Episode 357

Summary

Sword and Scale, Episode 357

Release Date: July 12, 2026
Theme: The disappearance and brutal murder of Sade Robinson—how her remains were discovered, the investigation into her final hours, and the unraveling of a killer’s story in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

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Episode Overview

This episode of Sword and Scale navigates the chilling case of Sade Robinson, a 19-year-old college student whose macabre murder shocked Milwaukee. Beginning with the discovery of dismembered human remains along Lake Michigan's shoreline, the podcast reconstructs, in harrowing detail, the investigation into Sade’s final hours. We follow detectives as digital breadcrumbs, witness statements, audio interviews, and a deep dive into the psychology of the suspect all build to the arrest and conviction of Maxwell Anderson, Sade’s first—and last—date. The episode is unflinching in its depiction of trauma, the failures of precaution, and the unsettling ordinariness of monstrous people.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Discovery of Remains (00:45–11:25)

• Atmosphere: Early April, Warnamont Park, Wisconsin. Two men walking by Lake Michigan stumble across a severed human leg—painted neon pink toenails, exposed bone, and no blood.
• 911 call and investigation: Police and fire units respond, the leg shifts closer to water perhaps due to weather. Detectors immediately believe it’s not a boating accident but a "dump job."

  “I’m gonna take a wild guess, say it was a dump job.” —Investigator 1 (10:04)

• Additional discoveries:
  • A burned-out 2020 Honda Civic is found in a Milwaukee alley with evidence suggesting arson.
  • Surveillance footage shows a figure fleeing after the car fire while witnesses shout: “He did it. It’s him. It’s gonna explode.”
  • Two days later, in Waukegan, Illinois, a human arm believed to be a woman’s is found washed up on the shore.

2. Profile and Disappearance of Sade Robinson (11:40–22:11)

• Sade’s background: Responsible, 19, juggling college and two jobs, aspiring for military service (US Air Force, criminal justice studies).
• Timeline of disappearance: Last seen on FaceTime with her mother April 1. Friends confirm last contact midday Monday before she began a night out. She misses two days with no reply—very out of character.
• Digital clues: Sade’s friends use Life360 and Find My Phone to help the investigation and retrace her movements.

3. Reconstructing the Night and Red Flags (22:11–31:50)

• Social circuit: Sade seen out at two bars with an unknown man on what seems a normal first date, captured on surveillance.
• Friend “Josh” provides new leads: Describes a possible love triangle, jealousy from a man with long hair who had made prior advances which Sade declined, and a bothersome neighbor.
• Additional dangers: Two weeks before disappearance, Sade’s car was broken into in a suspicious, non-robbery vandalism.

4. Crime Scene & Evidence Mounts (30:17–34:18)

• Remains surface in multiple locations: A foot in a park playground, a torso and arm on a South Milwaukee beach. All are identified as Sade’s.
• Mother’s anguish and pride:

  “Sade is forever. She will be forever remembered as an angel, a light worker… She solved her own case. My baby solved her own case. That's how I raised my kids.” —Sade’s Mother (31:50)

• Key clues: Social media, text messages, pictures, and digital footprints across Milwaukee tie Sade’s movements and support the investigation.

5. Focus on Maxwell Anderson (34:18–43:46)

• Who is Max?: 23-year-old bartender, “urban lumberjack” with a seemingly normal life. Owned his house (with some financial mystery), sublets to a tenant, keeps to himself but is known to date several women.
• Ex-girlfriend Maya and control issues: Describes an overeager partner, attempts to fast-track commitment, and jealousy-fueled antics (tracking her to bars unannounced, calling police on her male friends, etc.).

  “He was like, trying to move things very, very quickly. And I don't have good experiences with people moving things quickly in the past…” —Maya (38:15)

6. The Darkness Below the Surface & Past Relationships (43:46–54:33)

• Interview with “Sherry”, another ex: Recalls emotional extremes, possessiveness, manipulative schemes, and disturbing comments about revenge and fantasies.
  • Memorable quote:

    “At one point, he asked me to invite Jack over to my place and to beat myself up in the bathroom and call the police to get Jack arrested. And he said, either I do that or he will do it himself.” —Sherry (48:14)

• Sexual proclivities: Presents himself as gentle, but there are undertones of darker fantasies. Discussion of consensual “kinky” activities, including choking, but nothing Sherry found threatening (contrasted with what later evidence suggests).
• Investigator review of Max’s diaries:

  “Bondage equals rape, comma, role play… even if you are willing to accept that about yourself… you like to pretend you’re being raped because otherwise you can’t feel anything.” (51:00)

• Reference to “secret beach”: Sherry recalls Max took her to his private spot—Warnamont Park, now a crime scene.

7. Building the Case & Arrest (54:33–61:36)

• Max’s double life: Tenant describes bizarre “holes in the yard” (plans for sheds/bars), hidden closet and mushroom lab in the basement, paranoid money stashes.
• Direct evidence: Cutting tools and a hacksaw matching saw marks on Sade’s bones. Photographs on Max’s phone of Sade, apparently unresponsive, the night she died—one depicting Max grabbing her breast, which was later found to be surgically removed and never recovered.
• Arrest: Max is charged—first-degree intentional homicide, mutilation of a corpse, arson, hiding a corpse.

8. Trial, Sentencing, and Reflections on Evil (61:36–67:45)

• Max’s statement at sentencing:

  “I took this to trial without ever once trying to make a plea deal… because I did not commit these crimes... I plan to appeal my convictions while I hope and pray that further investigations… find and deliver true justice.” —Maxwell Anderson (61:36)

• Father’s conflicted testimony:

  “On behalf of myself and my family… I have some sense of what you are feeling. It took me a very long time to get past the pain that I felt for the person that contributed to his passing... I'm not asking you to forgive anybody...” —Maxwell Anderson’s Father (63:02)

• Judge’s pronouncement and sense of irredeemability:

  “I have weighed your character and… find it wanting… Are you a good risk? Sadly, you're not. … It's the facts that you see written in horror novels… At the points in life where I've come to the conclusion that there isn’t anything redeemable, you do think about, I think it takes away a little piece of my soul.” —Judge (64:55)

• Final reflection on evil hiding in plain sight:

  “Sometimes people are just not redeemable no matter how hard to try to see the good in them, there just isn’t any… Maxwell Anderson looked like every other guy. He wore that mask perfectly. As for Sade, she was trying to do everything right... She told friends where she was going. She shared her location... All except one. The minute she walked into the house of secret compartments…” (65:55)

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Notable Quotes & Timestamps

| Timestamp | Quote | Speaker | |-----------|-------|---------| | 10:04 | “I’m gonna take a wild guess, say it was a dump job.” | Investigator 1 | | 22:11 | “I say we were really good friends, kind of like starting to form, like, a relationship…” | Josh, Sade’s friend | | 31:50 | “Sade is forever… She solved her own case. My baby solved her own case.” | Sade’s Mother | | 38:15 | “He was like, trying to move things very, very quickly. And I don't have good experiences with people moving things quickly in the past…” | Maya, ex-girlfriend | | 48:14 | “At one point, he asked me to invite Jack over to my place and to beat myself up in the bathroom and call the police to get Jack arrested. And he said, either I do that or he will do it himself.” | Sherry, ex-girlfriend | | 51:00 | “Bondage equals rape, comma, role play… you like to pretend you’re being raped because otherwise you can’t feel anything.” | Investigator quoting Max’s diary | | 61:36 | “I did not commit these crimes... I plan to appeal my convictions…” | Maxwell Anderson | | 63:02 | “On behalf of myself and my family… I'm not asking you to forgive anybody...” | Maxwell Anderson’s Father | | 64:55 | “I have weighed your character and… find it wanting… It's the facts that you see written in horror novels.” | Judge |

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Important Timestamps

• 00:45–11:25: Discovery of first remains, description of scene, call to 911, car fire evidence
• 13:14–22:11: Sade’s last known movements, friends’ interviews, use of digital tracking
• 30:17–31:50: Public and family reactions, emotional insights from Sade’s mother
• 34:13–43:46: Investigative focus turns to Maxwell Anderson, insights into his life and relationships
• 43:46–54:33: Testimony and revelations from multiple ex-girlfriends, escalation of red flags and abnormal behaviors
• 54:33–61:36: Search of Max’s property, forensic and digital evidence links, arrest and charges
• 61:36–67:45: Trial, sentencing, statements from Max and his father, judge’s verdict and reflections

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Memorable Moments & Conclusions

• The juxtaposition of Sade’s digital self-protection (life-sharing, checking in) with the impossibility of true safety.
• Exposing how abusers and killers can present as entirely benign—“urban lumberjack Brad Pitt.”
• Investigators’ dogged piecing together of a digital and physical breadcrumb trail, even in the absence of directly witnessed crimes.
• The deep pain and resilience of Sade’s family, especially her mother’s pride in her daughter’s legacy and clues left behind.
• Judge’s profound sense of weight in sentencing: the soul-drain of declaring someone irredeemable.
• Unanswered questions: Was this Max's first murder? Was Sade specifically targeted after rejecting him? Are there other victims?

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Episode Tone & Style

The episode is raw, somber, and unsparing in its detail—true to the Sword and Scale tradition. It blends narrative re-creations, chilling first-hand audio (911, interviews, trial footage), and a dose of dark, reflective commentary. Family, friends, and law enforcement speak with candor, often heartbreakingly so, never losing sight of Sade’s humanity in the horror.

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In summary

Sword and Scale Episode 357 is a harrowing story of modern danger—where digital breadcrumbs and raw police interviews collide with the sickening reality of personal violence. It’s the story of Sade Robinson, but also a warning: monsters can hide behind the masks of everyday men, and even when the signs are there, it can still end in tragedy.

Transcript

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[Narrator]

Sword and Scale contains adult themes and violence and is not intended for all audiences. Listener discretion is advised.

[Dispatcher]

All right, and what did you actually find?

[Caller 1]

It looks like the. It looks like the back and the butt and an arm.

[Narrator]

What is this? Where's the show?

[Dispatcher]

Where's.

[Narrator]

Where's the fucking show? Put out the fucking show. I. What is this nightmare shit? What is. What is this AI. What is this garbage? Your shit sucks. Put out the show. Put it out. Put it out now. You just put out one. You're a fucking scammer. You're not even fucking putting it at the show every day, you fucking. You piece of shit. Welcome to episode 357, Sword and Scale. So if you go to our homepage, swordandscale.com, there's a brand new show called Tales. It's an animated true crime podcast thing. I mean, I call it a thing because we invented it. There's nothing like it. At least I don't think there is. Go check it out. We would really like some feedback. And as an artiste, it you. It's nice to hear what you think. The audience just try to be nice about it. And don't tell me to just stick to what I'm good at, because that kills any kind of creativity. It's early April at Warnamont Park, Wisconsin. It's around lunchtime and the wind is whipping off Lake Michigan as it usually does. The grass above the bluff is still flattened from the winter. The golf course sign rattles in the background. Below the hill, the waves of Lake Michigan beat steadily against the rock and sand. Lake Michigan stretches for more than 300 miles from north to south. It's early April, and the water temperature is typically just above freezing. Even on calmer days, the wind pushes surface currents parallel to the shore. Two young men are walking near the bluff. They aren't looking for anything. They're just moving along the edge of the park, glancing down towards the shoreline the way people do. The winter weather has broken and they're enjoying the walk. And conversation. Even though it's still brisk out below them, the land drops towards the shoreline. It's a steep incline of dirt, grass and scattered rock. They take the path down to the sandy beach and start walking. Their footprints follow behind them. Then one of them notices something on the slope. It isn't at the bottom near the water. It's lodged partway up the bluff, about 2/3 of the way up from the shoreline. Whatever it is is caught in the grass and loose soil. At first it just looks like debris. But debris would be in pieces, and this is one large mass. As they walk closer, wondering what it is, maybe a large fish of some sort. The shape resolves. It's not debris, it's not aquatic. It's pretty horrifying, actually. A foot with five toes. The toenails are painted neon pink. Now it's clear the foot is attached to a human leg. The lower portion is unshaven. The skin appears smooth. There are no visible tattoos, no visible scars. The foot is facing west, the top of the thigh facing east. The upper portion of the leg has been severed just below the ball of the thigh bone. Flesh and bone are exposed, but there's no blood. The skin at the cut edge forms a jagged, almost Z shaped pattern. The thigh bone itself appears partially cut through. For a moment, neither man speaks, but they exchange shocked expressions. The wind continues. Then one of them pulls out his phone.

[Dispatcher]

Okay, where in Wagamai park are you? By the sign. We're by the sign by the golf course. Okay, what's going on there? I don't know. We just saw the lake. We saw the lake down by the lake on the clank. She found a what? Down there? A leg. A leg. Okay. And then we found that leg. Dude, it had pink toenail phone.

[Caller 1]

How did I hang on one?

[Dispatcher]

It's Milwaukee, sir. Hold on a second. It's Milwaukee County. If you guys have an officer and an ambulance to meet these two gentlemen at the parking lot by the golf course, apparently they found a leg down by the. Down by the water.

[Caller 1]

So they found a leg?

[Dispatcher]

Yes.

[Caller 1]

Okay, Are you guys sending people?

[Dispatcher]

Yeah, we're gonna send a couple of deputies on also. Okay. All right. All right, thanks. You're welcome.

[Narrator]

Deputies arrive, but by this time, the leg has shifted location. It's not partway up the bluff where the men first saw it. Now it rests near the base, closer to the water line. And the waves are closing in on it. One of them is forced to move it carefully away from the water.

[Investigator 1]

Hey, guys, I forgot to ask you. Who. Who Was the one who actually called 911. Was it you? Okay, and then when you guys initially seen the lake, where was it?

[Investigator 2]

It was just, like, on the beach.

[Investigator 1]

It was on the beach. It wasn't up on the hill?

[Narrator]

No, no, no, no.

[Maya (Max's ex-girlfriend)]

It wasn't.

[Investigator 1]

On the cliff are the bushes that have fallen down. Remember, we. We were in the clay. On the cliff by it.

[Caller 1]

I pointed up at it,

[Maya (Max's ex-girlfriend)]

remember?

[Narrator]

Sorry, man.

[Investigator 1]

No, it's all good. It's all good. Like I said, you're not in trouble, dude.

[Maxwell Anderson's Tenant]

Like, any.

[Investigator 1]

Like, any little detail could possibly help. So it was on the cliff and then it slid down or. Yeah, yeah. Okay.

[Narrator]

Because when they got down there, he

[Investigator 2]

had moved it from.

[Investigator 1]

By the rock because it was. I was trying to point because it was by the cliff. And then he's like, where is it? And then we were walking, and I looked down. I'm like, oh, it's right there he goes, oh, okay. All right, Cool. All right, I'll be right back with you guys. Okay. All right.

[Narrator]

That was weird, right? Not agreeing on where you spotted a human leg because. Yeah, that wouldn't be burned into your memory forever. On that very same morning, April 2, 2024, the Milwaukee Fire Department responds to a vehicle fire in an alley behind a vacant building near 29th Street. The call comes in just after sunrise. It's raining, the pavement is wet, and humidity is high. In the alley sits a blue 2020 Honda Civic. Flames have already broken out, and the car is engulfed. Firefighters extinguish the car quickly, and police have it towed to a secure impound lot. Later, investigators realize the fire did not start in the engine bay or the trunk. The damage patterns are consistent with a fire that started inside the passenger compartment. In the burned vehicle, they find remnants of a fleece blanket and a purse. A handheld Bic lighter is found in the back seat. On the front passenger floorboard, investigators find what's left of a green stuffed animal. When they take it from the car, they notice a strong odor consistent with petroleum distillate. The report notes the odor is overwhelming. Surveillance cameras in the area capture it in real time. At approximately 7:30am footage from a nearby building shows an unknown individual walking southbound from the direction of the vehicle fire. In that same footage, two women can be heard shouting, he did it. It's him. It's gonna explode. The figure continues walking southbound and disappears from the frame. Back at the lake, officers are still investigating the leg and wondering if this was a boating accident or something else.

[Investigator 1]

It makes it hard to, like, see where it came from because of the weather.

[Investigator 2]

Yeah.

[Investigator 1]

You know what I mean? If it was dry, I might be able to see like a path where it like slid down from. What are you saying? Like right up here by the sticking foot. So I don't think the waves would go that high. So I don't think they're washed up. I don't think so either. I. I don't think so either. I'm thinking, I'm gonna take a wild guess, say it was a dump job. Yeah, it got stuck into the trash and now with the rain, everything just been slide down. Right, right. That's why I want the FD here, at least come down, be like, hey, yeah, there's a femur bone here. There's a, you know, maybe we pull out the rest of the body. Otherwise I'm going to take a walk down over there and see if there's anything else.

[Narrator]

Even at first glance, officers determined this was probably no boating accident. This was a dump job. This was someone dumping body parts over the cliffs and alongside the shoreline. And though police combed the beach for days, nothing else surfaced there. They were no longer talking about the lake. They were talking about a person whose body parts might be scattered everywhere. And they were right. Two days later, another piece of human flesh would fit the puzzle. This time in a whole other state.

[Reporter]

Another gruesome discovery along the shores of Lake Michigan, this time in Waukegan, Illinois. The lake coroner says someone walking the beach Saturday night found a human right arm believed to be a woman's. The coroner describes the arm as mostly intact.

[Narrator]

In another part of Milwaukee, a mother has been waiting for her 19 year old daughter to call. They last spoke on April 1st over FaceTime. And nothing about that conversation suggested it would be the last time they would talk by April 3rd. She hasn't heard from her, but this is only slightly unusual. Her daughter is extremely busy, working two jobs, including shifts at Pizza Shuttle on Milwaukee's east side. She's also a student at Milwaukee Area Technical College, and she has her own apartment in the Lower east side. Her routine is complex. Some mornings start early with work, some evenings end late, and classes fill up most of the gaps. When she's not working or studying, she spends time with her friends and tries to have a romantic life. She's been balancing adulthood in real time like the rest of us. Paychecks, homework, rent, friendships. It wouldn't have been unusual for her to miss a call, to text back later. It wouldn't have been out of the question for a day to pass. Quickly but two days, Two days felt different. Her phone has not responded. She hasn't returned messages. No one has heard her voice. For someone juggling two jobs in college, disappearing without a word just doesn't fit. Friends have also noticed.

[Investigator 2]

All right, Josh, so yeah, the reason I'm calling you is I'm calling in regards to Sade Robinson. And could you just kind of like inform me how you know her and when the last time you talked to her?

[Josh (Sade's friend)]

Yeah, so we've been talking for like, I'd say about a month since I moved to Rochester, Minnesota. But I mean, I'm from Milwaukee, so I had met her before last weekend. It was my birthday, so I came home for like four days or whatever and we ended up hanging out multiple times. Saturday I ended up staying at her place, stayed till Sunday morning and then I left. I did some other things during the day, whatever, hung out with my family or whatever. And then Sunday night, it was Easter. Like I made her a little like Easter basket or whatever. I brought it to her at her grandparents place. So I met her family and everything. And then Sunday night, I mean, something that I saw at her grandparents, stayed there for about an hour and then I left. And then that was the last time I physically saw her. We were texting everything. The last text I got from her was 3:12pm on Monday, literally right before work. She said, have a good day at work.

[Narrator]

After that night, no one hears from her. No texts, no calls, no explanation. And by the time her mother has realized something is truly wrong, it has already been two days. What investigators are facing isn't just a disappearance. It's a human puzzle. And they don't yet know how many pieces there are, where they are, or what happened to her. But their best guess is murder. On a chilly afternoon In April of 2024, two young men took a walk down to Warnamont park near Milwaukee, Wisconsin. As they make their way down the bluffs to the shoreline, one of them caught sight of a gruesome piece of landscape. A human leg caught in the weeds. One of them described it as looking like a mannequin's leg. Smooth, dark skin, no blood whatsoever. Only jagged pieces of rubbery flesh, surrounding tissue, muscle, and a femur bone with sharp, spiky edges. The medical examiner would later testify about the force required to break the bone and remove the limb. Deputies responded and secured the area. The leg had been lodged partway down the slope above the reach of the waves. That same morning, miles away In Milwaukee, a 2020 Honda Civic was found engulfed in flames. Surveillance cameras captured a figure walking southbound from the direction of the fire just after 7:30am while two women shouted from nearby as smoke filled the air. Two days later, along the shoreline in Waukegan, Illinois, a human arm washed ashore. By then, what had looked like a single horrific find along a Milwaukee bluff had stretched across state lines. And In Milwaukee, a 19 year old college student named Sade Carlina Robinson and stopped answering her phone. Concerned friends and family checked in with Sade's Life 360 app, including a best friend she'd known since grade school.

[Interviewer 1]

When you found out that Sade was missing, did you ever check Life360?

[Maxwell Anderson's Father]

Yes.

[Interviewer 1]

Did you also have Find My Phone app?

[Investigator 2]

Yes.

[Interviewer 1]

Is that a similar kind of service?

[Maya (Max's ex-girlfriend)]

Yes, just through iPhone.

[Interviewer 1]

So one's through iPhone, the Find My app and then there's a whole separate app, Life 360, right?

[Maya (Max's ex-girlfriend)]

Yes.

[Interviewer 1]

You shared your location with her on both?

[Reporter]

Yes.

[Interviewer 1]

When you contacted law enforcement, what information did you want to provide them?

[Maya (Max's ex-girlfriend)]

My last with the apps, her last locations that I had on my phone.

[Narrator]

Sade's mother and friends contacted officers for a welfare check. But before anything else unfolded, her friends had already been checking her social media. This is Josh again, the friend Sade had been talking to.

[Josh (Sade's friend)]

What I saw on her story was that she went on out to like Dukes on Water.

[Investigator 2]

Okay, was it on Sunday or Monday or what?

[Investigator 1]

Monday.

[Josh (Sade's friend)]

Monday.

[Investigator 2]

Okay. Did you see anybody in the photo at all?

[Josh (Sade's friend)]

No, I just saw some pound cups.

[Investigator 2]

Okay. So the reason I'm calling is nobody has heard from her since Monday and she's, she's missing. So today's Friday and we're trying to put some pieces of this puzzle together. So is there any information that you could provide?

[Narrator]

He had seen her story, she went out and was meeting someone pretty normal. This wasn't out of character, it wasn't alarming yet.

[Dispatcher]

No.

[Josh (Sade's friend)]

The last thing I know is that she went out Monday night, she went drinking and she said something about like, I shouldn't do this again or something. I didn't see anyone in the photo.

[Investigator 2]

When you say she shouldn't do this again, what does she mean by that? Like, was that a Snapchat, Was that

[Josh (Sade's friend)]

a drinking on a Monday or something like that?

[Narrator]

Sade wasn't known to be a partier. Her friends and family knew her to be a responsible young adult with military lineage. Her grandfather was a retired US Navy veteran and her uncle was a US army veteran. Sade herself had been considering joining the US Air Force and was studying criminal justice with plans that Included military service. At the same time, she was a normal young adult who liked to socialize.

[Investigator 2]

Okay, what time was that at?

[Josh (Sade's friend)]

I'd say she went there after work.

[Investigator 2]

Okay, so she was. Was that a. Was that a text message to you, or was that on her Snapchat or

[Josh (Sade's friend)]

when you said it was on her Instagram?

[Investigator 2]

Her Instagram.

[Maxwell Anderson]

Okay.

[Maxwell Anderson's Father]

Yes.

[Investigator 2]

And that was at Duke's, or was that a different bar?

[Josh (Sade's friend)]

It was at Duke's, but I think she went somewhere else.

[Narrator]

Sade's friend Josh wasn't the only one to report she was meeting someone. So did her best friend.

[Interviewer 1]

Do you remember her talking to you about a person she had met at the bar?

[Maya (Max's ex-girlfriend)]

I can't remember the place, but I remember she met somebody.

[Interviewer 1]

Would that have been the weekend prior,

[Maya (Max's ex-girlfriend)]

like, with the dates? I can't remember the exact dates. I just remember before this incident, she told me me about some person who

[Interviewer 1]

was that she met at a bar.

[Maya (Max's ex-girlfriend)]

The bar part. I can't remember.

[Narrator]

Investigators would later retrace Sade's movements that night using phone data. Her phone first left Pizza Shuttle, where she worked earlier that day. It then traveled to a restaurant along the Milwaukee River. The Twisted Fisherman surveillance cameras outside the restaurant also captured Sade entering wearing a white top, black puffy jacket, and jeans. Later that night, the phone moved again, this time to Duke's on Water, a busy bar on Water Street. After that, the signal went south across the city to a residence. Then, in the early morning hours, the phone traveled one last time towards the Lake Michigan shoreline, Warnamont Park. But at that point, investigators still didn't know whose house Sade went to that night, and they didn't know who she was meeting. So detectives dug deeper with her friend Josh. And it turned out they may have been more than friends.

[Josh (Sade's friend)]

I say we were really good friends, kind of like starting to form, like, a relationship, Kind of like boyfriend, girlfriend kind of thing.

[Investigator 2]

Did you, like, go in a pizza shuttle and just start talking to her? Is that the work you're referencing? Pizza shuttle?

[Josh (Sade's friend)]

Yeah, she was at the register or whatever, and then you're just getting pizza, and we kind of just shot the crap. Like, we're like, yeah, we're from Hartford or whatever. And she's like, oh, I gotta go to Hartford. And then we just kind of talked for a little bit from there.

[Investigator 2]

And then you got her number?

[Dispatcher]

Yep.

[Investigator 2]

Okay. Did you give her your number, or did she get your number?

[Josh (Sade's friend)]

I asked her hers.

[Investigator 2]

Okay. I have kind of a personal question to ask you, and I'm only saying this because I've interviewed her co workers and some of her friends. Did they. So here's a. I'm trying to get some pieces of this puzzle together, and they keep referencing a guy, and I don't know if the guy is you or some other guy, but did they ever refer to you as the virgin?

[Narrator]

They did. Poor Josh. Obviously, he and Sade hadn't had sex, even though they'd been hanging out together. And the nickname pretty much said it all. But Josh wasn't the one she was meeting that night.

[Investigator 2]

The thing is, on Monday, April 1, she works 9 to 5, and then she goes to the Twisted Fisherman with some other unknown guy, and that's the last time we see her. And now I understand that she goes to Dukes. We're trying to get surveillance video from that, but we're trying to determine who this unknown guy is. So was there any. Go ahead.

[Josh (Sade's friend)]

I have a question for you.

[Dispatcher]

Do you.

[Josh (Sade's friend)]

So you kind of know what that unknown guy looks like?

[Maxwell Anderson's Tenant]

Yeah.

[Josh (Sade's friend)]

Did he have a little bit longer hair?

[Interviewer 1]

Yeah.

[Josh (Sade's friend)]

Oh, okay. So she was telling me that. So when we went out Saturday night or whatever, you know, and I have friends and everything. Holy, that's crazy. There was this one guy with long hair, kind of looked kind of like a hick. A little bit. Not too much, but a little bit.

[Investigator 2]

Yeah.

[Josh (Sade's friend)]

And when we got there, he kind of, like, tapped her. She's like. And then she's like. And then obviously you know, I was with her.

[Investigator 2]

This is on Saturday, you said?

[Josh (Sade's friend)]

Yep.

[Investigator 2]

Okay, where was that?

[Josh (Sade's friend)]

Celebrate a friend's birthday.

[Investigator 2]

Okay.

[Josh (Sade's friend)]

He, you know, said, hey or whatever. And then, you know, I was hanging out with her, met her friends or whatever. So, you know, they were talking, whatever. We were having a good time. You know, we were drinking or whatever. Not. I mean, I wasn't drinking because the night before, it was my birthday, and I drank way too much, so I felt like. So she was drinking, you know, like, I was making sure she got home okay or whatever. She told me at the end of the night, she said, yeah, you know, this one guy, he was. He told me that, you know, he liked me or something like that. And I was like, well, he's not even my type. And I said, oh, what's your type? She said, oh, you're my type. And she's like, yeah, he was really, really mad.

[Narrator]

According to what Sade told Josh, this guy was upset because he was crushing on her. Earlier that day, Sade went mini golfing with friends and ran into this guy. He must have asked her out, and she Turned him down because of her plans with Josh. Josh remembered Sade telling him that this guy just wasn't her type. But then they ran into him that night.

[Josh (Sade's friend)]

If I had to put money on it, if you saw a guy with long hair, it was probably this dude because he had, I think he had liked her and she wasn't into him. And I think he got pissed off when he saw me. He didn't say anything, but that's what she told me. She, you know, as we're looking, she doesn't really notice him. She, he kind of taps her and says, hey, shy. And she's like, oh, whatever. And because, you know, they had seen each other golfing and then the girls, I mean, the night continued and the girls were talking and she said, yeah, my friends really like you. There's this one dude though, and he said he was like crushing on me or whatever and he said that he doesn't really open up to girls about his feelings and shit like this. So that's why I think there could actually be a motive of like jealousy or some shit like that.

[Narrator]

Josh the virgin was easy to talk to. He was providing a lot of insight into Sade's last movements, insight that even her mother couldn't provide. So not only was this long haired guy a possible person of interest, but Josh remembered even more.

[Josh (Sade's friend)]

The only other guy that I know that could have maybe done something, but I highly doubt it was her neighbor.

[Investigator 2]

Is that the real guy?

[Josh (Sade's friend)]

Okay, now I guess you keep, you're doing good and you're poking my mind. So I guess if there were three guys I would think of, it'd be that guy from the bar. If he had long hair. There was an old X about a month and a month and a half ago. She kind of got over him. I, she, I think he was still on her. Like he called her and was still talking to the family and stuff. So that could be it.

[Investigator 2]

He's a truck driver, white dude, black dude, Hispanic dude.

[Josh (Sade's friend)]

I think he was black. I mean, I think I'm the first white guy that she's dated because I met her family, they weren't expecting a white guy.

[Investigator 2]

Okay. Yeah, that's kind of like what her friends said as well.

[Maxwell Anderson's Tenant]

So.

[Josh (Sade's friend)]

So you say it's that neighbor.

[Narrator]

But all Josh could remember Sade saying about the neighbor guy was that he convinced her to try some of his gummies and she borrowed his phone charger.

[Josh (Sade's friend)]

So that's all I really know about that neighbor dude. That other X. And something you probably should be aware of is that I'd say two weeks before this, her car was broken into.

[Investigator 2]

Yep.

[Josh (Sade's friend)]

And they didn't take like any of her personal stuff. It was more of like a statement.

[Investigator 2]

Okay.

[Josh (Sade's friend)]

They just broke her windows if they didn't and they took her cover wheel

[Investigator 2]

of her driving like the steering column.

[Interviewer 1]

Yeah.

[Josh (Sade's friend)]

So if you were to look into it, I'd say it'd probably be one of those three guys.

[Narrator]

Josh had just given detectives three directions. A possible break in involving Sade's car, a neighbor who may have made her uncomfortable, and the man she had gone out with that night. At that point, investigators couldn't rule any of them out. Every lead had to be checked. But while detectives were still sorting through those possibilities, more body parts were surfacing. Some were found along Milwaukee's lakefront. Others appeared miles away, scattered across different parts of the city. One discovery happened on the north side of Milwaukee. A passerby strolling through the park. Park notices something in the grass in a playground area not far from where Sade's burned car had been discovered. At first it looks like debris. Some wadded up paper bag or maybe a discarded child's toy. Whatever it is, it shouldn't be there. The person moves closer and figures they'll just throw it away, whatever it is in a nearby garbage can. But now they see what it is. A human foot. The skin is dark and flaps of flesh poke up around where the ankle would be. The toenails are neon pink. Investigators are called and find additional pieces of human tissue nearby. Tissue that is much larger and looks like it was carved from or fell away from someone's stomach or thigh. Another grim discovery happened while a woman walked her dog on the beach in South Milwaukee.

[Reporter]

You can still see footprints all over this remote beach that's along Lake Michigan here in South Milwaukee.

[Narrator]

It's yards from my front door.

[Reporter]

Someone walking the remote beach around 7:30 this morning found a torso and an arm just yards away from Angela Buchanan's home.

[Narrator]

I'm definitely on edge now.

[Reporter]

The Milwaukee County Sheriff's office believes the body parts belong to 19 year old Sade Robinson.

[Narrator]

This is not something that anybody should have to go through, especially such a young girl.

[Maya (Max's ex-girlfriend)]

It just kind of makes me like

[Narrator]

scared now to kind of want to come down here with my dog, you know, and do what we do every day.

[Maya (Max's ex-girlfriend)]

Because now it's, am I going to

[Narrator]

come down here and be the next one that's going to find more body parts? The worst fear in Sade Robinson's case was was confirmed the body parts belonged to Her. What started as a missing persons investigation was now officially a homicide. While detectives chased leads across Milwaukee, Sade's family and friends were doing something else entirely. They were searching for pieces of her. They walked the lakefront. They checked parks. They scanned the shoreline, hoping to find anything that might help bring the rest of Sade home. For Sade's mother, one thought repeated in her mind. That even after everything that was done to her, Sade had still managed to leave behind the clues investigators needed.

[Sade Robinson's Mother]

Sade is forever. She will be forever remembered as an angel, a light worker who's touched so many souls, so many lives in the Milwaukee community. She is our hero. She is forever leaving an imprint. She walks in her own path, her own light. She solved her own case. My baby solved her own case. That's how I raised my kids. We.

[Narrator]

You don't give up.

[Sade Robinson's Mother]

We are fighters.

[Narrator]

Sade's mother was right. Before Sade disappeared, she left behind a trail of clues. Texts, messages, pictures. As intrusive as social media is, these small moments shared with friends in real time would act as digital breadcrumbs. But investigators weren't relying on digital evidence alone. There was also the matter of Sade's car. Not long after she vanished, her charred vehicle was found burned in an alley near the playground where her foot was discovered. At first glance, it was obvious someone had tried to destroy it. But detectives noticed something about the inside of the car that just didn't sit right. The driver's seat. The seat in Sade's car had been set for someone much taller. This is when detectives started closing in on the man Sade went out with the night she disappeared. Maxwell Anderson. Max lived on Milwaukee's south side. And as detectives compared notes, they realized he matched the description Josh had given. In his interview. Josh had mentioned a man Sade ran into days earlier, someone she turned down for a date when she went mini golfing with friends. But the man hadn't disappeared from her life. Just days later, she agreed to go on a first date with him. Max was 23 years old. To most people who knew him, he seemed quiet, soft spoken, the kind of person who kept mostly to himself. He worked as a bartender and owned a house where he subletted to a roommate. And we're talking about Maxwell Anders.

[Maxwell Anderson's Tenant]

Maxwell Anderson? Yeah.

[Narrator]

Okay, just clarifying that. And does he own this residence?

[Maxwell Anderson's Tenant]

He says that he does, but, I mean, he also told me he put, like $40,000 down on this and bought the place, but I don't see how. If he only worked two days A week. How he could afford this place to begin with. I don't know if maybe his dad helped him out. I know his dad will. Sometimes I'll get, like, Stephen Anderson mail here. So I don't know if he helped him out, buy it or something like that. He was real flexible with rent, which is why. Which is one of the reasons why

[Narrator]

I wanted to stay here to paint a picture for you. Max looked like an urban lumberjack version of Brad Pitt, if that helps.

[Josh (Sade's friend)]

Did he have a girlfriend?

[Narrator]

Was he in a relationship with anybody

[Caller 1]

that you know of?

[Maxwell Anderson's Tenant]

I know that he texted me about on, like, March 8th and said that he had just broken up with this girl named Maya and he was feeling really bad about it.

[Dispatcher]

Okay.

[Maxwell Anderson's Tenant]

I don't know if, you know, that has anything to do with anything, but he's always had girls, you know, he's. I wouldn't say a ladies man, but he's also always had, like, girl companions over and stuff like that.

[Investigator 2]

Yeah.

[Narrator]

When detectives interviewed his most recent ex, Maya, she painted the picture of what seemed like a normal relationship.

[Investigator 2]

We're probably going to ask you some personal questions. If you choose to answer, Cool. If you don't want to, I totally get it. But there's a lot of pieces to this puzzle that we're trying to put together, and some of the things that you might know might really, really help us.

[Narrator]

One of those personal questions was how many times Maya had had sex with him in the span of about two months they'd been seeing each other. And of course, what was the sex like?

[Investigator 2]

So would you say 12 times?

[Dispatcher]

20?

[Maxwell Anderson's Father]

50?

[Sade Robinson's Mother]

Probably.

[Maya (Max's ex-girlfriend)]

Like, go with, like, 12.

[Dispatcher]

Okay.

[Maya (Max's ex-girlfriend)]

Maybe

[Investigator 2]

when you guys were hooking up, was there any, like, kind of communication, whether it's through the phone or in person where he was, like, he expressed, like, any fantasy things that he wanted to do?

[Narrator]

No, no, he was.

[Maya (Max's ex-girlfriend)]

No, he didn't really have any, like, weird. He was like that at all.

[Investigator 2]

He didn't express, like, anything, quote, unquote. Not the average thing you would do.

[Dispatcher]

No.

[Investigator 2]

Okay.

[Maya (Max's ex-girlfriend)]

He was. No, he was, like, very. Just basic. Like. Like, and very. Just gentle. He never, like, screamed at me or, like, he never put his hands on me ever.

[Narrator]

This didn't seem like killer type behavior. Maya went on to explain that early in their relationship, her dog was sick and she needed to put him down. She remembered Max asking to meet the dog and said he was kind to him. In fact, he had two dogs of his own that were well cared for. Although his roommate portrayed him to be a big drinker, Maya Said she didn't go for that.

[Investigator 2]

Did you think that alcohol and Max were an issue or no?

[Maya (Max's ex-girlfriend)]

So I. I mean, obviously I didn't really know him for that long, but I'm pretty sure he was a pretty frequent drinker. And I kind of go through phases of that too, depending on, like, who I'm hanging out with. But, like, I. When we were seeing each other, like, I talked to him on multiple occasions. Like, hey, like, I know we're having fun, but, like, I really don't want to be, like, drinking and going out this much. Like, yeah, I like to be in the gym every day. I like to feel good and get my shit done. And he was, like, on board with it. He was like, yeah, I'll, like, I'm down to not drink. He started going to the gym. Like he. He was trying to put his life together. It seemed like once he met me,

[Narrator]

but once he met her, his timetable didn't quite line up with hers. He seemed all in.

[Maya (Max's ex-girlfriend)]

I was talking to him, going on dates with him, and then he was moving things way too, more quickly than I wanted him to.

[Caller 1]

Maxwise.

[Maya (Max's ex-girlfriend)]

Yeah.

[Caller 1]

Okay.

[Maya (Max's ex-girlfriend)]

He was like, trying to move things very, very quickly. And I don't have good experiences with people moving things quickly in the past. So I kept telling him I wanted to slow down. And you say he wanted to move things quickly? Like, what do you mean? Like, what was his.

[Narrator]

Did he say anything?

[Dispatcher]

Was he.

[Maya (Max's ex-girlfriend)]

I mean, he introduced me to a lot of his friends right away. He wanted me to go to South Carolina and meet his mom and sister, and he booked flights for us to do that. He would call me his girlfriend, even though I wasn't his girlfriend.

[Narrator]

Just to be clear, you know that in 2026, you can't be boyfriend girlfriend until the question is asked and the words are spoken. I mean, you can have sex 12 or 20 times and go on multiple dates, but that's just talking. That's nothing serious, you know? Anyway, the more questions detectives asked, the more sides of Max came to the surface.

[Maya (Max's ex-girlfriend)]

And so I did go on a date with someone else, and he did not like that. March 1, I was working and I got off early and I went out to Dugout, another bar next door, with the guy that I was at Lux Golf Bays with. And I was hanging out with him and his friends. And then my co worker called me. She's like, maya, Max just showed up looking for you. And I was like, what? Cuz he normally works Friday nights. Where was he looking for you at? He came into my bar Looking for me, thinking I was still at work.

[Investigator 1]

Okay.

[Maya (Max's ex-girlfriend)]

But he didn't text me or anything. He was like trying to surprise me.

[Narrator]

I guess she was surprised, but not in a good way. She says that Max then started hanging out with her and the two guys she was with, but he was upset when one of them flirted with her. Max stormed out and she later told him she needed space. She should be able to hang out with whoever she wants. Unfortunately, they had planned to go to the mini golf course in a few days, but now she wanted to blow him off. She said she didn't want to go with them, but she went anyway. That's when things.

[Maya (Max's ex-girlfriend)]

I told him I didn't want to go with him anymore. I told him that I wasn't going to go in general, but he must have. I don't know if he just like sat there all night in the parking lot, like looking for me to show up there or what, but I went there at like 7:38pm with his name's Chris. We went there with Chris. We played golf. I was going to talk to a manager there because I used to work at Looks Golf base. And I was about to swing and hit the golf ball and I hear behind me, he's like, you better not get too close to the edge. You might fall off. I thought I was maybe like an old co worker messing with me. I turn around and Max is there and basically blew up that I was there with Chris, a different guy. And then he stormed off. And we were on the third floor so we could like see the whole parking lot. So we were watching to see if he was gonna leave. He got in his car, he drove, but he reparked. So we're like, oh, shit, what is he gonna do? He circled Chris's car. He knew what Chris's car looked like because. Because of when we went out that Friday before. So we circled Chris's car once, went back to his car, circled it twice, went back to his car. He did it like four times. And we're like, what is he doing? The fourth time, a bunch of police cars show up and he drives off immediately. Once the police cars show up, you're

[Narrator]

probably thinking that Maya and her friend called the police on Max. Well, you'd be wrong. It was the other way around. Not only did Max call the cops, but he also smashed out her friend's taillight and gave the police his license plate, telling them the guy was driving drunk. He was hoping the police would follow the friend and pull him over for the smashed taillight or even give him a dui. Maya was Max's most recent girlfriend. Not girlfriend. Although he was pretty devastated when she told him that he needed space and didn't know if she could get over what he did, he did not take his frustrations out on her. This was March, just one month before Sade would disappear. But Maya also remembered something else Max had said once.

[Investigator 2]

I know it's an uncomfortable thing to talk about. I know having sex is a weird thing to talk about, and I get it. It's fine. But we're all adults in the room. It's just something that we're kind of looking into, and that's all.

[Maya (Max's ex-girlfriend)]

He was very gentle, like, more so than, like, a lot of guys I've been with. And he even, like, he made a comment. He's like, I think it's weird how some girls, like, want to be choked. And I feel like he's like, I really don't like doing that.

[Narrator]

Max had brought up the subject of choking during sex, not in a threatening way. If anything, he sounded almost disgusted by it. He told her he couldn't understand why some women liked that. Maya said Max had always been gentle with her, and when their relationship fell apart, he seemed genuinely hurt by it. At the time, it didn't seem like an important detail, but detectives would remember it later because Maya wasn't the only woman investigators spoke to. Even before Sade and Maya, there was another young woman. We're going to call her Sherry for privacy. And what Sherry would eventually say would send chills down the spines of the most seasoned detectives.

[Investigator 2]

I've talked to two of his ex girlfriends, and I just keep saying the same thing. We're working a case where there's a girl who disappeared, and. Sorry, it's pretty much just a big puzzle piece right now. I'm trying to put everything together. So your answers are. Might be able to help us figure out what was going on. So when did you guys start dating?

[Caller 1]

We started talking November of 21. Dating March ish of 22. It was, like, kind of on and off, and then I completely cut him off. I would say March or April of 23.

[Investigator 2]

How did you guys meet?

[Caller 1]

Heartbreakers.

[Investigator 2]

Heartbreakers. I weren't there as a dancer. Okay. What did he do there?

[Maya (Max's ex-girlfriend)]

Bartender.

[Investigator 2]

Did you guys just start talking, or what was the connection?

[Caller 1]

Yeah, we would just talk. And I was single, and he was single, and I was looking for somebody older, kind of had their life more put together. So I was like, oh, like this could work.

[Narrator]

When detectives sat down with Sherry the story she told started in a way investigators had heard before. At first, Max seemed quiet, reserved, almost shy. But that didn't last.

[Caller 1]

I mean, we would just, like, constantly get in fights. So he was either, like, really, really mean and just, like, using anything he could. Like, any insecurity I had. He wasn't ever, like, physical with me, though.

[Investigator 2]

Just always tearing you down.

[Caller 1]

Yeah, he'd always. He'd either be super, super mean or, like, super loving. There wasn't like, that in between. He would call me a slut before he had this weird obsession with my ex boyfriend. They ended up getting in, like, a bar fight on St. Patty's Day two years ago. And then ever since then, he was just, like, obsessed with him. So he'd always, like, whenever we got in fights, like, oh, why don't you go fuck Jack? Or, like, so immature.

[Investigator 2]

Like, okay, it just.

[Reporter]

It's.

[Investigator 2]

That's my. That's why it's.

[Investigator 1]

That's why it's funny.

[Narrator]

Funny, creepy. Not sure which, but go ahead.

[Investigator 2]

Go ahead.

[Caller 1]

And then with all the drinking that I was doing when I was with him, I obviously gained weight and, like, no, I wasn't a teenager anymore. And he told me he liked, like, 18.

[Investigator 2]

Okay?

[Caller 1]

So as I was, like, aging and then drinking, I was gaining weight. And, like, every single day, it would be like, I don't want you to eat all of that. Just watching, like, how much I was eating. Called me, like, a fat whore, like, every day. Told me even if I did lose the weight, I'd never be able to keep it off.

[Narrator]

So Sherry told detectives Max could swing between extremes. Affectionate one moment, cruel the next. Arguments became more frequent. And sometimes Sherry said Max would talk about revenge. Not just arguments. Plans. Weird plans.

[Caller 1]

My best friend ended up moving in with my ex boyfriend.

[Investigator 2]

Ex boyfriend's Jack?

[Caller 1]

Yes.

[Maxwell Anderson's Father]

Okay.

[Caller 1]

So my best friend Lexi ended up moving in with Jack.

[Investigator 2]

Okay.

[Caller 1]

And Max was like, jack took your friend from you? I'm gonna take. I took you his last girl, Now I'm gonna take his next girl. So he reached out to Lexi.

[Investigator 2]

Okay?

[Caller 1]

There was one instance where he knew Jack worked on Brady Street. So he told me he was going to Brady street to find his car. I don't know if this ever happened or not, because at this point, it was like I was trying to leave him. So I was really distancing myself. So I don't know exactly. At one point, he asked me to invite Jack over to my place and to beat myself up in the bathroom and call the police to get Jack arrested. And he said, either I do that or he will do it himself.

[Narrator]

This was becoming a theme similar to what Maya had told detectives. Jealousy, possessiveness, and weird revenge plots. And then came the questions about their sex life. Sherry's version was slightly different from Maya's.

[Investigator 2]

So this was for about a year. Okay, in the year, did you guys have sex a lot in the beginning? In the beginning, yes. How often do you remember? Daily?

[Caller 1]

Yeah.

[Investigator 2]

Two times a day.

[Caller 1]

Two times a day when I saw him.

[Investigator 2]

And then when did it start, like, dwindling down?

[Caller 1]

When I started gaining weight.

[Investigator 2]

Okay. Did he ever make videos with you?

[Dispatcher]

Yes.

[Investigator 2]

Okay, how many do you think?

[Sade Robinson's Mother]

Two.

[Investigator 2]

Okay. Does he have the videos or do you have the videos? Did he ever send them to you?

[Dispatcher]

Okay.

[Investigator 2]

By chance. By chance, do you have a tattoo right here? Is it a scorpion?

[Narrator]

Okay, so just something to keep in mind. Sleep with a criminal and the cops might see your tattoos no matter where you hide them. And speaking of which, Max did have a criminal history, just a little. A few years earlier, he was charged with disorderly conduct and criminal damage to property after smashing the windows of a car during a domestic dispute. Police had also been called to incidents involving arguments with family members at his home. All of this pointed to emotional or impulsive disorders, but not murder. Yet their conversation with Sherry continued, giving detectives even more reason to suspect him. Next, they pulled from Max's diary says

[Investigator 2]

bondage equals rape, comma, role play. And I'm not judging, not knocking it. Too bad. I'm cool. It's fun. I get it. I really get it. Even if you are willing to accept that about yourself, you like to pretend you being raped because you otherwise can't feel anything. And he likes to pretend to be the rapist because that's how he'd imagine. I think he says, bed, finally get late, or he'd finally get laid. Does that make any kind of sense to you at all?

[Narrator]

Sherry said, no, it didn't make sense to her. But it's also possible she was embarrassed.

[Investigator 2]

So one more time about the pretend rape comics. When was that kind, like, were you guys in bed together? Were you guys just, like, drinking or, like, how was.

[Caller 1]

No, I think it was just, like a. Drinking.

[Investigator 2]

You just brought it up?

[Caller 1]

Yes.

[Investigator 2]

And just said, I think I'd be hot.

[Caller 1]

No, I think it, like, might have been, like. It might have come up in conversation, like, just, like. Right. Or like a movie or something. And he said, like, rape can be hot.

[Investigator 2]

Okay, so. But just. Just so I get everything straight, he didn't try to, like, set that up with you. He just said rape could be hot.

[Maxwell Anderson's Father]

Right.

[Investigator 2]

Okay.

[Narrator]

Sherry denied participating in the rape fantasies Max mentioned, yet she did participate in another fairly common sex practice.

[Investigator 2]

Like I said, we're all adults. I believe I saw the video that you guys made. Do you recall the video?

[Mistplay Advertiser]

Yes.

[Investigator 2]

Okay. Are you tied up in the video?

[Caller 1]

I think so, yes.

[Investigator 1]

Okay.

[Investigator 2]

From your recollection what was going on?

[Caller 1]

I think he was just fingering me.

[Investigator 2]

Okay. And then. Was that with the belt you described? Like you said, you're okay? Yeah. Okay. Do you know where you were at at that time? His bed.

[Narrator]

Say, where's the female detective in this picture? Just asking.

[Caller 1]

Sometimes it was like a little more kinky.

[Dispatcher]

Okay.

[Maxwell Anderson's Father]

I guess.

[Caller 1]

Wouldn't say anything super crazy.

[Investigator 2]

But in the kinky times, what were they like? What was it like?

[Caller 1]

He had the belt on his bed frame. So he used that to tie me up. And then there were points. God, this is embarrassing.

[Investigator 2]

No, it's totally fine. Trust me. We've talked to everybody and this is just. It's just adults talking. Don't be embarrassed about anything.

[Caller 1]

There were points where he would try and put his whole hand in me.

[Josh (Sade's friend)]

Okay.

[Caller 1]

But that, like, usually ended up being stopped because it was painful and I'd bleed.

[Maya (Max's ex-girlfriend)]

So.

[Josh (Sade's friend)]

Okay.

[Investigator 2]

Did he ever. Were you guys. Did he ever choke you? Well, yes. Okay. And you were fine with that?

[Maxwell Anderson's Father]

Yeah.

[Caller 1]

He wasn't ever like, like crazy. It was just like normal. Like I wasn't. I couldn't not breathe or anything.

[Investigator 2]

Okay. But everything he was doing you were cool with as well?

[Reporter]

Yes.

[Investigator 2]

Okay.

[Narrator]

Sherry was possibly so mortified at laying out all the details of her sex life with a potential killer that she almost forgot to mention something pivotal to the whole investigation.

[Caller 1]

Anything that we did, like, date wise, involved drinks. So, like going out to the bar, concert,

[Investigator 2]

when you guys went on dates? What kind of dates? Or are they just mainly, like going out getting food, drinks, was it? Yeah, pretty casual like that. Did you ever fly anywhere with him?

[Maya (Max's ex-girlfriend)]

No.

[Caller 1]

He did take me to a park, but he wouldn't tell me what it was called because it was like his secret, like, private beach. So I would know if I, like, drove to it. Cuz there's a Mexican restaurant on the way that we always stop at.

[Narrator]

But that secret beach had a name. Warnamont Park. The same shoreline where pieces of Sade Robinson had already turned up. A place where Sherry had visited with the very man detectives now suspected was the killer.

[Sade Robinson's Mother]

Sa.

[Narrator]

It was April of 2024 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. It started with a severed leg on the shoreline of Lake Michigan, then an arm all the way over in Illinois. And it didn't stop there. By then, investigators knew the victim was 19 year old Sade Robinson, a college student working two jobs and building a future that ended in pieces scattered across the city and state lines. Detectives had already started reconstructing the final hours of her life, which wasn't difficult. In some ways, Sade had left behind a digital trail. Her burned car abandoned in an alley not far from where one of her severed feet would later be discovered. Surveillance cameras capturing her and her date moving between bars and restaurants. And phone data tracing her movements across the city in the hours before she disappeared. By the time investigators finished mapping that trail, one name kept appearing at its center. The man Sade Robinson had gone out with that night. Max Anderson. He was also the last person known to have seen her alive. It didn't take long before the evidence started piling up. Detectives obtained search warrants and started looking at Max's place. And before they even stepped inside, the yard looked like something had been clawing its way in and out of the ground. Max's tenant spoke with detectives about it. And do you know how long he's owned this place?

[Maxwell Anderson's Tenant]

I know there was one tenant before me who also moved out because she hated it here.

[Investigator 1]

And she say why?

[Maxwell Anderson's Tenant]

I've never talked to her, but that's just what Max was telling me. He was like, oh, she was always calling the city on me because of, you know, the holes and shit that he's got out in the yard. Like, he said that was going to be a shed.

[Narrator]

Like, yeah, what's the big old hole?

[Maxwell Anderson's Tenant]

He says that was going. He was going to turn that into a shed with like a basement. And they said like, when it gets cold in the winter, that's where I was going to keep my dogs. And I'm like, this is the dumbest idea I've ever heard in my life.

[Narrator]

Dumbest, maybe sickest. Who adds a basement to the shed in their yard? And for dogs that are indoor dogs anyway? Well, the answer is nobody.

[Maxwell Anderson's Tenant]

And then in the top, it was gonna be storage for lawn stuff or whatever. That was his idea. And then there's another hole going like back to the garage. He said he was gonna do an outdoor bar there. And guy's just weird, man. He had all these weird ideas that you just as a normal person, you look at that and you're like, that's never gonna work. You know what I mean?

[Narrator]

The inside of the house was even weirder as Max's ex girlfriend remembered well,

[Caller 1]

he had, like, the hidden closet.

[Investigator 2]

Okay. Behind the TV you're referring to?

[Caller 1]

Yes.

[Josh (Sade's friend)]

Okay.

[Caller 1]

He has that, like, marble piece that you could remove from underneath his bathroom counter. And he told me that he would store all his money there because he was just paranoid of somebody coming in, and he was just very paranoid. He had his little mushroom lab in the basement. Yeah.

[Narrator]

When she was questioned earlier about the so called mushroom lab, detectives assumed she meant psychedelic mushrooms. But actually, Sherry didn't know what the hell they were. Max never specified. He only told her that they could eat them, which she declined. Once inside Max's house, detectives found cutting tools, including a hacksaw, consistent with the saw marks the medical examiner found on Sade's bones. But the most disturbing discovery came from Max's phone. Investigators found pictures taken the night Sade disappeared. In one, Sade is lying face down on a couch, looking unresponsive, while Max is grabbing her breast. During the autopsy, the medical examiner determined the same breast had been cut off. It was never found. By that point, detectives had seen and heard enough. On April 4, 2024, Milwaukee police arrested and charged Maxwell Anderson with first degree intentional homicide, mutilating a corpse, arson, and hiding a corpse. Prosecutors told jurors he killed Sade Robinson after their first date, dismembering her body inside his home and scattering her remains across Milwaukee and along the Lake Michigan shoreline. They pointed to surveillance footage of the pair together, the digital trail left on Sade's phone, the pictures from Max's phone, and the cutting tools investigators found inside his house. Max's trial started on May 28, 2025, and after roughly two weeks of testimony, the jury returned verdicts of guilty on all counts. Both Max and his father made statements at his sentencing. Until this point, Max had said nothing, but now he was claiming innocence.

[Maxwell Anderson]

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 took this to trial without ever once trying to make a plea deal of any kind, because I did not commit these crimes. And so I plan to appeal my convictions while I hope and pray that further investigations not only prove my innocence, but find and deliver true justice.

[Narrator]

Max's defense team made a similar argument throughout the trial. They told jurors the case against Max was built entirely on circumstantial evidence that no one had witnessed the killing. No clear crime scene had been established inside Max's home, and no single piece of physical evidence directly proved he had murdered Sade Robinson. They urged the jury not to mistake suspicion for proof. When Max's father addressed the court, he spoke about loss. In an ironic twist, he referenced another young man he had once cared for deeply. It seemed like a tragedy had happened in that family long before his son was ever convicted of murder.

[Maxwell Anderson's Father]

On behalf of myself and my family, I'd like to say a few things. First to Chavez family. There are no words that I can share that will reduce your pain. You are all in my thoughts every single day, although it is not the same. Having lost a boy that was like a son to me 10 years ago, I have some sense of what you are feeling. It took me a very long time to get past the pain that I felt for the person that contributed to his passing. I'm not asking you to forgive anybody or anything that is between you and your God.

[Narrator]

After making this mysterious comment, he turned his attention to his murderous son.

[Maxwell Anderson's Father]

We want you to know that we love you and support your plan for self improvement in this. We hope for a path for you to become a positive influence for society both while you are incarcerated and hopefully after.

[Narrator]

But there was no path forward for a cold blooded killer like Max. We don't know much about him, even from his own father's words, but we know the facts and we know that the jury voted quickly and unanimously. His father talked about hope, self improvement and the possibility that someday Max could contribute something positive to society. The judge and the jury didn't see it that way.

[Reporter]

I have weighed your character and as I've indicated, I find it wanting. I've also reflected on the needs of society and are you a good risk and sadly you're not. So how do we protect society from a man who clearly has had darkness in his past, who engaged in behavior that is. It's the facts that you see written in horror novels. That's what we have to determine. And you know, it isn't easy. I can tell you that when you think about is there ever something redeemable in a person you'd like to say at some point there is. And I can tell you that at the points in life where I've come to the conclusion that there isn't anything redeemable, you know, you do think about. I think it takes away a little piece of my soul. How come I couldn't find anything good? How come I can't find anything that I can say at some point you'll be a better person.

[Narrator]

Sometimes people are just not redeemable no matter how hard to try to see the good in them, there just isn't any. Maybe they started as a good person, and life's events just eroded the goodness away until there was nothing left but darkness. Or maybe they were just born with a heart of darkness. If that's even possible. Who knows? I'm no philosopher. I'm no theologian. That's what makes this case so unsettling. Maxwell Anderson looked like every other guy. He wore that mask perfectly. As for Sade, she was trying to do everything right. She did everything everyone expected her to do. She did the things people are told to do to stay safe. She told friends where she was going. She shared her location. Her movements at night were captured again and again on security cameras across Milwaukee. Restaurants, streets, parking lots. Almost every step of that evening exists on video. All except one. The minute she walked into the house of secret compartments, there. Rumors have it, they watched a movie about a serial killer who dismembers his victims. If true, was this a trigger? Or was this just foreplay for Max? Because after the movie ended, he killed her. Then he dismembered her body, burned her car, and took her to his secluded beach to leave parts of her body there.

[Dispatcher]

All right, well, I'm gonna send some deputies down there. Just hang tight. It should be. Not too long.

[Caller 1]

Okay, thank you.

[Dispatcher]

All right. And what did you actually find?

[Caller 1]

It looks like the. It looks like the back and the butt and an arm.

[Dispatcher]

Back, arm, and the rear. The buttocks. Okay.

[Maya (Max's ex-girlfriend)]

Okay.

[Dispatcher]

All right. Expect a call from one of the deputies. I'm assuming they're probably gonna give you a call so they can figure out exactly where you are, but we'll be there as soon as we can. Okay?

[Narrator]

He then scattered the rest of her remains across the city. To this day, she has not fully been recovered. No one knows where Sade put her head to rest. After the trial, allegations surfaced that Max told someone weeks earlier he was going to kill and dismember a woman he had recently met. That claim came from an informant tied to search warrants in the case. It was never fully tested at trial, but it raises the disturbing possibility that Sade may have been targeted from the very beginning. Some people close to Sade also believe she initially rejected Max. At some point, he seemed jealous of her friend Josh. It's possible the date happened only after she tried to smooth things over, something many women do when they feel pressured or uncomfortable. If that's true, it adds another tragic layer to this story, because what may have looked like an ordinary first date may actually have been the final step in a situation that had already turned extremely dangerous. Or worse, if it can get any worse. Maybe, just maybe, Sade would have been the first of many unbeknowing women to follow in her path. All the way to Warnamont park and all the way to Max's private beach. Well, we hope that'll keep you satisfied until next week. We know it won't, but you know, boy can dream. Go check out Tales and leave us some feedback. We'll see you next week. Stay safe.