While suspect charged in Sade Robinson case, officials say search, investigation continue

Local law enforcement officials aren't done investigating Sade Carleena Robinson's death and Maxwell S. Anderson's alleged involvement in it, they said at a press conference Friday morning.

At about the same time, Anderson was in Milwaukee County Circuit Court, charged with killing and dismembering 19-year-old Robinson, missing since April 1.

At the joint news conference, Milwaukee County Sheriff Denita Ball and Milwaukee Police Chief Jeffrey Norman said a search for remains continues. An investigation into a possible motive remains active, they said.

Preliminary results of blood testing on a severed leg found in Cudahy's Warnimont Park suggest it belonged to Robinson, according to the criminal complaint against Anderson. Other human remains were found near 31st and Galena, not far from where Robinson's burned car was discovered. They haven't been identified, Norman said.

"To know someone has been dismembered in a fashion like that ... our investigators want to find justice for the victim," Ball said. "Right now, that's what they're focused on."

Neither Norman nor Ball would comment on evidence found or taken from Anderson's south-side home during a search, although the complaint said blood was found in bedding in Anderson's home and on walls leading to a basement.

Ball said, at this point, there's no evidence there are other victims.

More: Here's a timeline of events in the Sade Robinson homicide, Maxwell Anderson arrest in Milwaukee

Remains found in Cudahy and Milwaukee

According to the complaint, Anderson and Robinson met April 1 to go on a first date. The two ate dinner and went to a bar before going to Anderson's home on the 3100 block of South 39th Street.

Around 12:45 a.m., Robinson’s phone left the area and went to Milwaukee’s downtown, eventually reaching the Riverwest neighborhood, at Pleasant Valley Park. From there, it went to the Warnimont Park area in Cudahy, where it stayed until the phone’s battery died shortly after 4:30 a.m.

Video at the park showed a Honda Civic at the park until about 4:30 a.m. A “human figure” was seen walking down a bluff several times and back to the area of the car.

At 7:32 a.m. April 2, Robinson’s burned Honda Civic was found near West Lisbon Avenue and North 29th Street in Milwaukee, with what officials later determined to be Robinson’s clothes and other belongings inside. On April 6, police found a foot in the area of the burned car that appeared to be from the same body as the severed leg.

Using video and witness statements, police identified Anderson as the suspect who burned the vehicle. He boarded a bus that took him near his home and arrived there on foot at about 8:35 a.m.

Early in the morning of April 4, sheriff’s deputies stopped Anderson’s vehicle and arrested him.

Elliot Hughes of the Journal Sentinel contributed to this report

This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Sade Robinson search continues as investigators seek remains, motive