On Feb. 1, Eunice Dwumfour, a Republican councilwoman, was gunned down while driving her SUV near her home in Sayreville, New Jersey prompting an investigation by the Sayreville police, Middlesex County Prosecutor’s Office and the Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI).
Investigators are saying that Dwumfour’s political position does not appear to be a motive behind her murder.
Dwumfour (30), who was recently married and a mother to an 11-year-old daughter, was pronounced dead after being shot multiple times while driving her white Nissan. An eye witness saw Dwumfour’s SUV crash into two parked vehicles following gunshots.
The witness told the New York Post that “it took a second before I realized there was a dead body behind the wheel. There was one bullet hole in the passenger door and a bunch of bullet holes in the driver door. Some other neighbors said they saw someone running away with a mask on.”
The killer remains at large and no motive has been determined. However, officials say that a suspect was caught on video speaking with Dwumfour just moments before her death.
Who was Eunice Dwumfour?
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Relatives told the NY Post that the Republican councilwoman was the oldest of five children in her family, which hailed from Ghana. Dwumfour’s cousin, Rita K. said that she was just married this past November in Africa to Eze Kings, a pastor from Nigeria.
Dwumfour was elected to her first term as a councilwoman in the Borough of Sayreville in Nov., 2021 after earning a Women’s Studies degree from William Paterson University in 2017.
She was given an honorable mention on InsiderNJ’s 2022 African American Power List a few months after being elected.
Her Aunt, Beatrice Saahene, told the NY Post that when Dwumfour was young “her dream was to be a councilwoman to help a lot of people. That’s what her dream was. She didn’t do it for the power. She did it for helping people. She was born here, so she was a citizen here. She wanted to give back to the country.”
A woman of faith
“She loved God. Every aspect of her life was God,” Dwumfour’s younger sister, Priscilla, told the NY Post.
“She always wanted to help the community, no matter where she was. Even when she came back here to visit us, she would stop by and have conversations with people, invite them to her church – ‘Come, we’ll feed you, don’t worry. If you need a ride, call me.’ She was always like that,” she added.
“It’s my only sister. I didn’t have any other sisters to look up to. I only have my brothers now,” she said.
On her linkedIn profile, Dwumfour was described as a business analyst and “scrum master” for Fire Congress Fellowship, Inc., and Director of Churches for Champions Royal Assembly North America.
Champions Royal Assembly’s website says the church is a “core Prophetic & Deliverance Ministry” located in Chikakore in Kubwa Abuja, Nigeria.
Public controversy
Dwumfour was no stranger to legal troubles and public controversy, being one of two Republicans who, less than a year into her first term, presented a resolution for a local investigation into now disgraced Democrat councilman Thomas Pollandro’s involvement in a strip club bribery scheme.
In an unrelated lawsuit filed in December 2019, a man named Frank Fernandez-Tavare alleged that Dwumfour was possibly driving a vehicle that was driven “negligently and recklessly” into his vehicle two years prior.
He claimed at the time that he had suffered “serious, grievous, permanent and disabling injuries.”
The case was ultimately dismissed in August 2021.
No motive identified
Family and authorities are at a loss as to what a possible motive for her murder could be.
Saahene told the NY Post, “Whoever did that, I know he will pay for it … Her spirit will hunt them down.”
Former chair of the Sayreville GOP, Arthur Rittenhouse, told the NY Post that Dwumfour was “very well liked by anybody” and that her murder was a “shocking event,” adding that politicians regularly disagree on politics but such disagreements would never result in a murder.
“She had a very, very pleasant personality. And she was a woman of her faith, and she always expressed that to whomever she was speaking to,” he told the NY Post.
Dwumfour’s neighbor, Asiya LaPierre, said “I’m in shock! I couldn’t believe this happened to her. She was such a kind person. Such a sweet woman.”
A memorial was held on Feb. 8 at Epic Church International on Main Street Ext. in Sayreville, when flags were flown at half staff and the community gathered to mourn the senseless loss of an important community member.
