Samantha Woll, an adviser to Democratic politicians and president of the Isaac Agree Downtown Synagogue, was found stabbed to death outside her home in the Lafayette Park neighbourhood of Detroit on Saturday.

On Sunday afternoon, Detroit’s police chief James E White said in a statement that “no evidence has surfaced suggesting that this crime was motivated by antisemitism.” Police were investigating with the Federal Bureau of Investigation, but the statement did not say whether a suspect had been identified.

In an obituary published on the website of the Hebrew Memorial Chapel, where the funeral was held, Woll, 40, was remembered as a patron of theatre, opera, music, and a keen hiker of mountain trails.

The Detroit police department said Woll’s body was found in the 1300 block of Joliet Place, where a trail of blood led to her home.

Woll’s death sparked an outpouring of grief in Jewish and Democratic circles.

US representative Elissa Slotkin, on whose election campaign Woll worked, said in a statement she “dedicated her short life to building understanding across faiths, bringing light in the face of darkness.”

Michigan’s attorney-general Dana Nessel remembered Woll as being driven by “her sincere love of her community, state and country.”

“Sam was as kind a person as I’ve ever known,” Nessel wrote on X, formerly known as Twitter.