Man charged with murder of ex-girlfriend in Crystal, Minnesota

CRYSTAL, Minn. (FOX 9) - A Robbinsdale, Minnesota man has been charged with murder for allegedly shooting his ex-girlfriend and the mother of his child at her home in Crystal last week. 

Hennepin County Attorney Mike Freeman charged Erik Eggleston, 38, late Monday with second-degree murder in the death of Nigar Mammadzada.

According to the charges, on the morning of Nov. 12, Mammadzada dropped off the baby girl she had with Eggleston at a babysitter’s and dropped off her mother at her job. She then returned to her home on 3500 block of Welcome Avenue in Crystal, where she had set up her home office in the basement.

When her mother returned to Mammadzada’s house in the late afternoon, she found her daughter on the flood near her desk dead. The Hennepin County Medical Examiner later determined she had died from two shotgun wounds. 

Mammadzada’s mother told police she suspected Eggleston. She told police he knew the code to get into the attached garage. She said her daughter had broken up with him and that the previous evening he had been over to spend time with their child as Mammadzada was getting ready to go out with another man and he seemed jealous, the charges say. 

She added that Eggleston knew the code to the attached garage for Mammadzada’s house. 

At about 9 p.m. on the same day, Eggleston was found lying in front of a friend’s house in Oak Grove bleeding from cuts. He was taken to Mercy Hospital in Coon Rapids where he was treated for the wounds that appeared to be a suicide attempt. 

Crystal police obtained a search warrant for the car that was parked in the driveway of the friend’s house where Eggleston was found. The car was on loan to Mammadzada from a dealership and police found a shotgun inside with what appeared to be blood on the barrel. 

Police learned that on Nov. 12, Eggleston borrowed the car of a friend. That car was found just down the street from Mammadzada's home.