Sade Robinson, 19, killed and cut up on first date with a ‘monster'

News.com.au

02-08-2025

A man who murdered and dismembered a 19-year-old on their first date has been jailed for life without parole – but the killer left the courtroom stunned as he made an unexpected statement during sentencing.
The jury took less than two hours to unanimously convict Maxwell Anderson, 34, of brutally killing Sade Robinson, during their first date – a week after their chance meeting at a bar in Milwaukee in March 2024.
CCTV captured Anderson and Ms Robinson, a student at Milwaukee Area Technical College, drinking at two bars during the early hours of April 1, before heading back to Anderson's apartment, CNN reports.
Photos on his phone also showed Anderson groping Ms Robinson as she lay face down on his couch.
Surveillance footage later showed her car leaving his unit early on the morning of April 2 and arriving at a park along the Lake Michigan shoreline where her burnt out vehicle and parts of her body were later found.
Sixteen months after her heinous murder, jurors found Anderson guilty on all counts of killing and dismembering Ms Robinson following a two week trial, on June 6.
Killer claims he is innocent
On Friday, the US Navy veteran and bartender was sentenced to spend the rest of his life behind bars, without the possibility of parole, according to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.
Anderson, who has always maintained his innocence, took the opportunity to address the court to claim he has been wrongly convicted – a move which has angered many.
'I took this to trial, without ever once trying to make a plea deal of any kind, because I did not commit these crimes,' he said from behind the dock, while wearing an orange jumpsuit.
'So, I plan to appeal my convictions, while I hope and pray that further investigations not only prove my innocence, but find and deliver true justice.'
Body brutally dismembered
In court, prosecutors claimed Anderson cut the young student's body into pieces at Warnimont Park in the US city of Cudahy, in Milwaukee County.
He later burned her car behind an abandoned building and took a bus home.
Searchers discovered one of Ms Robinson's legs in the park and her other leg and a foot near a playground close to where he burned the car.
Other parts of her remains were found around the region, but tragically, Ms Robinson's head has never been found.
Powerful victim impact statements
'To know that there's a chance I might not even have her completely to be able to put her at peace brings me night terrors and constant mental chaos,' Ms Robinson's father, Carlos Robinson, told the court.
'Everything that he did should be done to him. No man should be able to live after what he did. That's just how I feel. I can't get past this. I can't.'
While Ms Robinson's mother told her daughter's killer that she will haunt him for eternity.
'You and your family will be held fully responsible for the rest of your lives,' Sheena Scarborough told Anderson.
'You will be eternally haunted by myself, my ancestors... I know you can't sleep at night, they have already been at you.
'Judge, I'm asking this demon be respectfully returned back to hell as soon as possible.'
Life without a chance of parole
Milwaukee County Circuit Judge, Laura Crivello, dismissed Anderson's claims of innocence, stating his view of reality 'differs from the rest of the world'.
'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.
While reportedly 'shaking her head', Judge Crivello said Anderson was irredeemable, and called his crimes 'unconscionable', likening the case to something out of a horror novel.
As well as life without parole, she also sentenced Anderson to 7 1/2 years on the dismemberment count and a year and a half on the arson charge.
She dismissed a fourth count of hiding a corpse on Friday after Anderson's lawyer argued he can't be convicted of both mutilating and hiding a corpse.
'Diabolical': Reaction to Anderson's denial
Video footage of Anderson's courtroom speech in which he denied killing Ms Robinson has sparked a huge reaction online.
'The fact that you are still denying that you committed this horrible crime is diabolical,' one raged on YouTube.
'His declaration of innocence, despite ALL the evidence that was brought out, indicates to me that he cannot bring himself to admit that he is such a depraved monster, OR he is a pathological liar and truly evil person,' argued another.