"It's definitely changed the lifestyle here. A follow-up news article stated how employees of the local K-Mart, so moved by Wiggins' battle cry, raised $650 within an hour. Akia Eggleston . So when family and friends wanted to celebrate her . The sunny atmosphere from just a few days prior had evaporated. If they wanted to try him for any of those crimes, they needed a more definitive smoking gun. That report, compiled by the team at . I only say "likely" because I legitimately can't find any record of him online or in the press since 2007. Specifically, the docuseries examines how systemic racism affects the attention and resources dedicated to solving cases of missing Black people which remain unresolved four times longer than those of white people. In November 2017, the FBI Baltimore Field Office offered a $25,000 reward for information leading to her whereabouts. Get browser notifications for breaking news, live events, and exclusive reporting. Police were able to link Hampton to a farm owned in northern Georgia, which was owned by a friend of his. We would have found some clues, but we were not given those resources, because Akia is an African-American, young, single, mother of two. On May 30th, over two weeks after Kia had disappeared, investigators were still optimistic. Eggleston was excited to be moving in with the father of her child, Michael Robertson, who was in a relationship with another 22-year-old woman that had recently given birth to his second child, Mosby told reporters. INVESTIGATORS STATE THAT MS. The searches and canvass of the apartment complex continued on into Tuesday, but police wouldn't release another public statement until May 18th - Wednesday. Akia Eggleston, 22 featured in a 2021 PEOPLE cover feature on missing moms was reported missing in May 2017 after failing to show up for her own baby shower By Jeff Truesdell Published on. In July 2017, a police spokesman said investigators had come to believe that foul play may have been involved. Domestic violence is real, and when it happens, we need to address it, he said. 2021 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. "I hope that today's arrest brings some sense and some measure of hope in the first phase in our pursuit of justice for Akia Eggleston," said Mosby. 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., 2023 NYP Holdings, Inc. All Rights Reserved, Ex-pol charged with murdering Vegas reporter Jeff German will rep himself at trial, Murdaugh family still buried in temporary graves almost 2 years after slayings, Cops seized accused Idaho murderer Bryan Kohbergers underwear, medical gloves from parents home, Video shows gunman nonchalantly shoot homeless man execution-style in broad daylight, according to a statement of probable cause, dont get the same media attention as their white counterparts. It's a reminder of unfinished business.". Robertson falsely led Eggleston to believe they were going to move in together.. Hi, my name is Akia and thanks for visiting my page. Four and a half years after a 22-year-old pregnant mother from Baltimore vanished before her baby shower, authorities say they know who's responsible for Akia Eggleston's sudden disappearance. BALTIMORE (WJZ) -- It has been four years since Akia Eggleston was last seen in Baltimore on May 3, 2017. This meant that investigators now had half-a-decade to try and work out a case against him. "Domestic violence is real and when it happens, we need to address it," Wilkinson said. But that optimisim would be short-lived, as weeks began to bleed into months. May 4, 2021 / 10:50 PM BALTIMORE Since the very beginning, finding 22-year-old Akia Eggleston has been considered 'critical.'. Akias case was featured in Datelines Missing in America series in September of that year. All of their friends in the apartment complex had since gone home, so Renee knew that Kia wasn't still out there. She was last seen around 8:30 p.m. on Aug. 16 near Roosevelt Drive and Teutonia Avenue . Kia was dead. In late 2017, Robertson moved to Michigan, where he was apprehended by U.S. (232-7463. We're requesting anyone with information call our office.". Investigators allege the 41-year-old sent Eggleston pictures of an apartment interior on May 2, 2017. 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. So, he'll be back on the street. Police said at the time they had invested more than 1,000 man-hours into the case. A missing persons report was filed with the county, where Kia is listed as being 4'2" tall, and weighing about 60 to 70 pounds. Eggleston was 22 years old, eight months pregnant and the mother to a 2-year-old daughter when she disappeared in May 2017. 2022 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. Michael Robertson has been charged with two counts of first-degree murder. 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. Despite that, police wouldn't have any real leads to follow up on until October of the next year, 1990. Another description was vague, calling it simply an older model white compact or subcompact with blue interior. It was a Sunday in Greenwood, South Carolina - a small town roughly an hour north of Augusta, Georgia and about an hour-and-a-half west of Columbia, South Carolina. MILWAUKEE - Milwaukee police are requesting the public's assistance in locating critical missing, Akia Hair. They had reason to believe that Hampton had been responsible for some truly terrible crimes, but they had no prove any of them. / CBS Baltimore. That woman had recently given birth to the couple's second child, Mosby said. Moments later, Eggleston messaged Robertson on Facebook, "I called u I got the money order.". 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? If you know anything, call the FBI's Baltimore office at 410-265-8080 or Baltimore Police at 410-396-2499. When they searched his home, they found several photographs of children in underwear, as well as various photos of nude adults - including pictures of Hampton himself. But when they first went to the Baltimore Police Department station in Cherry Hill to report her as missing, Wilson said that their pleas for help werent taken seriously. Calls to . On Tuesday at 4 p.m., in Muskegon, Michigan, officers arrested Michael Robertson for the murder of 22-year-old Akia Eggleston, and her unborn child, Mosby announced from the podium where she was joined by Akias family, Baltimore Police Department detectives and Supervisory Special Agent Shayne Buchwald of FBI-Baltimore. florida. Newspaper reports indicate that she was born with two holes in her heart, but she would turn out to be stronger than she knew. February 3, 2022 / 11:30 PM Her father, Richard Logan, was the mayor of a small South Carolina town named Saluda. Using a reverse image search, investigators determined the apartment picture Robertson had sent the day before was a completely different residence from the one he had named. On May 15th, 1988, all seemed to be well in the world. When her sister, Renee, went home approximately twenty to thirty minutes later, she was surprised to find out that Kia had not yet returned. Charles Wade Hampton later plead guilty to obstruction of justice charges, which stemmed from him lying to investigators. Many of these details matched up with what police had heard from the victims themselves - but others did not. She was a small girl, who had been wearing yellow shorts, a yellow-and-white polka-dot shirt, and slip-on shoes on the evening she disappeared. Grace Beahm Alford/AP/ShutterstockAfter almost two years of speculation and a stunning fall from grace as a once-prominent South Carolina lawyer, Alex Murdaugh finally took the stand Thursday to provide a jaw-dropping testimony in his double murder trial, including admitting to stealing from clients and conceding that he'd lied about his whereabouts on the night of the murders because of . When they continued their rounds of questioning, Hampton was eager to talk. Investigators need your help. As an adult, he stood about five-feet-eight-inches tall, weighing it at only 132 pounds. He is charged with two counts of first-degree murder in the killing of Eggleston and her unborn child. "I am missing a daughter and you know where your loved ones are," he said. Even though the evidence says something different -- that shes not. "Normally there would be a family get-together in Saluda. 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. SHE HAS BEEN KNOWN TO LIVE OR VISIT ON THE WESTISIDE OF GREENVILLE COUNTY AND LAURENS COUNTY. Eggleston, who was eight months pregnant with her son, disappeared just . 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. Upon the 1996 arrest of Charles Hampton, the string of child abductions plaguing the area of Georgia and South Carolina seemed to come to an end. 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 . Duck hunter Tyler Doyle has. We are also following up on similar situations that occur in this area and nationwide.". Charles Hampton agreed to give up blood and hair samples to investigators. VON CANNON IS A WHITE FEMALE, AGE 43, 5'7, 190 LBS. ON AUGUST 15th, 2015 PHILLIP GAMBLE LEFT HIS MOTHER'S RESIDENCE AT 709 CIRCLE ROAD GREER, S.C. . "We're looking for a medium blue utility-type van with dark tinted windows. "The case is 19 years old; the family has been living with it for 19 years. It was her last known communication. But there were also nude photographs of women - including images of his then-girlfriend - and a pornographic magazine named "Stroke Off Tales.". It bothers me that we seem willing to accept this obvious crime against a child without a public uproar. His ex-wife and girlfriend agreed on that - they often helped him dye it, during time periods that turned out to correlate with the 1995 and 1996 sexual assaults. IE 11 is not supported. MR GAMBLE WAS RIDING A MOUNTAIN BICYCLE TO THE SPINX CONVENIENCE STORE IN THE FIVE FORKS AREA OF GREENVILLE COUNTY, S.C. MR. GAMBLE NEVER RETURNED. 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. You can also contact the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division at (803) 737-9000. Dennis Beauford, one of the first deputies to arrive at the scene, stated: "It was a pretty Sunday afternoon. 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. They reconnected in 2016 and began dating. Scary. An attorney for Robertson, who is awaiting extradition from Michigan and being held on a $200,000 bond, was not immediately identified. About 4 p.m., Robertson allegedly took a Lyft ordered by Eggleston to the Cherry Hill neighborhood. It was a crime where no sexual assault had taken place, but centered around the abduction of a seven-year old victim in 1995. As Hampton prepared for his five-year sentence, he was facing investigations and charges from four separate states. Bernetta, the girls' mother, began looking around the apartment complex for eight-year old Kia. However, one of the most interesting notes of this sketch came from a description, which noted that the suspect had a pockmarked face. 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. At the time of his arrest, he was forty-four years old, and was driving a white 1986 Dodge 600. 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. Officers are looking for Brianna Lee Roller . Neither she nor the child have turned up since then. The felony, which carried a potential ten year sentence, was handed down shortly after his plea. Police also found actual pairs of children's underwear in his laundry, which then sent in for forensic testing. ", First published on February 3, 2022 / 11:30 PM. Sending it off for testing, they had to hope that they could uncover any evidence that could help lead them to the culprit. Egglestons family and loved ones are certain that she wouldnt willingly abandoned her life especially not without her three-year-old daughter. He also brought attention to an issue that is all too common. Hampton confessed to committing three child abductions in a northern Georgia town, and even confessed to killing a child out on a farm. When it was finally time for Hampton to be released, he was immediately re-arrested for a warrant investigators had planned. Most concerning, though, were torn out magazine images of children - a discovery that made investigators think that there might be more to this deviant than meets the eye. Although the Baltimore police department declined to share details about the case with People for a September 2021 article because the investigation is still ongoing, a spokesperson for the department discussed the case in a June 2017 news conference. The father of Akia's unborn child never showed up to the baby shower, placing him under suspicion of the family, yet he was never labeled as a person of interested or investigated to this day. ON OR ABOUT MAY 16, 2020 STEPHANIE HOPE VON CANNON WAS LAST SEEN BY A FAMILY MEMBER AT A RESIDENCE IN GREENVILLE COUNTY SOUTH CAROLINA. It wasn't until the sister returned to the apartment complex half-an-hour later that anyone realized this eight-year old was missing. PLEASE CALL CRIMESTOPPERS AT 23-CRIME. He also soon recanted all of his prior confessions, meaning that police had to start back from square one. U.S. South Carolina North Carolina Missing Persons Search efforts are continuing for a 23-year-old South Carolina man who went missing in late January. He told lawmakers that law enforcement only took the case seriously when no baby was reported being born in a nearby hospital a month later. In his vehicle, police found many out-of-place items: things such as clothing, toilet paper, the marriage certificate of him and his ex-wife, etc. 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. 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. Investigation revealed the only person with the motive, means, and opportunity to murder Eggleston was the purported father of her unborn child, Michael Robertson, according to the statement of probable cause. ", The statement added: "Investigation revealed the only person with the motive, means, and opportunity to murder Eggleston was the purported father of her unborn child, Michael Robertson.". She was not looked at as if she mattered to anybody, but she mattered to us., Alex Murdaugh Faces Life In Prison For Allegedly Killing His Wife & Son, Morgan Doughty Filed A Lawsuit Against The Murdaugh Family, Curtis Cousin Eddie Smith Claims Alex Murdaugh Made Him A Fall Guy, Buster Murdaugh Testified For The Defense At His Fathers Double Murder Trial, Get Even More From Bustle Sign Up For The Newsletter. How can we send such a message? According to the statement of probable cause, Eggleston told a bank employee, whom she knew from high school, she had to cash the orders because the property manager "only only takes cash.". 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. I don't know where my child is and I don't know where my grandson is.". We split up into four groups and walked through the woods, through trash, through dirt, Wilson explained. The father of a missing pregnant Baltimore womans unborn child has been arrested on murder charges nearly five years after her disappearance, authorities said Thursday. His hair was dark blonde, which could vary anywhere between blonde and dark brown. Can't we show at least as much concern for the fate of a child? Titled "The Malakia Z. Logan Reward Fund," it hope to incentivize anyone with information to come forward. A 68-page report spells out everything investigators did from the moment Kimberly Lindsey was reported missing -- all the way up until her ex-husband, Albert Lambert, was found dead in Miami. Remember, this is before the trial of OJ Simpson, so DNA testing was very much in its infancy. It's hard not to compare the crime to that of Tiffany Nelson, a nine-year old that went missing from Augusta, Georgia in June of 1994. I knew something was wrong then.. When the skull was discovered in 1990, it proved a lone clue in a vast sea of nothingness. They had suspended the searches on Tuesday afternoon, after finding nothing in the two days out there. As former Sheriff Riley and current Sheriff Tony Davis stated: "members of the community supported the Logan family when in need, and now those funds will support those in need with educational opportunities.". 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.". Between 1995 and 1996, the states of Georgia and South Carolina began investigating a series of sexual assaults that occurred along a specific interstate. Robertson was the father of Akias unborn child. Sam Riley, who had been a Major in the Greenwood County Sheriff's Office, had recently been elected Sheriff. "I think it was viewed as she was just another black girl that's missing.". "The family seeks justice in Akia's case. 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