Family of slain Milwaukee teen, Sade Robinson, grieves with community at park vigil

The family of Sade Robinson is going through hell.

"I'm still grieving tremendously," said Sheena Scarbrough, Robinson's mother, during a vigil Friday evening at Kilbourn Reservoir Park in Milwaukee. "This is the hardest thing I've ever had to deal with in my entire life."

Prosecutors say Scarbrough's 19-year-old daughter went on a first date April 1 with Maxwell Anderson, a 33-year-old bartender at various Milwaukee bars. The next day, she was reported missing and a dismembered body part belonging to Robinson was found at a park in Cudahy. Since then, other body parts believed to belong to Robinson have been discovered in Milwaukee County. Anderson was charged last week and is due back in court on Monday.

Robinson's death has shocked communities both in and out of Milwaukee. Her sister, Adrianna Reams, spoke about Robinson at Friday's vigil.

"Anybody who knew Sade, knew that she was different from everybody else," Reams said.

Her younger sister said she looked up to Robinson as an independent person.

"Everything she had, she had by herself," Reams said, adding that her sister sometimes struggled balancing work, college, family and friends.

"She went through a lot, but she never let that break her. She was the strongest person I know," Reams said. "She was the most beautiful person I know. She never deserved this."

Despite what was going on in her life, "(Robinson) still gave to everybody else," according to her sister. Reams said Robinson would often give the leftover pizza to unhoused people who would hang around outside Pizza Shuttle on Milwaukee's east side, where Robinson worked prior to her death and was considered a favorite among coworkers and customers.

Friday's vigil on a cold, windy evening was attended by dozens of family, friends and coworkers of Robinson, as well as community members and activists. Also in attendance was former Sheriff Earnell Lucas, who didn't want to comment, saying he was there as a "private citizen." The Milwaukee County Sheriff's Office has been the lead agency on the homicide investigation.

"Thank you all for being here, present with us, myself and my family," Scarbrough said. "This means so much to Sade Robinson, my daughter, and myself, my family ... this means so much that the community showed up and being present with us."

Erika Brown, a friend of Scarbrough, started a GoFundMe fundraiser to help the family deal with this tragedy, like giving Robinson a proper funeral, which is tentatively scheduled for May 9, according to the page.

"It's hard for Sade to rest in peace, when we are literally searching for her remains," Brown said at Friday's vigil.

More remains believed to belong to Robinson were discovered Thursday by a person walking along a remote, tree-lined stretch of beach in South Milwaukee.

Brown said she is working to start a nonprofit titled "Sade's Voice," which would "(continue) to support families of missing Black women and children. ... Black and Brown girls can go missing and no one bats an eye. We may talk about it for one or two weeks but so many of us come up missing and are never heard from again."

According to 2022 data from the National Crime Information Center, about 36% of missing women and girls are Black. While Black women and girls make up about 7% of the U.S. population, according to census data.

There was movement earlier this year in the Wisconsin Legislature on a bill that would require the attorney general to create a task force on missing and murdered Black women and girls. The bill stalled in the Senate and hasn't received a hearing. In addition to lawmakers, others point to a historical lack of police and media attention. "Missing white women syndrome" is what it's been coined — disproportionate media coverage with more attention given to white women.

Scarbrough believes despite Robinson's death, this must be her daughter's calling from a higher spirit.

"You will continue to be a voice," she said. "Not only yourself, but all of the Black and Brown girls that continue to keep going missing. And held unaccountable for. God had to take my angel to speak to the universe, to speak to the world."

Those who knew Robinson the most say she was mostly a happy and friendly person.

"Sade was such a beautiful young lady. ... The sweetest person and happy all the time," said Linda Scarbrough, Robinson's grandmother, who said her and Sade were like best friends to each other. "We had so much happiness and fun together.

"Every time we think of her, just smile — that big beautiful smile she had."

Jessica Van Egeren of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel contributed to this report.

This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Family of Sade Robinson, who was killed, holds vigil in Milwaukee