A Wisconsin teen vanished after a first date. How a phone app and security video helped lead to her killer
Along the Wisconsin shoreline of Lake Michigan sits a rocky, wooded area called Warnimont Park.
Det. Jo Donner: It’s not somewhere that you find a lot of people.
On April 2, 2024, a young man, out for a walk with a friend, made a gruesome find.
CBS 58/Trial Pool
OFFICER 1 (bodycam): As they were walking, that bla — see that leg right there? (officer points)
OFFICER 2: Yeah.
Lead Detective Jo Donner of the Milwaukee County Sheriff’s Office says she knew she had a homicide, but nothing else.
Anne-Marie Green: You have a leg, where’s the rest of her?
Det. Jo Donner: At that point, I didn’t know.
Anne-Marie Green: So you have human remains, no weapon, no suspect. … Where do we go from here?
Det. Jo Donner: That — that was a question I asked myself most of that night.
But with the help of Milwaukee Police detective Nora Donegan, Donner had a suspicion who her victim might be: Sade Robinson, a 19-year-old college student. On the evening of April 1, 2024, she had plans to go on a date but had not been seen since.
Sheena Scarbrough
What Sade Robinson’s car told investigators
Donner soon learned that Sade’s car had been found behind an abandoned building 3 miles from Sade’s apartment, set on fire.
Det. Jo Donner: This is Sade’s vehicle.
Anne-Marie Green: This is pretty much completely destroyed.
Det. Jo Donner: It is. It is. It definitely negated any type of DNA, fingerprints, anything like that.
CBS News
Though the car was heavily damaged, it still revealed a great deal to the fire investigator.
Det. Jo Donner: The passenger side … smelled heavily of a petroleum distillate.
Anne-Marie Green: So what did that tell them?
Det. Jo Donner: That it was more than likely an arson.
And though the car’s interior was destroyed, investigators were able to recover something crucial.
Det. Jo Donner: So, underneath the driver’s seat, Sade’s purse was tucked under there. … To me it definitely eliminates a robbery, right?
And when investigators opened the trunk of Sade’s car, they made a distressing discovery.
Det. Jo Donner: We found her pants, her underwear and her jacket and her shoes.
Anne-Marie Green: This is the clothes she was wearing that night.
CBS 58/Trial pool
Det. Jo Donner: And … the jeans, it was apparent that it was somebody else had taken them off. They were turned inside out, and the underwear were still attached to them. So, yeah, it was definitely a … red flag.
Another red flag was something Donner and her team noticed about the driver’s seat — something that suggested someone else had driven Sade’s car.
Det. Jo Donner: We take note of the seat positioning, cause that’ll give height indicators. … I was able to determine about how far back that seat was. I then went to a dealership and found an identical model.
With the driver’s seat in the same position as the one in Sade’s vehicle, Donner grabbed a deputy who was about Sade’s height.
Det. Jo Donner: And when she sat in the car, she couldn’t touch the pedals. Her arms were straight out and she’s like, “There’s no way. I can’t drive like this without perching on the very edge of the seat.”
Donner also had a taller detective sit in the vehicle, and based on her experiment, Donner says the last person to drive Sade’s car had to be at least six feet tall.
Anne-Marie Green: There’s no way –
Det. Jo Donner: No way.
Anne-Marie Green: — Sade was the last person in that driver’s seat.
Det. Jo Donner: No, no.
The day after finding the remains on the beach, investigators contacted Sade’s mother, Sheena Scarbrough.
Sheena Scarbrough: I — I’ll never forget that day. … Like, what’s going on?
Sheena immediately sent for Sade’s 16-year-old sister, Adrianna, to come home early from school.
Adrianna Reams: We drove over to my mom’s house. … And they were all … very obviously upset.
But Sade’s family hoped that this was a mistake, and Sade would be found alive and well. The officer asked Adrianna to share Sade’s cell phone location from her Life360 app.
Anne-Marie Green: What is Life360?
Det. Jo Donner: Unlike Find My iPhone that gives you where your phone is right now … Life360 gives you historical data. … And it uses GPS, so it tends to be far more precise than the cell records.
Adrianna Reams: And I pulled up the location. I saw that her phone had died at 4:35 a.m. at Warnimont Park, and when I saw that, it was like — like (grimaces) … That was a very unusual place for her to be. … And when I said that the detective, his face like dropped and he was like — he just like – (puts hand in head) – yeah, he shut down kinda.
Sheena Scarbrough: I knew something wasn’t right. Somebody had … hurt my baby.
Tracking Sade Robinson’s final hours
DNA tests hadn’t yet determined if Sade Robinson matched the remains found along Lake Michigan. In the meantime, investigators began tracing the last known hours of her life. Her younger sister, Adrianna Reams, saw Sade on Easter Sunday — the day before her date.
Adrianna Reams: We had worked together that morning. She picked me up.
Sade and Adrianna worked as servers at a country club.
Adrianna Reams: And she was one of the best workers they had.
Sade Robinson’s Facebook
It was one of Sade’s two jobs, on top of being a full-time student at a local technical college.
Adrianna Reams: She wanted better for herself. She wanted better for me.
The hard work was paying off, with the 19-year-old able to rent an apartment and buy a car all on her own. Sade was set to graduate with an associate’s degree in criminal justice the following month. Adrianna says Sade hoped to then enlist in the military.
Adrianna Reams: She was looking to join the Air Force. So, she had been meeting with recruiters. … That’s how much she wanted to do everything that she dreamed of doing.
After working at the country club on Sunday, March 31, 2024, Adrianna and Sade headed to their grandparents’ house for Easter dinner.
Adrianna Reams: It was a really, really good night. And then, she took me home. … Whenever she dropped me off, it was always like a hesitation. … We’d always be like, “Love you.” … And that night, I still remember … It was like a different kind of hesitation.
The next morning, Sade FaceTime’d her mom, Sheena Scarbrough.
Sheena Scarbrough: She was just glowing through the FaceTime. She just looked so beautiful. … She was in a bubbly mood. She didn’t mention anything to me about going on a date that evening.
Security cameras in Sade’s building captured her leaving her apartment at 9 a.m. that morning. Fifteen minutes later, Sade arrived for her shift at the restaurant, Pizza Shuttle. Former owner, Mark Gold.
Mark Gold: Everybody loved her immediately and that — that’s kind of rare, I think in a restaurant or any business … and she’s a great worker. … She comes in on time. She smiles. Every time she would work with me, I’d say, “What’s up, Sade?” And she’d go, “The sky, Mark.” She always said it … and now I miss it.
Sade left Pizza Shuttle at 5 p.m. and texted a man she’d recently met, Maxwell Anderson.
Det. Jo Donner: They are discussing where they’re gonna meet up for their date.
Sade’s text messages show they chose The Twisted Fisherman.
Armed with that information, investigators then headed to the restaurant and obtained security camera footage of Sade and her date together. Detective Donner examined the footage for clues.
CBS 58/Trial Pool
Anne-Marie Green: What’s sort of standing out to you as you watch this video? Why is it important?
Det. Jo Donner: You know … it’s the demeanor. Um, he does a lot of talking to the bartender, doesn’t do a whole lot of talking to her. Um, or even like turning and looking at her. It’s just — it seems a little unusual for a date, there’s not a lot of interaction.
Around 6:30 p.m., Sade and Maxwell Anderson left the restaurant together. With the help of Sade’s Life360 app, the detectives knew just where the pair were headed.
Det. Jo Donner: I’m so glad … that — that she had that app.
Anne-Marie Green: So, when you found out Sade had it on her phone, you must have thought: gold mine.
Det. Jo Donner: Yeah. Score, big time.
According to her Life360 app, Sade then went to a nearby bar called Duke’s on Water. When investigators headed there, they found security camera footage of Sade and her date arriving together at the bar. Again, Donner took note of the pair’s dynamic.
Milwaukee Police Department
Det. Jo Donner: So they are playing beer pong, uh, with this couple. And, honestly, this is the only time that it looks like she’s having fun. … I notice that she seemed to be smiling and enjoying herself.
Sade and Maxwell Anderson left the bar together around 9 p.m.
Det. Jo Donner: She’s walking fine, um, doesn’t seem to be impaired.
Anne-Marie Green: I think it’s interesting that they’re walking together, but not until the very end he kind of reaches over.
Det. Jo Donner: Right. That’s the only, like, real physical contact other than briefly while they were playing beer pong that I see them have.
From there, Sade’s date got in the car with her. The Life360 app shows Sade arrived at Maxwell Anderson’s house around 9:30 p.m. Three hours later, the app shows Sade’s phone left his house. Sade’s car began traveling toward her apartment, but instead of going home, the car drove past the building. Multiple surveillance cameras would go on to capture Sade’s car, with fogged-up windows, driving around for hours.
Anne-Marie Green (in the car driving to Warnimont Park): Did there seem to be any kind of like rhyme or reason to where this vehicle was going that night?
Det. Jo Donner: No. … It seemed to be going all over the place.
Then, at 2:53 a.m., the Life360 app shows Sade’s phone arriving at Warnimont Park — where the battery on her phone would later die. When the investigators checked for security camera footage from a nearby building, they made a chilling discovery. The grainy footage shows someone, possibly a man, dragging something to the lake.
CBS 58/Trial pool
Det. Jo Donner (on the path investigators believe Sade’s killer walked that night at Warnimont Park): This is the path that he took. And then he would go down.
Anne-Marie Green: Right around here?
Det. Jo Donner: Yeah. … And this is where he disappears off of camera. … It drops off right there.
Anne-Marie Green: Yeah.
Det. Jo Donner: That’s where we lose sight of him.
Det. Jo Donner: The final time that it comes up, you do see a large backpack on their back.
Anne-Marie Green: And who do you believe that figure is?
Det. Jo Donner: Maxwell Anderson.
Anne-Marie Green: Who was the last person Sade Robinson was seen with?
Det. Jo Donner: Maxwell Anderson.
Sheena Scarbrough: Who is this person? How do you know my daughter?
Who is Maxwell Anderson?
Anne-Marie Green: Had you ever heard the name Maxwell Anderson?
Adrianna Reams: No. …There were so many questions. … Like … how they knew each other? What his motives were?
The night Sade Robinson disappeared was not the first time she had met Maxwell Anderson. Three days earlier, Sade, seen on security camera footage, walked into a bar. The owner told “48 Hours” that Sade was looking for a job. While there, she met the bartender: 6-foot-1-inch 33-year-old, Maxwell Anderson. They exchanged numbers and Maxwell walked Sade to her car.
CBS 58/Trial pool
Det. Jo Donner: It seemed like … he was trying to be a gentleman to this girl he was trying to impress.
Anne-Marie Green: What did you learn about Maxwell Anderson, his background?
Det. Jo Donner: I learned that he had been in the service industry for a while … He owned a home down on the south side of Milwaukee. … He was in the Navy for a brief amount of time.
Anne-Marie Green: Why did he leave the military?
Det. Jo Donner: I believe it was a general discharge.
But the man Sade would go on a date with also had a criminal record that included operating a vehicle while intoxicated, disorderly conduct, and more.
Det. Jo Donner: It was a little disturbing, like a history of violence towards his own family.
And in 2019, he’d also been accused of violence towards a total stranger. According to a police report, Maxwell — seen in video filmed by a bystander — beat a man who tried to intervene during an argument Maxwell was having with a girlfriend. He was arrested for battery but pleaded guilty to a lesser charge.
Det. Jo Donner: This guy’s got a temper, and he doesn’t really seem to care who he takes that temper out on.
Anne-Marie Green: You’re thinking about what could have happened with Sade?
Det. Jo Donner: Yes.
Maxwell Anderson’s Facebook
But could he be responsible for Sade’s disappearance? Detective Donner needed proof.
Anne-Marie Green: Just spending the evening with her —
Det. Jo Donner: Right.
Anne-Marie Green: – is not enough.
Det. Jo Donner: Right.
With the help of Sade’s Life360 app, Donner knew Sade had driven to Maxwell’s house on April 1.
Det. Jo Donner: I wanted to — I wanted to get into his house. And we definitely had enough to do that.
On April 4, Donner got a search warrant to enter Maxwell’s home, and she sent another team to watch him.
Det. Jo Donner: So, they begin to follow him. We prefer to not have the resident in the house. It’s just safer.
Within minutes, the team realized Maxwell was heading home and they had to act fast.
Det. Jo Donner: All right, let’s take him into custody. … The deputy and the detective … said that, yeah, they definitely felt him shaking.
Maxwell Anderson later asked for a lawyer and was never interrogated. But when investigators finally entered the house, they were surprised.
Det. Jo Donner: There was no big bloody crime scene.
And no sign of a cleanup, either.
Det. Jo Donner: It was very apparent that the dismemberment didn’t happen there.
Investigators did find something of interest.
Det. Jo Donner: A lot of knives … a lot of knives. … There were, I believe, like 51 found in the kitchen alone.
Anne-Marie Green: Anything that could have been used to dismember a body?
Det. Jo Donner: I suppose. … None of those knives were — were used.
After searching the house, Donner was still missing key elements, like a weapon, crime scene or even a single piece of direct evidence in Maxwell Anderson’s home tying him to Sade’s disappearance.
Det. Jo Donner: It seemed like every hopeful, you know, lead … I got disappointed each time.
Detective Donner started looking into other possible suspects.
Det. Jo Donner: While Maxwell Anderson seems like a really good suspect … I wasn’t gonna focus on him.
And she even considered the possibility that the remains on the beach belonged to someone else.
Det. Jo Donner: What if this isn’t her? So, I still checked missing databases.
But Sade’s loved ones were certain Donner was on the right track. They sent a message — covering Maxwell Anderson’s yard with balloons and signs – all in Sade’s favorite color: pink.
Increasing the pressure on the investigation was the shocking discovery of more body parts across the county. The remains seemed to be from the same victim. As law enforcement searched for more remains, so did volunteers, including Keke and Arlinda, family friends of Sade’s.
Anne-Marie Green: They were already searching. Why even get involved?
Keke: I didn’t see enough police out here. … We came by, and the area is empty.
Arlinda: But we were like, “OK, let’s go back and double check and see if we could find anything else.”
Milwaukee Police Department
While searching a wooded area, Keke found a blanket that belonged to Sade. The next day, Arlinda discovered a human bone next to train tracks. Both were found in areas investigators had already searched.
Anne-Marie Green: Could you understand why people might feel a little frustrated –
Det. Jo Donner: Absolutely.
Anne-Marie Green: — when they hear that?
Det. Jo Donner: Absolutely.
Detective Donner was also frustrated. That’s when Chloe Wright stepped forward.
Chloe Wright: It was like heart-stopping. I mean, it’s just like this can’t be real.
Chloe had dated Maxwell for more than a year, and she was stunned to hear her ex-boyfriend was a suspect.
Chloe Wright: This type of gruesome, graphic murder, I just didn’t see from him.
Chloe and Maxwell broke up a year earlier. She told “48 Hours” he was never physically abusive, but he could be verbally abusive.
Chloe Wright: He made comments about, like, my body weight often. Me not being attractive. … He wasn’t a great boyfriend.
Anne-Marie Green: This sounds toxic.
Chloe Wright: It was very toxic.
Chloe describes Maxwell as a secretive person. But he did share one secret with her that investigators were very interested to learn.
Chloe Wright: I remember it was like winter when he had brought it up, and he was like, “If we’re still together, come spring, I’m gonna take you to this secret beach.” … And then eventually he took me there.
But Maxwell was so protective of his “secret beach,” that when Chloe drove them there, he would only give her step-by-step directions.
Chloe Wright: He didn’t want me to know the name in case we broke up. He didn’t want me bringing other people to his secret spot.
But she remembered where it was.
Chloe Wright: The police were like … “OK. … You direct us.”
Repeating the directions Maxwell had always given her, Chloe led investigators straight to his secret beach: Warnimont Park.
Det. Jo Donner: Just having that proof that he kne about it and was familiar with it to a level that he referred to it as his “secret beach,” that – that was pretty big.
Anne-Marie Green: What do we think happened here?
Det. Jo Donner: This is where he dismembered her.
Anne-Marie Green: When you think of that special place, special to him. … What comes to mind?
Chloe Wright: Sade. Yeah. … I think about Sade.
On April 12, 2024, Milwaukee County Sheriff Denita Ball made an announcement.
SHERIFF DENITA BALL (to reporters): The severed leg has been preliminarily identified as belonging to Ms. Robinson.
That same day, Maxwell Anderson was charged with first-degree intentional homicide, mutilation of a corpse, and arson. He would plead not guilty to all charges. DNA testing would later confirm the other remains were also Sade.
On what should have been Sade’s 20th birthday, her family held a memorial for her. It would take a year before they would see the man accused of killing Sade brought to trial.
The murder trial of Maxwell Anderson
In May 2025, Maxwell Anderson’s murder trial began. Detective Donner knew it would be a tough fight with a circumstantial case.
Det. Jo Donner: I really wanted that … gotcha piece of direct evidence, you know? And it never came.
IAN VANCE-CURZAN (in court): Use your common sense and search for the truth.
Prosecutor Ian Vance-Curzan took the jury through the last minutes of Sade’s life.
IAN VANCE-CURZAN (in court): She was murdered by Maxwell Anderson. Her body was dismembered by Maxwell Anderson in a vicious and gruesome manner. And then Maxwell Anderson attempted to make her disappear from this world.
Milwaukee Police Department
The prosecutor showed the jury grainy footage of Anderson’s home captured on his neighbor’s security camera. It’s hard to see, but investigators say it shows Maxwell and Sade, in silhouette, arriving at his house and turning on the light of his second floor living room. Then, through the upstairs window, moving shadows can be seen. Investigators had poured over the footage hoping to find proof of Anderson murdering Sade.
Anne-Marie Green (watching the footage): Do we have any idea what’s happening now?
Det. Jo Donner: I don’t.
But Detective Donner did notice something that happened hours later.
Det. Jo Donner: I’m only seeing one person leaving and I note that that one person that is leaving is the same height as the fence and the gate.
Anne-Marie Green: Which is pretty tall.
Det. Jo Donner: It is six foot.
Anne-Marie Green: Six foot.
Investigators suspect Maxwell had already killed Sade by that time.
ANTHONY COTTON (in court): But Max had nothing to do with these crimes.
Maxwell Anderson’s defense attorney Anthony Cotton told the jury that Anderson being the last known person with Sade proved nothing.
ANTHONY COTTON (in court): We don’t dispute any of that timeline that they went out together and went back to Max’s house. But that doesn’t mean he killed her.
And he dismissed the footage collected by the prosecution.
ANTHONY COTTON (in court): All of this video, all the hundreds of hours of video … You can see the car, but you can’t ever conclude that he is the one who is driving this vehicle. It’s a pure speculation.
CBS 58/Trial pool
Cotton highlighted what he called the “serious holes” in the state’s case: mainly the lack of motive and the unknown cause of death.
ANTHONY COTTON (in court): There is absolutely no reason for Max to commit a crime like this. Why would he ever do something like that?
Cotton pointed out that authorities can’t even say how Sade died because some of her remains have not been recovered. CBS 58 Reporter Adam Rife says the defense’s case seemed to be effective with courtroom watchers.
Adam Rife: There was talk as this trial wore on that not all the evidence is there. … If it was Maxwell Anderson … how did he do it? And where is that murder weapon?
But what would the jury think?
Anne-Marie Green (to jurors): Did any of you think, “Oh, this is a slam dunk?”
Jurors: [shake their heads “no” in unison]
“48 Hours” spoke to four of the jurors, Becca, Marilynn, Nickie and Mel – who says she was unimpressed with the footage of Sade’s car that the prosecution presented:
Mel: I was like, “Where the hell is this going? … Why are they showing us this? … Who’s driving?” We don’t know. Like there’s no definitive proof.
But there was one video that did make an impression: footage of a man leaving the scene of Sade’s burning vehicle. You can hear a bystander calling out: “He did that!” … “That one!”
Marilynn, the jury foreperson, says the footage reminded her of the mystery person on the beach.
Marilynn: You know, that is the same silhouette that we saw walking the streets of Milwaukee.
Milwaukee Police Department
The man then gets on a city bus, and you can see his face crystal clear: it was Maxwell Anderson.
Anne-Marie Green: What does he have with him?
Det. Jo Donner: He has that large backpack still.
The backpack, pants and shoes Anderson is wearing on the bus were never recovered. His gray jacket was eventually found in his neighbor’s garbage can. When the jacket was tested, it had Sade’s DNA inside the hood and on the zipper pull.
Det. Jo Donner: Now, could it be maybe explained away? Sure. I mean, she did go to his house.
Anne-Marie Green: Why would you throw it in a trash can two houses away from your home?
Det. Jo Donner: Exactly.
Chloe Wright, who chose to testify off-camera, spoke about her ex-boyfriend and his “secret beach.”
Mel: He looked at her like, “I’m gonna kill you right now. Don’t you say a word.”
Anne-Marie Green: You all noticed that?
Marilynn: We all noticed that. …
Nickie: She played a very vital role, I think.
But jurors would soon learn about a safe found in Sade’s apartment. Inside? Marijuana and what appeared to be methamphetamine pills. Although the pills were never sent to the state crime lab for conclusive testing, the defense seemed to suggest more should have been done to see if Sade’s murder was really connected to those drugs.
Marilynn: I felt that it was irrelevant to the case because there was never, ever any evidence that pointed to her as being a substance abuser.
Becca: They’re just trying to distract us.
Anne-Marie Green: So it never crossed your mind once that … maybe this was a drug deal gone wrong or —
Marilynn: No other evidence.
Nickie: Never, never.
Investigators had tested Sade’s remains.
Anne-Marie Green: Did they find any drugs in her system?
Det. Jo Donner: No. Caffeine was the only thing found.
Jurors say it was actually one of the last pieces of evidence that they saw that made the biggest impact: photos found on Maxwell Anderson’s phone that he had taken and deleted. The photos are of Sade at his home.
Det. Jo Donner: She is, uh, face down. … Her arm is over her face. … You see the hand of a white male grasping what would be her right breast.
Anne-Marie Green: Do you believe Sade was deceased or alive in those pictures, do you know?
Det. Jo Donner: I do not know. … My — my assumption is that she was deceased.
Adrianna Reams: To see … the way he treated her like — like an object, it was really disturbing.
Becca: I mean I personally felt like I had lived the last few hours of Sade’s life with her. And you were walking kind of her footsteps throughout the night. … And to see her end up like that was disgusting. Humiliating. Just horrible.
Marilynn: We went all back into the jury room and there was a lot of quiet, a lot of hugs and just everybody was just kind of sick.
Nickie: That did it. That did it.
The prosecution rested soon after that.
And then Maxwell Anderson’s defense rested without calling a single witness.
JUDGE LAURA CRIVELLO: Is it still your decision not to testify?
MAXWELL ANDERSON: That is my decision.
The jurors headed to deliberate, but they didn’t deliberate for long. After breaking for the night, the jury had a verdict in less than an hour.
Becca: We want to come in here and we want to make a statement with how fast we make this decision.
JUDGE LAURA CRIVELLO: We, the jury find the defendant Maxwell Anderson guilty of first degree, intentional homicide … Guilty of mutilating a corpse. … Guilty of arson of property …
Guilty of Sade Robinson’s murder. But two months later, Maxwell Anderson decided to tell his story.
A mother’s plea
IAN VANCE-CURZAN (in court): This is the most heinous crime this court will see. It doesn’t get more … serious than this.
Sade Robinson’s family was determined to see that Maxwell Anderson would never be free again. They spoke directly to the judge at his sentencing. 17-year-old Adrianna Reams.
ADRIANNA REAMS (in court): When Maxwell Anderson murdered my sister, he redefined my definition of misfortune. … (emotional) He made it to where … I cannot meet any person without the fear that they’re gonna harm or kill me because all my sister did was meet someone, and as a result, he ended her life. … He tried to erase her existence and her value. Now I no longer have the opportunity to try and give her everything she gave me.
Sade’s father, Carlos Robinson, told the court what justice would be for him.
CARLOS ROBINSON (in court): To lose your child in this manner … is unthinkable. … What he has done is inconceivable. (looks over at Maxwell) He deserves the punishment that he gave to my daughter. Everything that he did should be done to him. … To me, that’s justice.
Sheena Scarbrough, wearing Sade’s favorite color pink on her eyelids, wanted answers from her daughter’s killer.
SHEENA SCARBROUGH (in court): You disrespectfully spread my daughter across the Milwaukee like a piece of trash. How dare you?
CBS 58/Trial pool
And she made a heartbreaking plea.
SHEENA SCARBROUGH (in court): I’m gonna respectfully request that you confess where … my daughter’s crown is.
Sade’s crown, her head, which has still never been found.
SHEENA SCARBROUGH (in court): You’ve already done the worst. You can at least give us that much.
But if Sade’s family was hoping for answers, they were disappointed.
JUDGE LAURA CRIVELLO: Mr. Anderson, what would you like to say?
Maxwell Anderson finally chose to speak.
MAXWELL ANDERSON (in court): I would like to start by saying that from the bottom of my heart, my deepest and most sincere condolences go out to Sade’s family, as well as everyone else affected by this tragedy. That being said, Your Honor, I … did not commit these crimes. … I hope and pray that further investigations not only prove my innocence but find and deliver true justice.
Adrianna Reams: You would think … that he would tell us the things we wanted to know and finally feel some remorse after sitting in jail for these months. And then he didn’t.
JUDGE LAURA CRIVELLO: Anything else you wish to say?
MAXWELL ANDERSON: No, ma’am.
Judge Laura Crivello read a statement Anderson made to an investigator after his conviction.
JUDGE LAURA CRIVELLO: He regretted he did not walk Ms. Robinson to her vehicle when she left his apartment. And he believed it was at that point she was abducted by an unknown assailant, quote, “either from the alley or from my backyard,” unquote. When asked how he accounted for his presence in the area where Ms. … Robinson’s vehicle was set on fire, Mr. Anderson said that he was set up.
Anne-Marie Green: You’re hearing this stuff and you’re like –
Det. Jo Donner: No. Nope.
Anne-Marie Green: What do you think happened that night?
Det. Jo Donner: I believe that they went back to his house. I think he may have wanted to take things further than she was comfortable with. And that maybe she rejected him, and his rather well-documented temper came out.
And Donner suspects Anderson would have killed again.
Det. Jo Donner: I think this was his first time killing. … I could be wrong but that’s my opinion. I do firmly believe though that it probably wouldn’t be his last if he hadn’t been caught. … Given … what he did to her body.
Chloe wonders if she could have been one of his targets. A year after they broke up, she says, Maxwell sent her a message on Instagram.
Chloe Wright: And it was “Ignore time is over.”
Five hours later, Maxwell Anderson met Sade Robinson when she applied for that job.
Anne-Marie Green: That’s gotta give you the chills.
Chloe Wright: It’s eerie.
Before sentencing Anderson, Judge Crivello took a moment to share her own thoughts about the loss of Sade Robinson.
JUDGE LAURA CRIVELLO (in court): She was a girl that I would hope all young ladies strive to be. … She was loved in the community by almost everyone that touched her. … You stole a truly shining light is what it sounds like.
And then she gave the man who stole that light the maximum.
JUDGE LAURA CRIVELLO: You shall be sentenced to imprisonment for life. … I am ordering that you will not be eligible for extended supervision.
Life without the possibility of parole.
SHEENA SCARBROUGH (to reporters) Thank you, guys, for supporting us!
Outside the courthouse, Sade’s loved ones thanked the city of Milwaukee for keeping her memory alive.
CARLOS ROBINSON (to reporters): I do appreciate the city of Milwaukee, cause they have shown my daughter a lot of love.
Artist Ruben Alcantar
A mural of Sade sits beneath her beloved Pizza Shuttle. Sheena has launched a program in Sade’s honor to help crime victims, and she has partnered with a Wisconsin state representative to create a task force to examine and prevent the disproportionately high levels of violence against Black women and girls. In May 2024, Adrianna – dressed in a pink cap and gown – accepted Sade’s degree at what should have been her big sister’s graduation.
Adrianna Reams
Adrianna Reams: Seeing her live her life as such a hard worker who never let anything stop her, I knew that she would want me to do that after I lost her, that she would want me to keep living. … And so, I’m going to remember her by following in her … footsteps … and … fill … the hole that she left … although I know I can never live up to anywhere near her shoes.
Anne-Marie Green: Hmm. I don’t know about that.
Adrianna Reams: I do.
In Warnimont Park, the site where this tragic investigation began, Sade’s family and friends unveiled a memorial bench. It’s in the area Donner has searched dozens of times in the hopes of fulfilling Sade’s loved ones’ deepest wish of laying all of Sade to rest.
Anne-Marie Green: Do you think we’ll ever find Sade’s crown?
Det. Jo Donner: I think so … when the lake is ready to give her back.
In August 2025, Maxwell Anderson announced he planned to appeal his conviction.
Produced by Lauren A. White. Jordan Kinsey and Ryan Smith are the development producers. Rebecca Laflam is the broadcast associate. Diana Modica and George Baluzy are the editors. Patti Aronofsky is the senior producer. Nancy Kramer is the executive story editor. Judy Tygard is the executive producer.
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