Former Hennepin County probation officer on trial for 2019 kidnapping, murder

A former Hennepin County probation officer on trial for her alleged role in the kidnapping and murder of a north Minneapolis woman in 2019 was characterized by prosecutors Monday as a willing participant in a brutal plot, while her attorney cast her as the unwitting pawn of a demanding and unfaithful boyfriend.

Opening statements and testimony began Monday in the trial of Elsa Segura, 29, who is charged in Hennepin County District Court with one count each of aiding and abetting premeditated first-degree murder, aiding and abetting attempted premeditated first-degree murder, aiding and abetting kidnapping, and aiding and abetting first-degree felony murder while committing kidnapping.

Segura's attorney, Amanda Montgomery, told jurors Segura will testify at her trial, which could last about eight more days.

Segura is accused of using a newly purchased cellphone and an alias on Dec. 31, 2019, to lure real estate agent Monique Baugh to a fake home showing in Maple Grove. When Baugh arrived, authorities say, two men kidnapped her, bound her hands and neck with Gorilla duct tape and tortured her in an attempt to learn her boyfriend's whereabouts.

The plot could not have been executed without Segura's help, Assistant Hennepin County Attorney Thad Tudor told jurors Monday.

"These were all lies and what the defendant really was doing was tricking Monique, luring her to a nightmarish death," Tudor said. "Monique was undeniably tortured in some fashion. … At some point, she broke. Surely she was exhausted, no doubt terrified."

After one of the kidnappers eventually shot and wounded Baugh's boyfriend, Jon Mitchell-Momoh, in a north Minneapolis townhouse, Baugh, 28, was fatally shot in the face, heart and spine and left in an alley. She left behind two daughters, now 4 and 2, whom she shared with Mitchell-Momoh.

Segura, who survived the Interstate 35W bridge collapse in 2007, was romantically involved with another suspect charged in the case, Lyndon A. Wiggins, whose business relationship with Mitchell-Momoh soured several months before the murder.

Montgomery told jurors her client loved Wiggins and was accustomed to going to great lengths to help him with little scrutiny of his motives even though he was unfaithful to her. Segura had previously used her name to lease a condo and truck for Wiggins, Montgomery said.

"She never thought it was a serious matter, and it never was," Montgomery said. "She wanted a relationship with this man."

Segura had a small window into Wiggins' life and knew few of his friends and family members, Montgomery said.

"She didn't think anything of it at the time," Montgomery said of Wiggins' request that Segura arrange a home showing for his friends. "She did believe it was possibly related to his drug business."

The brutality of the crime shocked the community. Baugh was held captive for about three hours — much of it because she apparently refused to divulge Mitchell-Momoh's whereabouts since it would also lead her captors to their children.

Segura is the third of five suspects charged in the case to be tried. The men who kidnapped Baugh and shot her and Mitchell-Momoh — Cedric Berry and Berry Davis — were convicted in June of the same counts against Segura. They were sentenced in July to life in prison without the possibility of parole.

Wiggins awaits trial on the same charges as Segura. Shante Davis, who is Davis' sister and Berry's wife, is charged with aiding an offender and is awaiting trial.

Prosecutors told jurors that evidence will show that Segura knew of the plot and exhibited guilty behavior. That behavior, they said, included calling Baugh on the "burner phone" while away from her home in Fridley to avoid being traced, researching whether anxiety caused chest pains, looking up the county jail roster and repeatedly reading news accounts of the shooting.

Segura also looked up confession times and researched immunity in legal cases, Tudor said, adding that jurors would hear the "chilling" voice mail Segura left on Baugh's cellphone about the home showing.

"You will hear what a good liar the defendant is," Tudor said. "Immunity is something guilty people want or need."

Montgomery attempted to paint a picture of a diligent public servant who climbed the ranks from intern to senior probation officer at the county. Segura worked weekdays at central intake and was not a supervising agent. She also juggled evening classes to earn her master's degree and worked weekends at a juvenile supervision center, Montgomery said.

"She was terrified," her lawyer said of Segura's reaction to learning about the shooting. "She connected what had happened, and she was horrified. She would not make these calls had she been aware of the plans."

Chao Xiong • 612-270-4708

Twitter: @ChaoStrib