After 10 days of arguments and testimony, jurors took around just two hours to deliver a guilty verdict, convicting Robertson of first degree murder charges for both Akia Eggleston and her unborn child, Anubis.
—Day 10—
The State and defense both presented their closing arguments on Wednesday.
The assistant State's Attorney summarized the evidence laid out over the course of the last two weeks.
"We never found the body," says ASA Kurt Bjorklund, but arguing to the jury that just because Robertson successfully disposed of the body doesn't mean they should aquit him.
Robertson's defense counsel, Jason Rodriguez, argued that Robertson is innocent of all charges, and adding that there are alternate suspects that had more of a motive.
"It just doesn't make sense," said Rodriguez of the prosecution's case. "He [Robertson] absolutely, 100% did not kill Akia," he argued to the jury.
Eggleston's family spoke to reporters during the lunch recess.
“I think the state is dead on. I think there’s no argument for the defense,” said Shawn Wilkinson, Eggleston's step-father, who wore a pin with Akia's face on his shirt Wednesday. “Obviously the defense has to do their job and poke holes in the prosecutions case," he added, "and right now I think they are running in circles and trying to confuse the jury, but I don’t think the jury’s buying it.”
Sanobia Wilson, Akia's aunt, believes Robertson is guilty.
"All these years, you’ve been living your life having more kids and my niece is dead in the trash some where. It’s unspeakable and it’s very heartless of someone to do that not only to her, but your own child?”
The jury began it's deliberations late in the afternoon and were sent home for the evening around 5:15pm. They are expected to return around 9am on Thursday.
—Day 9—
Following cross-examination of a witness and the State entering two recorded prison call audio files into evidence, the State rested its case Tuesday morning.
Defense counsel for Michael Robertson brought no witnesses and no additional evidence before resting it's case Tuesday morning as well.
—Day 8—
The jury finally finished the 8-hour long recorded police interview with Michael Robertson during the day on Monday.
In it, law enforcement officers took Robertson through the evidence they'd accumulated in the nearly four years between Akia Eggleston's disappearance and the February 1, 2022 interview.
They asked about each day of the week of Eggleston's disappearance, showing Robertson the maps showing the approximate location of his cell phone, as well as Egglestons at certain points, to help jog his memory.
In the interview they asked several times about the events of May 2nd and May 3rd, 2017.
Akia Eggleston's phone made it's last outgoing call to Michael Robertson's number at 3:44pm on May 3rd. The last Facebook message she sent from her Facebook account was at 5:22pm that same day, sending someone an invitation to her baby shower.
During the recorded interview, Robertson had stated that they'd had a talk in which she ended the relationship - after asking him to choose between her and his other girlfriend Haley.
The BPD Detective and FBI agent continue to press him for what happened after that, as they both appear to be at her home at the time she makes her last communication.
"Nothing [happened,]" he repeats over and over in the interview. "Ain't nothing happened."
"I didn't do nothing to her," Robertson said at another point during the interview.
Police also showed him that his phone and Eggleston's phone travel together to downtown Baltimore during the early evening of May 3rd, as his phone is making calls and texts to Haley's phone.
Eggleston's phone goes dead at some point downtown and was never recovered in the investigation.
Robertson denied going to downtown Baltimore that day.
The State is expected to wrap up it's case on Tuesday following the defense's cross examination of the BPD Homicide Detective Jill Beauregard, the detective who interviewed Robertson in 2022.
—Day 7—
On Friday, jurors heard from a quick witness who worked for the company that picked up trash near Akia Eggleston's apartment.
He testified that the trash truck drivers couldn't see what was in the dumpsters when they dumped its contents into the truck.
Following that testimony, the State continued playing for jurors the February 2022 interview with Robertson Following his arrest.
—Day 6—
Court resumed on Thursday, July 20th for the sixth day of testimony, after a recess that included all of Wednesday, July 19th.
On Thursdsay, the State continued it's case by calling witnesses, including three law enforcement officers.
FBI Special Agent Matthew Wilde testified as an expert witness in the area of cellular survey and analysis. He had been the one to prepare and analyze the cellphone records of Robertson, Eggleston and Robertson's other girlfriend Haley for the days surrounding Akia's disapperance in early May 2017.
He testified that the last outgoing call that was made from the phone number associated with Akia Eggelston was made at 3:44pm on May 3, 2017 to the phone number associated with Michael Robertson.
The State admitted into evidence the work that Agent Wilde had prepared which included rough maps showing the tower and sector that the phones used to make the calls.
FBI Special Agent Summer Baugh, who took over as the primary agent on the case in May 2019 after Agent Patrick Dugan retired, testified about how she began to review all the evidence collected to that point, deciding that for the investigation they would like to re-interview Robertson.
A body camera recording of her and Detective Jill Beauregard, who also began her testimony on Thursday, knocking on Robertson's door and talking with him for just under a half hour at his home in Michigan was also played for the jury.
Det. Beauregard's testimony included the start of an hours-long recording of the Robertson's interview following his arrest in early 2022.
—Day 5—
The State on Tuesday brought in an expert witness from the University of Maryland Medical Center's NICU to testify that the fetus Akia Eggleston was carrying at the time she disappeared was viable.
Following the expert testimony, the State called now-retired FBI agent Patrick Dugan, who worked on the case and was one of the people who interviewed Robertson during the investigation.
Jurors watched that second formal, recorded interview with Robertson, which took place on October 19, 2017.
In it, Dugan and McLarey informed Robertson that they were looking at him as a suspect for Eggleston's murder and said they were offering him the "opportunity" to tell them what really happened.
Robertson repeatedly tells the detectives that he doesn't know what happened and that he doesn't know where Akia is.
Following the conclusion of the testimony of the two witnesses on Tuesday, the Judge informed the jury that this court trial would stand in recess until Thursday morning, July 20th.
—Day 4—
On Monday, July 17th, the State continued prosecuting its case against Michael Robertson, bringing in two law enforcement witnesses to testify.
First to testify on Monday was FBI agent Stephanie Mellinger, who worked on the case between late 2018 and mid-2021. She spoke about the results of reverse image searches of apartment photos and Google search inquiries.
Next to testify was Lt. Terrence McLarney, a cold-case homicide detective who began working on the case around the beginning of June 2017. Lt. McLarney was one of the two detectives who interviewed Robertson for his first formal and recorded police interview.
Much of the time during his testimony was dedicated to showing the jury that first police interview, in which Robertson insisted he didn't know where Akia was, but that she had a family member in Arizona that she might go to if she needed.
—Day 3—
WMAR-2 News was not in the courtroom for Friday's testimony, but witnesses included family members of Robertson, Eggleston, and another girlfriend of Robertson's.
—Day 2—
The trial of Michael Robertson continued Thursday with the testimony of four witnesses, and the last known footage of Akia Eggleston being entered into evidence.
Two more of Eggleston's friends took the stand Thursday, one of them also Robertson's cousin. Robertson's half-sister also testified, as well as the manager at the bank where Akia was last seen.
The footage of Eggleston at the bank, early in the afternoon of May 3, 2017, drawing tears from both the bank manager and people gathered to watch the proceedings.
Eggleston had been depositing money orders and withdrawing cash from her account, wearing a bright green t-shirt, according to the video.
The bank manager testified that Eggleston had told her the reason she needed the money was because "she was moving and he didn't accept money orders."
The name of the baby Eggleston was also the topic of testimony on Thursday. Anubis Robertson is the name listed as a victim of Baltimore homicide.
Robertson's cousin testified in court that Robertson had an interest in Egyptian mythology and that Robertson was the one who chose the name.
According to an encyclopedia entry, entered into evidence, Anubis is the name of the Ancient Egyptian god of the dead, who would guide souls to the underworld.
Robertson's sister testified that another of his children shares the name of an ancient Egyptian goddess.
—Day 1—
"How did you know Akia Eggleston?"
That question repeated over and over by assistant State's Attorney Kurt Bjorklund on Wednesday, July 12 as witness after witness was called to the stand where Eggleston's boyfriend stands trial for her murder.
Several friends, a roommate, and Eggleston's grandmother were all called as witnesses for the State's case on the first day of trial.
Michael Robertson is also charged with the murder of Eggleston's unborn child, as Eggleston was 8 months pregnant when she disappeared in May 2017. Her body was never found, but in April of 2022, Baltimore Police officially ruled her disappearance a murder.
Friends and family members became worried about Eggleston when she didn't show up for her baby shower on May 7.
According to family and friends' testimony, at that point, it had already been a few days since anyone had seen or heard from her.
Eggleston's grandmother, Ann Wilson, was supposed to make food for the baby shower, but when Eggleston never got in touch about what food she wanted, Wilson figured the party had been delayed.
Several witnesses testified that Eggleston's pregnancy was "high risk."
"She could barely walk," said Wilson.
"[Akia was] in pain, hurting all the time," said friend Jamilla English.
The trial continues on Thursday morning and is expected to last at least a couple weeks.