Police zero in on person of interest as investigations into missing Milwaukee woman, human remains ramp up
A 19-year-old woman reported missing, her family fearing the worst.
A leg found along the Lake Michigan shoreline in Cudahy. A car torched in a Milwaukee alley and human remains discovered nearby days later.
And a man, described as a person of interest in the dismembered leg case, taken into custody after authorities searched his duplex on Milwaukee’s south side.
The events have sparked rumors and conspiracy theories as the public tries to understand how or if they are connected. As of Tuesday morning, much of the situation remained unclear.
What is known: Investigators have zeroed in on the person of interest, Maxwell S. Anderson.
On Tuesday, the 33-year-old Anderson appeared in Milwaukee County Circuit Court, where prosecutor Ian Vance-Curzan asked a court commissioner for more time to make a charging decision and to keep him in custody while he does so.
Vance-Curzan works in the homicide unit of the Milwaukee County District Attorney’s Office. Authorities had found blood in the stairwell of Anderson's house and on a comforter, evidence that was cited in that probable cause statement submitted to the court on April 6, he said.
Since the original probable cause statement was signed, “there’s been additional evidence recovered by way namely of blood evidence, in addition to what’s indicated in the probable cause statement, from the defendant’s residence,” Vance-Curzan said.
He asked for Anderson to be held for an additional 72 hours so he could review the blood testing results from the state Crime Lab before making a charging decision. The lab expects to have the results completed within two days, he added.
“I would also add that in the interim since that statement was made there has been additional human body remains recovered and that’s also going to be tested,” the prosecutor said.
Anthony Cotton, Anderson's defense attorney, and Anderson’s parents appeared in court Tuesday morning. Cotton appeared to allude to Anderson's potential connection to the missing woman in his remarks.
“He’s been arrested now and held for going on over four days… on nothing more than a written submission to the court indicating that because he supposedly had contact with a missing person and there’s some cell tower suspicion that he continues to remain detained,” Cotton said.
Cotton said nothing prevents prosecutors and detectives from continuing to investigate with Anderson out of custody. Anderson, he said, has strong ties to the community, a full time job and would return to court if criminally charged.
Court Commissioner Jeralyn Wendelberger granted the request for a 72-hour extension.
Cotton declined to speak with a reporter after the hearing and declined comment on behalf of Anderson’s family. Relatives of the missing woman, Sade Carleena Robinson, left the courthouse with a victim advocate after meeting with the prosecutor following the hearing.
Anderson has several past convictions related to domestic violence, including a case in which he assaulted a family member and another in which he beat a man who tried to intervene when he saw Anderson and a woman arguing.
How these events may be connected
No officials have publicly connected Anderson to the disappearance of Robinson, but a timeline of events shows both investigations ramping up in recent days.
Robinson was reported missing April 1.
The next day, the severed leg was discovered in Cudahy.
The Milwaukee County Sheriff’s Office confirmed detectives and deputies searched a house April 4 near South 39th Street and West Oklahoma Avenue related to the leg and took a person into custody for questioning.
After that, human remains were found in Milwaukee, near North 30th Street and West Lisbon Avenue, on Friday, Saturday and Sunday. None of the remains has been identified yet, authorities said.
“While the two have not been connected as of yet, the Milwaukee County Sheriff’s Office is working in partnership with the Milwaukee Police Department to investigate the second discovery,” the Sheriff’s Office said Monday in a news release, referring to the severed leg and other human remains.
Also on Monday, Milwaukee police said more human remains were discovered a few blocks south near North 30th and West Galena streets, but added that investigators had not determined if they were related to the remains found over the weekend.
A Journal Sentinel reporter saw several Milwaukee police detectives searching along the train tracks in the area Monday afternoon.
Regardless, the location of North 30th Street and West Lisbon Avenue appears to be significant to Robinson’s case.
A resident in that area called 911 the morning of April 2, the day after Robinson was reported missing, to report a car was on fire in the alley behind her home on North 29th Street. Robinson’s family members told WISN-TV (Channel 12) that detectives said the car belonged to the missing woman.
And when the family returned to the area of North 30th Street and Lisbon Avenue this weekend to search for more clues, they found a distinctive blanket owned by Robinson with her photo printed on it, according to WITI-TV (Channel 6).
The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel has contacted Robinson’s family but they were not available for interviews Monday. The news organization has not independently verified those earlier media reports.
'Everyone loved' Robinson, missing more than a week
Robinson always showed up for work.
In three years, Pizza Shuttle manager Justin Romano couldn't remember a time she had missed her shift at Pizza Shuttle, on Milwaukee’s east side.
So when she did not arrive April 1, a co-worker called police and asked officers to check on her, he said. In the days leading up to her disappearance, there was nothing suspicious, he added.
“Everything was very normal, that’s why it was so concerning when she didn’t show,” Romano said.
Robinson typically took orders at the front desk and was a favorite among co-workers and regular customers. Many at Pizza Shuttle were taking her disappearance hard.
Romano said he is not making any assumptions on what might have happened to her.
“Everybody loved her,” he said. “We have customers coming in just to see her. People would talk to her all day; our regulars knew her very well.”
The 19-year-old was taking classes at Milwaukee Area Technical College and previously attended Ida S. Baker High School in Florida and Riverside High School in Milwaukee, according to her Facebook page.
Anderson's criminal record includes domestic-violence-related charges
As authorities searched Milwaukee’s Walnut Hill neighborhood Monday afternoon, the scene around Anderson’s house on the south side was quiet.
Property records show Anderson is the listed owner of the brick duplex on South 37th Street near West Oklahoma Avenue that was searched last week. A neighbor, William Rosario, said Anderson kept a low profile and could occasionally be seen walking his dogs.
Anderson has a criminal record that includes drunken driving arrests and domestic-violence-related charges.
In 2014, he was charged with two counts of disorderly conduct after getting into a fight with a relative. The relative told Waukesha County sheriff’s deputies Anderson was acting erratically and she believed he was under the influence of drugs or alcohol, according to a criminal complaint.
Anderson had shoved the woman, smashed a cellphone and had broken items in the kitchen, she said. When confronted by a deputy, he reportedly said, “What are you gonna do, shoot me?” before running into the garage and fleeing in the woman’s car, the complaint says. He later returned, crashed the woman’s car into a deck and eventually was arrested.
A year later, Anderson was arrested in Door County at another relative’s house following a disturbance. A relative suggested he seek out mental health treatment and Anderson smashed a glass, punched a hole in a wall and grabbed a phone out of the hand of another relative who was trying to call police, according to a criminal complaint.
Anderson was convicted in both cases.
In 2019, he was charged with beating a stranger who tried to intervene when he saw Anderson and a woman arguing in the 2300 block of West Wisconsin Avenue in Milwaukee.
Marquette University police interviewed Anderson and the 57-year-old victim, who had blood running down his face.
Anderson admitted hitting the man but did not respond when asked why he did so, the complaint says. A witness had recorded much of the assault on her cellphone. The video showed Anderson on top of the man, punching him multiple times before dragging him to the edge of the property.
He pleaded guilty to disorderly conduct and was sentenced to one year of probation. He was ordered to complete 25 hours of community service and pay more than $7,000 in restitution to the victim for medical bills and lost wages.
More recently, Anderson has been working part-time at Victor’s Nightclub on North Van Buren Street downtown.
Vic Jones, manager and son of the club’s owner, said Anderson’s current legal trouble came as a “shock” and that he was “well-liked” and a “good worker.”
Anderson worked at several other area bars, was an “electronics technician” and often looked for seasonal work or temp jobs, according to Jones. He previously worked at The Rave, according to employees there.
Alison Dirr and Drake Bentley of the Journal Sentinel staff contributed to this report.
This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Maxwell Anderson is person of interest: Milwaukee humans remains case
