Head in a bucket & leg in a van: Everything we know about the Taylor Schabusiness murder trial (2024)

The trial for the woman accused of beheading her lover and cutting up his body is scheduled to begin Monday.

Taylor Schabusiness, now 25, was arrested in February 2022 for allegedly murdering Shad Thyrion inside his mother’s Green Bay home. Schabusiness cut off Thyrion’s head, sexually assaulted him, then dismembered the rest of his body, investigators said. The victim’s mother found his head in a bucket.

On Friday, a judge ruled Schabusiness competent to stand trial and a jury of 16 people — including four alternates — was selected. Schabusiness is on trial for first-degree intentional homicide, mutilating a corpse, and third-degree sexual assault

You can stream the entire trial from start to finish on the Law&Crime Network’s YouTube page.

The Crime Scene

Note: The following details of the murder and crime scene are graphic. All information reported below can be attributed to the defendant’s criminal complaint out of Brown County, Wisconsin.

On Feb. 23, 2022, the Green Bay Police Department received a call at 3:25 a.m. about a human head being found in a basem*nt.

When an officer arrived to the caller’s home, the caller — later identified as Shad Thyrion’s mother — escorted the officer down to the basem*nt. There, the officer spotted a towel over a bucket by the basem*nt stairs. He “lifted the towel and observed a human head inside the bucket.”

The head had been severed from the neck and there was visual evidence of strangulation. Inside the bucket — besides the head — was a “male organ,” along with body fluid and two knives.

Other body parts were found in the basem*nt in plastic shopping bags. Knives, including a carving knife and bread knife, were located at the crime scene. The victim’s upper torso was found in a storage tote, along with “several internal organs.” The torso had “numerous right cuts to the side.”

Detectives noted significant blood stains on an un-sheeted mattress with what appeared to be a site of previously cleaned up blood on a concrete surface. Blood was also spotted near a stand-up shower and blood drops found leading up to that shower had been partially wiped up.

The Suspect

The victim’s mother — whose owns the house where the human head was found — told detectives she last saw her son alive on Feb. 21. She said her son — Thyrion — left the home with Taylor Schabusinessat 9:30 p.m.

The mother’s boyfriend said he remembered the defendant and Thyrion coming home and immediately going down into the basem*nt later that night. Thyrion’s mother said the two stayed in the basem*nt all day the following day.

Before the mother went to bed on Feb. 22, she noted Schabusiness’ minivan parked out front.

Sometime between 2:30 a.m. and 3:30 a.m. on Feb. 23, the mother said she woke up because she said she heard their basem*nt storm door being slammed. She got up and heard Schabusiness’ van drive away. Thyrion’s mother noted the basem*nt light was still on, so she went downstairs to see if her son was home or if he had left with Schabusiness. When she was in the basem*nt, she didn’t see anyone, but spotted the bucket.

The mother removed the towel that was on the bucket and found her son’s severed head inside.

Finding Taylor Schabusiness

Officers caught up with Schabusiness at a nearby apartment complex. She was leaving an apartment building when she spotted investigators and stopped in her tracks.

Detectives noted she had what appeared to be blood on the front of her sweatshirt as well as her sweatpants. Schabusiness’ hands also appeared to have blood smeared on them.

An officer asked her if she knew why they were there. She allegedly responded by saying, “because of my warrant for my arrest.”

The Confession

Taylor Schabusiness was brought into the Green Bay Police Department and question about the murder. Detectives noticed she had a cut on her thumb and scratches on her arms and hand. Her hands allegedly had a red stain on them.

Officers told Schabusiness what they found. She allegedly responded by saying, “that is pretty f**ked up.” Eventually, she admitted to the crime and said she had blacked out from methamphetamine after “smoking the bit*h.”

Schabusiness said she and Thyrion would often use chains and strangulation techniques when they had sex. The chains were linked, silver, and looked like dog choke collars. She said this latest time they had sex, she “just went crazy, referring to strangling the victim.”

Schabusiness told detectives she could feel the victim’s heart beating as she was choking him, so “she kept pulling and choking him harder, but the victim would not die.” After what she explained was three to five minutes, Thyrion eventually died and she played with Thyrion’s body for two to three hours.

“Schabusiness stated she sucked the victim’s penis, that she had a dild* that she put in the victim’s mouth, and then in the victim’s a**,” according to officers.

In a lower tone of voice, Schabusiness allegedly said, “ya, I liked it” and asked detectives if they “knew what it was like to love something so much that you kill it.”

Schabusiness was heard mumbling “damn the head” and “I can’t believe I left the head though” while she was in the interview room. She told police they were “going to have fun trying to find all of the organs.” She admitted to using knives from the victim’s mother’s kitchen and that “a bread knife worked the best because of the serrated blade.”

The suspected allegedly planned to bring all of the body parts in her van but she “got lazy” and only ended up putting the leg/foot in her van — admitting she forgot the head. Inside her van, a medical examiner spotted a crockpot box behind the driver’s seat. Inside, they found parts of the victim’s legs.

Schabusiness concluded her interview with police by saying she didn’t mean to kill Thyrion, but “as she was choking him, she liked it” so she kept doing it.

An Attorney Attacked

Prior to trial, Taylor Schabusiness was caught on camera attacking her defense attorney, Quinn Jolly, on Feb. 14, 2023.

During her court appearance, Jolly had motioned to delay the trial. Moments later, Schabusiness lashed out on Jolly and attacked him.

After the attack, a deputy can be heard on video telling Schabusiness, “You went off on your attorney, Taylor. You went crazy on your attorney.” She was escorted out of the courtroom. Jolly later withdrew from the case.

A new attorney,Christopher Froelich, will represent Schabusiness in her trial that is set to begin Monday.

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