In a search for answers, mother will have body of Maple Grove teen exhumed 13 years later

Sandra Anderson successfully petitioned the court to have the body of her 19-year-old son, Robbie, exhumed last Friday and allow an independent medical examiner to conduct an autopsy over the weekend to learn what really happened on the night of Dec. 4, 2009.

Robbie Anderson died after drinking with two fellow graduates of Maple Grove High School. He had gone to a friend's house solely to play video games and watch movies, but started drinking with them later in the evening, his mother said.

The Hennepin County Medical Examiner's office described what happened to Robbie as "sudden unexplained death."

His mother didn't buy that explanation. She believes evidence suggests something more sinister.

"His face and body were beaten," Sandra Anderson said, recalling her arrival at the hospital that night. "Bruises and blood all over his face. It was so horrific, unfathomable. That image will always unfortunately be ingrained in my memory."

A Maple Grove police report included in a court affidavit showed officers went to the residence where the young men had been drinking after getting a 911 call. Officers arrived to find Anderson not breathing, with no pulse and what appeared to be two black eyes and bruising down the sides of his nose. Officers started CPR and used a defibrillator on Anderson before he was taken to what's now North Memorial Health in Robbinsdale, where he was pronounced dead.

Sandra Anderson said she never got much of an explanation from Robbie's friends about what happened that night. From police, she said, she got "bits and pieces" — that her son passed out and his friends claimed they try to help him. Neither of the two other men present were arrested or charged in Anderson's death.

"The pain is indescribable; my life has been torture without him," Sandra Anderson said. "I have nightmares of him and constantly wonder what his last moments on this earth were like. How afraid he must've been."

Her quest for answers began while visiting her son's grave in 2019. She noticed the name of a man on a nearby headstone, and recalled from a news story that his aunt helped solved his case because investigating agencies "got it all wrong," Anderson said.

She googled the man's name and learned his aunt was Sheila Potocnik, a cold-case consultant who helps families with unsolved cases. Anderson left a note in a planter at the man's grave in hopes Potocnik would find it and call her. Potocnik got the note and called.

Potocnik reviewed the complete criminal case: videos, medical examiner's records and other case documents. She also reviewed a video of one of Robbie's friends in a squad car admitting to killing him.

Sheila "found so many inconsistencies, and things in the investigation that were never done that should've and could still be done," Anderson said. "She gave me answers and showed me things that I have been looking for since 2009."

Anderson called Potocnik "the voice for those who no longer have a voice."

From there, Anderson contacted two independent medical examiners who reviewed the case and issued findings.

Dr. Amanda Youmans, a certified forensic pathologist, stated in a July 2020 letter that Robbie's actual cause of death was blunt-force trauma to the head and that because his death resulted from "a harmful, volitional act committed by another, it should be classified as a homicide."

Dr. Allecia M. Wilson, a certified medical examiner who was one of the pathologists who conducted the independent autopsy on George Floyd, concurred and stated a second autopsy may clarify and/or determine the cause and manner of death. Wilson conducted Saturday's autopsy.

The Maple Grove Police Department maintains an open and active investigation into Anderson's death and supported the exhumation, a police department spokesman said.

"The Maple Grove Police Department supports the family's efforts if the second exam could provide new information and/or evidence to help answer the questions that have been raised," said Commander Jon Wetternach.

Robbie Anderson enjoyed working on and painting custom cars, liked to draw and was a self-taught guitarist. At the time of his death, he was working in the pressroom at Gannett Offset.

Sandra Anderson said for years she has called and messaged every agency, the state attorney general, the mayor and prosecuting attorney begging them to take a second look into Robbie's death. She either received a generic generated letter or no reply at all, she said.

"I want to know that I did every single thing in my power to not only get justice and peace for me but give hope for other families out there," Sandra Anderson said.

Robbie Anderson's body will be re-interred Monday.