The father of a man who killed and dismembered a teen on their first date held back tears as he apologized to her family and sent a strong message to his son.

Maxwell Anderson, the 34-year-old who was convicted of killing and dismembering 19-year-old Sade Robinson, was sentenced to life in prison on Friday.

The teenager was brutally murdered in April 2024 after going on a first date with Anderson just days after they met in a bar in Wisconsin. 

The pair 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.

Anderson’s father, Steven Anderson, made an emotional statement to the court and said: ‘To Sade’s family, there are no words I can share that will reduce your pain.

‘You are all in my thoughts every single day. Although it is not the same, having lost a boy who was like a son to me 10 years ago, I have some sense of what you are feeling. 

‘It took me a very long time to get past the pain I felt for the person who contributed to his passing. I’m not asking you to forgive anybody or anything. That is between you and your God.’

He then thanked the court and judge for their compassion and professionalism before addressing his son.

‘To Max… we want you to know that we love you and support your plan for self-improvement. 

‘In this we hope for a path for you to become a positive influence for society both while you are incarcerated and after.’

His comments came after the Robinson’s family launched a foul-mouthed verbal attack on the convicted Netflix ‘copycat’ killer. 

Robinson’s family delivered painful impact statements. 

‘My daughter referred to you as a man, you never be a f***ing man, you’re a p**** a** b****,’ Robinson’s mother Sheena Scarbrough told the courthouse. 

‘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.

Robinson’s father, Carlos Robinson, said to Anderson in his statement: ‘You deserve what you get. He deserves the punishment that he gave to my daughter.’ 

The teen’s sister, Adrianna Reams, said Anderson’s brutal killing of her sister continues to haunt her. 

‘I cannot meet any person without the fear that they’re going to harm or kill me because all my sister did was meet someone and, as a result, he ended her life,’ she said. 

‘The only one who took that from her is the man sitting right there. I beg you to not… I beg you to not let this man have any type of parole.’ 

Judge Laura Crivello said Anderson had told a pre-sentence investigator he regretted not walking the teen to her car because she was abducted outside his home.

‘I did not commit these crimes. And so I plan to appeal these crimes, while I hope and pray that further investigations not only prove my innocence but find and deliver true justice,’ Anderson said publicly, speaking on the case for the first time. 

‘I don’t think you’re remorseful in any way,’ Crivello said. 

Robinson’s mother added: ‘I’m gonna respectfully request that you confess where the rest of my daughter’s crown is… you’ve already done the worst. You can at least give us that much.’ 

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.

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.