The man who murdered and dismembered a 19-year-old Black woman after their first date will spend life in prison without the possibility of parole.
A judge handed down that sentence to 34-year-old Maxwell Anderson, who was convicted in June of the grisly murder and mutilation of Sade Robinson.
Anderson killed Robinson after the pair went on a first date in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, on April 1, 2024.
The day after their date, Robinson’s severed leg washed ashore at a Lake Michigan beach park, and her car was discovered torched in an alleyway.
In the weeks that followed, several more of her body parts were found on the shores of lakes in Wisconsin and Illinois. Still, after more than a year, all of her remains have not been located, including part of her head.
From the time Anderson was arrested, he never made any public statements about the allegations he faced — not until his sentencing hearing on Aug. 1.
During the hearing, he claimed innocence and said he planned to appeal his convictions, according to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.
“I offer my deepest and most sincere condolences to Sade’s family as well as everyone else affected by this tragedy,” Anderson said. “That being said, your honor I took this to trial without ever once trying to make a plea deal of any kind … because I did not commit these crimes. So, I’m planning to appeal my convictions. While I hope and pray that further investigation will not only prove my innocence, but find and deliver true justice.”
The judge presiding over his case didn’t side with his claims of innocence, calling his crimes “unconscionable,” as she delivered his sentence.
“I think it takes away a little piece of my soul. How come I couldn’t find anything good? How come I can’t find anything that I can say, at some point, you’ll be a better person?” Judge Laura Crivello said.
Robinson’s parents, who were also present for the sentencing, made fiery and impassioned statements as they condemned Anderson for the heinous death of their daughter.
“Judge, I’m asking this demon be respectfully returned back to hell as soon as possible,” Robinson’s mother, Sheena Scarbrough, said. “My daughter had to cross his demonic path. You plotted and planned to kill, dismember, then you disrespectfully spread my daughter across Milwaukee like a piece of trash. My daughter referred to you as a man. You will never be a f***ing man. You’re a p***y a** b****,” she added in a direct remark to Anderson, who was seated a few feet away.
Robinson’s father said he’s unable to “get past” the way his daughter was cruelly murdered.
“She was amazing. She lit up every room she went in,” Carlos Robinson said. “People lose their children. That’s sometimes part of life. But to lose your child in this manner … there’s no therapy, no kind of treatments for that.”
Anderson was convicted of first-degree intentional homicide, mutilation of a corpse, and arson of property. The homicide conviction carries a mandatory life sentence in Wisconsin. Judge Crivello also sentenced him to another 7 1/2 years for the dismemberment charge and another year and a half for the arson charge.
Key evidence prosecutors presented during his trial included surveillance footage tracking Anderson’s movements and incriminating photos that he deleted from his phone. One showed him groping Robinson’s right breast as she lay incapacitated on his basement floor.
Video footage also showed Robinson’s car leaving Anderson’s apartment in the early morning hours of April 2 and driving to the Lake Michigan shoreline. Prosecutors maintain that’s where Anderson cut up her body without being seen. He later set her car on fire behind an abandoned building, then took a bus home.
An informant also told detectives that Anderson had plotted Robinson’s murder weeks before he took her on their first date and walked him through the detailed plan.
Robinson was a college student studying criminal justice at Milwaukee Area Technical College. She was set to graduate in May 2024, just one month after her untimely and tragic murder.
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