283. Pregnant and Vanished - The Disappearance of Akia Eggleston

On this episode, Payton and Garrett uncover the chilling disappearance of Akia Eggleston, a young pregnant mother who vanished without a trace. As police dismiss the case, her desperate family and friends take matters into their own hands, launching a relentless fight for answers and justice. Links: Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/murderwithmyhusband NEW MERCH LINK: https://mwmhshop.com Discount Codes: https://mailchi.mp/c6f48670aeac/oh-no-media-discount-codes Twitch: https://www.twitch.tv/themwmh Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/murderwithmyhusband/ Watch on Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@murderwithmyhusband Listen on Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/into-the-dark/id1662304327 Listen on spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/36SDVKB2MEWpFGVs9kRgQ7?si=f5224c9fd99542a7 Case Sources: CBSNews.com - https://www.cbsnews.com/baltimore/news/arrest-made-in-disappearance-of-akia-eggleston-pregnant-woman-missing-since-2017/ MEAWW.com - https://meaww.com/who-killed-akia-eggleston-baltimore-pregnant-mom-went-missing-before-mysterious-death BlackAndMissingInc.com - https://blackandmissinginc.com/the-day-akia-disappeared/ WMAR2News.com - https://www.wmar2news.com/infocus/akia-egglestons-aunt-working-to-secure-nieces-legacy Oxygen.com - https://www.oxygen.com/searching-for/akia-eggleston-missing-mother-baltimore-debit-card-apartment NBC.com - https://www.nbc.com/nbc-insider/pregnant-woman-akia-eggleston-vanishes-before-baby-shower NBCNews.com - https://www.nbcnews.com/dateline/in-the-news/dateline-episode-the-day-akia-disappeared-rcna171620 Facebook.com - https://www.facebook.com/groups/1661944483845934/ WBALTV.com - https://www.wbaltv.com/article/akia-eggleston-murder-trial-verdict/44661782 Stattorney.org - https://www.stattorney.org/media-center/press-releases/2766-man-convicted-of-all-charges-for-the-murder-of-akia-eggleston-and-her-unborn-child TheHueAndCry.com - https://thehueandcry.com/akia-eggleston CharleyProject.com - https://charleyproject.org/case/akia-shawnta-eggleston MissinPersonsCenter.org - https://missingpersonscenter.org/missing-persons-directory/missing-adults/akia-shawnta-eggleston/ Dateline NBC - https://open.spotify.com/episode/22KxFxhH6J05IFjeAoFJGg?si=318496bdfe5645cc Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Speaker names marked ? are inferred from speaking time and the show’s known hosts — they are not voice-verified.

• 0:00Speaker 00

  Whoever says saving money is hard doesn't know that new customers who bundle and save with Progressive save hundreds because switching your home and auto insurance is better than cutting down on the things you love, like those ice lattes that help you get ready to face the day. So switch your home and auto to Progressive and see if you could save and keep sipping away. Get your quote today at progressive.com. Progressive Casualty Insurance Company affiliates and other insurers, not available in all states.

• 0:27Payton Moreland?

  If you are like me, protecting the people inside your home is a top priority. I have Daisy at home, I'm about to have a baby at home, and Garrett and me. And there are a lot of times where I've thought about our safety, but that is where SimpliSafe comes in and has had my back honestly for years. Unlike traditional security systems that only alert you after a break in is already underway, SimpliSafe is built to stop it before it starts, which is exactly what I'm looking for. I don't even want someone in my home. I want it stopped before the alarm has even gone off. We've partnered with SimpliSafe to offer our listeners their biggest savings of the year. 70% off your new system with

• 1:11Payton Moreland?

  professional monitoring. If you've been thinking about a security system, it is now. 70% off, guys, when you visit simplisafe.com/husband. That is simplisafe.com/husband. And when you order, just write in Murder With My Husband at checkout. Tells them we sent you. Really helps the show. SimpliSafe, ahead of crime in real time. You're listening to an Ono Media Podcast. Hey, everybody. Welcome back to the podcast. This is Murder With My Husband. I'm Payton Moreland.

• 1:41Garrett Moreland?

  And I'm Garrett Moreland.

• 1:42Payton Moreland?

  And he's the husband.

• 1:43Garrett Moreland?

  And I'm the husband.

• 1:44Payton Moreland?

  We did not win the lottery.

• 1:48Garrett Moreland?

  Yeah. Sorry. I guess the sarcasm didn't come through on the audio. I guess we can take blame for that. We didn't win the lottery. If we won the lottery, we, our social medias would be deleted. You would probably never get another episode from us.

• 2:05Payton Moreland?

  That's not true.

• 2:07Garrett Moreland?

  From me.

• 2:09Garrett Moreland?

  No, I don't know about that. But yeah, no social medias. I'm sorry. We didn't, we did not win the lottery. I wish. I, I wish I could give all of you $10,000. I would if I could.

• 2:21Payton Moreland?

  Listen, Garrett and I always just manifest winning the lottery. So I think we're really used to just saying that we won the lottery.

• 2:28Garrett Moreland?

  Also, for those who don't know, we live in Utah. You can't play the lottery in Utah. So we can't even play the lottery here.

• 2:34Payton Moreland?

  Yeah, we don't got a chance.

• 2:36Garrett Moreland?

  They, they, it's illegal. Like it doesn't exist here.

• 2:39Payton Moreland?

  You know what? But that one's on us. I'm really, really sorry that we got your hopes up.

• 2:44Garrett Moreland?

  For those who did DM me, sorry. Didn't win.

• 2:48Payton Moreland?

  Yeah, I felt bad. I felt bad, but we caused quite the havoc.

• 2:51Garrett Moreland?

  Yeah, a lot of you thought we were serious and apologize for that. So next time we win the lottery, we'll make sure to let you know that we actually did win.

• 2:59Payton Moreland?

  Yeah, but if we say it before then, we didn't win.

• 3:02Garrett Moreland?

  Yeah. Besides us not winning the lottery, update on my bagels. Um, not a huge update on my bagels. So nothing there. My update is that there's not really an update, but I am working towards it. I'm still figuring it out. I, like, I promise you my goal for 2026 is I opening a bagel shop. It's gonna happen. I'm gonna make it happen. And Peyton's gonna have to be head baker at my bagel shop.

• 3:30Payton Moreland?

  Baby, I'm not baking.

• 3:31Garrett Moreland?

  Peyton's not baking.

• 3:33Payton Moreland?

  I'll support. I'll go to the grand opening. I'll throw the grand opening.

• 3:37Garrett Moreland?

  Thanks, baby.

• 3:39Payton Moreland?

  But I can't bake.

• 3:40Garrett Moreland?

  That's okay. I don't expect you to bake. Peyton and I both aren't very big bakers or cookers.

• 3:45Payton Moreland?

  I cook, just not in the kitchen.

• 3:49Payton Moreland?

  Everything else in my life.

• 3:50Garrett Moreland?

  Exactly. That's funny. That's what I got for my 10 seconds. So let's hop into today's episode.

• 3:57Payton Moreland?

  Our sources for this episode are CBSnews.com, MEAWW.com, blackandmissinginc.com, WMAR2news.com, oxygen.com, NBC.com, NBCnews.com, Facebook, wbaltv.com, the attorney.org, the hue and cry.com, Charlie Project, missinpersonscenter.org, and Dateline. Getting pregnant is supposed to be one of the most magical times in a woman's life. For many, it's a pivotal chapter. A time when you know everything is about to change and hopefully for the better. It's a time to be showered with love, to be pampered, to rest and take care of yourself. But it's also a time where a woman is at her most vulnerable.

• 4:41Payton Moreland?

  And I'm not just talking about the flood of hormones and emotions and changes to your body. I'm actually talking about in society too. According to a 2020 article in the American Journal of Public Health, pregnant and postpartum women had a 35% higher risk of being murdered than a non-pregnant woman.

• 5:07Garrett Moreland?

  Wait, what?

• 5:08Payton Moreland?

  Yep. You're more at risk to be murdered while pregnant than not pregnant.

• 5:13Garrett Moreland?

  And I would assume that the statistic is based off of?

• 5:17Payton Moreland?

  All murders, but yes.

• 5:18Garrett Moreland?

  No, no, no, all murders. Yeah, I was gonna say, I bet you majority of it is. So I, I bet off that statistic, 90% of those are husbands or significant others.

• 5:28Payton Moreland?

  The fact you just throw out percentages when you have no idea.

• 5:32Garrett Moreland?

  What are you talking about?

• 5:33Payton Moreland?

  You have to look that up.

• 5:35Garrett Moreland?

  No, that, what I said-

• 5:36Payton Moreland?

  You can say, I feel like-

• 5:37Garrett Moreland?

  No, no, no. What I said, I bet you is very close to accurate. It was, okay, with 90.78, sure.

• 5:43Payton Moreland?

  Garrett thinks the majority are domestic.

• 5:45Garrett Moreland?

  Oh, 190%, 90.78%, correct.

• 5:49Payton Moreland?

  But that's your opinion.

• 5:51Garrett Moreland?

  Correct.

• 5:51Payton Moreland?

  Okay.

• 5:52Garrett Moreland?

  Oh, no. You keep going.

• 5:55Payton Moreland?

  And the rates for this are even higher than that amongst black women, which is why today I want to cover a really important case. This is the true crime story of Akia Eggleston. So let's dial back the clock, not too far, honestly, but to May of 2017, when good old youngin Peyton and Garrett were getting married.

• 6:25Garrett Moreland?

  This is true.

• 6:25Payton Moreland?

  But as we are getting married in California. Over in the city of Baltimore, Maryland is 22-year-old Akia Eggleston. Now, everyone who knew Akia said she was a fun-loving, warm-hearted person. The kind of woman who would do anything for the people that she cared about. She loved to dance, she was very into the arts, and she was very close with her family, particularly her stepfather, her aunt, and her grandmother. She actually found herself leaning on them a lot that May of 2017 because Akia, at this point in her life, was eight months pregnant.

• 7:07Payton Moreland?

  And she was raising her other child, a two-year-old daughter named Emery, on her own. Now, not to mention, Akia was still recovering from the loss of her mother, who had died two years earlier to breast cancer. It was something that seemed to weigh heavy on Akia, especially as she was about to have her second child. So at the end of April 2017, Akia even posted about it on her Facebook page, writing, quote, "I really wish my mother was here." Now, according to Akia's stepdad, Akia had never really been the same since the passing of her mother. Things had gotten a lot tougher on her ever since,

• 7:51Payton Moreland?

  as she had to become more independent. She had to take on a lot of responsibility for the family. It kind of seems that after her mother passed, Akia became more introverted, a bit more private. The one thing, though, that did bring her some peace was volunteering and staying close with her community. But even that got a lot harder to do towards the end of Akia's second pregnancy. Now, Akia's pregnancy was considered high-risk, so her doctor recommended she get as much rest as she could. That meant no driving, no long walks, nothing strenuous. But Akia seemed to have a solution for that. At the time...

• 8:34Payton Moreland?

  She and her current boyfriend, this is the father of her unborn baby, 35-year-old Michael Robertson, were planning on moving into a new place together before the baby arrived. This is a boy, by the way, who they had already picked out the name Anubis. So Akia and Michael had known each other for years before getting pregnant. In fact, Michael's grandmother used to be Akia's babysitter when she was younger. So the families were presumably really close. But the two reconnected in the middle of 2016 when they saw each other at a mutual friend's birthday party. Shortly after that, they began dating, Akia got pregnant, and now they were planning a future together.

• 9:18Payton Moreland?

  This was something that Akia was really excited about. On May 3rd, 2017, Akia even took out money from the bank to pay for a deposit on their new place. And four days after that, on May 7th, Akia had arranged a beautiful baby shower for herself. Kia had organized it all on her own. She had spent close to a grand on the location and decorations. And that afternoon, everything was set up by the party planner and ready to go. So the guests started trickling in one by one to her baby shower, placing their gifts for baby Anubis down on a designated table. But as the clock ticked on and the appetizers were served,

• 10:04Payton Moreland?

  one thing was missing from the baby shower, and that was Akia, the pregnant mother.

• 10:11Garrett Moreland?

  That's horrible. Okay.

• 10:12Payton Moreland?

  Now, everyone knows that Akia was eight months pregnant, and those closest to her knew she was deemed a high-risk pregnancy. So of course, everyone's first thought is, maybe she's at the hospital with a complication, maybe she's already in labor. Problem is, Akia's not answering her phone as everyone is showing up to her party. So the next person her family calls is actually a guy named Stefan. Now, this is one of Akia's best friends in the entire world. He was the one who was supposed to pick Akia up that day and drive her to her own shower since she wasn't supposed to be driving herself. And since Akia's family knew that plan, they contacted Stefan to ask if the two of them were together. And he says, "No."

• 10:56Payton Moreland?

  Akia told him she would call him when she was ready, but he hadn't heard from her that day, so he just figured she was running late. And that's when Stefan and a few other party guests decide to rush over to Akia's apartment to check on her. Only when they get there, there's no sign of Akia there either. Even weirder, a lot of her stuff is missing, and not just money and jewelry. Heavy pieces of furniture have been removed from the house. Her dresser was gone, and most of her closet had been emptied. This is obviously something Akia definitely didn't do on her own at eight months pregnant. Now, remember how I said after her mother's death, Akia had gotten a lot more private

• 11:41Payton Moreland?

  about her life? Apparently, that included the details of her relationship with Michael. Because a lot of people didn't even know the two were planning to move in together. In fact, it seems like most people thought that they were on the outs by the time the baby shower rolled around. And I don't know if anyone called Michael that day to ask if he knew where Akia was. I'm sure they did, but Michael said he hadn't seen Akia in almost a week. He says, "I haven't seen her since May 1st." So at this point, the family calls 911, and they follow it up with a trip to the police station to file a missing persons report.

• 12:23Payton Moreland?

  That day, police pay a visit to Akia's apartment, but they don't walk away with any evidence of note. To them, it just looks like someone was starting their move out of the apartment. And meanwhile, the family begins scouring the park near Akia's place, hoping to maybe find her or a sign of her. They find nothing. And once it's confirmed that Akia isn't at any local hospitals, the police start working to put together a timeline of what may have happened, because this means there is an eight-month-pregnant mother who is currently missing.

• 13:04Garrett Moreland?

  That's so horrible. She plans this whole baby shower and I'm already mad.

• 13:10Payton Moreland?

  So police realize Akia, who was an avid social media user, hadn't actually posted anything online since May 3rd. And to do the time for you, this is four days before she didn't show up to her baby shower. Which her family found strange considering that she was constantly updating her followers about her pregnancy journey online. And the last known post was that afternoon on May 3rd when Akia uploaded a picture of her sonogram. And then at 5:22 PM, she sent a Facebook message to a friend inviting them to come to the future baby shower

• 13:50Payton Moreland?

  that she was going to not appear to. And then after that, it seems like Akia goes silent. And police also realized May 3rd was the last time anyone saw Akia alive. So as soon as she's reported and they start talking to everyone, they realize that they are already four days behind from the last time that anyone knew or heard from Akia.

• 14:15Garrett Moreland?

  Four days is so long. It's interesting because before the podcast, I don't think I would ever realized how long four days is. I'm like, oh, like, that's fine. Like, that's not a big deal. But honestly, anything longer than 12 hours now is like,

• 14:28Payton Moreland?

  Yeah.

• 14:29Garrett Moreland?

  like, it's just not looking good, sadly.

• 14:31Payton Moreland?

  Yeah. I can't imagine, you know, you have this family member who's super private and has kind, and you know, chooses to be private, but you're still supporting her in the ways that she would like. So you show up to the shower only to discover once police begin looking into her disappearance that it's been four days. That has to be so devastating. So May 3rd, she was caught on security footage at a local bank withdrawing money for her new apartment. The four foot 11 Akia was spotted wearing a green t-shirt and black joggers. A friend had actually driven her that day to the bank and they said they dropped her back off at her place around 2:00 or 3:00 PM.

• 15:14Payton Moreland?

  Now, this coincided with the fact that one of the last cell phone pings from Akia's phone outside of her apartment was at a tower right near that bank. But after that, it was like IKEA had vanished into thin air. So after May 3rd, there were no more social media posts, no more Facebook messages, no more bank withdrawals or cellphone activity. And what's even scarier is that this investigation goes on. They keep searching, they keep looking, and eventually IKEA's due date comes and goes.

• 15:54Garrett Moreland?

  Oh my gosh, they have no idea.

• 15:56Payton Moreland?

  And there is still no sign of her or even any evidence pointing to where she might have gone or what might have happened to her and her son. And you also have to remember, there is a two-year-old little girl wondering what has happened to her mother because she did have another baby. But it seems like it takes the police some time to bring in the one person they probably should have spoken to immediately, and that was IKEA's current boyfriend, 35-year-old Michael Robertson.

• 16:27Speaker 04

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• 16:54Payton Moreland?

  All right, guys, we're jumping into an ad. And if you are like me, protecting the people inside your home is a top priority. I have Daisy at home, I'm about to have a baby at home, and Garrett and me. And there are a lot of times where I've thought about our safety, but that is where SimpliSafe comes in and has had my back, honestly, for years. Unlike traditional security systems that only alert you after a break-in is already underway, SimpliSafe is built to stop it before it starts, which is exactly what I'm looking for. I don't even want someone in my home. I want it stopped before the alarm has even gone off. Smart AI-powered cameras watch for potential threats and alert a live US-based security

• 17:39Payton Moreland?

  specialist, ready to intervene. The agent intervenes in under 30 seconds, speaking through the camera to stop an intruder in their tracks, calling for urgent 911 dispatch when it's needed most.

• 17:51Payton Moreland?

  We've partnered with Simply Safe to offer our listeners their biggest savings of the year. 70% off your new system with professional monitoring. If you've been thinking about a security system, it is now 70% off, guys, when you visit simplysafe.com/husband. That is simplysafe.com/husband. And when you order, just write in murder with my husband at checkout. Tells them we sent you, really helps the show. Simply Safe, ahead of crime in real time.

• 18:20Payton Moreland?

  Now, to be fair, it seems like Michael was being pretty cagey with police throughout the investigation. According to one statement police released, Michael, quote, "notably has displayed a consistent pattern of hiding or avoiding police contact for weeks or months at a time between interviews." Yeah. And because they can't arrest him, you kind of have to have someone who's willing to cooperate with you in order to like continue these interrogations. So I do know that when they get him to sit down on June 15th, a month after Akia's disappearance, he tells them this, that the last time he saw Akia was two days before she was last seen or heard

• 19:03Payton Moreland?

  from on May 1st. This is obviously a little different than what he had originally told her family back on the day she disappeared. But he continues to police that he stopped by her place that day, left, and then went to work. And when he went back, he said all of his stuff was packed in a box. And he said he took that not as a sign that they were moving in together like they planned, but as a sign that she was over him and they were breaking up. Now, besides that, he really doesn't give the police much to work with. Though by the following month, July 2017, police feel pretty confident that foul play

• 19:45Payton Moreland?

  was involved in Akia's disappearance, and they're pretty sure Michael Robertson might have had something to do with it. Especially when they learn a few other shady things about Michael, like the fact that he got a new phone and phone number a day before the baby shower. And-

• 20:06Payton Moreland?

  They learned that Michael had an entire other family on the side.

• 20:13Garrett Moreland?

  Like with kids and everything?

• 20:14Payton Moreland?

  Besides Akia.

• 20:16Garrett Moreland?

  Holy crap.

• 20:17Payton Moreland?

  So it turns out that 35 year old Michael was also in a relationship with another 22 year old woman named Haley and the two of them had their own children together.

• 20:29Garrett Moreland?

  Holy, how, how do you hide that? Like, how do you, how is that possible?

• 20:34Payton Moreland?

  In fact, Haley gave birth to her second child with Michael in August of 2016. And then Akia got pregnant the following month. So he had a child with Haley and the following month, him and Akia were pregnant.

• 20:50Garrett Moreland?

  I'm, I just have so much going through my mind because I'm trying to figure out how did he see his other kids? How did he see his other girlfriend? Like, how, how was he doing all this?

• 21:00Payton Moreland?

  Also, like, the mom's just at home with a newborn and you're getting another girl pregnant?

• 21:04Garrett Moreland?

  Yeah, this is, this is crazy.

• 21:07Payton Moreland?

  Disrespectful.

• 21:08Garrett Moreland?

  Oh, my gosh.

• 21:09Payton Moreland?

  Now, to be honest, I'm not sure if Haley knew about Akia at first, but it seemed Akia did know about Haley and Michael's two other children. I'm not saying that she knew that they were currently in contact or Haley was under the assumption that they were together. He might've just said, this is my ex and I have two children with her. We don't actually know what he told Akia, but we do know that she was aware that he had other kids with Haley.

• 21:37Garrett Moreland?

  Okay.

• 21:38Payton Moreland?

  And I can also say that around April 2017, a few months before Akia disappeared, Michael and Haley were actually evicted from the apartment that they shared, which was when Michael began staying at Akia's place regularly. Michael told detectives, he wasn't even sure at first if the baby was his because he was under the impression that he and Akia were open and not exclusive at the time.

• 22:06Garrett Moreland?

  That's such a cowardly thing to say.

• 22:10Payton Moreland?

  But he said he was willing to take a paternity test once the baby arrived. And he said, if the baby was his, then he would happily take on the role of father. So gracious of him. But he also says Akia was insistent he was the father. So when she began asking him to come to doctor's appointments and sonograms and he said no, because he wanted the paternity test. That's when they began to fight and that's why he said on the first of May, Akia had packed up his stuff and left it at her apartment. And he said he went there and when he saw it all packed, he waited for her to come home so they could talk, but she never showed. So he figured things were really done between the two of them

• 22:54Payton Moreland?

  and didn't show up to the baby shower and hadn't heard from her after that.

• 22:59Garrett Moreland?

  I don't believe any of this at all.

• 23:01Payton Moreland?

  He tells the police he is genuinely worried. He insists he's not involved at all, but he does point to one person that he is suspicious of. So police are like, hey, if not you, then who? And he says, oh, Akia's best friend, Stefan. Now, remember Stefan was the one who was supposed to pick Akia up on the day of her baby shower and drive her there. But Michael tells police that Stefan's feelings for Akia went well beyond friendship. According to him, he was supposedly obsessed with her. If she needed a ride, he dropped everything. If she needed rent, he offered her up money, no questions asked.

• 23:42Payton Moreland?

  And when investigators start looking into Stefan, they do learn the two were really close to the point where Akia even trusted him enough to give him her passwords to Gmail and Facebook along with a key to her apartment. And so they're looking into him because of what Michael said and they learn he also owns a gun. So they realize maybe let's bring him in for questioning. And so they do, and Stefan tells them something that makes him look even more suspicious. He says that a day or so before the baby shower, he was supposed to meet up with Akia because he was going to loan her $200. And when he didn't hear from her about it, he got a bit worried and went over to the house to check on her.

• 24:25Payton Moreland?

  Remember he has a key and that's when he noticed a lot of her stuff was gone, her clothes, her baby's new crib. He also said he noticed holes in the wall of the apartment. Remember this is days before the baby shower when the rest of her family discovered the apartment and the state of it and that Akia wasn't there. And yet Stefan, her supposed best friend, didn't report her missing. She wasn't answering him, didn't report any of this to police. He also didn't seem to mention it when everyone realized IKEA was missing. So when they call him and they're like, hey, have you picked her up? He's like, no, I've just been waiting to hear from her. He doesn't say, actually, I haven't heard from her. SOS, this is what I saw when I went to her house. So police think, okay,

• 25:09Payton Moreland?

  this is not adding up. When asked if he and IKEA ever dated, Stefan says, well, sort of, but it didn't really last long. But when they look over their Facebook messages to one another, they find really intimate conversations that indicate they were sleeping together, maybe on and off for what seemed to be a while. And while Stefan was head over heels for IKEA, she just wasn't really feeling the same. She saw it more as like friends with benefits type thing, a situationship, if you will.

• 25:38Garrett Moreland?

  Okay.

• 25:39Payton Moreland?

  Now, police think this could definitely, this is motive.

• 25:42Garrett Moreland?

  Yeah, definitely motive.

• 25:43Payton Moreland?

  To lead to a crime of passion. And it does make a little bit more sense why Michael was insisting on a paternity test.

• 25:51Garrett Moreland?

  I said I didn't believe him, but now I think I might.

• 25:53Payton Moreland?

  So police are like, we've got a sticky situation here. So they ask him, Stefan, why did you not call the police the first day that you couldn't get a hold of IKEA? And you went to her house and noticed that her stuff was missing? And he said, well, I just didn't find it all that alarming yet. That he would just give it until IKEA's baby shower to see if he heard from her. And when he didn't, that was when he worried like everyone else, because he knew she wouldn't miss that.

• 26:22Garrett Moreland?

  Yeah.

• 26:23Payton Moreland?

  He also had been super cooperative with the investigation and was posting online about trying to find IKEA. He wrote things that felt serious, like, quote, "If I have to move effing mountains or take a life, I will find you."

• 26:37Garrett Moreland?

  Okay.

• 26:37Payton Moreland?

  And when he's asked where he was on the night that IKEA was last seen, May 3rd, the time they think she went missing, he says he was at work. And once police confirm his alibi, they realize Stefan is likely not their guy.

• 26:52Garrett Moreland?

  Yeah, I was gonna say, he sounds like he's... Telling the truth.

• 26:56Payton Moreland?

  So they decide to turn to a new person of interest. Someone who likely did not like Akia if she knew about her. And that was Michael's other girlfriend, Haley Pomeroy.

• 27:09Garrett Moreland?

  Okay.

• 27:10Payton Moreland?

  Now, as I mentioned, Haley and Michael had two children together already. And while it seems Akia knew about Haley, I'm not sure how much Haley knew about Akia, at least at first, because police have to investigate. And they look into it and discover that when Haley did find out that Michael had been seeing Akia, she supposedly lost it, which said a lot because Haley was described by everyone as very volatile. And she was clearly mad, like really mad about the affair because she had been posting on Facebook all about how Akia was a homewrecker. But then when Akia posted a 3D sonogram of her baby just three weeks before she disappeared

• 27:55Payton Moreland?

  and Haley saw that, she kinda.

• 27:59Garrett Moreland?

  Oh, no.

• 28:00Payton Moreland?

  She's like, no, no, no, for sure. Michael is the father of Akia's baby. And Michael's like, I don't know, we haven't taken a paternity test. And she's like, no, no, no, my Michael is the father of that baby on the sonogram. So Haley was outraged by the whole thing and police wondered if this, if this could, this is also motive. So Haley comes in for questioning and she does not deny hating Akia for coming between her and Michael. She says, yeah, my feelings are hurt, but she says she would never do anything to her. And she also says she doesn't have a car, so it's not like she can just get up and drive anywhere. It's kind of difficult. Haley gets so emotional during this interview that they let her keep talking, thinking if she's

• 28:44Payton Moreland?

  just emotional and talking, it might lead to something. Yeah. But she denies any involvement the entire time. So they subpoena her phone records and see if they find anything. But from what I can tell, everything kind of lines up with what Haley was saying. She has nothing to do with Akia's disappearance, which means. We're kinda now back to square one.

• 29:06Garrett Moreland?

  Ah, it's gotta be Michael. Like, it has to be. I mean, we'll see, but I'm at this point leaning towards Michael.

• 29:14Payton Moreland?

  Okay, so year 2017, months pass and there is no new developments in Akia's case. So her family starts taking matters into their own hands. They reach out to the press, hoping that they can make Akia's story more public. Maybe apply some pressure to local law enforcement to really try and prioritize her case. This is really at the beginning that we see this strategy kind of start being used in social media. But despite reaching out to several different outlets, no one wants to share Akia's story. Her family even says one outlet told them that her case wasn't, quote, "newsworthy enough."

• 29:57Payton Moreland?

  So this is when-

• 29:58Garrett Moreland?

  That's wild.

• 29:59Payton Moreland?

  Yeah.

• 30:00Garrett Moreland?

  That's pretty messed up.

• 30:01Payton Moreland?

  So this is when they feel that they have to reach out to the Black and Missing Foundation. It is a nonprofit dedicated to bringing more awareness to missing persons of color. So they help the family with spreading the word about Akia. And four months after her disappearance, it kinda starts to catch on. By September of 2017, Akia's story was finally being told all over Baltimore. And then nationally, and then Dateline. Suddenly, people were talking about Akia.

• 30:37Garrett Moreland?

  Okay, good.

• 30:38Payton Moreland?

  And they were demanding answers for her and her family.

• 30:41Garrett Moreland?

  Good.

• 30:42Payton Moreland?

  Which is why, in November of that year, after Dateline having to cover the case, the FBI finally joins the investigation. The Baltimore field office even offered, at this point, a reward of $25,000 to anyone who had valuable information about Akia's whereabouts.

• 31:02Garrett Moreland?

  I'm just really surprised that-

• 31:05Garrett Moreland?

  There's been nothing about her just because it's pretty dang difficult to discard of a body and nobody see, nobody know, nobody find out, especially in today's age. Like, it's not something that's just, they're also heavy, like, there's so, there's so much to it.

• 31:23Payton Moreland?

  So like, can we just remember in our minds right now?

• 31:26Garrett Moreland?

  She's eight months pregnant. Yeah, I can't, I don't, I hate thinking about it because this is heartbreaking.

• 31:32Payton Moreland?

  You would think it would be the opposite statistic from what I shared.

• 31:35Garrett Moreland?

  True.

• 31:36Payton Moreland?

  Because how can you do that?

• 31:37Garrett Moreland?

  You would hope so.

• 31:39Payton Moreland?

  So, around this same time, an interesting clue emerged. That fall, a bunch of Akia's family and friends had gathered in front of her apartment to hold a vigil and prayer circle for her and her baby. And as they were cleaning up and getting ready to leave, one of Akia's friends spotted something in the shrubs near her front door at Akia's apartment.

• 32:05Garrett Moreland?

  Okay.

• 32:06Payton Moreland?

  It is Akia's debit card.

• 32:09Garrett Moreland?

  It's been sitting there the whole time?

• 32:11Payton Moreland?

  Yep. And the strangest part about it

• 32:14Garrett Moreland?

  What?

• 32:15Payton Moreland?

  is it appeared to look brand new, even though if this happened the day she went missing or the last time she was even known to be at this apartment, it should have been sitting there for months and months, like Garrett just said.

• 32:31Garrett Moreland?

  Very confused, okay.

• 32:31Payton Moreland?

  How is this sitting here for months and months and no one finds it? And then they do find it this night and it looks brand new? And, police also said they had searched every square inch in and around Akia's apartment initially, and they didn't notice the debit card, which made them think someone had recently placed this here. Now, I do want to say, this debit card thing doesn't lead to any groundbreaking discoveries, but it is a weird detail that only solidifies the theory further that foul play was involved. And chances are, it was someone Akia knew. So, the police circle back to the best evidence they have right now, and that is her cellphone data.

• 33:14Payton Moreland?

  So, based on her cellphone data, and at this point in the investigation, police feel confident that something happened to Akia around 5:22 PM on the afternoon of May 3rd.

• 33:28Payton Moreland?

  Which is very specific and they think this because she was mid conversation on social media and then everything stops. Now Stefan's alibi at this time clears him as a person of interest and they find that at this specific time Haley was with her mother who was helping take care of her two kids, which leaves them with one more person whose location they can't confirm at this exact time. The father of Akia's unborn child, their very first suspect, Michael Robertson.

• 34:00Garrett Moreland?

  Yeah.

• 34:01Payton Moreland?

  And the more they zone in on Michael at this time, the less things add up. Now, remember they did have him months ago. I just want to mention. All right, guys, we are jumping into an ad and it is one of my favorites, Quince. If you've listened to the show at all, you know how much I love Quince. Quince is not just a clothing store. Okay, guys, they have quality everything at this point. I actually just ordered some skincare from Quince because here's the one thing about Quince. I love that they have kind of just excluded the middlemen and so they pass those savings on to you. So you're getting really good quality luxury pieces at a more affordable price.

• 34:44Payton Moreland?

  Again, like I just said, they have so much on there. I have shoes, I have bags, I have luggage, I have scarves. I just ordered skincare. I ordered some baby onesies and baby products from them. Honestly, they have everything. It's one of my favorite places to online shop. So if you like to browse like I do, go to Quince right now. Look around, check it out. I am promising you amazing quality. Give the gift of quality this holiday season. Download the Quince app for app exclusive offers or go to quince.com, get free shipping on your order and 365 day returns. Now available in Canada and the UK too. And then guys, when Quince asks after checkout,

• 35:27Payton Moreland?

  where you heard about them, please just let them know it was murder with my husband that sent you. Please don't skip that survey. Let them know it's the best way to support the show. All right, guys, we are jumping into an ad and it is for Wayfair. For all things hosting, Wayfair delivers high-quality, customer-trusted products for your home, so you can host and celebrate without the stress, which is so, so important with the holidays coming up. Wayfair helps you create a home that stands up to real life with quality products, great value, and trusted reviews. Products are high-vetted by product specialists using a 10-point quality inspection. And you can shop thousands of products across every style and budget,

• 36:09Payton Moreland?

  whether you're simply replacing an appliance or transforming your home from top to bottom for the holiday season. And honestly, it's not just, you know, the little cute corduroy couch I just bought, but it's also they have verified Christmas trees, they have holiday sales going on, fireside faves, space-saving party picks, like anything that you're looking for, you're gonna find over on Wayfair. And when refreshing your home this holiday season, Wayfair delivers exactly what you need. Head to wayfair.com to shop all things homes. That's Wayfair, W A Y F A I R dot com.

• 36:49Speaker 05

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• 36:52Payton Moreland?

  So as I mentioned, he changed his cell phone number just three days after Akia vanished. He didn't join in on the search for her, even though she was pregnant with his child. And while he claimed Akia broke up with him days before the baby shower, and he hadn't seen her since, everyone who knew Akia said this didn't seem to be the case. In fact, just days before the baby shower, she told some friends about how excited she was to be moving in with Michael. Plus, on the third, she was clearly taking money out of the bank for the deposit on their new place together.

• 37:27Garrett Moreland?

  Yep.

• 37:28Payton Moreland?

  And once they get Michael's phone records, it tells a completely different story than the one Michael was offering, because it shows that on May 2nd, Michael sent Akia pictures of the inside of an apartment, which means clearly that they were still looking and still talking about moving in the day she vanished.

• 37:50Payton Moreland?

  And then on the third, this is our last day. The last outgoing call from IKEA's phone was at 3:44 PM and it was made to Michael Robertson. They also learned that at 4:00 PM, 20 minutes later, shortly after that call, Michael took a Lyft and it was one that was ordered by IKEA's phone. And the Lyft was from his place to her current location at her apartment.

• 38:19Garrett Moreland?

  Okay.

• 38:20Payton Moreland?

  And Michael's cell data showed he was in the area near her apartment from at least 5:35 to 6:18 PM that day. But later, around 6:57 PM, a telemarketer tried calling IKEA's phone, which at the time, both her and Michael's phone were actually in downtown Baltimore. Though, right after that call came through, IKEA's phone was either shut off or disabled. Meaning, possibly that call triggered whoever had the phone downtown to realize that it was still on. And so they shut it off or disabled it. And it was never turned back on after that, which made the whole thing even sketchier for the police.

• 39:06Payton Moreland?

  But what made this entire thing even sketchier, if possible, was the fact that after that evening, Michael had done several Google searches on his home computer. Can you guess what these Google searches?

• 39:20Garrett Moreland?

  Yes, I can. How to dispose of a body, how to get away with murder, how, any of the above. D, all of the above.

• 39:29Payton Moreland?

  How to dispose and hide of a body, along with 18 different searches on trash pickup, where the dumpster trash goes and where landfills are all around Baltimore.

• 39:41Garrett Moreland?

  Blows my mind that people still search this stuff.

• 39:43Payton Moreland?

  So, yeah, because this is like 2017.

• 39:46Garrett Moreland?

  Oh, the other day when we were talking about the insurance stuff, remember last case? I did search, what's the average time people call insurance after?

• 39:55Payton Moreland?

  Which does like

• 39:56Garrett Moreland?

  Which makes me, which would make me look guilty, but also.

• 40:00Payton Moreland?

  I'm alive.

• 40:01Garrett Moreland?

  You're alive, so you know.

• 40:03Payton Moreland?

  So, I, yeah, this is just, I mean.

• 40:06Garrett Moreland?

  This is horrible.

• 40:07Payton Moreland?

  Yeah. So at this point, the investigation is at a crossroads. They have plenty of digital data that suggests Michael Robertson did something to Akia Eggleston and her unborn son.

• 40:18Garrett Moreland?

  But they want to find the body.

• 40:19Payton Moreland?

  They don't have any DNA. They don't have a confession. They don't have a body. They do have a theory, though. They think that on the afternoon of the third, Michael took that lift to Akia's house. That maybe he went there to plan to break up with her or tell her he was just gonna stay with Haley. Whatever the catalyst was, something sparked a fight between the two of them, according to police. Police think it got physical. Michael ended up killing Akia, whether intentional or by accident, and then wrapped her in a blanket that was missing from her bed. Then they think he placed her in the dresser that was in her room.

• 40:57Garrett Moreland?

  Oh my gosh.

• 40:58Payton Moreland?

  Because remember that was also missing and moved her out of the apartment in it, which would explain the many holes in the wall both Stefan and the family saw. He then placed the dresser, or just Akia, in a nearby dumpster, likely one that was only thirty feet from Akia's apartment. But let me tell you the most frustrating part of this. It takes years for the Baltimore Police and the FBI to move on this theory, and I have no idea why. I know that a case without a body is always hard to prosecute, and oftentimes prosecutors will wait in hopes of finding a body.

• 41:41Garrett Moreland?

  Yeah, because I think the biggest thing nowadays is, you know, double jeopardy, because if they're just hopeful and they think that more information will come out. But once you prosecute, and if he, if the jury decides not guilty, I mean, you're done.

• 41:58Payton Moreland?

  Right.

• 41:58Garrett Moreland?

  The case is over with. So I get, I guess I get both sides. Because I feel like this happens in a lot of cases we cover where all of a sudden it's like, they wait ten years to.

• 42:06Payton Moreland?

  Yeah, I mean, you have your suspect. You have all kinds of evidence pointing to them, just no body or DNA.

• 42:13Garrett Moreland?

  And they're just like, well, what do we do?

• 42:15Payton Moreland?

  I mean, that's Josh Powell and Susan Powell.

• 42:17Garrett Moreland?

  Yeah, yep.

• 42:18Payton Moreland?

  I will say, it's not until February of 2022 that they finally bring Michael Robertson back in for questioning, hoping to just get a confession out of him at this point. By 2022, Michael has ironed things out with Haley. They have both moved to Michigan. They have had two more children together, but they still confront him with the evidence they have. They say, hey, we know that you saw Akia two days after you told us you last saw her. And they have the Lyft driver who they've talked to and confirmed that he did bring Michael over to Akia's house that night. So you lied. And it's during this interrogation that Michael says, oh, okay. Yeah, yeah, yeah, I did lie. We did see each other the night she went missing and we did get in a fight.

• 43:01Payton Moreland?

  He says Akia had gotten out of the shower and caught him texting Haley. And that's when Akia told Michael that he had to choose. It was either Haley or her. And when he told her Haley, Akia told him it was over between the two of them. He said that's when the fight got even more heated. He claims nothing physical happened. He keeps saying this over and over. Nothing happened. So any hope of getting a confession out of Michael at this point to the murder seems to be lost.

• 43:28Garrett Moreland?

  And you, I'm surprised he still goes in for questioning at this point.

• 43:31Payton Moreland?

  Right. But now that they had him admitting that he had seen her that night and is probably the last person to have seen her and that the last person that saw her also had a huge blowout fight with her. They actually finally feel that that might be enough to sway a jury because it's from his own mouth.

• 43:52Garrett Moreland?

  Yeah.

• 43:52Payton Moreland?

  So they place the now 41 year old Michael Robertson under arrest. Michael was finally charged with two counts of first degree murder.

• 44:02Garrett Moreland?

  Okay.

• 44:03Payton Moreland?

  Now, there were several searches for Akia and her unborn son over the years, including in a landfill in Northern Virginia, where police believed the contents of the dumpster they believe was used ended up. But the bodies were never found. This is something prosecutors know will make their case harder in court because there's no fingerprints, no DNA, no eyewitnesses, which meant the only real evidence they had was digital phone records, Google searches, and one admission that Michael fought with her in the last moments Akia was heard from.

• 44:36Garrett Moreland?

  I feel like I don't do this very often, but I don't think they have a good enough case.

• 44:41Payton Moreland?

  Really?

• 44:42Garrett Moreland?

  I really like, yeah, because even the digital evidence is like, well, you lied about not seeing her. Like, there's nothing that's like, you threatened her over text, like, you know, there's, there's no security cameras of him dragging anything weird.

• 44:56Payton Moreland?

  I mean, literally, it's as easy as his defense saying he left and someone came in and killed her.

• 45:02Garrett Moreland?

  Yeah, like, like, they could just say he lied, like, he was scared, or

• 45:05Payton Moreland?

  Why would you admit to seeing her?

• 45:07Garrett Moreland?

  He was obviously already cheating on both parties, like, he's just a liar. But it doesn't mean he's a murderer. I'm not saying he's innocent because I think he's guilty. And I guess we'll find out at the end of this case. But just considering a lot of the cases we cover, it surprises me. It also first surprises me if a jury says yes. And second surprises me that they took it to court because there's not much. But I also wanted to get caught, you know what I'm saying? I'm just, I'm just thinking out loud here.

• 45:35Payton Moreland?

  So there's actually, it's interesting. One of the most compelling pieces for the jurors, according to them, was the way that Akia and Michael's phone both left the apartment together and moved downtown that night and then was turned off downtown.

• 45:53Garrett Moreland?

  Yeah, I mean, I guess that's pretty incriminating.

• 45:56Payton Moreland?

  Because that definitely would make it so he can't say, well, I just left and someone else killed her.

• 46:03Garrett Moreland?

  It's a good point.

• 46:03Payton Moreland?

  Because their phones were together after he left the apartment. You know what I mean? This is the one piece of evidence that Michael also doesn't give an excuse for. He doesn't try to like, Come up with a reason why this would happen at court. And so after three and a half weeks of testimony and two days of deliberations, the jury was back with a verdict and Michael Robertson was guilty of two counts of first degree murder. He was given two consecutive life sentences for his crimes. Now, unfortunately, this doesn't bring IKEA's family any sense of relief, really, because IKEA and Anubis's bodies are still out there. They weren't given a proper burial and their family wasn't able to say goodbye.

• 46:48Payton Moreland?

  And putting Michael Robertson behind bars wasn't gonna change that.

• 46:52Garrett Moreland?

  Yeah.

• 46:53Payton Moreland?

  Since then, IKEA's family has been fighting to make something of this tragedy. They have been pushing for a measure they created called the IKEA Alert. Basically, an amber alert for missing pregnant women. Now,

• 47:09Garrett Moreland?

  That's smart.

• 47:10Payton Moreland?

  IKEA's aunt, Sanobia Wilson, has been spearheading this effort. And while she's been brushed off by many lawmakers, she is not giving up. She said in an interview, quote, "I am asking for safety for a vulnerable population, which should not be a problem, and it's just not being taken serious at all. I guess it doesn't matter. Maybe I'm the wrong color, but I'm not going to stop until it actually goes into law." So for IKEA's family, her case is no longer about justice. It's about making sure that no other woman disappears without a trace and no other family is left to fight it alone.

• 47:54Payton Moreland?

  And that is the case of IKEA Eggleston.

• 47:58Garrett Moreland?

  Heartbreaking. I, I was thinking about it. The fact, I mean, all these cases are bad, but I don't know what's, not that one is worse than the other, but I guess, I guess one that sticks with me more than others is like, children cases and then pregnant woman, I guess, wild.

• 48:14Payton Moreland?

  I think considering that the statistics factually back up that pregnant women

• 48:21Garrett Moreland?

  That's insane to me. I had no idea.

• 48:23Payton Moreland?

  It shocks me even more that, that their suggestion to make a specific alert for pregnant women, because it's obviously even more dangerous, hasn't been passed. Because it does make sense that there would be protocols of like, a pregnant woman is missing. Immediately need to like be allowed into houses, like just certain things. You know what I mean?

• 48:47Garrett Moreland?

  Yeah, it really shocks me. You would think that pregnant woman, like you said, would be on the other end of the statistic.

• 48:54Payton Moreland?

  Yeah, you would.

• 48:55Garrett Moreland?

  Here we are.

• 48:56Payton Moreland?

  But you know what? There are just people out there still killing, still killing the elderly, pregnant women, children. Honestly, it's disgusting. All right, you guys, that is our case and we will see you next time with another one. I love it.

• 49:13Garrett Moreland?

  And I hate it.

• 49:13Payton Moreland?

  Goodbye.

• 49:23Speaker 06

  You know that feeling when too many things fall through the cracks? Monday.com was built for that gap. The AI work platform where people and agents work side by side to deliver more together. Create your first Monday agent today at Monday.com.