Jurors find man guilty in killings of girlfriend, Akia Eggleston, and their unborn baby
By Kate Amara, Barry Simms
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BALTIMORE (WBAL) — The jury reached a verdict in the case of a man accused of killing his pregnant girlfriend, who was reported missing in May 2017.
The jury found Michael Robertson guilty on two counts of first-degree murder in the killing of Akia Eggleston, 22, and her unborn baby. She was eight months pregnant and the mother to a 2-year-old daughter when she was last seen on May 3, 2017. Robertson, who was arrested in Michigan in 2022, was Eggleston’s former boyfriend and the father of the unborn baby.
Jurors deliberated for more than an hour late Wednesday afternoon before reaching a verdict Thursday morning after about an hour more of deliberations.
Wednesday was an emotional day for Eggleston’s family and friends, as the jury heard hours of closing arguments.
“It was really, really painful to hear the words ‘she’s dead, her baby is dead, they’re not coming back,'” Sanobia Wilson, the victim’s aunt, said Wednesday. “Reality just smacked me in the face right there that she’s not coming back.”
The state said evidence — including cellphone records and the defendant’s own words across more than 12 hours of recorded police interviews — prove he is the killer.
Robertson’s attorney continued to push the idea of alternate suspects, arguing the detectives are lazy and motivated by “tunnel vision.” He argued the prosecution’s case does not add up to murder and does not make sense.
“Obviously, the defense has to do their job and poke holes in the prosecution’s case, and right now, I think that they are running in circles and just trying to confuse the jurors, but I don’t think the jurors are buying it,” Shawn Wilkinson, the victim’s stepfather, said Wednesday.
Eggleston’s body has never been found. Her family said a guilty verdict will finally give them some sort of closure, which has eluded them for more than six years.
“She’s (in) all of our hearts, not just mine — friends and family alike. We stand together seeking justice for Akia,” Wilkinson said Wednesday.
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