Man charged with kidnapping, killing woman on New Year’s Eve

Published 9:29 pm Monday, January 6, 2020

MINNEAPOLIS — Prosecutors charged a Minneapolis man on Monday with kidnapping and killing a real estate agent on New Year’s Eve in what police suspect was a drug rivalry between the suspect and the woman’s boyfriend.

Cedric Berry, 41, was charged in Hennepin County with kidnapping and second-degree murder in the death of 28-year-old Monique Baugh of Minneapolis.

Police suspect Baugh was kidnapped from a home in Maple Grove she was showing by someone driving a rental truck. She was later found fatally shot in a north Minneapolis alley with duct tape wrapped around one wrist.

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Police suspect her killing is tied to an alleged drug rivalry between Berry and Baugh’s boyfriend, who also was shot on New Year’s Eve but survived.

Hennepin County Attorney Mike Freeman said prosecutors have charged 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.”

Berry remains jailed on $2 million bail ahead of a court appearance Tuesday. Court records do not list an attorney who could speak on his behalf.

According to court records, the rental truck used in Baugh’s kidnapping was spotted in Maple Grove and then in the alley behind the home where her boyfriend was shot.

Baugh’s wounded boyfriend called 911 about 5:40 p.m. on Dec. 31. Police arrived and saw that he had been shot several times. The couple’s two daughters, both under age 5, were inside and uninjured.

Less than an hour later, ShotSpotter technology detected gunfire near an alley. Officers found Baugh shot in the torso and in the face at close range. Her hands were bound by tape.

Investigators determined that the rental truck had been at both locations and found Baugh’s car outside the Maple Grove home she was showing.