A man from Milwaukee was given a life sentence without parole on Friday for murdering a 19-year-old college student on their first date and scattering her remains in various locations.
Maxwell Anderson was found guilty in June of first-degree intentional homicide, mutilation of a corpse, arson, and concealing a corpse, all related to the death of Sade Robinson last year. Throughout the trial, he claimed he was not guilty.
Robinson’s arm was discovered washed up on an Illinois beach in 2024.
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Parents lash out during hearing
The sentencing hearing, filled with somber, emotional, and disturbing moments, saw Milwaukee County Circuit Judge Laura Crivello question how Anderson could commit such an atrocious act. The prosecution detailed how Anderson dismembered Robinson and left one of her legs near a playground.
Robinson’s mother, Sheena Scarbrough, said Anderson “messed the entire community up” and deserves no protection in prison.
“Judge, I’m asking this demon be respectfully returned back to hell as soon as possible,” Scarbrough said.
Robinson’s father, Carlos Robinson, suggested to the judge that someone dismember Anderson.
One of the speakers declared, “Everything that he did should be done to him. No man deserves to live after what he did. I feel strongly about this and can’t move on.”
Mandatory life sentence
In Wisconsin, a conviction for first-degree intentional homicide comes with a mandatory life sentence. The only decision remaining for Anderson was whether he could seek parole.
Anderson’s lawyer, Tony Cotton, requested that the judge allow Anderson to be considered for parole after serving 25 years, highlighting Anderson’s prior service in the U.S. Navy and his clear mental health challenges.
Cotton acknowledged that Anderson has been convicted of multiple misdemeanor disorderly conduct counts in connection with domestic violence but they’re not significant offenses compared to most homicide defendants. He added that he has concerns about Anderson’s safety in prison.
“That is a real consideration,” Cotton said. “At the end of the day, there is not mob justice in this country.”
Anderson says he didn’t do it
Anderson told the judge that he’s innocent and plans to appeal his convictions. He didn’t elaborate, although Crivello later noted that Anderson had told an investigator that some stranger must have kidnapped Robinson after she left his apartment following their date.
“I hope true justice will be delivered,” Anderson said Friday.
‘Unconscionable’ crimes out of a horror story, judge says
Crivello refused to offer Anderson a chance at parole. She dismissed Anderson’s claims of innocence, saying his view of reality “differs from the rest of the world.” Trailing off at times and shaking her head, she said he’s irredeemable, called his crimes “unconscionable” and likened the case to something out of a horror novel.
“It’s beyond imaginable to not know whether your child is dead or alive, and then learn they’re dismembered and disgraced, is beyond understanding,” she said.
She also sentenced Anderson to 7 1/2 years on the dismemberment count and a year and a half on the arson charge. Online court records indicate she dismissed the fourth count of hiding a corpse on Friday after Cotton argued Anderson can’t be convicted of both mutilating and hiding a corpse.
First date turns deadly
Anderson and Robinson, a student at Milwaukee Area Technical College, met at a bar in March 2024 a week before her death. Surveillance video and cellphone text and tracking records show they spent the late afternoon and early evening of April 1 drinking at two bars before heading back to Anderson’s apartment.
Photos on Anderson’s phone show Anderson groping Robinson as she lay face down on his couch. Prosecutors have argued she was incapacitated and couldn’t resist.
Surveillance video shows her car leaving his apartment early on the morning of April 2 and arriving at a park along the Lake Michigan shoreline. Prosecutors maintain that’s where he cut her body into pieces. He later burned her car behind an abandoned building and took a bus home.
Searchers discovered one of Robinson’s legs in the park and her other leg and a foot near a playground close to where he burned the car. A human torso and an arm believed to be Robinson’s remains washed up on a beach in suburban South Milwaukee.
Her head is still missing.
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