanie Chang posted a picture of herself and Woll with the newlyweds, calling the victim “an endlessly positive, brilliant, creative, supportive, beautiful friend with a big heart and wonderful smile.”
Woll had long ties to Democrats having served on the campaigns of Rep. Elissa Slotkin, state Attorney General Dana Nessel and Chang, the victim’s loved ones have said.
Jesse Kirsch reported from Detroit and David K. Li from New York City.
Andrew Blankstein, Tom Winter and Debra Preitkis Jones contributed.
Source: | This article originally belongs to Nbcnews.com
