A Minnesota judge this week handed down life sentences to the two men behind the killing of 28-year-old mother-of-two Monique Baugh, a respected realtor who was found shot to death in an alleyway on December 31, 2019.
On Monday, 42-year-old Cedric Berry and 42-year-old Berry Davis, were sentenced to life without the possibility of release for Baugh’s first-degree premeditated murder, according to a statement from the Hennepin County Attorney’s Office.
In addition to murder, the two were also convicted of kidnapping, the statement explains, “for which Berry received 158 months with 557 days credit for time served, and Davis received 161 months with 449 days for time served.”
The men were also convicted of attempted second-degree murder for trying to kill Baugh’s boyfriend, an area rapper known as Momoh, “the same day she was murdered.”
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Berry and Davis were both sentenced to 240 months in prison, which will be served concurrently to the kidnapping sentences.
Baugh was found dead — shot three times, including at least once in the face — in an alley in the Willard-Hay section of the city. Her hands were bound with tape, authorities said.
According to prosecutors, Momoh was attacked before Baugh was killed.
Berry, wearing a black mask with two eye holes, entered the home that Baugh and Momoh shared with their two daughters at about 5:30 p.m. on December 31, 2019.
Police responded to the shooting on Humboldt Avenue in the city’s north side, according to a police incident report.
Upon arrival, they found Mitchell-Momoh, who had been shot multiple times, but was able to tell authorities that a masked gunman had entered the locked front door using a key. He said the intruder, who was “wearing a black colored mask, with only one hole for both eyes,” fired multiple rounds, according to police records. The wounded man then fled upstairs where his 1-year-old child was sleeping.
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“I am dead already!” Mitchell-Momoh shouted at the shooter, the criminal complaint stated. “My babies are here!”
The man’s 3-year-old toddler was also home at the time. Both children were unharmed, police said.
Police retrieved a number of silver .45 caliber casings at the scene, as well as the key the gunman used to enter the home. It belonged to Baugh, authorities said.
Roughly an hour after the incident, a gunshot detection device tipped police off to another shooting near a back alley on the 1300 block of Russell Avenue North. There, they found Baugh, who had been shot twice in the torso and once in the face — at point blank range, a medical examiner later found. She was unresponsive and her hands were bound with tape.
Near her body, detectives recovered more .45 caliber shell casings. Witnesses reported seeing an older tan-colored Buick drive down the alley minutes before the shooting. A U-Haul truck with Arizona plates, which was spotted near the scene of her boyfriend’s shooting, was also seen in the area.
Police later found Baugh’s black BMW at a house in the Minneapolis suburb of Maple Grove. They presumed that she was showing the home to potential buyers, police said. Inside, they found a single pink press-on fingernail.
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Using a neighbor’s surveillance footage, detectives found that Baugh parked her BMW in the driveway of the Maple Grove home around 3 p.m. on New Year’s Eve. Soon after, investigators said, a U-Haul pulled up and backed into the driveway. Two people, who police couldn’t positively identify, entered the home and appeared to force Baugh out and stuff her into the cargo hold of the truck.
Baugh’s boyfriend, Mitchell-Momoh, told law enforcement that he last saw her about an hour before he was shot. Baugh received a call shortly before both shootings requesting she show a house to an unknown person. Mitchell-Momoh also said his girlfriend was puzzled as to how the caller had obtained her cell phone number.
Investigators soon traced the U-Haul, which had been seen at both shootings, to a business in Ramsey County. Inside, they found zip ties and four pink press-on fingernails. They matched the one found in the home at which Baugh was likely abducted. The truck also reeked of ammonia, police said.
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A rental agreement for the truck led police to two men, who admitted they rented the van for Berry in exchange for heroin.
Police arrested Berry on January 2, 2020. Searching his 2002 Buick Regal, investigators seized 13 pouches of heroin from the center console, as well as the mask police suspect Berry wore when he allegedly shot Mitchell-Momoh.
As previously reported, two other suspects, Elsa Wiggins and Lyndon Wiggins were charged with aiding and abetting the crimes of first-degree murder, attempted second-degree murder, kidnapping, and first-degree felony murder while committing kidnapping.
Elsa Segura was accused of setting up the fake house showing.
A fifth suspect, Shante Davis, was charged with being an accomplice after the fact.
A motive for the violence remains unclear, even after the two men were tried and convicted last month. Mitchell-Momoh told authorities the motive for the killing could have been cash he’d been flaunting on social media or possibly because of a rumor that he’d been a police informant.
Lawyers for the defendants were unavailable for comment.
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