Who is Maxwell Anderson, the Sade Robinson murder suspect?

Warning: Some elements of this case are particularly graphic. Please take caution while reading.

Every case is tragic in its own right, but searching for love or connection, going on a date, trusting someone, and then being betrayed and killed by them, having one’s body desecrated in death no less, is something out of a waking nightmare. There is no question Sade Robinson, 19, deserved much better.

Maxwell Anderson, 33, is the primary and sole suspect. In fact, part of the speculation out there is that this man could have had other victims. However, there is little evidence of this. The biggest clue is that the blood in his basement – said to be a “sex dungeon” – did not match Sade’s. Even if he has not killed before, if he were to go free after having allegedly done this to Sade, it could well be that he’d move on to other victims.

One Redditor wrote:

Anderson used a dating app to lure Sade to his house after a date. Choosing a 19-year-old black girl may also have been purposeful. We have seen how there is a systemic problem when it comes to the neglecting of cases involving marginalized minorities. Sade Robbinson’s mother, Sheena Scarborough knows this well: “We don’t want this to happen to any other family of color. Because this has been taking place for too long.”

This tendency shows in the way the community has been the one to most avidly search for the missing girl’s body parts. It is possible, that Maxwell Anderson was aware of this fact, and thus, chose his victim for her vulnerability. Jeffrey Dahmer did the same thing – targeting men instead of women – in Milwaukee too.

Who is this man who’s alleged to have done something this horrific?

What’s the alleged murderer’s past?

Maxwell Anderson is a 33-year-old bartender, who’s also worked as a security guard. After interviewing five of his acquaintances, from middle school to his early 20s, The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel wrote a comprehensive profile on the accused killer.

Maxwell was part of a wealthy family of four who lived in suburban Waukesha County. His parents filed for divorce in 2010. Those who knew him from this time said that even then, as a teenager, Anderson was “weird.”

Maxwell’s father, Steve Anderson, told the Sentinel:

“Social media would have you believe that I have a habit of bailing him out of bad situations, but I can assure you that nothing could be further from the truth. In the case of his past legal problems, when he’s done wrong, he’s had to accept personal responsibility for his actions. In his run-ins with the law, that has meant using a public defender or representing himself.”

These “past legal problems” were, specifically, in 2009, having fled from police, insulting law enforcement, breaking a window of a house that was not his, and engaging in underage drinking and smoking multiple times. Reports show that Anderson’s father wasn’t as willing to let his son take accountability as he claimed. For all of these unlawful deeds, Maxwell only received citations.

Two years after graduating high school Anderson joined the Navy, but for unknown reasons, his service only lasted for 8 months.

Friends said that Anderson had the habit of carrying a firearm, would brandish threateningly at tense times, and that he was extremely messy and untidy. They also indicated that he never attended either class or went to work and continued to love to drink.

In 2014 he was in Wisconsin and getting in trouble with the law once more. He was violent towards his mother and even stole her car, later crashing it. She chose to not press charges.

That same year, he was also charged with disorderly conduct for drunkenly tackling a man to the ground after he tried to stop him from driving under the influence. He also was charged again for acting violently toward relatives, but his felony, in this case, was downgraded to a misdemeanor.

In 2019, he punched a man in the face after he tried to intervene in an argument Anderson was having with a woman. Again, he got charged with misdemeanors. His troubles with alcohol and drunk driving also continued up nearly until the present.

According to the article, Anderson seemed like a lonely person with poor social skills, even poorer impulse and anger management, and potentially some kind diagnosable mental disorder. While that would not excuse him, it may explain some of his “weirder” attitudes over the years that led to this most moment. This is not to say that everyone with mental illness will fall as low as the suspected perpetrator in this case, in fact, it is mostly not the case.

Anderson has pled “not guilty”, and it would not be surprising if he and his lawyers were to decide, in the event of there being no way to prove total innocence, to go with the insanity defense.

In the meantime, if you’re not from the area and cannot help with the search, you may help a grieving mother by donating to Sheena Scarborough’s GoFundMe.