Family members of Sade Robinson were alarmed to learn that an informant had come forward to police to reveal that their loved one’s murder and dismemberment were part of a deliberate plan made weeks before the killing happened.
Maxwell Anderson remains behind bars on a $5 million bond amount after being charged with 19-year-old Robinson’s murder and the mutilation of her body. Anderson, 33, was the last person to see Robinson before she disappeared after their first date on April 1 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
The next day, someone found her leg washed up on the beach shore of Lake Michigan.
Court documents that have just been made public revealed that a friend of Anderson spoke with detectives on April 15 and told them that Anderson walked him through his premeditated plan to murder Robinson.
The confidential informant told authorities he was at Anderson’s on March 5 when Anderson told him he had recently met Robinson. The informant said that Anderson took him to his basement, where he saw three saws and a plastic painter tarp covering the floor, ceiling, and walls, the court filings state.
“The (informant) states that Anderson told them he intended on bringing Robinson to his residence, pulling a handgun on her, and bringing her down to the basement of the residence,” the document reads. “He then planned on shooting Robinson and then dismember her body in the room that they were in.”
The informant also told investigators that Anderson revealed he planned to scatter Robinson’s body parts throughout the city.
Robinson’s family expressed frustration by the informant’s willingness to speak to police only after she was murdered.
“After the fact doesn’t do me any justice, because it doesn’t bring my daughter back,” Sade’s father, Carlos Robinson, told FOX6Now. “Why would this guy feel comfortable to tell you his plans in the first place? This fuels my rage knowing that somebody else could have stopped this, and they didn’t.”
An attorney representing Robinson’s family also released a statement on Wednesday with updates on the murder investigation and a call for Anderson’s parents to be investigated.
Anderson’s father, Steven Anderson, was named as a defendant in a wrongful death lawsuit filed by the Robinson family. They believe Anderson’s father helped sell Anderson’s home just one month after the murder to conceal evidence. The complaint demands the defendants pay the family punitive damages and proceeds from the sale of his home, where prosecutors also believe Robinson’s murder took place.
“Based on the statements of those who knew him and informants, Anderson is calculated and callous, and he treated Sade Robinson like prey,” part of the statement reads.
Police conducted two searches of Anderson’s home in April and found blood on the walls leading down to the basement. A DNA analysis revealed that the blood didn’t belong to Robinson.
Several parts of Robinson’s remains have been found in the months since her death, but some are still missing. In a recent statement released by the family’s attorneys, they revealed that Robinson’s face has yet to be located.
Attorney Verona Swanigan said that Robinson’s mother, Sheena Scarbrough, often only learns of new developments about the case through the press, including the most recent news about the confidential informant.
“The devastation and the heartache that it’s taking on her to find all of this out in piecemeal portions…It sort of feels like a slap in the face,” attorney Verona Swanigan told WISN12News.
Swanigan requested authorities to notify her before case documents are unsealed and released.
Anderson’s attorney told the outlet that the confidential informant’s statements were “false and exaggerated.”
Anderson’s murder trial is slated to start on Dec. 9. He has pleaded not guilty to the charges he faces. He’ll be in court for a motion and final pretrial hearing on Sept. 13 for a motion and final pretrial hearing.
