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48 Hours

Presenting Spiral: Murder in Detroit | 1. One of 36 Angels

48 Hours

CBS News

True Crime, News Commentary, News, Tv & Film, Cbs

3.97K Ratings

🗓️ 3 November 2025

⏱️ 42 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

On October 21, 2023, a young and beloved Detroit community leader, Samantha Woll was found viciously stabbed to death outside her home. Her murder, exactly two weeks after October 7, made international news. To many, it looked like an obvious hate crime – Samantha was the president of the only remaining synagogue in downtown Detroit. But soon the police apprehended a suspect: a young black man named Michael Jackson-Bolanos, who had served time for burglary. He insisted he was innocent, and his trial – filled with shocking twists – ignited a firestorm of questions about antisemitism, race, bias, doubt, and justice. Hosted by The Free Press’s Frannie Block, “Spiral: Murder in Detroit” features exclusive interviews, recalls Samantha’s extraordinary life, and follows a case that spirals into unexpected places in the search for the truth behind one of Detroit’s most haunting modern crimes. If you liked this episode of “Spiral: Murder in Detroit,” follow and subscribe to listen to the rest of the six-episode series. Available wherever you get your podcasts. To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0

Sean has had some good ideas over the years.

0:05.0

But using Canva was a really good one.

0:08.0

Sean designed some social posts to promote his friend's car boot sale.

0:13.0

They looked good.

0:15.0

Really, really good.

0:17.0

Next thing he knows, someone came and bought the lot, including the car.

0:24.5

Now Sean doesn't know how he's going to get home.

0:28.0

Thanks, Canva.

0:36.9

I want to tell you about a synagogue, a synagogue in the middle of downtown Detroit.

0:44.3

The building was built in the 1930s and it has this kind of art deco style.

0:49.9

It has these striking, brightly colored stained glass windows.

0:53.5

And it shaped like a triangle, almost like the flat iron building in New York City.

0:58.9

But during fraud times in the 1960s, as race riots upended downtown, the front windows were

1:05.4

bricked up for safety, and the colorful stained glass above started to collect dust and grime. The Jewish community had

1:13.3

slowly moved away, forcing nearby synagogues to shut down their doors, leaving just this one

1:19.4

downtown remaining. Only a small star of David on the building's bright red double doors,

1:25.3

and a brass iron sign above it would tell you it

1:28.0

even was a synagogue. But recently, I mean, just in the last decade or so, a group of people

1:34.7

wanted to change that. They found money and a growing community of Jews moving back to the

1:40.0

city. And slowly, brick by brick, they open the community back up again.

1:45.4

Gathering here today celebrates not only the renovation of this beautiful building,

1:50.6

but the hope and pride and the ability to be able to gather here today, publicly and proudly,

...

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