GREEN BAY, WI – A 25-year-old woman from Wisconsin, Taylor Schabusiness, was handed a life sentence without parole on Tuesday for the brutal murder and dismemberment of her former boyfriend, Shad Thyrion, 24, in February 2022. The sentencing was delivered by a Brown County judge following Schabusiness’s conviction in July for first-degree intentional homicide, third-degree sexual assault, and mutilation of a corpse.
Despite pleading not guilty due to mental disease or defect, but the jury concluded that Schabusiness was not suffering from mental illness at the time of the crime. The prosecution presented evidence that Schabusiness and Thyrion had used methamphetamine in the basement of Thyrion’s mother’s home in Green Bay before she strangled, decapitated, and dismembered him. His body parts were later found scattered around the house and in a vehicle.
Schabusiness was apprehended on February 23, 2022, after Thyrion’s mother discovered her son’s severed head in a bucket in the basement and alerted the police. Brown County Circuit Judge Thomas Walsh, before announcing the sentence, emphasized the severity of the crime, stating that it was beyond comprehension and had deeply shocked the community.
Schabusiness’s defense attorney, Christopher Froelich, had indicated that she would speak on her own behalf before sentencing. However, when asked by Judge Walsh if she had anything to say, she simply responded, “No, there isn’t.” Froelich argued that his client was not a monster and suggested that at her young age, there was still potential for rehabilitation.
In a previous incident in February, Schabusiness had assaulted her former attorney during a court hearing, leading to a deputy wrestling her to the courtroom floor.