Cell phone app, security video critical in helping solve teen's murder
February 22, 2026 at 04:06 AM
By CBS NewsIn April 2024, college student Sade Robinson, 19, went on a first date and never came home. Her car was found set on fire 3 miles from her apartment. Using data from an app on her phone, law enforcement begins to piece together where she went — and who she was with.
💡Analysis & Context
In April 2024, college student Sade Robinson, 19, went on a first date and never came home In April 2024, college student Sade Robinson, 19, went on a first date and never came home. Her car was found set on fire 3 miles from her apartment. Monitor developments in Cell for further updates.
📋 Quick Summary
In April 2024, college student Sade Robinson, 19, went on a first date and never came home Her car w
In April 2024, college student Sade Robinson, 19, went on a first date and never came home. Her car was found set on fire 3 miles from her apartment. Using data from an app on her phone, law enforcement begins to piece together where she went — and who she was with.
48 Hours A Wisconsin teen vanishes after a first date. How a phone app and security video helped lead to her killer By Anne-Marie Green, Anne-Marie Green Correspondent, "48 Hours" Anne-Marie Green is an accomplished journalist and correspondent for "48 Hours," where she reports on the most gripping crime and investigative stories on television.She is also the host of the "48 Hours" "Post Mortem" podcast. Green brings over two decades of experience in broadcast journalism to her work at CBS News. Read Full Bio Anne-Marie Green, Lauren A. White February 21, 2026 / 11:06 PM EST / CBS News Add CBS News on Google Along the Wisconsin shoreline of Lake Michigan sits a rocky, wooded area called Warnimont Park.Det. Jo Donner: It's not somewhere that you find a lot of people.On April 2, 2024, a young man, out for a walk with a friend, made a gruesome find. A man, left, points out where he saw a human leg while walking in Warnimont Park on April 2, 2024. CBS 58/Trial Pool OFFICER 1 (bodycam): As they were walking, that bla — see that leg right there? (officer points)OFFICER 2: Yeah.Lead Detective Jo Donner of the Milwaukee County Sheriff's Office says she knew she had a homicide, but nothing else.Anne-Marie Green: You have a leg, where's the rest of her? Det. Jo Donner: At that point, I didn't know.Anne-Marie Green: So you have human remains, no weapon, no suspect. … Where do we go from here?Det. Jo Donner: That — that was a question I asked myself most of that night.But with the help of Milwaukee Police detective Nora Donegan, Donner had a suspicion who her victim might be: Sade Robinson, a 19-year-old college student. On the evening of April 1, 2024, she had plans to go on a date but had not been seen since. Sade Robinson Sheena Scarbrough What Sade Robinson's car told investigatorsDonner soon learned that Sade's car had been found behind an abandoned building 3 miles from Sade's apartment, set on fire. Det. Jo Donner: This is Sade's vehicle.Anne-Marie Green: This is pretty much completely destroyed.Det. Jo Donner: It is. It is. It definitely negated any type of DNA, fingerprints, anything like that. Detective Jo Donner of the Milwaukee County Sheriff's Office looks at the burned remains of Sade Robinson's car. CBS News Though the car was heavily damaged, it still revealed a great deal to the fire investigator.Det. Jo Donner: The passenger side … smelled heavily of a petroleum distillate.Anne-Marie Green: So what did that tell them?Det. Jo Donner: That it was more than likely an arson. And though the car's interior was destroyed, investigators were able to recover something crucial.Det. Jo Donner: So, underneath the driver's seat, Sade's purse was tucked under there. ... To me it definitely eliminates a robbery, right?And when investigators opened the trunk of Sade's car, they made a distressing discovery.Det. Jo Donner: We found her pants, her underwear and her jacket and her shoes.Anne-Marie Green: This is the clothes she was wearing that night. An image from security camera footage of Sade Robinson leaving her apartment on the morning of April 1, 2024. She is wearing the clothes investigators later found in the trunk of her car. CBS 58/Trial pool Det. Jo Donner: And … the jeans, it was apparent that it was somebody else had taken them off. They were turned inside out, and the underwear were still attached to them. So, yeah, it was definitely a … red flag. Another red flag was something Donner and her team noticed about the driver's seat — something that suggested someone else had driven Sade's car. Det. Jo Donner: We take note of the seat positioning, cause that'll give height indicators. … I was able to determine about how far back that seat was. I then went to a dealership and found an identical model.With the driver's seat in the same position as the one in Sade's vehicle, Donner grabbed a deputy who was about Sade's height.Det. Jo Donner: And when she sat in the car, she couldn't touch the pedals. Her arms were straight out and she's like, "There's no way. I can't drive like this without perching on the very edge of the seat."Donner also had a taller detective sit in the vehicle, and based on her experiment, Donner says the last person to drive Sade's car had to be at least six feet tall.Anne-Marie Green: There's no way –Det. Jo Donner: No way.Anne-Marie Green: — Sade was the last person in that driver's seat. Det. Jo Donner: No, no.The day after finding the remains on the beach, investigators contacted Sade's mother, Sheena Scarbrough.Sheena Scarbrough: I — I'll never forget that day. … Like, what's going on?Sheena immediately sent for Sade's 16-year-old sister, Adrianna, to come home early from school.Adrianna Reams: We drove over to my mom's house. … And they were all … very obviously upset.But Sade's family hoped that this was a mistake, and Sade would be found alive and well. The officer asked Adrianna to share Sa
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