Natalie Morales (2:50)

There are eyes in the sky everywhere, as we can see. Throughout this hour. We're going to talk about it all, but first, I want to remind our listeners and our viewers, if you haven't listened or watched this episode yet, please go ahead and do that right now. Go check it out and come on back and join our conversation. So, Anne Marie, at first, while watching the episode, I thought that this was going to be one of those dating app horror stories. Turns out, though, that Sade actually met Maxwell Anderson in person before their date.

Ann Marie Green (3:23)

Right. I mean, this is the old fashioned way, right? She was looking for yet another job. She already had two jobs and she was looking for a third one at the bar. She meets him there, he's working there. And so, yeah, why not? Think it's okay to go out on a date? This is a young woman who has everything going for her. She's unbelievably driven. She wants to enter the Air Force. She's finishing up her education. She's going places. And this one person, you know, ruined everything.

Natalie Morales (3:54)

Such a tragic turn. She had everything and was seemed to be doing everything right. The first person we meet in this episode, she's so fascinating is the detective Jo Donner. And, you know, I wasn't quite sure what to make of her fashion sense. I mean, she's incredible. She's like something out of another era almost.

Ann Marie Green (4:15)

And that is deliberate, that is by design. She is just one of those people that's really into 1940s and 1950s fashion and the aesthetic of the time. She actually owns a vintage clothing store and she does these, like, online social media sales where she, you know, well, she'll show, like, the latest haul that she's gotten and people all over the world tune in to buy stuff from her. She does these, I guess, pinup contests. We're not talking burlesque stuff, right? We're talking about people who dress like in the era. Her pinup name is Misdemeanor. How appropriate is that, Natalie? I love it. And so, yeah, she's got this whole fascinating other side to her, but, boy, is she a damn good investigator.

Natalie Morales (5:01)

She sure is. And when she gets down to business, she really gets down to business. As we see now, it was Detective Donner who took you to that remote beach, showed you around. What was it like?

Ann Marie Green (5:14)

The beach is an interesting spot. It's quite desolate, though. There's a road leading down there. There's a big fence. You can't drive down there, you have to know the pathway to take to get down there. And certainly people come down there to walk their dogs or maybe just to get away, but you would have to really know that that spot is there to venture down there. I wouldn't go down there, and I wouldn't go down there alone.

Natalie Morales (5:36)

She also took you to the place where they have Sade's burned vehicle. Yeah.

Ann Marie Green (5:42)

So seeing the car, I mean, it was almost a little emotional because it is absolutely charred. But even though Maxwell Anderson tried to get rid of every stitch of evidence, he fails to get rid of some really crucial evidence. Three pieces of crucial evidence, where the driver's seat is situated. That doesn't change. So they know that, you know, Sade probably wasn't driving that car, but then her purse is found basically intact. I mean, it's singed, but it's found underneath the car seat. And the clothes she was wearing that night, those are in the trunk of the car. And finding that car really helped to speed up this investigation as well.

Natalie Morales (6:22)

Yeah, that was what was so fascinating. I never thought about that clue of measuring the seat distance and that being a big clue into the height of the individual who last drove the car, which would turn out to be really important in helping solve this case.

Ann Marie Green (6:37)

And I should say that the other officer. Right, Donegan, who was the one who was called to do a check on her apartment, she was crucial. She said to us that that day she was getting ready for work, and, like, the news was on in the background, and she kind of heard about a body part being found. You know, and then she gets this call to go to the apartment, and, like, immediately she has this gut reaction. She went on a date. She's not here now. I heard about this. This news report about a body part, and she was also really significant in speeding up the investigation, because if it had not moved forward as quickly, did Donna really feels like there's a good possibility that a lot of that really crucial video would have been lost.

Natalie Morales (7:26)

Let's also talk, though, about Sade's younger sister, Adriana. I mean, her ability to offer up data on Sade via Life360, the app. I mean, it proved to be invaluable, right?

Ann Marie Green (7:37)

Yep, exactly. Detective Donner calls Adriana the quiet backbone of. Of the family. And I don't know how Adrianna was able to keep a level head in the middle of all of this chaos. I've never, ever, ever met an adult, much less a teenager, with the type of presence that this young girl has. I'M glad it came through in the hour. She's remarkable. And she was able to provide the information about the Life360 app. She could show them where Sade had gone. She could show them that she had been at Maxwell Anderson's house at around 9:30. She could show, according to the Life360 app, that at 2:53, the phone arrived at Warnermont Park. All of these things were crucial.

Natalie Morales (8:27)

That Life3.60 app, that was something. The minute my kids got their driver's license, I put it on their phones because it goes beyond the Find My feature. You can actually track if they're going and driving above the speed limit. It gives you an alert. So it's an incredible tool.

Ann Marie Green (8:45)

Yeah. I had never heard of the app before. I have since put it on my phone because it really is remarkable, the amount of detail. I mean, it helped investigators literally kind of like, walk the path that Sade did to figure this whole thing out.

Natalie Morales (9:05)

Well, this brings us to the man who was then charged with Sade Robinson's murder, Maxwell Anderson. Tell us about him.

Ann Marie Green (9:13)

So this guy's, you know, as you can imagine, an interesting character. He's 33 years old. Sade was a teenager. She's 19. We spoke to his ex girlfriend, Chloe. And Chloe also was very young when they started dating.

Natalie Morales (9:28)

Perhaps preying on their vulnerability.

Ann Marie Green (9:31)

Exactly. Even before he met Sade, he had a criminal record. Operating a vehicle while intoxicated, disorderly conduct. And you saw in the Hour that he was arrested for battery against a bystander who tried to intervene. He was apparently having an argument with one of his girlfriends, and he ended up pleading guilty to a lesser charge for that.

Natalie Morales (9:52)

What was really fascinating and kind of alarming, in my opinion, was when detectives did search his apartment, they found he had a large collection of knives in his apartment, which, I mean, that really raised my eyebrow.

Ann Marie Green (10:08)

Yeah, 51 knives in the kitchen alone.

Natalie Morales (10:12)

I like to cook. I have a lot of knives, but I certainly don't have a collection like that.

Ann Marie Green (10:17)

No, I know. And, you know, I'm pretty sure investigators were hopeful that amongst those knives, they would find something that maybe played a role in this case, and that that simply wasn't the case. Chloe says that he sort of fancied himself a handyman, but he was always starting projects that he would never finish. But there were two projects she said that he did finish in the time that she knew him. And they were both secret compartments. And she sort of described how you would, like, touch something and then a compartment would pop out. We didn't know what he was hiding in those compartments. The other curious tidbit, investigators found tons of women's clothing in his house. Random items, you know, shirts, pants. Not necessarily like all intimate items. Chloe wonders if some of the clothes might be hers. They also found the ID of a woman. They did track the woman down. She's alive and well. A couple of other interesting things about that house. The house is actually sort of split. He owns the house, but he lived on the second floor. And then there was a tenant on the first floor. Apparently the tenant complained a lot about the noise. Anderson. Maxwell Anderson had dogs. He would complain about the dogs making too much noise upstairs. The tenant was home the night Sade went over there and never heard a thing.

Natalie Morales (11:47)

Did investigators have a theory as to how Sade Robinson could have been killed without making any sort of noise? Strangulation perhaps? It's a silent death.

Ann Marie Green (11:57)

Yeah, I was going to say that could have been, you know, a way someone could have been killed without making a lot of noise and certainly without a lot of blood, which is also something else that they didn't find. You know, he goes on the date with her April 1. He's arrested by April 4.

National Debt Relief Advertiser (12:19)

Confronting high credit card debt can feel scary. But the good news is if you owe $10,000 or more in credit card debt, financial relief options are now available. National Debt Relief is currently offering debt relief designed to reduce what you owe and put you on the fast track to becoming debt free. If you qualify for debt relief, you may be able to pay back less than what you owe and save thousands of dollars. Just visit nationaldebtrelief.com Imagine only paying one low monthly program payment you can afford and saving money as you become debt free. National Debt Relief has already helped bring debt relief to over 550,000 US consumers, earning thousands of five star reviews and an A rating with the Better Business Bureau. You're stronger than your credit card debt. Let today be the day you start turning things around. Take the first step and visit nationaldebtrelief.com to see what debt relief you may qualify for. That's nationaldebtrelief.com build something you can be proud of.

Rosetta Stone Advertiser (13:16)

There's something incredibly satisfying about learning something new and actually watching your progress build over time. That's what I love about Rosetta Stone. You don't have to dive in for hours. You start small, fit lessons into your day, and suddenly you're understanding more than you thought you would. Rosetta Stone has been the trusted leader in language learning for over 30 years. And their immersive, intuitive method really stands out. There's no memorizing random vocabulary lists and no feeling lost. You learn naturally, starting with words, building to phrases, and then full sentences without English translations, so it actually sticks. Plus, Rosetta Stone offers 25 languages, from Spanish and French to German and Japanese, all long term retention. Don't wait. Unlock your language learning potential. Now, listeners of this podcast can grab Rosetta Stone's lifetime membership for 50% off. That's unlimited access to 25 language courses for life. Visit RosettaStone.com RS10 to get started and claim your 50% off today. Go to RosettaStone.com RS10 and start learning today.

Natalie Morales (14:28)

On April 12, 2024, the Sheriff's Office remains found on that remote beach were identified as belonging to Sade Robinson. And on that same day, Maxwell Anderson was formally charged with first degree intentional homicide, mutilation of a corpse, and arson. He would plead not guilty to all the charges. Now, one of the worries for Detective Joe Donner was that there wasn't any direct evidence linking Maxwell Anderson to the case. But it didn't seem, Anne Marie, that the jury really needed that. That so much. Right?

Ann Marie Green (15:05)

No, it was really the last piece of evidence that sealed his fate. We spoke to a number of jurors, but one juror, Becca, talked about seeing those photos that Maxwell Anderson had taken on his phone and then deleted. They are photos of Sade. You can see his hand on her. He's touching, you know, intimate areas of her body. And that basically did it for these jurors. I want to read a little bit of what Becca had to say about this. She said, I mean, I personally felt like I had lived the last few hours of Sade's life with her. And to see her end up like that was disgusting, humiliating, just horrible.

Natalie Morales (15:43)

Yeah. To think that to not know if she was dead or alive when those photos were taken, they seem staged, almost like a trophy, but then he deletes them. I mean, that tells you a lot if you're a juror. Right.

Ann Marie Green (15:57)

It was perhaps the most powerful piece of evidence that the jurors saw.

Rosetta Stone Advertiser (16:01)

Right.

Natalie Morales (16:02)

That along with, you know, we did see the footage of the man on the beach with the backpack.

Ann Marie Green (16:08)

Yeah.

Natalie Morales (16:09)

Also then you saw the surveillance footage of the man leaving the burnt car. And then you see clearly Maxwell Anderson's face when he hops onto a city bus. I mean, thank goodness that security footage was very crisp and clear. You could clearly see his face.

Ann Marie Green (16:26)

Oh, absolutely.

Natalie Morales (16:27)

Well, and then it turns out the defense didn't call Any witnesses? So the jury didn't take very long to deliberate. Anderson was found guilty of intentional homicide, mutilation of a corpse, and arson. Although he continues to maintain his innocence at his sentencing. Sade's mother, father and sister, they weren't having any of that.

Ann Marie Green (16:49)

No, they were very outspoken. Shade's mother is, you know, really. She's been dealing with a lot of stuff. Even before the disappearance and the murder of her daughter, she's been dealing with sort of health stuff. And so it really took a lot out of her. And she has kept the fight going. But it wasn't just the family members that spoke. Maxwell Anderson's father also spoke. He was crying, he said. Sade's family, he thought about them every single day. He said that he loved his son and that he hoped for a path for his son that would allow his son to become a positive influence in some way. There was also members of the community that sent in letters because, like, the whole city was moved by this murder. And there was one particular letter from an anonymous person that even the jurors said had a significant impact on them. And I just. I'm going to read some portions of this because I think it really captures the way the entire city of Milwaukee felt about Sade. Sade Robinson was not a torso. She was not evidence. She was a full, living, radiant human being. She had dreams, plans, and a future she was building with pride. She had people who loved her and that still love her more than words can hold. And she had a right to live, to breathe, to laugh, to grow old. That right was stolen, and it continues. But here's what you couldn't take. You could not mutilate her soul. You could not silence the scream of justice. You could not prevent an entire community from rising up in Sade's name.

Natalie Morales (18:34)

So beautiful and so moving. I love that the judge read that letter.

Ann Marie Green (18:38)

It's not surprising, because I really felt like she became the daughter of the entire city. People either saw something in her that they felt was also in them or in, you know, a young woman that they know, whether it's a daughter or a friend. And they really rallied around this family, which I thought was significant. Natalie, because the reality of it is, is that there often are times when young black women are victims of crime and they don't get the same level of attention. Right. And I just want to read a statistic out. This is Columbia University study in Wisconsin. Black women are 20 times more likely to be murdered than white women. It's the worst statistic in the Country. The other thing is that Milwaukee is home to Jeffrey Dahmer. And when you think of Dahmer's crimes, there's a sickening feeling that comes with it. And this reminded Milwaukee of that sickening feeling. And just as a kind of a side note, when we traveled there to do some of our interviews, we stayed in this really nice old hotel. It was built sort of in the. I think it's in, like, 1920s, 1930s. But I kind of like, cracked a little joke with the guy at the front desk and asked him if there were any ghosts. And then I struck up a conversation with someone in the elevator, and I mentioned that I was inquiring about ghosts. And he said, well, you know, you know what happened on the fifth floor? And it turns out the hotel we stayed in was a hotel that Jeffrey Dahmer killed one of his victims in. But I gotta tell you, I slept with the lights on.

Natalie Morales (20:22)

I would have, too.

Ann Marie Green (20:23)

Yeah.

Natalie Morales (20:24)

Oh, my gosh. I'm surprised you slept at all.

Ann Marie Green (20:27)

Yeah, I know.

Natalie Morales (20:28)

Back to Sade as we know, her remains, they were spread all over the county. We learned from some friends that they even found a blanket that had belonged to Sade as well as they found what they believed was a human bone in an area that investigators had already searched. You talked to Sade's sister, Adriana as well about the ongoing search for Sade's remains? I wanted to play a little piece of that.

Ann Marie Green (20:57)

Does it bother you that, you know, parts of your sister are still missing?

Adriana Robinson (21:02)

Yeah, it definitely does. I have this necklace and another one, which is a star that I wear every day, that has some of her ashes in it. So it's like a part of her is with me, but knowing that a part of her isn't with anyone, that it's floating around somewhere, decomposed. It's like she hasn't been allowed to stop fighting, like her battle's not over, like she's never gonna be able to rest in some sense.

Natalie Morales (21:38)

Heartbreakingly, you know, as we saw in the sentencing, Sade's mother asked Maxwell Anderson to confess where her daughter's crown was. And we're talking about her head, of course. He, though, maintained his innocence. But we do hope that Sade's family will get an answer someday, and I know that that search is ongoing.

Ann Marie Green (22:03)

Yeah, this is the kind of continued heartbreak for everyone who cares about Sade that all of her has not been found.

Natalie Morales (22:11)

Before we go, though, let's end on something that is so hopeful and positive and uplifting, I think, and that is that Sade's legacy is her younger sister, Adrianna. Adriana, as we mentioned, such a bright light in this world. Well, she accepted Sade's graduation diploma for her associate's degree. But she also has some big news, right?

Ann Marie Green (22:37)

Yeah. So Adriana is In the top 5% of high school kids in Wisconsin. She's been accepted to Harvard. She has a 99% scholarship. She doesn't know what she's gonna do, where she's gonna go. But when I say I've never met anyone like this, I wish her all the luck in the world.

Natalie Morales (22:57)

I.

Ann Marie Green (22:57)

She. I don't think she needs it. I expect great things from Adrianna, and I cannot wait her continue to strive and rise and accomplish and be all the things that we all know she can be, but also that her sister knew she could be.

Natalie Morales (23:16)

Well, that is a hopeful way to end this. And thank you again for your incredible reporting, Anne Marie, on this one. Appreciate it.

Ann Marie Green (23:24)

Always great talking to you, Natalie.

Natalie Morales (23:25)

And if you liked this episode, please rate or review on Apple podcasts or on the Spotify.

Pluto TV Advertiser (23:34)

At Pluto tv, we're celebrating Black History Month with our free curated collection of black entertainment. No ifs, ands or buts about catch award winning films like Dreamgirls, Monster's Ball and Selma. We must make a massive demonstration. Iconic hits like School Days and Set it Off. Plus full seasons of shows like Tyler Perry's Sisters and Power. I got you it. Star studded, brilliant black entertainment. And it's all free. It's getting good this month and always on Pluto TV Stream now. Hey, Never.

Natalie Morales (24:04)

Pluto TV has thousands of free movies and TV shows.

Pluto TV Advertiser (24:08)

I swear, if I'm lying, I'm dying.

Natalie Morales (24:10)

Like Dream Girls, SpongeBob SquarePants and Ghosts.

National Debt Relief Advertiser (24:14)

Free.

Ann Marie Green (24:14)

This is my day.

Natalie Morales (24:16)

Huzzah. Pluto TV stream now.

Rosetta Stone Advertiser (24:19)

Pay Never.