The Taylor Schabusiness case is a Wisconsin homicide in which a Green Bay woman strangled 24-year-old Shad Thyrion during a drug-fueled sexual encounter in February 2022, dismembered his body, and was later convicted of first-degree intentional homicide, mutilating a corpse, and third-degree sexual assault. She is serving life in prison without the possibility of parole, and the Wisconsin Court of Appeals dismissed her appeal in June 2025.
What Happened on Stony Brook Lane
Just after 3:25 a.m. on February 23, 2022, Green Bay police were called to a home at 829 Stony Brook Lane. Thyrion’s mother, woken by a slamming door and a light in the basement, had gone downstairs and found her son’s severed head in a five-gallon bucket covered by a shower towel. The bucket also contained his genitals.1People. Taylor Schabusiness Trial: Bodycam Footage Shows Officers’ Disturbing Discovery Officers found dried blood, body fluids, and knives on a mattress nearby, and an upper torso inside a storage tote elsewhere in the home.2WBAY. Green Bay Woman Arrested in West Side Homicide
Schabusiness and Thyrion had known each other since middle school and were sexually involved.3The Independent. Taylor Schabusiness Trial On the night of February 21, she picked him up from his mother’s house around 9:30 p.m. They smoked marijuana at an apartment before returning to the Stony Brook Lane basement, where, according to the criminal complaint and her own statements, they used methamphetamine and injected Trazodone.4FOX 11. Psychiatrist Describes Effects of Using Meth After Grisly Wisconsin Murder Schabusiness told police that during sexual play involving metal chains, she strangled Thyrion to death. She then continued to sexually assault his body, and used kitchen knives to decapitate, dismember, and eviscerate him, distributing body parts through the house and into her van.5WBAY. Schabusiness Attorney Withdraws Request to Delay Sentencing
Dr. Vincent Tranchida of the Dane County Medical Examiner’s Office determined the cause of death was strangulation and the manner of death homicide. He described “extensive postmortem mutilation” and noted the absence of hemorrhage around the cutting injuries, confirming they happened after death. He estimated the dismemberment took hours.6FOX 11. Autopsy Reveals Gruesome Details in Taylor Schabusiness Trial Toxicology showed cocaine, methamphetamine, and marijuana in Thyrion’s system, none of which Tranchida connected to the cause of death.
Who Shad Thyrion Was
Shad Rock Thyrion was born September 7, 1997, in Green Bay, attended Howard-Suamico schools, and worked with his father and grandfather in the family’s woodworking businesses. His family described him as someone who enjoyed camping, gaming, and wood carving and who “often thought of others before himself.” He is survived by his parents, Tara Pakanich and Michael Thyrion, two sisters, a brother, and his grandparents.7Newcomer Cremations, Funerals, Receptions. Shad Thyrion Obituary
Arrest and Confession
Officers located Schabusiness at an apartment on Eastman Avenue with dried blood on her clothing. In her gold minivan parked outside, they found a crock pot box containing more body parts, including legs.1People. Taylor Schabusiness Trial: Bodycam Footage Shows Officers’ Disturbing Discovery A metal chain, a glass pipe, and suspected methamphetamine were also seized.8Oxygen. Taylor Schabusiness Convicted in Shad Thyrion’s Decapitation
In her recorded interviews, Schabusiness admitted to strangling Thyrion, sexually assaulting his body, dismembering him, and scattering his remains. She was held on $2 million cash bond.9CBS Austin. Psychiatrist Describes Effects of Using Meth After Grisly Wisconsin Murder Her defense later argued she had been too intoxicated on methamphetamine and marijuana to voluntarily waive her Miranda rights. On June 13, 2023, Judge Thomas Walsh rejected that argument, finding that video of the interviews showed her “relaxed, engaging and able to track questions” and that her demeanor was “consistent with somebody who understood what was going on.”10FOX 11. Taylor Schabusiness Statements to Police Investigators
The Trial and the Verdict
The trial began July 24, 2023, in Brown County Circuit Court, with Judge Walsh presiding and District Attorney David Lasee leading the prosecution. It was bifurcated into a guilt phase and a “responsibility phase” for the insanity defense.11FOX 11. Trial Begins for Woman Accused of Gruesome Green Bay Murder and Dismemberment
Lasee told the jury, “This is bizarre. This is strange. This is unnatural, but in no way is it unclear.”12USA Today. Taylor Schabusiness Trial in Shad Thyrion Killing Jurors saw crime scene photographs and body camera footage, heard Tranchida’s autopsy testimony, and listened to Schabusiness’s confession. DNA analysis matched Thyrion’s blood to sweatpants recovered from her. Prosecutors also introduced phone searches for “Jeffrey Dahmer” and “cadaver,” including “Jeffrey Dahmer walking into court all sexy”; Walsh ordered separate searches referencing Satan redacted.6FOX 11. Autopsy Reveals Gruesome Details in Taylor Schabusiness Trial Defense attorney Christopher Froelich called the evidence “puzzling” and “cloudy” and asked whether the death might have been accidental. Schabusiness did not testify.
The jury deliberated about 30 minutes before convicting her on all three counts.13WISN. Wisconsin: Taylor Schabusiness Guilty of Homicide, Dismemberment
The responsibility phase followed. A defense psychologist argued that severe bipolar disorder had stripped Schabusiness of the ability to appreciate the wrongfulness of her actions. Two court-appointed psychologists countered that her behavior was driven by voluntary drug use rather than mental illness, and that her steps to dismember the body and clean the basement showed she knew what she had done was wrong. Under Wisconsin law, voluntary drug use that leads to criminal behavior does not qualify as a mental disease or defect. On July 27, 2023, the jury unanimously rejected the insanity plea.14WBAY. Taylor Schabusiness Trial Moves to Second Phase
Life Without Parole
On September 26, 2023, Judge Walsh sentenced Schabusiness to life in prison without the possibility of parole on the homicide count, adding consecutive sentences totaling 18 years for the mutilation and sexual assault convictions. Froelich had urged Walsh to leave open the possibility of extended supervision, calling his client “not a lost cause.” Walsh refused, saying the crime was “too great for second chances.”15NBC 26. Judge Sentences Taylor Schabusiness to Life in Prison Without Parole He told Schabusiness: “This crime offends human decency, it offends human dignity, and it offends the human community.”
Courtroom Attacks on Her Own Attorneys
The case is also marked by Schabusiness’s repeated violence in court. On February 14, 2023, during a motions hearing, she lunged from her seat and attacked her original public defender, Quinn Jolly. Deputies subdued her, a “code three” call brought additional officers, and Jolly asked to withdraw from the case.16Upper Michigan’s Source. Woman Attacks Attorney at Hearing in Murder and Dismemberment Case
On July 24, 2024, while incarcerated at Taycheedah Correctional Institution, she allegedly lunged at a nurse and then swung a small metal table at a responding correctional sergeant, who suffered bruised ribs and used pepper spray to subdue her. She was charged with felony battery by a prisoner.17FOX 11. Taylor Schabusiness Charged With Battery by a Prisoner At the April 4, 2025 preliminary hearing on that charge, she attacked her attorney Curtis Julka, the second lawyer she had assaulted in court. Even with seven deputies present, she had to be pinned down and carried out by her arms and legs; Judge Anthony Nehls continued the hearing by video with Schabusiness in restraints.18WBAY. Schabusiness Attacks Another Attorney in Court The prison battery case was resolved on October 8, 2025, when she pleaded no contest to a reduced misdemeanor disorderly conduct charge.19Green Bay Press-Gazette. Taylor Schabusiness Accepts Plea in Fond du Lac County Battery Case
Appeal Dismissed
Schabusiness filed a notice of appeal in November 2024. Her appointed appellate attorney, Gregory Petit, filed a no-merit report in March 2025 concluding that an appeal would be frivolous.20WSAW. Schabusiness Defense Attorney Says There Are No Grounds for Appeal On June 18, 2025, Schabusiness sent the Wisconsin Court of Appeals a handwritten letter withdrawing her appeal and asking for time to file a post-conviction motion on her own. The court dismissed the appeal the next day and gave her until August 18, 2025, to submit new filings.21Green Bay Press-Gazette. Court of Appeals Dismisses Taylor Schabusiness Homicide Appeal The court further ruled that she must be solely responsible for any future filings and is not entitled to state-appointed counsel going forward.22WBAY. Wisconsin Court of Appeals Dismissed Appeal of Taylor Schabusiness Murder Conviction She remains incarcerated, serving life without parole.