There’s finally been an arrest in a Central Jersey murder case that made national headlines.
On Tuesday, authorities announced that 28-year-old Rashid Ali Bynum had been arrested in the vicinity of Smithfield, Virginia; Bynum is accused of gunning down Sayreville Republican Councilwoman Eunice Dwumfour on February 1, 2023 in a shooting that shocked the state’s political establishment. Dwumfour served as a Republican councilwoman in Sayreville from 2022 to until her death earlier this year.
Bynum now faces charges for first degree murder, second degree unlawful possession of a hand gun, as well as second degree possession of a handgun for an unlawful purpose.
While authorities have yet to explain the motive or the precise connection between the suspect and his victim, it appears that law enforcement may know more than officials were willing to say on Tuesday. What we do know: they knew each other through church.
“A search of the victim’s phones revealed Bynum as a contact in Eunice Dwumfour’s phone with the acronym FCF,” Middlesex County Prosecutor Yolanda Ciccone said at a Tuesday presser to announce the arrest and charges. “FCF is believed to be an acronym for the Fire Congress Fellowship, a church the victim was previously affiliated with.”
“This was a very complex case with painstaking police work every single moment until today and it will continue after today,” Ciccone said. “The murder has shaken the community and no arrest will bring back the councilwoman.”
New Jersey prosecutors didn’t take any questions following the press conference.
