Prosecution rests, defense begins case in Samantha Woll murder trial

Police initially had concern that murder was terrorist act

In response to questions by Assistant Prosecutor Dominic Degrazia, Sanchez said he did not know of Jackson-Bolanos when they started the investigation and they did not choose him to pin the murder on. They kept an open mind, he said, especially because they were initially trying to eliminate the possibility that Woll was killed in a terrorist act because of her prominent role in the Jewish community.

Brown asked Sanchez if the large amount of publicity in the case made the homicide taskforce act hastily in solving the case. Sanchez said it did not, that they often handled high profile cases.

Jackson-Bolanos continuously asserts innocence in interviews, jail calls

Jackson-Bolanos never admitted to being involved in Woll's murder when police interviewed him, despite heavy pressure to do so. He was first questioned after his Nov. 30 arrest and then again after DNA evidence showed he had Woll's blood on his jacket and backpack.

"I didn't kill nobody. Hell no," Jackson-Bolanos said when he read a business card for the homicide task force that one of the officers pushed across the table toward him. "I don't know s--- about no homicides. I’m not into that s---. I don't know nothing about no body. I didn't encounter no body. ... I ain't killed nobody, bro."

Jackson-Bolanos told police he was homeless and was just out walking early Oct. 21. He was living part-time with his new girlfriend, he said, but he wanted to give her space.

He vehemently denied ever going into anybody's home that night and said he didn't interact with anyone. He said he started running after he tried a car door handle and he saw a security van circling the parking lot.

When Detroit Police Department Sgt. Steve Ford told Jackson-Bolanos about the blood during a second interrogation video that prosecutors played Monday, Jackson-Bolanos said, “no, bro.”

“I didn’t hurt nobody. I don’t care what you’re talking about with DNA on my coat, but I did not hurt nobody,” Jackson-Bolanos said. "I really ain’t do nothing, bro. I only f— with cars. Y’all are really harassing me and playing me about something I didn’t do, bro.”

In multiple jail calls prosecutors played, made in January, Jackson-Bolanos continued to deny involvement in Woll's murder.

"This s--- is not real life, bro. Maybe I’m sleeping or some s---. Maybe I wake up and reality will be back," he said in a Jan. 16 call. "I'm so f----- innocent, bro. They don't give a f--- about that, bro."