Prince Dwumfour, the daddy of slain Recent Jersey councilwoman Eunice Dwumfour, said his family was “thrilled” and “joyful” to listen to that authorities had finally arrested his daughter’s alleged killer nearly 4 months after her death.
The family had previously said that they had received little details about what stage the investigation was at.
But on Tuesday, they were sitting next to Middlesex County Attorney Yolanda Ciccone, who announced the arrest of alleged provocateur Rashid Ali Bynum, 28, of Portsmouth, Virginia.
Dwumfour said he didn’t know the alleged killer – but he was “very excited and really joyful” that the police had tracked him down.
“We’re glad we finally got to see who did it,” Dwumfour told The Post. “Although my daughter is gone, we will now see who was responsible.”
State and federal authorities arrested Bynum outside his home in Chesapeake City, Virginia, at around 10:45 a.m. Tuesday and charged him with first-degree murder and two felony counts with a firearm, Ciccone said during a news conference.
Bynum awaits extradition to the Garden State. When he arrives, he shall be held on the Middlesex County Correctional Facility for Adults while he awaits a pre-trial hearing within the state’s Supreme Court.
Ciccone didn’t say why Bynum allegedly killed a Republican councilwoman who was killed after a gunman fired several bullets into her SUV around 7:30 p.m. on Feb. 1, while Dwumfour’s teenage daughter sat at their home.
Bynum knew Dwumfour through a church she was once related to, and his name was in her phone contacts, the prosecutor said.
On Tuesday, Ciccone said authorities placed Bynum’s cellular phone and his white Hyundai Elantra near the scene of the murder that day. And his appearance matched descriptions gleaned from eyewitness accounts and nearby surveillance footage.
The Dwumfour family said they didn’t know why anyone would goal a newly married Newark resident who was also a pastor.
Family and friends described her as a popular woman who was deeply religious.
Dwumfour’s husband, Nigerian pastor Ezechukwu Peter Akwue, he told News12 Recent Jersey last month that he still cannot consider his wife is gone.
“Yesterday I cried. I watched the funeral, I cried. Once I saw her pictures, I cried,” he said.
He said he fell in love with Eunice the primary time he saw her — “I went as much as her and said, ‘I need to marry you.’
Nonetheless, he admitted he wasn’t sure what she did for the non-profit Fire Congress Fellowship, which lists her as treasurer.
He was still in Africa when she was killed, Akwue told the network. However the couple planned to eventually live in america full-time – on the insistence of Dwamfour.
“She is the queen,” Akwue said. “She is my princess. She is every part.