Witness to Maxwell Anderson arrest describes what she saw

 

MILWAUKEE (CBS 58) -- Typically, Maya Lopez says the only movement outside her home are people walking their dogs or drivers passing by.

So, when she returned home from her classes at UW-Milwaukee on the afternoon of April 4, she was stunned by the scene on her block of S. 38th St., just south of W. Oklahoma Ave.

Lopez described seeing at least 10 unmarked police cars and 20 officers in plain clothes. There was a man standing outside his car with his hands on the roof following police orders.

"It seemed pretty calm. There wasn't any yelling or any loud noises," Lopez said. "It was pretty straightforward."

Still, Lopez said she suspected she was witnessing something significant as officers led Anderson to a Milwaukee County Sheriff's Office vehicle. 

Those suspicions were confirmed when a massive police presence grew outside a home one block over on S. 39th St. For hours, police and investigators from the Wisconsin Department of Justice removed evidence from a duplex owned by Maxwell Anderson, who was charged Friday with killing and dismembering 19-year-old Sade Robinson.

"I was watching the news, and I kind of connected the dots a bit since the arrest was so close to here," Lopez said.

Lopez said she didn't recognize Anderson and doesn't recall ever seeing him around before the arrest.

For someone who's 18 years old, Lopez said finding out Anderson is accused of killing the 19-year-old Robinson after a first date was unsettling given their proximity in age.

"I didn't think this person was associated with a crime this big," she said. "And it's crazy how it happened right in front of my house when I was coming back from school."