Rashid Ali Bynum, 28, has been arrested for the murder of Eunice Dwumfour, a New Jersey councilwoman who was shot dead outside her house in February.
Dwumfor, a Sayreville Borough Council member, is the wife of Eze Kings Akwue, a Nigerian pastor located in Abuja and originally from Anambra State. On November 24, 2022, the pair married in Abuja.
Bynum, of Portsmouth, was arrested on Tuesday morning, May 30, on charges including first-degree murder and two second-degree firearm counts, Middlesex County Prosecutor Yolanda Ciccone revealed at a news conference.
Dwumfour, a 30-year-old mother and church leader, was shot numerous times outside her townhouse on February 1.
According to Ciccone, Bynum was a contact in Dwomfour’s phone under the acronym “FCF,” which authorities believe stands for “Fire Congress Fellowship,” a church with which the congresswoman was previously affiliated, and “was also associated with the Champion Royal Assembly, the victim’s church at the time of her death.”
According to Ciccone, on the day of the shooting, Bynum allegedly searched online for information about the Champion Royal Assembly church and the Sayreville neighbourhood.
A guy has been arrested for the murder of a Republican councilwoman who was married to a Nigerian pastor.
According to her, in the days leading up to the murder, Bynum allegedly searched online for what magazines were compatible with a specific firearm.
At the time of the murder, Bynum’s phone travelled from Virginia to New Jersey, and his physical description matched a witness description of the suspect at the scene, according to Ciccone.
Officials did not address a suspected motivation and did not answer reporters’ inquiries.
Ciccone referred to it as a “complex, extensive case.”
The last several months have been “a rollercoaster of emotions” for Dwumfour’s family, according to family lawyer John Wisniewski, who spoke to ABC News on Wednesday.
While the family is relieved that a suspect has been apprehended, Wisniewski says there are still many unanswered issues.
According to Wisniewski, Bynum “is not a name or a face that they’re familiar with,” and the family is “struggling to understand what this man’s connection to their daughter was, what was his thinking.”
Dwumfour, a business analyst and part-time EMT, was elected to the Sayreville Borough Council as a Republican in 2021, defeating an incumbent Democrat.
“There are no words that can be said to make you whole,” New Jersey Attorney General Matthew Platkin told Dwumfour’s family at a press conference. “I had never met Eunice. I really wish I had. But I know she worked for the government.”
“I hope that today marks the start of a healing process, as well as the start of a sense of justice,” he continued.
