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Rashid Ali Bynum, 28, of Portsmouth, VA, was arrested on Tuesday, May 30 at 10:45 a.m., according to the Middlesex County Prosecutor's Office.
Bynum was taken into custody outside a residence in Chesapeake City, VA, without incident, Prosecutor Yolanda Ciccone said at a news conference.
Bynum was charged with first-degree murder and weapons offenses, she said. Prosecutors did not say what the motive was in the killing.
At the news conference, Ciccone said that Dwumfour had a number associated with Bynum in her cellphone contacts, indicating she might have known him, according to The New York Times.
The prosecutor said that Bynum's number was in the councilwoman's phone under the initials "FCF," which authorities think stands for "Fire Congress Fellowship," a church that Dwumfour was previously affiliated with, which also was associated with the Champion Royal Assembly, the victim's church in Newark at the time of her death.
Ciccone declined to take questions at the news conference.
Dwumfour, 30, was found dead in a vehicle on Samuel Circle in the Parlin section of the borough at around 7:20 p.m. four months ago.
The car rolled down a steep incline before crashing into two cars at the bottom of the hill, police said. Police found Dwumfour with several gunshot wounds, and she was pronounced dead at the scene.
Dwumfour, a Republican, was elected in 2022 and served on Sayreville's human relations commission. She was the first black person ever elected to public office in Sayreville.
There was much criticism about the lack of public information during the investigation.
Bynum was awaiting extradition to New Jersey where he will then be held at the Middlesex County Adult Correctional facility pending a pre-trial detention hearing in Superior Court, she said.
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