LUMBERETON, N.C. — North Carolina authorities have arrested the man suspected of shooting and killing a Pennsylvania mother of six in a road rage incident one week ago.
Dejywan Floyd, 29, of Lumberton, North Carolina, was arrested just after midnight Thursday and is charged with first-degree murder and discharging a weapon into an occupied property in connection with the death of 47-year-old Julie Eberly, WGAL reported.
Julie and Ryan Eberly were traveling Interstate 95, en route from Pennsylvania to South Carolina March 25 to celebrate their seventh wedding anniversary, when their vehicle reportedly came close to one believed to be driven by Floyd during a lane merge, Robeson County Sheriff Burnis Wilkins said.
Floyd is accused of then driving up to the passenger side of the Eberlys’ vehicle, where Julie Eberly was sitting, and firing multiple shots into the couple’s vehicle, before speeding off and taking a nearby exit. Julie Eberly died a short while later at an area hospital from her injuries. Ryan Eberly was uninjured.
According to WNCN, a reward for information leading to a suspect’s arrest has doubled to $20,000 in the week since an anonymous Robeson County resident donated the initial $10,000.
Floyd, who is being held in the Robeson County Detention Center without bond, is slated to have his first court appearance Thursday.
In a statement issued Thursday morning, Wilkins called Floyd’s arrest the direct result of cooperative efforts between law enforcement agencies and the community.
“The surveillance footage provided to investigators by dozens of cooperating businesses and residents were critical elements in the tracking of Floyd’s path in Cumberland County prior to the shooting and throughout Lumberton and beyond after the shooting. Regardless of the circumstances, no one deserved to be murdered while traveling our nation’s highways. I am proud of the investigative work put forth by the law enforcement agencies that came together as one to bring this case to a successful conclusion,” he stated.