SAYREVILLE, NJ — In the week since a New Jersey city councilwoman was fatally shot in a car on the street outside her home, police have interviewed friends and family members, and also enlist the help of the State Police and the Federal Bureau of Investigation.
But the district attorney, speaking publicly for the first time on Wednesday about the case, said that the investigation into the murder of Eunice K. Dwumfour remains unresolved.
Hours later, hundreds of people gathered for a vigil in honor of Miss Dwumfour, a 30-year-old Republican pioneer who was the first black elected in the small district of Sayreville.
She is remembered by the town’s Democratic mayor, Victoria Kilpatrick, for her bright smile and willingness to be a role model for young girls.
Wearing “her signature, sparkly heels,” Ms. Dwumfour “broke through that glass ceiling,” Ms. Kilpatrick told mourners.
Earlier on the same day, the governor ordered that the flags be flown at half-mast across the state in memory of Ms. Dwumfour. The state’s deputy governor, Sheila Y. Oliver, and the leader of Congress, Craig Coughlin, both Democrats, each spoke at the memorial service, emphasizing the profound sense of loss and shock at the loss. mysterious murder.
“Don’t forget what she packed up in those 30 years,” Ms. Oliver told the crowd gathered at EPIC, a non-denominational Christian church in Sayreville, adding that she had identified the courage Miss Dwumfour needed to enter the often tumultuous world of New Jersey politics as a Black woman.
She asked the community to embrace Dwumfour’s young daughter, Nicole, and “do all we can to help her stand up.”
A picture of Miss Dwumfour dressed in a gorgeous wedding dress appeared on one of the three large screens in the church as soft music played. The hosts passed boxes of tissues to the emotional mourners.
Mr Coughlin said: “Hopefully the monster responsible for this will be found.
Ms. Dwumfour’s family is from Ghana. But she was married last year to a leader of her church, Champions Royal Assembly, a congregation based in Nigeria, according to messages she and her husband, Eze Kings, posted on Facebook.
Yolanda Ciccone, the Middlesex County prosecutor, said that investigators “at this time” do not believe the killing is linked to activities outside of the United States.
“This is our number one priority,” Ms. Ciccone said in an interview after an unrelated event. “There is no cost savings. We have all of our detectives working on it.”
Asked by a reporter if the killing could have been a “political assassination”, Ms Ciccone said: “I really don’t want to comment on that.”
She said the FBI was helping investigators conduct the scientific analysis, but declined to provide details. Ms Ciccone also said that her office had blocked efforts by news organizations to obtain footage from the night of the shooting out of respect for Ms Dwumfour, who has yet to “be laid to rest”. .
Ms. Dwumfour was shot around 7:20 p.m. last Wednesday outside her apartment in Parlin, an unincorporated part of Sayreville. Her car veered off the road and crashed into parked cars at the foot of a hill.
The sprawling complex of three-story apartment buildings and duplexes is known as Camelot at La Mer, and it faces the southbound lanes of the Garden State Parkway. The day after the shooting, investigators were seen searching a wooded hill near the shoulder of the park road that was walkable from the vicinity.
Other officers reached into the bushes and under the drainage nets near where Ms. Dwumfour was shot, apparently in search of weapons.
Ms Ciccone did not provide information on a possible suspect, but she said there was no “ongoing threat to the community.”
“We will deal with the case,” she added.
Many of those mourning Wednesday night said they were parishioners from a Pentecostal church where Ms Dwumfour worshiped as a child in Newark and from the Royal Council of Champions.
“She’s a good girl,” said Grace Afful, of Hillside, NJ, who said she has known Ms. Dwumfour since she was a child. “I’m pretty sure the police won’t relax until they find out who did this horrible thing.”
