SAYREVILLE, N.J. — A young mother who served on her borough council in New Jersey was found shot to death in an SUV parked outside her suburban home, authorities said.
Sayreville Councilwoman Eunice Dwumfour, 30, was found at around 7:20 p.m. Wednesday, according to the Middlesex County prosecutor’s office. She had been shot multiple times and was pronounced dead at the scene.
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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.
“She was a 30-year-old woman, to have this happen in such a tragic way, I mean our hearts are just broken and everybody wants an answer,” said aren Bailey Bebert, the local GOP chairwoman who served as her campaign manager. “So we’re waiting with bated breath.”
Authorities have not made any arrests or said if they believe the motive for the slaying might be personal or political.
In a 2021 campaign interview, Dwumfour described herself as a proud graduate of Newark public schools who earned a degree in women’s studies at William Patterson University while also working part-time as an EMT.
She said she moved to Parvin, a section of Sayreville, after graduation “because of the tremendous public safety work the community does.” That interest fueled her run for council, where she served as a liaison to the police department now investigating her death.
“She just wanted to make a better community for all our children,” said Karen Bailey Bebert, the local GOP chairwoman who served as her campaign manager.
Dwumfour, who had a school-age child, had announced at a fall council meeting that she had recently gotten married, Bebert said. She was active in her church in Newark, she said.
Dwumfour worked in information technology, according to her LinkedIn page, where she posted last month that she was looking for a new opportunity. Her resume also said she had worked for six years with a religious nonprofit group.
Several high-ranking state leaders — including Democratic Gov. Phil Murphy — issued statements expressing their grief over her death.
Bebert described her as and outgoing person who “always had that beautiful smile on her face that you see in her picture.”
Sayreville, a borough of roughly 45,000 people, is about 30 miles (about 48.2 kilometers) south of Manhattan.
Bebert described it as a peaceful town and said Dwumfour lived in an attractive complex near a neighborhood elementary school. She hopes to organize a vigil to celebrate what she called “a life cut too short by such a heinous criminal act.”
“She was so young,” she said. “It’s just rippling through the town.”
—— Associate Press writer Bruce Shipkowski contributed to this report from Toms River, N.J.
