Search warrants: Minneapolis police looking into possible murder-for-hire plot in realtor's death
Monique Baugh was shot and killed on New Year's Eve in Minneapolis, Minnesota. (FOX 9)
MINNEAPOLIS (FOX 9) - New search warrants linked to the kidnapping and murder of a Minneapolis realtor show police are investigating a possible murder-for-hire plot that may have led to the killing.
The new warrants also shed more light on why the realtor and her boyfriend may have been targeted by the suspects. Now, according to the search warrants, the FBI is involved in the case while police investigate a potential fifth suspect in the murder.
Thursday, police made the fourth arrest in the murder of Monique Baugh. Baugh was found shot multiple times in an alleyway on the 1300 block of Russell Avenue on New Year's Eve.
Police say five people -- Cedric Berry, his wife Shante Davis, her brother Berry Davis, Elsa Segura, and an unnamed fifth suspect -- worked together to lure Baugh to a home in Maple Grove under the pretense that it was a home showing.
According to the charges, Segura called Baugh's cell phone and pretended to be a client trying to set up the showing. Police say Baugh arrived at the home on New Year's Eve around 3 p.m. and then was taken by two men and put into a U-Haul truck with her hands bound with duct tape. A few hours later, police say a masked gunman used Baugh's keys to enter her home and shot her boyfriend, who survived the attack.
In the search warrants released on Friday, police were seeking a DNA swab of a potential fifth suspect in the case, who is currently in federal custody after being wanted for escaping prison. Working off leads, police believe the man may have been the gunman in Baugh's shooting. He was taken into federal custody in St. Paul in January for the escape while police continued to work the murder investigation. Police are also looking for access to cell phone and computer records to further link the man to the case.
The documents also state that police are investigating a tip that Baugh's death was the result of a murder-for-hire plot. They are seeking Facebook Messenger records after being told that a hit had been put out before the shootings.
Speaking with Baugh's boyfriend, he told police that there had been bad blood between him and the other suspects because they believed he had acted as a police informant. Baugh's boyfriend also indicated there had been a dispute over a record deal that caused further problems.
If the tip is correct, the court documents indicate a sixth person may be involved with the murder. However, at this point, that man nor the fifth suspect identified in court paperwork have been charged.