In the spring of 2017, a burst of violence on a quiet Irvington, New Jersey street led to the death of 33-year-old Dino Bermudez of Newark. On the afternoon of Friday, May 12th, Bermudez was on the 300 block of Myrtle Avenue when he was shot in the leg. Emergency services were dispatched to the scene and transported him to University Hospital in Newark for treatment.
Despite medical efforts, his injury proved to be fatal, and he succumbed to his wounds two days later.
The investigation into the shooting unfolded over the following months, leading to an arrest in July of that year. Detectives from the Essex County Prosecutor's Office, in conjunction with an FBI Task Force, took Ali King, a 37-year-old Newark resident, into custody without incident. At the time of his arrest, King was charged with murder, felony murder, conspiracy, and weapons offenses. The Essex County Prosecutor's Office announced the charges but also cautioned that they were accusations and that the defendant was presumed innocent until proven guilty.
Further developments in the case pointed to a different suspect. In November 2017, authorities announced that they were searching for Dennis M. Cunningham in connection with Bermudez's death. The FBI indicated that Cunningham, who was 48 years old at the time, was believed to have fled New Jersey and was thought to be in the metro Atlanta, Georgia area, where he had family and other connections.
Dennis M. Cunningham was formally charged in absentia with murder, robbery, and weapons offenses. A federal charge of unlawful flight to avoid prosecution was also filed against him. In the years that followed, law enforcement has continued to seek information on his whereabouts, circulating wanted posters and considering him to be armed and dangerous. The trail of justice for Dino Bermudez has stretched across state lines, with one man arrested and another remaining a fugitive.
