According to police, a defense attorney for a Wisconsin man on trial for murdering a 19-year-old woman on their first date and chopping her body up claims his family has received death threats, warning that if he does not drop the case, they will be killed.
“It is uncalled for and unacceptable,” Maxwell Anderson’s attorney, Anthony Cotton, told local NBC affiliate WTMJ on Friday.
Anderson, 34, has been charged with first-degree intentional homicide, mutilation of a corpse, and arson of property other than a building for allegedly killing Sade Robinson last year.
The Waukesha Police Department told Fox affiliate WITI that someone recently called Cotton’s local law office and threatened to kill members of his family if the Anderson case was not dropped.
As previously reported by Law&Crime, an investigation was launched in April 2024 after someone discovered a human leg in the water at Warnimont Park in Cudahy, just south of Milwaukee. A joint investigation by the Milwaukee County Sheriff’s Office and the Milwaukee Police Department revealed that Robinson’s family reported her missing the day before, when she failed to show up for work.
According to the criminal complaint, he and Robinson first met on April 1, 2024, for a date. Detectives allegedly obtained text messages from the two earlier in the day, and surveillance video shows them at a downtown Milwaukee restaurant and bar before leaving in Robinson’s Honda Civic and driving to Anderson’s house, according to the complaint.
According to the complaint, Robinson’s phone app shows that it left Anderson’s residence shortly after midnight on April 2, 2024, and then traveled to Warnimont Park, where the victim’s leg was discovered. Surveillance video from the park shows a Honda Civic ramming through a gate around 3 a.m., and someone is seen repeatedly going down to the water before leaving around 4:30 a.m.
Around 7:30 a.m., the Milwaukee Fire Department responded to the 1800 block of 29th Street for a vehicle fire, which investigators later identified as Robinson’s Honda. According to the complaint, cops recovered surveillance video from a bus showing Anderson getting on the bus near where the vehicle was torched and riding to a stop near his home.
Police discovered a foot and human flesh near the burned-out Honda on April 6, 2024. It was confirmed that they belonged to Robinson.
According to the complaint, a search of Anderson’s home revealed blood in a bedroom and on the basement walls.
In the basement, investigators discovered a “sex dungeon,” according to local ABC affiliate WISN.
“I understand that there are strong feelings about this case. Cotton told WTMJ: “I sympathize with that, and my heart goes out to everyone affected by this tragedy.”
But he also believes it is wrong to threaten someone’s family “for doing what the Constitution requires — providing a defense in even the most difficult of cases,” he said.
The first week of Anderson’s trial concluded on Friday, when prosecutors presented cellphone data and other evidence tracing Robinson’s last movements, including video footage. They also recounted her final day alive and provided details from the grim discovery of her remains, causing gasps in the courtroom, according to CBS affiliate WDJT.
“Three separate human remains,” said Detective Casey Donahue, recalling in photos how one of the “larger” sections was covered by a tarp when he arrived on scene, but Robinson’s foot was still hanging out, according to WDJT.
“The medical examiner moved to the tarp and now revealed that it was a human leg, which appeared to be severed above the knee and at the ankle,” according to Sgt. Cassandra Lindert.
Anderson’s trial is expected to continue for at least another week.
