Hennepin County Attorney’s Office says ‘insufficient evidence’ means no charges in Maple Grove teen’s 2009 death

The Hennepin County Attorney’s Office says it does not have enough evidence to charge anybody in connection with the death of Robbie Anderson, the 19-year-old Maple Grove man who died more than a decade ago while spending a night with two high school friends watching movies, playing video games and drinking.

The Hennepin County Medical Examiner ruled Anderson’s death on Dec. 4, 2009, a “sudden unexplained death.”

Five senior attorneys in Hennepin County’s adult prosecution division independently reviewed the case after Anderson’s mother, Sandra Cikotte Anderson, had her son’s body exhumed in November 2022 and hired a private medical examiner to determine the cause of death.

Examiner Allecia M. Wilson, one of the pathologists who conducted the independent autopsy of George Floyd, determined Anderson died of blunt-force trauma to the head and neck. Wilson’s findings led Maple Grove police to resubmit the case to the attorney’s office.

But the five attorneys each found “insufficient evidence” and recommended no charges against the men who were with Anderson on the night he died, said a statement from the County Attorney’s Office released Monday.

“Thirteen years ago, the Hennepin County Attorney’s Office (HCAO) came to the same conclusion after review of the case by other attorneys then in the office,” the statement said. “We have deep compassion for Mr. Anderson’s family and the tragic loss of his life. We have devoted significant resources to this case to assess whether any charges are warranted. The independent conclusions of five of the office’s most experienced attorneys were that there is insufficient evidence to support any charges in this case.”

Anderson’s mother learned of the news on Monday and was heartbroken again.

“We do not believe Hennepin County reviewed Rob’s case fairly or proactively,” Cikotte Anderson said in an email to the Star Tribune. “We believe they have been seeking a way to get out of the mess they created. All smoke and mirrors.”

Robbie Anderson was in the basement of a residence with his two friends when a physical altercation broke out. Anderson was allegedly hit multiple times on the head by one of his longtime friends while standing near a utility sink in the basement. Anderson, detectives at the time believed, fell and hit his head on the concrete floor, case records said.

Court records showed police went to the residence after getting a 911 call about 3:30 a.m. Officers found Anderson not breathing, with no pulse and what appeared to be two black eyes and bruising down the sides of his nose. There was blood on his upper lip and in his nostrils, and his pants were unbuttoned and unzipped and pulled down about 6 inches below his waist.

Anderson’s blood alcohol concentration was 0.152%, reports said. No lethal drugs or toxins were detected in his blood. Officers started CPR and used a defibrillator on Anderson before he was taken to North Memorial Health Hospital in Robbinsdale, where he was pronounced dead.

Neither of Anderson’s two friends — the only others present at the Maple Grove residence — was arrested or charged.

The case largely went cold for about 10 years, even though Cikotte Anderson didn’t buy the original explanation authorities presented. Then she turned to cold-case investigator Sheila Potocnik for help. That led Cikotte Anderson to hire two independent medical examiners to review hundreds of pages of evidence, crime scene photos and autopsy photos.

Wilson determined Anderson’s death was a homicide. And with that finding, Cikotte Anderson hoped she might get justice for her son.

“They never thought myself along with Sheila Potocnik would unearth the truth and be granted an exhumation and second autopsy, but they thought wrong,” Cikotte Anderson said.

Potocnik said there is “significant and compelling” evidence, including the actual confession of one of the suspects captured on police video the night Robert Anderson was killed.

“To our dismay, the HCAO appears to be willfully ignorant of the evidence presented, not once but twice, by Maple Grove police,” Potocnik said.

Both women are asking the case be reviewed by prosecutors in another county or by the Minnesota attorney general.