Nigar 'Nika' Mammadzada, a 29-year-old woman from Minneapolis, MN, was tragically killed on November 12, 2020. Mammadzada, a mother of one, had dropped off her daughter at a babysitter and her mother at work before returning to her home on the 3500 block of Welcome Avenue in Crystal. Later that afternoon, her mother found her dead near her desk, having been shot twice with a shotgun.
The primary suspect in this case was Erik Eggleston, a 38-year-old man from Robbinsdale, who was
Mammadzada's ex-boyfriend and the father of her child. According to the criminal complaint, Eggleston had been at Mammadzada's home the previous night and appeared jealous that she had plans with another man. On the night of the murder, Eggleston was found outside a friend's house with cuts from an apparent suicide attempt. A shotgun with what appeared to be blood on the barrel was discovered in a car parked outside the friend's home.
Eggleston was charged with intentional second-degree murder and later pleaded guilty. He was sentenced to 40 years in prison by the Hennepin County court. The court noted that aggravating factors led to a harsher sentence than the presumptive 306 months for such a case. Mammadzada was remembered as a kind and loving person, a graduate of the University of Azerbaijan, and a dedicated mother working two jobs to support her daughter.
