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Sayreville councilwoman pastored man accused of shooting her dead, running mate says
By
Louis C. Hochman
,
Karen Yi
and
Nancy Solomon
Published May 30, 2023
Modified May 31, 2023
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Nelia Rodriguez via Facebook
By
Louis C. Hochman
,
Karen Yi
and
Nancy Solomon
Published May 30, 2023
Modified May 31, 2023
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Police have arrested a Virginia resident in the shooting death of Sayreville Councilwoman Eunice Dwumfour.
A close friend and former running mate of Dumfour’s said the suspect — Rashid Ali Bynum, 28, of Portsmouth, Virginia — knew the slain councilwoman through their church.
Bynum, 28, of Portsmouth, Virginia, was arrested “without incident” outside of a Chesapeake City home at 10:45 a.m. Tuesday and charged with first-degree murder and weapons offenses, Middlesex County Prosecutor Yolanda Ciccone said Tuesday afternoon. Bynum was awaiting extradition to New Jersey, Ciccone said.
"This was a very complex, extensive case with painstaking police work every single moment until today, and it will continue after today," Ciccone said.
Dwumfour, 30, was shot dead the night of Feb. 1 inside her car in front of her townhouse, in the Camelot at La Mer complex in the Parlin section of the borough, authorities have previously said.
Ciccone said Bynum was listed in Dwumfour’s cell phone as a contact named “FCF,” which she said she believes is an acronym for Fire Congress Fellowship. Dwumfour’s Linkedin profile had described her as a business analyst for the Fire Congress Fellowship, which was also associated with her home address in public records; she was additionally listed as the Fire Congress Fellowship’s treasurer in tax records. Listings for the church involve many of the same individuals affiliated with the international Champions Royal Assembly, where Dwumfour served as a pastor when she died.
Ciccone did not answer questions Tuesday or detail what relationship Bynum may have had with Dwumfour. But Christian Onuoha — the Sayreville Borough Council president who ran on a Republican ticket with Dwumfour in 2021, as well as a fellow member of her church — said Dwumfour had provided pastoral services and help to Bynum about five years ago.
“It’s so sad to hear because any sort of service you provide, the motive is to attend to those who need help,” Onuoha, a close friend of Dwumfour’s, said. He had not seen Bynum at the church in the intervening years.
“To hear that someone had that kind of hate in their heart is really hard to hear,” he said “I know he knew she had a daughter – that’s a whole new level of hate.”
Dwumfour left behind a 12-year-old daughter authorities said was home the night of the shooting.
Mary Dwumfour, left, leaves the podium of the Sayreville Borough Hall Council Chambers in tears March 22 as she discusses the Feb. 1 shooting death of her daughter, Councilwoman Eunice Dwumfour. She was comforted by her daughter's husband, Peter Ezechukwu, who also goes by the name Eze Kings.
Louis C. Hochman/Gothamist
Ciccone said surveillance video captured a man running from the complex the night of the shooting. A witness also reported seeing a suspiciously parked white Hyundai nearby, and that too was seen on surveillance video, she said.
Investigators tracked a cell phone that had traveled from Virginia to New Jersey, then back to Virginia, the day of the killing, Ciccone said. She said that phone was associated with Bynum.
Bynum’s web history preceding the murder also included searches for Champions Royal Assembly, the area around Sayreville, and information on what magazines were compatible with a specific handgun, Ciccone said. Additional records show that Bynum’s phone was traveling through EZ Pass locations at the same time as a white Hyundai Elantra bearing Virginia plates, she said. That vehicle was listed online available for rent.
Ciccone said a handgun was recovered Tuesday at a Smithfield, Virginia address.
Attorney General Matthew Platkin said during a press conference Tuesday he hopes the news of the arrest is the "beginning of the healing process" for Dwumfour's family. Some of her family members were present at the press conference.
John Wisniewski, an attorney and former state assemblyman who represents Dumfour’s family, said members were shocked, but “thankful that there is some development about who's responsible for Eunice's death.”
“They were obviously frustrated for the past four months, not knowing anything, not hearing anything,” he said.
Wisniewski said family members didn’t recognize Bynum’s name. They were shown a photo of Bynum, and he didn’t look familiar, Wisniewski said.
The question remaining, he said, is “Why?”
“Why would this person who is accused go to that step? What was the dispute? What was the problem that he thought he was solving?” Wisniewski said. “That is a mystery to the family."
Dwumfour, 30, was elected to the Sayreville Borough Council in 2021, encouraged by Onuoha, who previously had run unsuccessful campaigns for Congress and the state Legislature.
Pebbles Grubb sings Amazing Grace at the Epic Church in Sayreville Feb. 8, during a memorial for borough Councilwoman Eunice Dwumfour.
Chrys Davis for Gothamist
She had already been active in local issues through her work on the borough’s Human Relations Commission, a group that focuses on diversity and bias incidents in the small town, according to several fellow borough officials. She was the borough council’s liaison to its police department when she died.
Dwumfour had recently married Peter Ezechukwu, a resident of Nigeria and fellow congregant of the Champions Royal Assembly.
Lauren Bayer, an attorney representing Peter Ezechukwu, said he stayed with Dwumfour’s family during a recent trip to the U.S. after her death, but had since returned home.
“He has echoed multiple times that he has faith in the American justice system,” she told Gothamist last week. “And he has faith that … there will be some answers.
Onuaha had previously expressed frustration with the Middlesex County Prosecutor’s Office and what he perceived as a lack of progress in the investigation.
“I am grateful and I have better confidence in law enforcement,” he said.
This story has been updated with more information on the arrest of Rashid Ali Bynum, to correct that authorities say Bynum was listed as a contact in Dwumfour's phone and to correct the spelling of Christian Onuoha's name
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Louis C. Hochman
After about two decades in (mostly) New Jersey-focused commercial print, digital and digital-but-radio-adjacent news, Lou stumbled into member-supported news in early 2021, as the editor and CEO of Montclair Local. There, he (hopes he) expanded enterprise, brought more sophistication to digital storytelling and moved the nonprofit newsroom closer to long-term financial sustainability. He helped lead the Local to its fourth consecutive General Excellence award from the New Jersey Press Association — the NJPA's highest honor with judges noting the paper's work to strip away layers of government opacity, to hold power to account, to make news accessible for more members of the community, to share the stories and concerns of more facets of the community and to tell compelling stories across multiple media. He's excited to continue the same ethic — news as a public service — at NYPR as the New Jersey and suburbs editor, drawing on the extraordinary talents of reporters including Karen Yi and Nancy Solomon. Lou lives in Philly (that commute!) with his partner and their two cats, about whom and about which he speaks incessantly.
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Karen Yi
Karen Yi covers homelessness and poverty. She joined the WNYC and Gothamist newsroom in 2020. Before that, Karen covered Newark for the Star-Ledger and spent almost a decade working for newspapers in New Jersey and Florida. She grew up in Miami and has a dog named Cashew. Got a tip? Email [email protected] or Signal 917-589-1460.
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Nancy Solomon
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Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
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