Akia Shawnta Eggleston was last seen May 3, 2017. pic.twitter.com/KgrjYz2OMd. If you know anything, call the FBI's Baltimore office at 410-265-8080 or Baltimore Police at 410-396-2499. She had one sister, named Renee, and the three lived in an apartment complex just north of Greenwood, South Carolina. We should have gotten the resources in the beginning, Wilson told WMAR-2 News in early November 2021. However, it wasn't until 2002 that prosecutors began firing off the big guns at Hampton. As an adult, he stood about five-feet-eight-inches tall, weighing it at only 132 pounds. Robertson then started staying with Eggleston in April 2017 after being evicted from the apartment he shared with Pomeroy, according to the statement of probable cause. BALTIMORE (WJZ) -- Authorities have arrested Michael Robertson and charged him with murder in the 2017 disappearance of Akia Eggleston, a woman with whom he was having a child who went missing just days before her baby shower, Baltimore City State's Attorney Marilyn Mosby said Thursday. It was occupied by a white male, thirty-five to forty years of age, slender built, lean or pointed facial features with brownish blond hair with sun streaks.". That day, Eggleston was seen on surveillance video depositing the two money orders and a paycheck from her employer at a BB&T location in the central business district. "We're also looking for a faded dark blue or black Monte Carlo, a mid-70's model. Soon, children began playing outside of the Georgetown apartments once again, Kia's disappearance becoming an outlier to a safe community. Akia Shawnta Eggleston was reported missing on May 7, 2017. Many of these details matched up with what police had heard from the victims themselves - but others did not. 2023 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. Does it not bother you, as it does me, that our community, with a few exceptions, seems to be showing little aggressive concern over the mysterious disappearance of one of our children, Kia Logan? In October 2017, after a local TV station ran a report on Egglestons disappearance, Robertson searched on Google about trash or dumpster pickup schedules in Baltimore, Mosby said. Newberry County Sheriff Lee Foster told the media: "It was obvious that it was the skull of a child. ON OCTOBER 20th 2020 JORDEN SHYANN NEBLING AGE 20 WAS REPORTED MISSING TO THE GREENVILLE COUNTY SHERIFF'S OFFICE . A little after nine o'clock that evening, Kia was reported missing to the Greenwood County Sheriff's Department. I knew something was wrong then.. "It's crushing to know that we don't know where she is, we don't know if she's hurt," said Sanobia Wilson, Eggleston's aunt. "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," Thomas J. Sobocinski, the special agent in charge of the FBI's Baltimore office, said in a news release announcing Robertson's arrest. Eggleston, who was eight months pregnant with her son, disappeared just days before her. Police would find out what happened to this little girl over the years, but it would take time, advancements in DNA technology, and the persistence of dedicated investigators. Sam Riley, who had been a Major in the Greenwood County Sheriff's Office, had recently been elected Sheriff. On this Sunday afternoon, in the middle of May, all seemed to be well. Unfortunately for them, as soon as Hampton went to jail for Peeping Tom, he stopped cooperating with investigators. The family, to their credit, was steadfast in their conviction, wanting to to see Hampton in a court to face the charges levied against him. They sent it off for continued testing at the University of South Carolina, where a forensic anthropologist was able to tell investigators that the skull belonged "to a six-to-eight-year-old African American.". I criticize us for not raising such an uproar it would be heard across this nation .. 11 Tennessee to an 85-45 victory over South Carolina on Saturday night. Akia was reported missing by family members on May 7, 2017, after she failed to show up to her own baby shower. This was when he was transferred to a jail in Greenwood county - the same county where Kia Logan had disappeared from in 1988. Authorities have arrested Michael Robertson and charged him with murder in the 2017 disappearance of Akia Eggleston, a woman with whom he was having a child who went missing just days before her . Just like the details he provided: he knew some information about these locales, but not all of the minute details. Charles Wade Hampton later plead guilty to obstruction of justice charges, which stemmed from him lying to investigators. Before I even got there, people were calling me, telling me 'she wasn't here.' We're requesting anyone with information call our office.". BALTIMORE . No closure. THE LAST TIME SHE MADE PHONE CONTACT WITH ANYONE SHE SAID SHE WAS IN GLENDALE, GEORGIA, THIS HAS NOT BEEN CONFIRMED. Eggleston, who was eight months pregnant with her son, disappeared just days before her baby shower. 2023 BDG Media, Inc. All rights reserved. At the time of his arrest, he was forty-four years old, and was driving a white 1986 Dodge 600. As Hampton prepared for his five-year sentence, he was facing investigations and charges from four separate states. Titled "The Malakia Z. Logan Reward Fund," it hope to incentivize anyone with information to come forward. CHEROKEE COUNTY, S.C. (FOX Carolina) - The Cherokee County Sheriff's Office said deputies are searching for Robert Warner, a missing 60-year-old last seen on Tuesday, February 14, 2023. Unfortunately, none came, and the next day, they had to begin investigating Kia's disappearance in earnest. Major Sam Riley was quoted as saying: "These leads have carried the investigation outside of the Greenwood area.". Egglestons phone, while in the same area as Robertsons, was then disabled or turned off after an unanswered call possibly from a telemarketer. Prosecutors, once-confident that the case against him was looking rock-solid, were now worried about not having enough evidence against him. This is when police spoke to Hampton's ex-wife and girlfriend, who told them things about Charles that made them think he was a viable suspect. The eyes were definitely on him," she said, reports WBAL. She hopped on her bike and began riding back to her mother's apartment - a distance no greater than three-hundred yards. They searched pretty exhaustively for around three weeks, unable to locate any more remains other than the skull. But there were also nude photographs of women - including images of his then-girlfriend - and a pornographic magazine named "Stroke Off Tales.". The witnesses had described his hair as having a light glow to it, but they couldn't definitively see it. The results were testing alongside DNA taken from Kia's parents, Bernetta and Richard, and this time, it proved consistent. They were both prepared to pursue the death penalty in the upcoming criminal trial, which they were allowed to for any kidnapping or sexual assault charges when the victim was eleven years old or younger. You see, despite being let go, he was arrested in 1996 after drilling some holes in the wall of the women's bathroom. 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.". They wanted to keep their options option, should more evidence be found against him, so they didn't want him to go free and then lose any chance at a prosecutor under double jeopardy laws. "The family seeks justice in Akia's case. Her social media activity abruptly stopped that day, according to a probable cause statement. Based on her pattern of life, the time passed, extensive publicity, multiple searches, and monetary reward for information in this case, the fact that Eggleston has not returned to her family or been electronically or physically located overwhelmingly indicates that she is in fact, deceased. Donna Shareen Wright Endangered Missing from Beech Island, South Carolina since June 28, 1989 Age: 17 -- Height: 5'6" -- Weight: 120 lbs -- Hair Color: Black -- Eye Color: Brown Donna, a child of 13 siblings, was last seen in Beech Island, South Carolina on June 28, 1989. IE 11 is not supported. The then 22-year-old from Cherry Hill was getting ready for her second child but her dad, Shawn Wilkinson, said that she did not show up for her baby shower in May of 2017. Wilson told WJZ that she wishes law enforcement did more to investigate the case when Eggleston disappeared. She could find no sign of her, but they would later find Kia's bike overturned just outside of the apartment office. She said investigators used interviews, financial records, telephone records and social media messages to construct a timeline of the case. Eggleston's phone activity ends there, indicating the device was either turned off or disabled, Mosby said. Police had continued to interview people within the apartment complex, hoping to learn more about these two mysterious men and any ties they had to the tenants. On May 30th, over two weeks after Kia had disappeared, investigators were still optimistic. Theron Wallace, 20, went missing on Christmas morning while he was kayaking on Lake Carolina After nearly a week of searching, his family has hired a private investigator to assist the South. This week her family placed a missing person flier, flower and ribbon outside the home where Akia once lived, on Cherrycrest Road in south Baltimore's Cherry Hill neighborhood. The days in which the victims were abducted varied, with three of the crimes happening on a Saturday, a Friday, and a Monday. The father of a missing pregnant mother's unborn child has been arrested and charged with killing them both nearly five years after the Maryland woman disappeared. Domestic violence is real, and when it happens, we need to address it, he said. In the probable cause statement, authorities allege that hours after withdrawing $450 in cash from the bank on May 3, Eggleston at the time a single mom with a 2-year-old daughter halted her frequent social media posts and contacts, including contact with her daughter. This year my daughter Renee will go, but I will stay here to answer the phone, just in case. His hair was dark blonde, which could vary anywhere between blonde and dark brown. In 1996, the testing of mitochondrial DNA was performed at a genetics lab in North Carolina. With the searches beginning to run dry, a reward fund for information was established by Tuck Wooten, the head of the A.M. Tuck Inc. concrete company. Police first thought this was a clue that she walked off on her own. Just a couple of blocks from this airport are a number of apartment complexes - all of which are a few miles out from downtown Greenwood. Thank you to everyone for their thoughts and their prayers, Akias aunt, Sanobia Wilson, said. He had green eyes, with brown hair, a brown mustache, and a few days' worth of graying stubble at the time of his arrest in 1996. Greenwood's Emergency Preparedness Director Herbert Vaughn spoke to the local press, and talked about the searches his department had helped conduct in the area on Monday and Tuesday. Marshals, officials said at a press conference. Robertsons phone, meanwhile, was at his job when he received a phone call from Eggleston at 3:44 p.m. their last contact between them, according to a statement of probable cause. It's been four years since Akia Eggleston was last seen in Baltimore on May 3, 2017. florida. Local businesses continued by making donations to the fund. Investigators allege that Akia Eggleston who was featured in a September 2021 PEOPLE cover feature on missing moms was misled by her boyfriend, Michael Robertson, into believing they were on the verge of moving in together. Hampton confessed to committing three child abductions in a northern Georgia town, and even confessed to killing a child out on a farm. In July 2017, a police spokesman said investigators had come to believe that foul play may have been involved. In 2009, the Malakia Logan Memorial Scholarship was established at her hometown's Lander University. What he had told them was intriguing at face-value, but there was nothing incriminating: it was as-if he was saying enough to keep police on-the-hook, but not enough to actually be charged with any crimes. They had no evidence that he had actually committed the crime, but they had his confession on-record, and at the very least, he had lied to investigators and caused them to waste valuable time by pursuing him as the suspect. Greenwood County Sheriff Giles Daniel stated that calls were still pouring in about Kia, either potential sightings or people that may know something. They wanted to take their time, and waited until his holding period for the 1995 warrant was nearing its end to finally strike. Here, the skull would be confirmed as belonging to Kia Logan, with the FBI forensic investigators theorizing that Kia had originaly been killed in Greenwood County and then later dumped in Newberry County. Kia and her sister, Renee, were playing with some friends on the basketball court, when Kia decided to turn in at around 8:30 PM. In November 2017, the FBI Baltimore Field Office offered a $25,000 reward for information leading to her whereabouts. They're going to search for other skeletal remains in identification.". Police also found actual pairs of children's underwear in his laundry, which then sent in for forensic testing. However, Kia lived with her mother, Bernetta Logan Baylor, who was a teacher at a nearby middle school. Akias case was featured in Datelines Missing in America series in September of that year. This case has been open for nearly five long years leaving this family to search nonstop for their missing daughter.. Mosby indicated investigators learned of a "volatile argument" between Robertson and the mother of his children the night before Eggleston disappeared. On June 22nd, 2007 - a Friday - the charges against Charles Wade Hampton were suddenly dropped. However, one of the most interesting notes of this sketch came from a description, which noted that the suspect had a pockmarked face. When the skull was discovered in 1990, it proved a lone clue in a vast sea of nothingness. BALTIMORE Since the very beginning, finding 22-year-old Akia Eggleston has been considered 'critical.'. Like I said, these crimes varied by location, with some taking place in Georgia and others in South Carolina. Cookies collect information about your preferences and your device and are used to make the site work as you expect it to, to understand how you interact with the site, and to show advertisements that are targeted to your interests. In 1993, the skull was sent off to the National Museum of Natural History in Washington, DC for DNA testing. Neither she nor the child have turned up since then. "Reading his statement, you'd think that only the person who did that would know those details. Police were beginning to become certain that Hampton had simply been lying to them in order to obtain special privileges: such as trips outside of jail, meals, coffee, and cigarettes. ", Riley, of course, was Major Sam Riley of the Greenwood County Sheriff's Office. In the afternoons you see small children running and playing, riding skateboards, that kind of thing. MYRTLE BEACH, SC (WMBF) - A new report states South Carolina currently has 184 open missing persons cases. That's all we've got. In particular, they went after him for comments he had made between his 2000 release from prison and his 2002 re-arrest, in which he had confessed to the 1995 abduction of a five-year old girl from Richland County and the subsequent sexual assault. The composite, for all of its intrigue, led to no real suspects in the surrounding area. All of their friends in the apartment complex had since gone home, so Renee knew that Kia wasn't still out there. LAW ENFORCEMENT HAS BEEN SEARCHING FOR HER FOR OVER A YEAR. It has been over a decade since there was any news or developments in the investigation, with it seeming to entering the pantheon of cold cases which will likely never be truly solved. In each crime, the suspect was described as a middle-aged white man, with some kind of gray stubble on his face and a pockmarked complexion, as well as a unique tattoo on a bicep - which some of the young victims called a "dragon," and others a "snake.". Egglestons disappearance has been featured by advocacy groups like the Black and Missing Foundation, which seeks to highlight cases involving people of color who often dont get the same media attention as their white counterparts. Upon further investigation, it was determined that the last time anyone saw Akia alive was on the afternoon of May 3, 2017. "I hope wherever she (Kia) is, she's safe and alive and she'll be home soon. He had been previously terminated due to unexcused absences and excessive tardiness, but that didn't stop him from getting into trouble. Immediately, investigators became convinced that the skull could have belonged to the missing Kia Logan, who had been missing from a town roughly half-an-hour away for two-and-a-half years now. During an interview on June 15, 2017, he claimed he last saw Eggleston on Monday, May 1. Is it twisted thinking? They're no closer today than they were back in 1988 when Kia was snatched up. Unknown Missing Active Chaka Jay Wood Last Seen: February 15, 2017 City: Gaffney State: South Carolina United States Urgent Unknown Missing Active Alexis Ware Last Seen: January 30, 2022 City: Anderson State: South Carolina USA Urgent Endangered Child Active Jada Cunningham Last Seen: August 24, 2021 City: Columbia State: South Carolina USA They combed around the Georgetown Apartments for most of the night, until the lack of light eventually led to them turning it around. Hair . "I am missing a daughter and you know where your loved ones are," he said. ", "People are definitely keeping small children in. These two men were not immediately believed to be suspects, but were wanted for questioning. In-between the apartment's basketball court and her front door, this little girl had disappeared. Investigators allege the 41-year-old sent Eggleston pictures of an apartment interior on May 2, 2017. Pregnant Baltimore Woman Vanished Ahead of Her Baby Shower, Ex-Boyfriend of Missing Md. Those early tests were inconclusive, relying on DNA found in the skull itself in very primitive ways. It wasn't until the sister returned to the apartment complex half-an-hour later that anyone realized this eight-year old was missing. Newspaper reports indicate that she was born with two holes in her heart, but she would turn out to be stronger than she knew. His height was listed in the range of 5'8" or 5'9", and he was of slight build, in the weight range of 150 pounds. According to a statement of probable cause, Eggleston and Robertson first met in the 1990s when his grandmother babysat her as a child. Sign up for PEOPLE's free True Crime newsletter for breaking crime news, ongoing trial coverage and details of intriguing unsolved cases. You see, in 1981, he had been arrested and convicted for the rape of a sixteen-year old, telling interrogators that his seminal fluid had been used to convict him. This would come up later in the story, so please keep that in-mind. Five years later, authorities arrested a suspect in the disappearance of a pregnant Baltimore woman. She was eight months pregnant at the time of her disappearance. We do not give up on the victims of crime in Baltimore City. I had dreams that maybe she's been in California or somewhere all this time.". On Thursday, February 3, 2022, Baltimore State's Attorney Marilyn Mosby held a press conference to announce the arrest of a suspect in the case of missing Maryland woman, Akia Eggleston. Akia Shawnta Eggleston was last seen May 3, 2017. pic.twitter.com/KgrjYz2OMd. It had been nearly five years since the original indictment was filed, accusing him of the abduction and murder of Kia Logan. In late 2017, Robertson moved to Michigan, where he was apprehended by U.S. Upon his arrest, he proved very cooperative with law enforcement. 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