It was supposed to be a regular Monday night in Milwaukee. April 1, 2024. Sade Robinson, a 19-year-old student with a bright future at Milwaukee Area Technical College, went out for dinner. She met 33-year-old Maxwell Anderson at a seafood restaurant. They had drinks. They laughed. They played beer pong.
By the next morning, Sade was gone.
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What followed was a story so gruesome it feels like a dark piece of fiction, but for the people of Milwaukee, it became a waking nightmare. It’s a case that has redefined how we look at "first date safety" and highlighted some deeply uncomfortable gaps in how violence against Black women is handled. Honestly, looking back at the evidence presented in the 2025 trial, it’s hard to wrap your head around the sheer cold-bloodedness of what happened after those two left the bar.
The Night Everything Went Wrong
Surveillance footage is a haunting thing once you know the ending. Cameras at the Twisted Fisherman caught the pair arriving around 5:00 PM. Sade looked happy. She was wearing a matching outfit and had just sent a text to her mom about how excited she was for the date.
They moved on to Duke’s on Water later that night. Witnesses saw them playing games, looking like any other couple getting to know each other. They left just after 9:00 PM. That’s the last time anyone saw Sade Robinson alive.
Prosecutors later showed the jury something far more sinister than a date gone bad. By midnight, Sade’s Life360 app—which her friends used to keep tabs on her—placed her at Anderson’s home on the south side of Milwaukee. That’s where the trail gets dark. Really dark.
A Trail of Evidence Across Milwaukee
The search for Sade didn't start with a body. It started with a car fire. On the morning of April 2, her 2020 Honda Civic was found torched on the north side of the city. Why burn a car? Usually, to hide DNA. But Anderson wasn't as careful as he thought.
Later that same day, a passerby at Warnimont Park in Cudahy looked down and saw a severed human leg. It had been "sawn off" just below the hip.
It takes a certain kind of person to commit a murder. It takes a completely different kind of monster to spend hours dismembering a 19-year-old and then driving across the county to discard her "piece by piece," as the prosecution put it. Over the following weeks, more remains were found:
- A foot and pieces of flesh near the park.
- A torso and arm washed up on a beach in South Milwaukee.
- Another arm discovered all the way in Waukegan, Illinois, weeks later.
Even now, after the trial has ended and the headlines have faded, Sade’s family is still haunted. Her "crown"—her head—has never been recovered. Imagine that. Having a conviction, having the killer behind bars, but still not being able to fully bury your child.
Why the Maxwell Anderson Trial Shook the City
The trial, which finally took place in June 2025, lasted eight days. It was a circus of grief and technical data. The defense tried to argue there was no "direct evidence." No murder weapon. No cause of death. They claimed Max was just a guy whose date went missing.
But the digital footprint was too heavy to ignore. Life360 data, cell tower pings, and surveillance video showed Anderson’s car moving between his house and the dump sites at the exact times the remains would have been placed.
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Then there were the photos.
During the trial, the jury saw photos Anderson had taken of Sade on his couch. She appeared "incapacitated." She was face down, her face buried in a cushion. It was a visual of total vulnerability that the prosecution used to prove she was likely killed right there in his living room before being moved to the basement.
It only took the jury 36 minutes to decide. Thirty-six minutes to look at the evidence and realize that Maxwell Anderson was guilty of first-degree intentional homicide, mutilating a corpse, and arson.
Life Without Parole: The Final Word
On August 1, 2025, Judge Laura Crivello didn't hold back. She sentenced Anderson to life in prison without any possibility of parole. She called him out for his "view of reality," noting that he showed zero remorse.
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Sade’s mother, Sheena Scarbrough, stood up in that courtroom and called him a "demon." She asked him, one last time, to just say where the rest of her daughter was. He said nothing. He actually maintained his innocence, claiming he intended to appeal.
Honestly, the appeal seems like a long shot. The "mountain of circumstantial evidence" that the defense complained about is exactly what convinced a jury in record time.
Lessons for Moving Forward
This isn't just a "true crime" story. It’s a massive wake-up call. If you’re following this case, there are a few things that really stand out for personal safety and community action:
- Life360 and Tracking: It sounds invasive, but Sade’s use of tracking apps is literally what led the police to Anderson’s door within days. If she hadn't had that on, this might still be a "missing person" cold case.
- The "Missing White Woman Syndrome" Gap: Sade’s family had to fight incredibly hard to get the media to pay attention in the first 48 hours. Her case has led to a renewed push for a Wisconsin task force on missing and murdered Black women.
- Vetting Dates: We live in a world where "meeting for drinks" is standard. But Anderson had a history—domestic abuse, disorderly conduct. He was a "longtime bartender" who seemed normal. Checking public records or even just a deep Google dive before meeting a stranger is, sadly, a necessity now.
If you want to support the cause, look into the Sade Robinson Memorial Fund or local Milwaukee organizations working to protect vulnerable women. Her family is still out there, searching for the pieces of her that are missing. The least we can do is make sure her name isn't forgotten while her killer sits in a cell for the rest of his life.