BROWN COUNTY, WISCONSIN: After a three-day-long trial, Taylor Schabusiness has been found guilty of murdering and decapitating her lover Shad Thyrion in a meth-fueled rendezvous in February 2022. The Brown County jury deliberated for just 45 minutes on Wednesday, July 26 before convicting 25-year-old Schabusiness of all the charges levelled against her.
During the trial, jurors heard terrifying accusations against Schabusiness, who brutally butchered 25-year-old Thyrion in the basement of his mother’s Green Bay home on February 22, 2022. Prosecutors argue that after smoking methamphetamine, Schabusiness sexually assaulted Thryion and fatally strangled him before mutilating his body for hours. She previously admitted to the police that she even put his severed head and male genitalia in a five-gallon bucket with a beach towel before leaving his house. The severed head was later found by Thyrion’s mother Tara Pakanich, who called the police. “She found the severed head of her son in the basement,” Pakanich’s boyfriend, Steve Hendricks, told a 911 dispatcher in a call played in court.
What are the charges against Taylor Schabusiness?
Schabusiness has been convicted of charges including first-degree intentional homicide, mutilating a corpse, and third-degree sexual assault. Before announcing the decision on the third day of the trial, jurors reviewed a new video of Schabusiness’ interrogation, where she admitted to strangling Thyrion. “Initially that was some of her comments was that it hadn’t intended. But once she started to strangle Shad, that she found that she did enjoy it. And so, she kept on strangling him. She was quite frank in being able to answer questions and ask questions,” Green Bay Police Detective David Graf testified, according to Court TV.
Graf continued by noting that Schabusiness committed the heinous act with kitchen knives. “She knew Shad was more than she could carry in terms of being a whole body,” he said. According to the criminal complaint, the head and other body parts were discovered in the basement, and further remains were discovered in a box inside a vehicle. It was also noted that Schabusiness intended to take all the parts with her, but said she got “paranoid” and “lazy.” On Wednesday, the jury learned about Schabusiness' obsession with Jeffrey Dahmer and even saw a strange smiling photograph she had taken with a picture of the infamous serial murderer.
Schabusiness’ obsession with Jeffrey Dahmer
The photo was among several pieces of evidence that were found on Schabusiness’s phone after the February 2022 murder. Jena Luberda, a former lieutenant with the Green Bay Police Department, told the jury that while searching through Schabusiness' electronics, she discovered several photos of Jeffrey Dahmer saved on her phone as well as approximately 24 online searches about the murderer who was charged with killing and dismembering 17 men between 1978 and 1991. “Things like Jeffrey Dahmer, Jeff Boyardee, Jeffrey Dahmer’s butt, Jeffrey Dahmer walking into court all sexy,” Luberda said about Schabusiness’s search history, as per The Daily Beast. The trial will now enter its second phase to determine if Schabusiness was mentally ill and should be committed to a mental facility or imprisoned.
