Inset: Sade Robinson (Milwaukee Police Department). Background: Mitchell Anderson (WISN/YouTube)
A Wisconsin man who allegedly murdered a 19-year-old woman on their first date and chopped her body up prepped his basement for the brutal slaying by covering it with tarp, warrants reportedly stated.
Maxwell Anderson, 33, is charged with first-degree intentional homicide, mutilation of a corpse, and arson of property other than building in the April death of Sade C. Robinson.
Milwaukee ABC affiliate WISN obtained copies of newly-unsealed warrants describing the statements one of Anderson’s friends who was also a confidential informant for police in other cases. The informant reportedly said Anderson took him to his home on March 5 and showed him the basement with a painter’s tarp taped to the floor, walls and ceiling. There was also a sanitation sink and three saws, per the warrant.
Anderson reportedly told the man he planned to force Robinson down to the basement after pulling a gun on her.
“The CI stated that Anderson told them that he then planned on shooting Robinson and then dismember body in the room that they were in. The CI stated that he then planned on disposing Robinson’s body throughout the city,” the warrant reportedly said.
More on Law&Crime: Woman shot boyfriend to death, chopped up body and spread parts across 2 counties
Anderson’s attorney is skeptical.
“Information provided by people who refuse to identify themselves and wish to be labeled ‘confidential informants’ is often false and exaggerated,” Anthony Cotton told WISN. “While we have not been provided with the name of this individual, the information provided by him or her is completely untrue, and there is no physical evidence to support these baseless assertions. This is another example of someone choosing to spew misleading information on this case, which is unfortunate for all parties involved.”
As Law&Crime previously reported, the investigation began April 2 when someone found a human leg in the water at Warnimont Park in Cudahy, just south of Milwaukee. A joint investigation between the Milwaukee County sheriff’s office and Milwaukee police had determined that Robinson’s family reported her missing the day before, when she failed to show up for work.
According to a criminal complaint, Anderson and Robinson met for the first time on April 1 to go on a date. Detectives reportedly obtained text messages of the two planning their date earlier on April 1. Surveillance video also shows them at a downtown Milwaukee restaurant and bar before leaving and driving in Robinson’s Honda Civic to Anderson’s home around 9:30 p.m., the complaint said.
An app on Robinson’s phone shows it left Anderson’s home shortly after midnight on April 2 and later traveled to Warnimont Park, where the victim’s leg was later found, the affidavit said. Surveillance video from the park shows a Honda Civic ramming through a gate at around 3 a.m. and someone is seen going down to the water several times before leaving around 4:30 a.m.
Around 7:30 a.m. the Milwaukee Fire Department responded to the 1800 block of 29th Street for a vehicle fire. Investigators later determined it was Robinson’s Honda. Cops recovered surveillance video from a bus that shows Anderson getting on the bus near where the vehicle was torched and riding to a stop near his home, according to the affidavit.
On April 6, Milwaukee police found a foot and human flesh not far from the burned-out Honda, investigators said. The foot and the leg were confirmed to belong to Robinson.
A search of Anderson’s home found blood in a bedroom and on the walls leading to the basement, authorities said. In the basement, investigators found a “sex dungeon,” WISN reported, citing anonymous law enforcement sources.
Authorities have continued to recover body parts in the ensuing months.
“Our hearts are with the family and loved ones of Sade Robinson,” Milwaukee police Chief Jeffrey Norman said in a statement. “This is a horrendous tragedy and above all else, I cannot imagine the pain you must be going through. I would like to express my deepest and most sincere sympathy.”
Robinson was close to earning an associate degree in criminal justice at Milwaukee Area Technical College and also considered joining the U.S. Air Force.
Her mother told reporters after Anderson’s arrest that her daughter’s alleged killer is a “sick son of a b—-.”
“Who the f— would do something like this to my beautiful baby?” she said, according to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. “She hurt nobody. She harmed nobody.”
Have a tip we should know? [email protected]
