The Murder of Shad Thyrion by Taylor Schabusiness

Shad Thyrion & Taylor Schabusiness

Shad Thyrion was born on September 7, 1997 in Green Bay, Wisconsin to Tara Pakanich and Michael Thyrion.  He had two sisters, Ava and Cilivea, and a brother named Beau.  He attended the Howard/Suamico schools before going to work with his father and grandfather at the family business.  Shad enjoyed camping, games and time spent with family.  He was described as being kind, compassionate and was someone who thought of others before himself.  Shad was very artistic and enjoyed woodworking. 

Taylor Schabusiness was born Taylor Coronado on November 23, 1997 to Marla and Arturo Coronado.  According to her father, she lost her mom at the age of 11 and had lost her brother in 2022 to a motorcycle crash.  After her mother’s passing, her father remarried, however, the marriage fell apart after he was accused of raping a minor in his care.  In Wisconsin, sexual assault of a child is committed if the person is under age 16.  The girl he was accused of assaulting was 13 at the time and was raped in her bedroom.  He is currently serving a 12 year sentence.  He was sentenced just a week before his daughter.

Taylor married Warren Schabusiness on February 14, 2020.  The couple have a son together who is currently living with grandparents in Texas.  Warren is currently serving time as well for federal drug charges.  He was caught with 46 grams of methamphetamine and his current release date is July 25, 2024.  He has reportedly stood by his wife’s side throughout her trial. 

Shad and Schabusiness had reportedly been friends since middle school with an on-and-off again sexual relationship. 

Schabusiness’s first felony arrest was on June 21, 2020.  The Green Bay Police Department was called to an area where she was walking around the street into traffic.  When the police arrived, they found that she was high and continually walking into traffic.  When they tried to get her away from the road, she kicked one police officer and when a second came to help, she kicked him as well.  She was arrested and charged with resisting arrest and battery on a law enforcement official.  She pled no contest and was given three years of probation as well as a mandatory psychological evaluation.

Two months later, she didn’t pull over when an officer attempted to do so.  She sped through a red light and almost hit a bicyclist.  She finally stopped in a parking lot where she was grabbed by the police.  Her vehicle was searched and both meth and an injection kit were found.  This time she received charges of knowingly fleeing or eluding an officer, bail jumping for not adhering to probation guidelines, possession of drug paraphernalia and obstructing an officer.  She again pleaded no contest and received two years probation and three months in jail in January of 2022.  The jail time was reduced to house arrest shortly thereafter.  

Green Bay, Wisconsin

Green Bay, Wisconsin is considered the number one place to live per the Best Places Rankings.  The violent crime rate was lower than the national rate in 2020 – having 220.4 per 100,000 people in violent crime.  Green Bay is home to one of the most storied football franchises in the NFL – the Green Bay Packers who play at Lambeau Field.  Lambeau sits in the middle of the city and can essentially be seen from every highway at some point.  It’s a bigger city with a small-town feel with a population of 326,590 as of 2020.  It’s a nice area to live in with very midwest people who are generally speaking, quite nice.  Most of the city is considered to be “nice areas” with the exception of some of the west side. 

What Happened? 

The account of what happened here is what Taylor Schabusiness told the police.  Please note that she was high on meth at the time of the murder and likely still high when arrested.  According to Schabusiness, she picked Shad up from his mother’s house on February 21, 2022 around 9:30 pm.  A friend joined the couple before heading to an apartment to smoke some of the Devil’s lettuce.  She told police that she and Shad had also smoked methamphetamine as well as injected Trazodone.  Trazodone is an antidepressant.  It is used to help improve one’s mood, appetite and energy levels as well as decreasing anxiety and insomnia in relation to depression.  

She said that they eventually returned to Shad’s mother’s home where they spent the next day while Tara was out.  She told the police in an interview that she and Shad would use chains to choke each other as foreplay, but this last time they put them on one another.  I’m not exactly sure here what the difference is – maybe normally they put them on themselves and then the other chokes, I really don’t know, but she was also high as shit so Lord only knows.  

According to Schabusiness, Shad was face down in bed before she said that she “went crazy” and repeatedly choked him, despite the fact that he was coughing blood and turning purple.  Green Bay Police Detective David Graf testified that Schabusiness told him that she admitted to enjoying the ordeal. 

She continued on telling the police that she continued having sex with Shad’s dead body for a period of time because she enjoyed it.  She then gathered kitchen knives with the intention of dismembering him and keeping all of his body parts, but then she “got lazy.”  Detective Graf said that Schabusiness proceeded to use a bucket and tote bag to collect Shad’s blood which she then used to shower with.

To recap, Schabusiness murdered Shad, had sex with his corpse, dismembered his body and then showered with his blood.  Just your average winter day here in Wisconsin, I guess.  What the damn hell.  This is where we leave Schabusiness’s account and start from the discovery of Shad’s head.

At about 2:30 am on February 23, 2022, Shad’s mom, Tara, woke up to a loud knocking sound at the door and reportedly heard Schabusiness’s van driving away.  She went to the basement to see if Shad was there and when she didn’t see him, she went back upstairs.  On her way to go back upstairs, she found a bucket and when she looked inside, she found her son’s head.  Tara’s boyfriend, Steve Hendricks, called 911 right away.

When the police arrived, they began searching the basement to confirm that a head had actually been found.  The police’s body cam footage confirmed that this was true.  Officer Alex Wanish testified that there was a green bucket with a shower towel on top of it.  When he lifted the towel to verify, he found Shad’s severed head. However, his head was not the only thing found in the bucket.  His “male organ” was also found inside the bucket along with bodily fluid and two knives.  After this discovery, the officers called for backup sooner rather than later stating that there was a lot of blood in the basement.  The rest of the body parts were found in plastic bags and cardboard boxes in the basement as well as in a van on the property.  Shad’s upper torso was found in a storage tote along with “several internal organs.”  

After speaking with Shad’s mother, the police were able to locate Schabusiness despite having removed her GPS tracker from her ankle.  Once found, Schabusiness had several things to say to police.  Detective Graf testified that Schabusiness initially claimed to have blacked out while choking Shad, but she then allegedly admitted to thinking that she regained consciousness and thought that she was “already this far” so continued to choke him.  She allegedly made comments to the police asking them if they knew what it was like to love something so much that you kill it.  She also allegedly told them that they would “have fun trying to find all of his organs.”

Taylor Schabusiness was arrested for the murder of Shad Thyrion and the criminal complaint read, “Schabusiness stated she thought it took 3-5 minutes for the victim to die.  Detective Kempf clarified with Schabusiness that when the victim began to cough up blood, she did just keep on choking the victim because she wanted to see what happens.”   

Charges, Trials and Trials and Trials

Taylor Schabusiness was charged with first degree intentional homicide, mutilating a corpse and third degree sexual assault on March 1, 2022.  She was held on $2 million bail in Brown County.  Her first court appearance was via Zoom where she stood with her arms crossed and only showed her face when Judge Walsh asked if she was actively listening to what was happening in the competency hearing.  At this hearing, it was ruled that Schabusiness needed to undergo an inpatient evaluation within 15 days after arriving at a mental facility.  

Quinn Jolly, Schabusiness’s first attorney entered a not guilty by reason of insanity plea initially for her.  However, a court appointed physician found her competent to stand trial.  Jolly argued that she had previously been diagnosed as bipolar and had been seeking mental health treatment since the seventh grade.  However, Judge Walsh ruled that she was capable of assisting in her own defense. 

Jolly requested that they get a second opinion about her mental condition and Judge Walsh stated that he wasn’t opposed, but that it would not be at the taxpayer’s expense.  Judge Walsh wouldn’t authorize the use of court funds, but granted the request to hire a second person to evaluate her.

Judge Walsh scheduled a hearing for May 19, 2022 for expert witnesses to argue whether or not Schabusiness was competent to stand trial.  After a four hour hearing, it was ruled that she was mentally competent to assist in her own case.  The prosecution witness, Dr. Deborah L. Collins, a psychologist and the director of the Milwaukee based Wisconsin Forensics Unit, said that her 75 minute exam of Schabusiness showed that she understood the major concepts that would be covered at trial and the roles that key people would play in the proceeding.  She also said that Schabusiness was cooperative and the interview was quite productive.  

The witness for the defense, Dr. Tracy Luchetta, a psychologist and former faculty member at the University of Wisconsin Green Bay, interviewed Schabusiness for two hours.  She said that Schabusiness’s sometimes odd way of communicating made her “come across as moderately impaired” mentally and it seemed to affect her ability to participate in the trial.  She recommended that Schabusiness be treated in one of Wisconsin’s psychiatric hospitals – either at Winnebago in Oshkosh or Mendota in Madison, where prisoners are sometimes held.  

Then on July 5, 2022, Schabusiness entered a not guilty plea.  Then at the end of August, her attorney, Quinn Jolly, entered a new plea of not guilty by reason of insanity.  Changing the plea delayed the trial that was supposed to begin on September 19, 2022 and it was rescheduled for March 6, 2023.  

On February 14, 2023, another competency hearing took place.  During this trial, Schabusiness attacked her lawyer, Quinn Jolly, until a deputy was able to wrestle her to the ground.  Immediately following the attack, Jolly requested to be removed from the case.

Judge Walsh agreed to Jolly leaving the case and Schabusiness returned to her next trial with a new attorney, Christopher Froelin.  Froelin filed a motion for Judge Walsh to remove himself from the case because he had been present during Jolly’s attack and raised concerns that it would cloud his judgment.  Judge Walsh denied this motion stating that he was able to still be fair and impartial.  Judge Walsh granted Froelin’s next motion, though.  He requested that he have additional time to speak with his client and familiarize himself with the case.  Judge Walsh also granted his motion for the District Attorney’s office to provide a complete set of “discovery materials” to him.  

After this, a motion to change venue was requested and subsequently denied by Judge Walsh.  Yet another competency hearing was requested and granted, however, Judge Walsh would not delay the trial date any further. 

A motion was also filed to exclude evidence of Schabusiness’s searches of “Jeffrey Dahmer walking into court all sexy” and “Jeffrey Dahmer’s butt.”  Judge Walsh ruled that that evidence could be admitted in court, but not her searches on Satanism. 

The trial began on July 21, 2023.  There were eleven witnesses for the prosecution that testified on Monday, July 24.  There were members of Shad’s family, members of the Green Bay Police Department and personnel from the Brown County 911 dispatch center as well as the medical examiner’s office.  

The first person to testify was from the dispatch center and the phone call made to 911 that night was played in court.  Steve Hendricks who made the 911 call testified as well and said in court, “I woke up by the dead sleep, and I’m just, I’m tripping out.  She wakes up crying telling me she found her son’s head in a bucket.  Yeah, it’s a little disturbing.”  The jury also watched the body cam footage of the police searching the basement and also finding Shad’s severed head in a bucket underneath a beach towel.  Lord in Heaven, imagine being a part of that jury.  

The trial was done in two phases.  The first regarding the charges against Schabusiness.  If she was found guilty, the second phase would focus on whether or not she was responsible for the crime or if she was suffering from a mental disease or defect at the time she murdered Shad.  

Taylor Schabusiness was found guilty on all counts during the first phase of the trial.  On day four, phase two began.  Her father testified on her behalf, entering the courtroom in his orange jumpsuit and shackles.  He told the court that he had sought help for his daughter more than once because she suffered from hallucinations and wasn’t in her right mind.  He said that he had “always” worried about her mental health. 

A psychologist for the defense stated that they believed that Schabusiness was not criminally responsible for her actions because she suffers from severe bipolar disorder that made her unable to appreciate the wrongfulness of her actions and deprived her of “volitional control.”  There were two court-appointed psychologists that testified for the state that said that her actions were fueled by drugs which made her ineligible for the insanity plea under Wisconsin’s definition.  They stated that her decision to dismember Shad’s body and clean the basement crime scene as evidence that she knew what she was doing was wrong.  Her attorney argued that the drugs may have compounded her psychosis, but there was enough evidence that she suffers from a longstanding disorder that affects her actions that dates back to childhood. 

The jury returned a unanimous verdict finding that she did not have a mental disease or defect and the time of the murder.  Her sentencing is scheduled for September 26, 2023.  Taylor Schabusiness was sentenced to life without the possibility of parole.  The Brown County judge also added two consecutive sentences adding 18 years to the life sentence for the crimes of dismembering and sexually assaulting Shad.  Schabusiness wore a spit hood to her sentencing.