Horrified jurors were 'shaking and crying' in court after hearing how Netflix-inspired murderer killed girl
A Wisconsin jury was left horrified when they were shown disturbing images a Netflix-inspired murderer took of his victim.
Maxwell Anderson, 34, was convicted on Friday of first degree intentional homicide, mutilation of a corpse and arson of property other than building in the April 2024 murder of 19-year-old college student Sade Robinson.
Investigators have said that Anderson is believed to have spread her remains around Milwaukee County and burned her car to hide evidence after the two met for dinner and drinks at the Twisted Fisherman in Milwaukee and went back to Anderson's apartment.
There, prosecutors said Anderson took disturbing photos showing him groping Robinson while she lay face down on his couch and was said to be far too incapacitated to have resisted.
Another damning photo showed Anderson holding Robinson's right breast as she lay unconscious. That breast would later be cut off her body, and has not yet been recovered.
'That was pretty damning evidence that shook everyone,' juror Melissa Blascoe told the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel, noting that it was the first time during the two-week long trial prosecutors proved Robinson was at Anderson's house before her death.
'I physically felt like I was gonna throw up at that point,' she added. 'I know a lot of people were shaking and crying.'
Blascoe said the photos will now 'be in my mind for quite some time,' describing them as Anderson's 'trophy.'
But they also served as the 'nail in [Anderson's] coffin,' Blascoe said, explaining that by the time jurors went to deliberate on the charges 'everyone agreed pretty early in the morning that he was guilty.'
The jury then spent just an hour deliberating on Friday, much of it debating whether to convict him of first degree intentional homicide or first degree reckless homicide.
After they then read out their decision, Blascoe said the jury was presented with new information - that Anderson was watching the Netflix series Love, Death & Robots.
The animated 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.
'I was like... that's disgusting because that could have been where he got some of his ideas or fantasies,' Blascoe said.
At the trial, prosecutors proved that Anderson spent months prepping his basement for the gruesome murder by covering it from floor to ceiling with painter's tarp, Law & Crime reports.
He also had a sanitation sink and three saws inside.
Prosecutors have previously also said that Robinson and Anderson were caught on surveillance footage leaving the Twisted Fisherman in Robinson's Honda Civic at around 9.30pm on April 1.
An app on Robinson's phone then shows it left Anderson's home shortly after midnight on April 2, and traveled to Warnimont Park, along the Lake Michigan shore, where police would later discover a 'sawn off' human leg that was confirmed to be Robinson's.
Surveillance footage from the park showed a Honda Civic ramming through a gate at around 3am and someone is seen going down to the water several times before leaving at 4.30am, Law & Crime reports.
By around 7.30pm that day, the Milwaukee Fire Department responded to a vehicle fire - which investigators later determined was Robinson's Honda.
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.
From there, cops received surveillance footage showing Anderson getting on a bus near where the Honda was torched and riding to a stop near his home, according to a police affidavit.
Then, on April 6, police found a foot and human flesh not far from the burned-out vehicle, which they confirmed belonged to Robinson.
An ensuing search of his home also found blood in a bedroom and on the walls leading to the basement - where investigators found a 'sex dungeon,' according to WISN.
Following the verdict on Friday, Milwaukee County Assistant District Attorney Ian Vance-Curzan said he is 'satisfied' with the outcome but noted that 'our hearts go out to the family of Sade Robinson.'
Milwaukee County Sheriff's Det. JoAnn Donner, who spent months working on the case, also 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.
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