‘Dateline’ delves into eerie case of Akia Riddick who vanished before her baby shower at eight months pregnant

(NBC News) — On Friday’s all-new “Dateline,” when a woman eight months pregnant vanishes before her baby shower, her family begins a desperate search.

As detectives struggle to unravel the chilling mystery, they wonder, “Is it a missing persons case, or something far more sinister?”

Here is a preview of Josh Mankiewicz’s report:

The arrival of a new baby can offer promise, possibility and happiness.

STEPHEN FOSTER : She couldn’t wait for the baby shower. She was ecstatic.

Akia Eggleston was ready to get the party started the tables were set, the balloons filled and the guests were beginning to arrive. There was just one thing missing.

STEPHEN FOSTER : I started getting phone calls asking, “Where’s Akia, where’s Akia.”

ANGELIQUE WILKINSON: I was thinking, you know, a complication had arisen, and she had to go to the hospital.

Soon Akia’s face was on every newscast in Baltimore.

STEPHEN FOSTER : I just have hope that if she’s out there still, she’s just waiting for somebody to come save her.

Investigators began to piece together a timeline leading up to Akia’s disappearance. That would mean talking with the people she knew. And hearing stories Akia’s family knew nothing about.

Watch “Dateline: The Day Akia Disappeared” at 10 p.m. on NBC4.