Investigators failed to ask family members of murdered Sayrevville Councilwoman Eunice Dwumfour if they knew whether anyone would have a reason to kill her in the seven weeks since the assassination-style slaying outside her home.
The family’s pastor and legal advisers said that Dwumfour’s loved ones are frustrated by the slow pace of the investigation.
Family members of the slain New Jersey Republican contend they have only spoken twice with authorities who are supposed to be investigating her death.
Dwumfour’s parents and husband held a press conference at Sayreville Borough Hall on Wednesday afternoon to complain about the pace of the investigation, which seems to have been in slow motion for nearly two months.
The family, spiritual advisors, and attorneys held the news conference in the chambers where Dwumfour was elected to serve. They want the public to know they’re still desperate for answers.
“I need justice for my daughter. Please God, help me. Thank you,” said Mary Dwumfour, Dwumfour’s mother.
“The fact is we haven’t had much interaction with them,” said Karl Badu, a pastor at the Church of Pentecost.
“It’s painful, I must tell you the truth, really painful,” said the councilwoman’s newlywed husband, Peter Ezechukwu, who also goes by the name Eze Kings — called that “surprising.”
Dwumfour was shot multiple times on Feb. 1 while she sat inside her SUV outside her apartment complex. The killing remains unsolved.
Badu said that Dwumfour’s parents, Newark residents Prince and Mary Dwumfour, were first contacted by the Middlesex County Prosecutor’s Office six days after the shooting.
The family claims they reached out to the police themselves to get an update. They say they were then told that details couldn’t be shared.
The prosecutor’s office waited another month before meeting in person with the parents when former assemblyman and attorney John Wisniewski arranged a sit-down for the couple to get an update on the probe.
Badu said those discussions gave the family very little insight into the shooting — an investigation prosecutors have repeatedly declined to discuss with the public or media.
Badu said the Dwumfours were asked, “the usual ‘tell us about Eunice’ type of questions” but the victim’s father, Prince Dwumfour, insisted that law enforcement authorities never asked family members if they knew why someone would kill the 30-year-old councilwoman.
“We just want New Jersey to know, this is a young, dynamic, bright woman who had her whole life ahead of her. Taken too soon, too quickly,” said Badu.
“Eunice is our everything. She is our everything,” said Prince Dwumfour. “I want justice. Please, I want justice for my family and my daughter.”
Criminal defense attorney Lauren Bayer — who said she’d been advising the councilwoman’s newlywed husband, Peter Ezechukwu, who also goes by the name Eze Kings — called that “surprising.”