Man found guilty in murder of Twin Cities real estate agent

A Hennepin County jury has found Lyndon Wiggins guilty of murder and other charges for his role as the mastermind in the high-profile kidnapping and execution of Twin Cities real estate agent Monique Baugh.

Several of Baugh’s family members clapped and shouted on Monday in the courtroom as the judge read the 12-person jury’s “guilty” findings. Wiggins, 40, was found guilty on all his counts, which included aiding and abetting first-degree murder, attempted first-degree murder, kidnapping to cause great bodily harm and first-degree murder while committing a felony.

The charges were also tied to shooting and injuring Baugh’s boyfriend, Jon Mitchell-Momoh, in front of their two young children. After the trial, Baugh’s cousin Tange Baugh said she was “very satisfied” with the guilty verdict.

“We got a monster off the street,” Baugh said.

The decision came after six hours of deliberation, starting Friday afternoon and wrapping up around 2:30 p.m. Monday. It concluded a nearly three-week trial that was filled with open hostility, lengthy delays and questions of witness integrity. The jury was made up of six women and six men.

Baugh was killed on New Year’s Eve in December 2019. She was 28 years old at the time of her death.

Three people are already in prison for the murder: Cedric Berry and Berry Davis, convicted of first-degree murder for carrying out the killing; and former Hennepin County probation officer Elsa Segura, who pleaded guilty to kidnapping for setting the plan in motion by creating a fake real estate showing with Baugh.

State prosecutors presented evidence that the murder stemmed from a falling out over Wiggins and Mitchell-Momoh’s rap label and a belief that Mitchell-Momoh had snitched on Wiggins over drug dealing.

Wiggins had been found guilty in Baugh’s murder initially in 2022, but the convictions were thrown out by the Minnesota Supreme Court over faulty jury instructions.

A primary difference in trying the case for a second time, said Senior Assistant Hennepin County Attorney Paige Starkey, was that this time the court required Segura to testify in a case based on circumstantial evidence.

“She did not want to testify, and I can understand why for a variety of reasons,” Starkey said.

Starkey, who’s been assigned to the case since January 2020, said getting to handle it was “the honor of my professional life.”

Wiggins’ attorney, Sarah Gad, declined to comment on the verdict as she exited the court. During the trial, Gad argued the state’s entire case was built on weak, circumstantial evidence of cellphone tower pings and witness cooperation from Segura, who testified Wiggins gave her a cellphone and a fake name to call Baugh to set up the showing.

Chris Filipski, an assistant Hennepin County attorney who handled the case along with Starkey, said both prosecutors were surprised the defense put Wiggins and Davis on the stand to testify, particularly given that Davis had admitted to lying under oath.

“I would venture a guess that that played into the way the jury viewed the defense’s case and the credibility of those witnesses,” Filipski said after the verdict.

Wiggins’ sentencing is set for Nov. 13 in Hennepin County District Court.