For almost five years, Akia Eggleston’s family has anxiously waited for authorities to figure out what happened to the pregnant 22-year-old Baltimore mother who vanished just days before her baby shower.
On Thursday, that day finally arrived with the arrest of Michael Robertson, the 41-year-old father of Eggleston’s unborn child. The Baltimore City State’s Attorney’s office said Robertson has been charged with two counts of first-degree murder in connection with Eggleston’s May 2017 disappearance.
Her remains have never been recovered. Robertson was arrested in Michigan on Tuesday and is awaiting extradition. It was unclear if he had an attorney.
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“Thank you to everyone for their thoughts and their prayers and hope for our family that we would find her alive,” Eggleston's aunt, Sanobia Wilson, said during a Thursday press conference. “Even though the evidence says something different, that she’s not, we just want to say thank you and to please continue to keep us in your prayers.”
While authorities on Thursday did not detail a motive behind the case, Baltimore City State’s Attorney Marilyn Mosby said authorities believe “there was some sort of contention among the two with reference to Akia having the child.”
In a probable cause statement obtained by The Daily Beast, prosecutors also allege Robertson misled Eggleston into believing they were about to move in together. In reality, Robertson allegedly concocted a ruse, involving a fake apartment, to prompt Eggleston to withdraw money from her bank account just before she went missing.
Wilson added that in her mind, Robertson “has always been a suspect” and that “all eyes were definitely on him” after Eggleston vanished. “We do believe that he did it, he made her disappear,” she said. “He definitely had a motive to not seeing this child be born. He has multiple children.”
The arrest signals the beginning of the end of a case that garnered national attention. Eggleston, who was eight months pregnant with her second child, went missing on May 3, 2017, after stopping at a bank near the Inner Harbor in downtown Baltimore. She was reported missing four days later when she did not show up for her baby shower.
During a press conference announcing the charges, Mosby also detailed Eggleston’s last steps before she vanished—noting that cellphone data and photographs helped build a case against Robertson.
The probable cause statement notes that Eggleston and Robertson first started dating in 2016 after the pair reconnected at a birthday party of a mutual friend. At the time, however, the 35-year-old Robertson was already in a relationship with another 22-year-old woman.
That woman had given birth to her second child with Robertson about one month before Eggleston got pregnant. Prosecutors allege that “after being evicted from an apartment he shared with” the other woman, Robertson began to regularly stay with Eggleston in April 2017.
“Just prior to her murder, Eggleston told several friends and family members she and Robertson were imminently moving into a new apartment together,” the probable cause statement says.
On May 1, prosecutors say, Eggleston messaged a friend on Facebook revealing that she was about to put a deposit down on a new apartment she had yet to see. The next day, Robertson sent Eggleston blurry photos of an apartment just before Eggleston purchased two money orders totaling $450. Prosecutors say that Eggleston also withdrew money from her savings account before texting Robertson: “I called u I got the money order.”
Prosecutors note that later that afternoon, Eggleston spoke to a friend on the phone, admitting that while her relationship with Roberston was “okay,” she was “unsure if she trusted him because he was in a relationship with at least one other woman.”
The day Eggleston went missing, the probable cause statement notes, she was seen at the bank depositing the two money orders and a paycheck before making another withdrawal. Cell phone records indicate that Eggleston went home shortly after—and Robertson arrived shortly after.
The last known communication by Eggleston was at 5:22 p.m. on May 3, when she sent a friend a Facebook message invitation to her baby shower that Sunday. Four days later, Eggleston and Robertson failed to show up at the baby shower she planned—prompting family members to immediately suspect something was awry.
Authorities say that while Eggleston’s family was desperately searching for the young mother, Robertson moved to Michigan in late 2017 with another 22-year-old woman. Prior to his move, however, Robertson was interviewed by authorities twice, where prosecutors said he “displayed a consistent pattern of hiding or avoiding police contact for weeks or months at a time between interviews.”
Throughout the interviews, Robertson allegedly lied to investigators several times about details of his relationship with Eggleston and the circumstances of her disappearance. Prosecutors also note that Roberston’s search history after Eggleston vanished included “where does Baltimore city trash go when picked up. “BALTIMORE City Dumpster pickup”, and “baltimore city landfill”—which may indicate what may have happened to Eggleston’s remains.
“To date, investigators are unaware of any attempts by Robertson to assist in the search for Eggleston and their unborn child. In fact, Robertson has displayed a pattern of avoidance or fleeing from police after being questioned about Eggleston’s murder," the probable cause statement notes.
While the case made national headlines—spurring features in People Magazine, a feature in HBO’s Black and Missing, and an FBI reward of $25,000—it seemed to go cold within six months of Eggleston’s disappearance.
“This has been a long and painful journey for the family of Akia Eggleston,” FBI-Baltimore supervisory special agent Shayne Buchwald said on Thursday. “For nearly five years, the people of Baltimore have searched, hoped, and mourned with Akia’s family and friends, but they never gave up and neither did we.”
Eggleston’s stepfather, Shawn Wilkinson, also stressed on Thursday that his family was still seeking justice in the young mother’s case that has caused constant “pain and anguish.” Describing Eggleston as a talented young woman, Wilkinson admitted that he was still holding out hope that Eggleston and her unborn child were alive.
“It has affected so many relationships and we will continue to stand united as a family until the final judgment in this case has been rendered,” he added.