Prince Dwumfour, the father of slain New Jersey Councilwoman Eunice Dwumfour, said his family was “excited” and “happy” to hear that authorities finally arrested his daughter’s alleged killer nearly four months after her death.
The family had previously said they’d received little information about where the investigation stood.
But on Tuesday, they sat next to Middlesex County Prosecutor Yolanda Ciccone as she announced the arrest of alleged triggerman Rashid Ali Bynum, 28, of Portsmouth, Virginia.
Dwumfour said he didn’t know the alleged killer — but he was “very excited and very happy” that police had tracked him down.
“We are happy to finally see who did this,” Dwumfour told The Post on Wednesday. “Even though my daughter is gone, we can now see who was responsible.”
State and federal authorities seized Bynum outside a home in Chesapeake City, Virginia, at about 10:45 a.m. on Tuesday and charged him with first-degree murder and a pair of gun offenses, Ciccone said during the press conference.
Bynum is awaiting extradition to the Garden State. When he arrives, he’ll be held at the Middlesex County Adult Correctional facility while he waits for a pre-trial detention hearing in the state Superior Court.
Ciccone has not said why Bynum allegedly killed the Republican councilwoman, who died after a gunman pumped several rounds into her SUV at about 7:30 p.m. on Feb. 1 as Dwumfour’s pre-teen daughter sat inside their home.
Bynum knew Dwumfour through a church she was once affiliated with, and his name was in her cellphone contacts, the prosecutor said.
On Tuesday, Ciccone said authorities placed Bynum’s cellphone and his white Hyundai Elantra near the murder scene that day. And his appearance matched descriptions gleaned from eyewitness statements and nearby surveillance videos.
The Dwumfour family has said they didn’t know why anyone would target the newly married Newark native, who was also a pastor.
Friends and family described her as a well-liked woman who was deeply religious.
Dwumfour’s husband, Nigerian pastor Ezechukwu Peter Akwue, told News12 New Jersey last month that he still cannot believe his wife is gone.
“Yesterday, I cried. I was watching the funeral, I cried. Seeing her pictures, I cried,” he said.
He said he fell in love with Eunice the first time he saw her — “I approached her, and I said, ‘I want to marry you.'”
But he admitted that he wasn’t sure what she did for the nonprofit Fire Congress Fellowship, which lists her as treasurer.
He was still in Africa when she was killed, Akwue told the network. But the pair planned to eventually live in the United State full-time — at Dwumfour’s insistence.
“She’s queen,” Akwue said. “She’s my princess. She’s everything.”
