GREEN BAY - The trial of a Green Bay woman charged with killing and dismembering her friend in February 2022 is slated to begin Monday.
Taylor Schabusiness, 25, is charged with first-degree intentional homicide in the killing. She also is charged with third-degree sexual abuse and mutilating a corpse.
Authorities say Shad Thyrion, 24, of Green Bay had been strangled with a metal chain and was decapitated on Feb. 23, 2022, in the basement of the west-side home he shared with his mother.
Schabusiness has been held in the Brown County Jail in lieu of $2 million bail.
Here is a timeline of events in the case. The trial is slated to begin at 8:30 a.m. Monday before Brown County Circuit Court Judge Thomas Walsh. The prosecutor is Brown County Assistant District Attorney Caleb Saunders, and the defense attorney is Christopher Froelich. He joined the case after Schabusiness' defense lawyer, Quinn Jolly, was allowed to withdraw in February after she attacked him in court.
Feb. 23, 2022 Green Bay police respond to a call at 3:25 a.m. to a home in the 800 block of Stony Brook Lane. They report a 24-year-old man was dead and a person was in custody in what was called a suspicious death. Green Bay Police Chief Chris Davis holds a 10-minute press conference and wouldn't say how the man was killed except that his death "does not appear firearm-related." A person is arrested in the 2300 block of Eastman Avenue, on the city's east side.
March 1, 2022 Taylor Schabusiness, who was 24 at the time, is charged with first-degree intentional homicide, third-degree sexual assault, and mutilating a corpse. She had been taken into custody on Feb. 23. The criminal complaint outlines the grisly details of the victim's death — that he had been strangled, decapitated and dismembered.
County Court Commissioner Chad Resar sets bail at $2 million.
March 3, 2022 The victim in the case is identified Shad Thyrion, 24, of Green Bay. He and Schabusiness had been friends and involved in a sexual relationship, Schabusiness told investigators.
Thyrion had been a Howard-Suamico School District and Bay Port High School student from 2010 to 2015, according to district officials. His obituary listed his parents as Tara Pakanich and Michael Thyrion and said he had worked with his father and grandfather at their family businesses. "Shad enjoyed camping, games, and spending time with his family," the obituary says. "He was a very kind and compassionate person who often thought of others before himself. A talented artist, he also enjoyed wood carving."
March 17, 2022 Judge Walsh orders Schabusiness to undergo a mental-health exam within 15 days of her arrival at a mental-health facility. It's the first of several discussions of her mental health.
April 13, 2022 Walsh says a court-appointed expert evaluated Schabusiness' mental health and found she was capable of assisting in her own defense. Defense attorney Jolly asks Walsh to appoint an expert to conduct a second evaluation, saying his client had been diagnosed with a mental disorder as early as seventh grade. Walsh rules that the defense must hire its own expert, saying that if Jolly wants to use an argument that "don't believe the first person picked, believe another," it won't fly in court.
May 19, 2022 After a four-hour hearing, Walsh rules Schabusiness is mentally competent to assist in her own defense.
Deborah Collins, testifying for the prosecution, finds Schabusiness cooperative and their 75-minute conversation "quite productive," though the defendant seemed distracted by hallucinations related to her methamphetamine use. Tracy Luchetta, testifying for the defense, says Schabusiness seemed "moderately impaired" and recommended she be treated at a psychiatric hospital in Oshkosh or Madison.
June 2, 2022 In a preliminary hearing for Schabusiness, Brown County Court Commissioner Paul Burke finds probable cause that a felony had been committed, and schedules Schabusiness to be arraigned on July 5, 2022.
