PORTSMOUTH (AP) – A Portsmouth man was arrested Tuesday on murder and gun charges in the February killing of a New Jersey councilwoman who was found fatally shot in her SUV outside her home, prosecutors said.
Middlesex County, New Jersey, prosecutor Yolanda Ciccone said in a press conference that 28-year-old Rashid Ali Bynum, of Portsmouth, Virginia, was arrested outside a home in Chesapeake, Virginia, on first-degree murder and two second-degree handgun charges in the death of Sayreville Councilwoman Eunice Dwumfour.
“On Feb 1, a mobile phone traveled from Virginia to New Jersey and after the murder, immediately returned to Virginia thereafter,” Ciccone said, “Additional records reveal that the device was associated with Rashid Ali Bynum.”
While officials haven’t given a motive for the murder, Ciccone said Dwumfour and Bynum knew each other.
He was listed in the councilwoman’s phone under the acronym “F-C-F.”
“F-C-F is believed to be an acronym for Fire Congress Fellowship, a church the victim was previously affiliated with, which is also associated with the Champion Royal Assembly, the victim’s church at the time of her death.”
She said extensive investigations linked Bynum to the murder.
“Additional records reveal that on the day of the murder, Bynum searched the internet for information on Champion Royal Assembly church, as well as the area in Sayreville, New Jersey,” Ciccone said, “and within days prior to the murder, what magazines were compatible with a specific handgun.”
The police also used EZ-Pass tolls to track the car Bynum was driving on the day of the murder.
“These records show that Bynum’s device traveled through EZ-Pass at the same time as a white Hyundai bearing Virginia plates. An additional statement provided by a witness that there was a suspicious white Hyundai unoccupied in the area of Gondeck drive during this time was corroborated by surveillance video.”
Sayreville Council President Christian Onuoha was close to the late councilwoman.
He said through the church, Dwumfour met Bynum on a mission trip to the Chesapeake area around 2017 to 2018.
However, he said there was no further contact after that.
“I never knew of the councilwoman having any contact with him for well over five years,” Onuoha said. “Just someone that I haven’t seen in at least five years as well…that’s what makes it very painful.”
He remembered Bynum from his own time in Virginia.
“He would attend the Bible studies that Pastor Eunice would coordinate in the Chesapeake, Virginia area along with Fire Congress Fellowship,” Onuoha said.
He said the late councilwoman will never truly be gone.
“Her life continues, through her daughter, through those of us that she just loved and trained in ministry,” Onuoha said.
The Chesapeake Police Department confirmed with 10 On Your Side that they worked with New Jersey officials to arrest Bynum.
Ciccone thanked the police departments of Chesapeake, Smithfield, and Portsmouth for their help in the investigation.
Bynum is awaiting extradition to New Jersey, Ciccone said. It’s unclear if he has an attorney who can speak on his behalf.
His extradition hearing in Chesapeake is set for June 29.
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.
Her death on Feb. 1 made headlines since there was no immediate word of a shooter and sent the community reeling.