Lumberton man arrested in deadly I-95 road rage shooting
The Robeson County Sheriff's Office has arrested a man in connection with a road rage shooting that killed a mother of six last week on Interstate 95.
Dejywan R. Floyd, 29, of Lumberton, was arrested at the Parkview Terrace Apartments around midnight Thursday, officials said. He is charged with first-degree murder and discharging a weapon into an occupied property.
Photos released by the sheriff's office on Thursday show Floyd being arrested at the apartment and his car being seized.
Floyd was being held without bond at the Robeson County Detention Center.
Julie Eberly, 47, of Manheim, Pa., died after shots were fired into her passenger-side window on I-95 on March 25. She was riding with her husband to Hilton Head, S.C., to celebrate their wedding anniversary.
According to investigators, the couple's GMC Yukon came close to Floyd's Chevrolet Malibu during a merge into a lane. Floyd allegedly pulled up to the passenger side, rolled down his window and fired multiple shots into the passenger door before driving away. Ryan Eberly pulled over and called 911 to report his wife was shot.
He was audibly crying when the dispatcher answered but was able to recover to speak to the dispatcher.
"My wife is shot. She's bleeding badly. I need help now," Ryan Eberly told the dispatcher. "She's shot in the head. I am trying to stop the bleeding."
Ryan Eberly described the car as a silver or white sedan and said there was only one person, a man, inside. He also encouraged his wife.
"Keep breathing, dear. I am right here," he can be heard saying on the call. "We’re getting help."
That help arrived after about 10 minutes. Julie Eberly died later at UNC Health Southeastern in Lumberton.
Although it took days to arrest Floyd, a person driving on I-95 last week was able to provide a detailed description of the car. Immediately, authorities had the information that the shooter was in a gray Malibu.
"You got to hurry up because it fired shots in that truck, and I am not sure if somebody is hit," the caller told dispatchers on March 25.
Three Robeson County residents joined to offer a $20,000 reward for tips that led to the person in the Malibu.
The car was last seen getting off I-95 at Exit 22 and driving over the bridge into Lumberton, authorities said.
On Thursday, Sheriff Burnis Wilkins said security footage provided by dozens businesses and residents helped track the Malibu’s path after the shooting.
"Regardless of the circumstances, no one deserved to be murdered while traveling our nation's highways," Wilkins said.
Wilkins said deputies tracked Floyd consistently from 3:30 a.m. Wednesday until the time of his arrest. Wilkins added that Floyd was dropped off at the apartment complex around midnight on Thursday and someone drove the Chevy Malibu to another location.
"He had absolutely nothing to say, just a cold face," described Wilkins.
Deputies said Floyd has previous charges, including firearm possession and firing shots into an occupied home.
Ryan Eberly told a reporter from the couple’s hometown television station, "In three minutes, my whole world is turned upside down, and I don’t know why."
"A huge hole has been left in our immediate family and in our extended family as well," he told NBC affiliate WMBF in Myrtle Beach. "She was my life partner and my best friend
Wilkins said the family left their six children at home with grandparents "but now these kids have to live with the thought of their mother being murdered in such a cowardly and senseless way."
Wilkins said Ryan Eberly was notified of the arrest around 6 a.m. on Thursday, a few hours before his wife's funeral.
