The Waukegan city council voted Monday to censure 6th Ward Alderman Keith Turner for publishing a picture of a severed arm on social media belonging to a murdered 19-year-old woman from Milwaukee.
However, prior to the vote was approved by a final total of 6-to-3, Waukegan council members gave Turner a chance to apologize for posting the picture of the arm on social media.
Turner vocally attacked Mayor Ann Taylor and Alderwoman Lynn Florian for undermining his campaign for Waukegan Mayor in 2025 rather than issuing the apology.
“Tonight, we have witnessed yet another episode in a troubling pattern of attacks against me, led by 8th Ward Alderman Lynn Florian and Mayor Ann Taylor,” Turner said Monday. “These attacks are not random; they are deliberate and orchestrated to undermine my campaign for transparency as I seek to become the new mayor of Waukegan.”
Turner went on to say, “This concerted effort to discredit me began last year when Mayor Taylor, influenced by Alderman Florian, started restricting my access to information and resources. This pattern of harassment has been persistent since my declaration to run for mayor. They have used their positions to launch baseless and harmful attacks on my character, actions that I believe are not only unethical but are also illegal.”
The response from Turner and lack of an apology caused commotion from the crowd as community activist Clyde McLemore, founder and executive director of Black Lives Matter Lake County, jumped out of his seat and yelled, “Can’t you just apologize!?!”
The response also led Taylor to respond, “Well, what I will say is, whatever your attacks are your attacks, but it’s disappointing to this family an apology was not brought. But, I’ll just leave it at that.”
Censuring a city council member is not to be confused with censoring a city council member. Censure means means other council members disapproved of actions taken by another member, but does not limit Turner’s freedom of speech.
The discovered human remains are the subject of an ongoing investigation by the Waukegan Police Department and the Lake County Coroner and believed to be linked to a tragic homicide that occurred in Milwaukee earlier this year.
Turner’s decision to share the severed arm on social media May 16th “was not authorized by the City of Waukegan and was made outside of his legislative authority as an alderman of the City of Waukegan,” the document to censure read.
The document also read, “Alderman Turner’s actions and behavior raises serious questions about his judgment and his ability to handle sensitive information with discretion and discernment.”
It adds Turner’s decision to post the graphic image of the human remains disregarded the fundamental rights of the family of the victim to grieve in private and posting the graphic photo “demands the strongest disciplinary action available to the City Council.”
Waukegan councilwoman Lynn Florian led the charge to get the censure resolution up for a vote Monday after Turner posted a photo of the arm believed to belong to the murdered Milwaukee woman.
The severed arm was discovered at about 8 p.m. May 11 at the Waukegan Municipal Beach in the 200 block of East Sea Horse Drive.
Authorities said a person was walking along the beach saw what they believed to be a human arm on the ground. Officers later arrived and found the arm next to a fallen tree trunk at the beach.
The Lake County Coroner’s Office responded to the scene and have been working with police on the investigation.
Authorities believe the severed arm belongs to 19-year-old Sade Robinson of Milwaukee, who authorities said was murdered and dismembered around April 2 following a date with Maxwell S. Anderson, 33, of Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
Anderson is currently being held in custody on charges of first degree intentional homicide, mutilating a corpse and arson as authorities believe he intentionally killed Robinson, mutilated her remains then set fire to her car.
A criminal complaint filed in Wisconsin said a severed human leg was later discovered at Warnimont Park in Cudahy, Wisc., while a severed human foot was recovered in a wooded area near 31st Street and Galena in Milwaukee.
Robinson’s mother, Sade of Milwaukee, said she was disgusted by Turner’s social media post and she wanted him “held accountable.”
Florian said the motion to censure is the only means available for fellow aldermen to take action against Turner.
“I believe it’s incumbent on us to hold ourselves to a higher standard of conduct,” Florian said previously during a Waukegan City Council meeting. “I want to distance myself from what happened because I had nothing to do with that and I want nothing to do with what was done.”
Before the vote to censure Monday, 2nd Ward Waukegan Alderman Jose Guzman said he never heard an apology from Turner for the social media post.
“I just want to hear an apology. I understand why Alderman Turner did what he did. He wanted to make sure everything is in the open and not being hidden by the public,” Guzman said. “I think if he did an apology, it would have been over with. But I never heard it.”
When Turner didn’t apologize during his three minute speech Monday night, Guzman said “All I wanted was an apology for the people in involved,” before casting a vote in favor of censuring Turner.