A Wisconsin man killed and dismembered a 19-year-old college student on their first date after watching a Netflix show that depicted an eerily similar mutilation.
Maxwell Anderson was convicted of homicide and dismembering a corpse on Friday for the horrific slaying of Sade Robinson on April 1 of last year – just days after the two met at a bar.
They had spent the evening of their fateful date getting dinner and drinks at the Twisted Fisherman in Milwaukee before eventually going back to Anderson’s apartment.
At one point, Anderson turned on the Netflix series Love, Death & Robots.
The show’s Season 2 finale, ‘The Drowned Giant,’ depicts the gruesome dismantling of a gigantic human body on a beach.
Prosecutors claimed that Anderson mutilated Robinson’s body on a Wisconsin beach overlooking Lake Michigan – a jarring detail that was almost too much to stomach for the jury.
‘I was like… that’s disgusting because that could have been where he got some of his ideas or fantasies,’ juror Melissa Blascoe told the Milwaukee-Journal Sentinel.
‘I physically felt like I was gonna throw up at that point. I know a lot of people were shaking and crying.’
Anderson was also charged with arson and hiding a corpse in connection with her death. He was found guilty on all counts.
Sade Robinson (pictured), 19, was killed and dismembered by Maxwell Anderson after the pair went on a first date in April last year
Anderson (pictured) was found guilty on all four counts after being charged with first-degree intentional homicide, dismembering a corpse, arson and hiding a corpse
Robinson’s mother, Sheena Scarbrough (pictured left), said that her daughter was a ‘loving daughter, a cherished sister, and a dear friend to many’
Investigators said that Anderson is believed to have spread her remains around Milwaukee County and burned her car to hide evidence.
Disturbing images showed Robinson being groped by Anderson while she lay face down on his couch, and prosecutors said she was far too incapacitated to have resisted.
One image shows Anderson holding Robinson’s right breast as she lay unconscious. That breast would later be cut off her body.
‘This is his trophy in a way,’ Blascoe said about the images taken by Anderson. ‘Those pictures will be in my mind for quite some time.’
Surveillance video showed Robinson’s car leaving the apartment in the early hours of April 2 before arriving at the beach along Lake Michigan shores.
The young student’s disappearance sparked concern when she didn’t appear for work the next day.
Her manager, Justin Romano, told CNN that Robinson was ‘very outgoing, she would talk to everybody here. She was always there to lighten the mood.’
Romano said her not showing up for work ‘wasn’t like her at all,’ and added: ‘We kind of knew something was up; we had been calling her all day.’
Anderson is believed to have cut her body into pieces and burned her car behind an abandoned building before taking a bus back to his apartment.
Within the car, despite ‘extreme fire damage,’ investigator’s identified the outfit Robinson had been wearing on the night of the date as well as part of an iPhone consistent with hers burned in the car, CNN reported.
Anderson is believed to have dismembered her body into pieces and burned her car behind an abandoned building before taking a bus back to his apartment
Her manager, Justin Romano, said that Robinson was ‘very outgoing, she would talk to everybody here. She was always there to lighten the mood’
Police then were called to Warnimont Park where a human leg, that appeared to have been ‘sawn off’ at the hip, was discovered. The leg was then identified as Robinson’s.
A ‘confidential informant’ claimed that Anderson had planned to kill Robinson weeks prior to her death, Fox News reported.
Anderson’s attorney, Tony Cotton, argued, however, that the prosecution showed no evidence of Anderson’s intention to kill Robinson.
Cotton also pointed out he made no attempt to conceal himself on public transport home, and was wearing clean clothes despite having allegedly cut up her body in a muddy park.
Jurors reached their verdict within an hour on the ninth day of trial.
‘While we are satisfied with this verdict, our hearts go out to the family of Sade Robinson,’ Milwaukee County Assistant District Attorney Ian Vance-Curzan said.
Milwaukee County Sheriff’s Det. JoAnn Donner spent months working on the case and said: ‘My heart goes out to the family and [Robinson’s] friends and really, the community at large.
‘It’s everyone’s come together, and it’s really hard to take that step back as a law enforcement officer and not get that really emotionally involved during the case,’ she continued. ‘I will admit that I did go back to my office after the verdict, and I had a good cry because I finally got to have that emotion. It does affect us too.’
Robinson’s mother, Sheena Scarbrough, said in a GoFundMe for her daughter’s memorial service that Robinson was a ‘loving daughter, a cherished sister, and a dear friend to many.’
Anderson is set for sentencing on August 15, where he faces a mandatory life sentence in prison.
