Almost four months to the day since her murder, an arrest was made in the killing of a new jersey lawmaker. Investigators say the man arrested and facing a murder charge knew Sayreville Councilwoman Eunice Dwumfour, but it was not clear how the two knew each other. NBC New York’s Checkey Beckford reports.
It was on Feb. 1 that a New Jersey councilwoman was shot and killed right outside her home, as her family was waiting inside. After months with no updates, an arrest in connection with the murder of Eunice Dwumfour was announced by the Middlesex County Prosecutor's Office.
Rashid Ali Bynum, a 28-year-old from Portsmouth, Virginia, was arrested 10:45 a.m. Tuesday in connection with Dwumfour's murder, prosecutors said. Investigators said Bynum knew Dwumfour, but did not detail how well they knew each other. The only connection between the two police have is that the suspect was linked to the church Dwumfour attended.
Investigators traced Bynum's travels from his cellphone and vehicle location data from the night of the killing, Middlesex County Prosecutor Yolanda Ciccone said at a news conference, citing surveillance video and E-ZPass records. He also matched the description of the gunman given by neighbors in Sayreville, where Dwumfour had served on the council for about a year.
Bynum was taken into custody outside a residence in Chesapeake, Virginia, without incident and was charged with first-degree murder, second-degree unlawful possession of a handgun, and second-degree possession of a handgun for an unlawful purpose, according to prosecutors. Attorney information was not immediately clear for Bynum, who was awaiting extradition to New Jersey, though it was unknown when that might occur.
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According to a family attorney, neither Dwumfour's parents nor sibling recognized the name or picture of the suspect. Dwumfour, who grew up in Newark, had lived in Virginia at one point, and family lawyer John Wisniewski said Bynum had lived in Sayreville. But beyond that, he did not know the nature of their relationship and the prosecutor declined to discuss a possible motive.
Dwumfour’s father and family pastor learned of the arrest just ahead of the news conference and declined to comment afterward. While they welcome the arrest, they have “even more questions today than there were before,” Wisniewski said. Her new husband, Peter Ezechukwu, is no longer in the U.S.
“We have an alleged murderer in custody in Virginia, but now they are trying to also understand the relationship, how this person came to target Eunice, what was the rationale,” Wisniewski said. "They are trying to also understand the relationship, how this person came to target Eunice. What was the rationale?...Maybe [prosecutors] know, but they certainly they haven’t shared that. And that is something that is vexing the family right now."
Dwumfour was a pastor in a prosperity gospel church, Champions Royal Assembly, that is based in Nigeria, and she got married there in November to a fellow pastor from Abuja. She was also an officer of a related entity, the Fire Congress Fellowship, that has a branch in Virginia. Bynum was listed in her cellphone contacts under that group’s acronym.
"A search of the victim's phone revealed Bynum as a contact with the acronym FCF," said Ciccone.
Court records and tax filings suggest that church finances in the U.S. were tight. Dwumfour had been named in a series of landlord-tenant disputes in Newark dating from 2017 to 2020 involving the fellowship, which had seen its income drop from about $250,000 in 2017 to just $350 in 2020.
People inside the Newark church declined to comment Tuesday night.
Dwumfour was killed outside her home more than four months ago by a gunman who ambushed her in her car. The case remained unsolved for months and the brutal attack sent shockwaves throughout the community.
EUNICE DWUMFOUR
The investigation has been in the hands of the Middlesex County Prosecutor's Office, which finally announced an arrest Tuesday, months into their "complex, extensive" investigation. The office has previously declined to confirm if a man seen in surveillance video obtained exclusively by News 4 immediately after the shooting could be the suspect making an escape, or simply a resident running from the gunfire.
The councilwoman's family was present at the prosecutor's news conference. Through the months, family members also held a news conference and, more recently, sat down privately with the Associated Press to express their frustration. Dwumfour's daughter described what she heard just outside her window the night of the shooting, as the family was waiting inside for the mother to finish parking her vehicle.
"We're waiting for my mom to look for a parking space, and then she was taking a lot of time so we started calling her over and over again, but it wouldn't pick up. And then we heard gunshots and we started calling the police," Nicole Teliano told the AP.
"It's so painful. It's so painful. Every day by day, we think about her. We cry, I cry every day by day," her husband, Peter Ezechukwu, previously said.
In April, Sayreville's mayor announced her decision not to run for re-election, in part because of racial threats she's received regarding her friend and colleague, Dwumfour.
She said Dwumfour was a personal friend of hers. That's why she cites a hate letter sent to her following Dwumfour's death as a reason she is dropping out of public service, at least for now.
"I’m calling this my pause. I have to pause because there’s nothing more important than my children and than my family," Kilpatrick told NBC New York.
Kilpatrick took some comfort that the killing did not appear politically motivated, but was troubled by the apparent link to a church to which Dwumfour was deeply devoted.
“The fact that it was connected to that component of her life is even more saddening to me because you look to God for light and protection. So to know that that was the connection hurts, but at the same time, evil can lurk anywhere,” she said.
Dwumfour, a Republican, was elected to her first three-year term in 2021, when she ousted a Democratic incumbent. Colleagues recalled her as a soft-spoken devout Christian who could maintain her composure in contentious situations.
Regarding a state takeover of the probe, the Middlesex County Prosecutor's Office said "respectfully, no comment will be made regarding an ongoing investigation." There's been no word from the attorney general.
Associated Press reporter Maryclaire Dale contributed to this report.
