Attorney: Former probation officer charged in kidnapping, murder of Realtor attracting attention in jail

A former Hennepin County probation officer charged with luring a Minneapolis real estate agent to her death on New Year's Eve is being peppered with questions about the case from fellow inmates, her attorney said.

Attorney Amanda Montgomery asked a Hennepin County judge to relocate her client, Elsa E. Segura, to a separate area in the county jail because of the unusual amount of interest she has attracted.

"She's already had several questions and comments posed to her," Montgomery said, adding that Segura is being kept in a "pod" setting with other inmates.

Segura, 28, of Fridley, made her first appearance in court Wednesday in the kidnapping and killing of Monique Baugh. Her bail was set at $1 million without conditions and $500,000 with conditions.

Segura is charged with one count of kidnapping. She is accused of calling Baugh, 28, and requesting a showing of a Maple Grove home, from which two male accomplices kidnapped her in a U-Haul rental truck.

Hennepin County District Judge Regina Chu asked if Segura was being threatened. The judge said jail staff should address housing concerns.

Montgomery said she did not believe Segura, who survived the 2007 Interstate 35W bridge collapse, was threatened.

"Some may consider them threats; I don't know," Montgomery said.

Montgomery said afterward that she didn't know whether Segura had prior contact with any of the inmates through her work as a probation officer.

Montgomery argued for $50,000 bail.

"Ms. Segura did turn herself in yesterday," she said. "She's hardly a flight risk."

Senior Hennepin County Attorney Judith Cole argued that Segura's previous job was a "strike" against her request for lower bail.

Segura worked for the county from June 2014 to Dec. 18, 2019.

"If anybody should know better than to get involved in something like this," it's a probation officer, Cole said.

According to the charges, Segura called Baugh and lured her to the Maple Grove home, where she was kidnapped. A masked man used Baugh's key to enter her north Minneapolis home and shoot her live-in boyfriend, Jon Mitchell-Momoh, several times about 5:40 p.m. The couple's 1- and 3-year-old daughters were home and were not injured. Mitchell-Momoh survived.

About 6:38 p.m., police found Baugh in an alley shot in the torso and face. Her wrists were bound with tape.

Cedric L. Berry, 41, and Berry A. Davis, 40, have been charged with a variety of murder and kidnapping charges in the case. Berry is in custody. Davis is at large.