MILWAUKEE (Court TV/Scripps News Milwaukee) — Authorities have charged a Wisconsin man in the death of missing teen Sade Robinson.
On Friday, authorities filed charges of first-degree intentional homicide, mutilating a corpse and arson of property other than building against Maxwell Anderson.
Maxwell Anderson (State of Wisconsin, Circuit Court Milwaukee County)
19-year-old Robinson disappeared April 1. She was reported missing after not showing for work at Pizza Shuttle. The following day, her car was found torched, but there was no sign of Robinson.
In the days following her disappearance, authorities located severed human remains throughout the area, but did not identify the remains as belonging to Robinson. Anderson was taken into custody as a person of interest connected to one of the discoveries.
In court documents obtained by Court TV, authorities detail text messages between Anderson and Robinson that indicate they met up before she disappeared. Data collected from Robinson’s Life360 account tracked her cellphone to various locations, including Anderson’s residence and locations where severed human remains were located.
Surveillance video obtained by detectives shows Anderson and Robinson inside a restaurant and then leaving together, but no cameras show the restaurant’s parking lot.
The criminal complaint also states an eyewitness and surveillance footage captured Anderson torching Robinson’s car. When police served a search warrant at Anderson’s home, they found blood in one of the bedrooms and on the walls leading toward the basement. Detectives also noted the presence of “several” gasoline containers.
At a news conference on Friday, detectives confirmed that DNA from a leg found during their search for Robinson was hers, but stopped short of saying whether other remains found in recent days were also related to the case. The criminal complaint mentions other remains, noting that a foot found in a wooded area near a playground “appeared to be from the same individual, particularly due to skin tone, size, and having matching pink nail polish.” The foot was found approximately one block south of where Robinson’s car was set on fire. Robinson’s leg was described by first responders as severed “just below the hip socket” and was described as “sawn off.”
Scripps News Milwaukee reports Anderson has a criminal history. Between 2014 and 2019, Anderson pleaded guilty to three separate counts of disorderly conduct, as well as criminal damage to property and intimidating a witness. Most recently, he was found guilty of a second offense of OWI (operating while intoxicated).
