FBI Joins Probe In Killing Of Realtor Abducted From Maple Grove

HENNEPIN COUNTY, MN — The FBI has joined the Minneapolis police in investigating a trap that was set up to kill a Twin Cities realtor and shoot her boyfriend in front of his children on New Year's Eve.

Cedric Lamont Berry, 41, was charged back in January with kidnapping and second-degree murder in the fatal shooting of Monique Baugh. Berry was also was charged with the attempted murder in the shooting of Baugh’s boyfriend.

Authorities are likely to arrest more people in what's being called a "murder-for-hire plot,"according to the Star Tribune.

Maple Grove kidnapping

Police say on the afternoon of Dec. 31, someone called Monique Baugh on her cell phone and asked about viewing a house in Maple Grove. Baugh arrived at the home at around 3 p.m. Moments later, a U-Haul van arrived.

Video shows a person forcing someone into the cargo part of the van, police said. The van drove away at 3:18 p.m., according to the criminal complaint.

Around 5:30 p.m., a man with a black mask with one hole for both eyes used a key to enter the front door of a house on the 4800 block of Humboldt Avenue North. The gunman dropped the key before shooting Baugh’s boyfriend, who was sitting on the sets to the second floor, according to authorities. His three-year-old child was nearby on a couch and his one-year-old was sleeping upstairs, where the boyfriend fled from the shooter, police said.

Relatives came to the house to watch the children while Baugh’s boyfriend was taken to the hospital.

At the house, Baugh's mother noticed the key used by the shooter belonged to Baugh. The mother became worried, noting that Baugh would normally be home by that time.

Just before 6:40 p.m., three shots were fired in an alley in the 1300 block of Russell Avenue North, authorities said. When police arrived, they found Baugh, her hands bound by tape, and dead from three bullet wounds, the complaint states.

Police found .45-caliber, silver-colored Federal brand discharged cartridge casings at both shootings, according to the complaint.

Additional video showed the U-Haul near the Humboldt Avenue shooting and a license plate number led them to a business in Mounds View. The business owner provided the name of the two people who rented the van.

They told police they rented it for Berry, who gave them heroin in return, according to the complaint.

Berry was arrested around midnight on Jan. 2. Police searched his car and found a black mask like the one worn in the first shooting and 13 baggies of suspected heroin, the complaint states.

"I cannot begin to describe how vicious the behavior was in this case," Hennepin County Attorney Mike Freeman said in a statement.

"We have charged Mr. Berry with setting a trap for Ms. Baugh, assassinating her at close range and shooting at her boyfriend while in the same house with two small children. We are seeking high bail and will do all in our power to prove him guilty."