The Wisconsin woman who grimly confessed to dismembering her lover and sexually abusing his corpse at the same time was found guilty late Wednesday after just 30 minutes of jury deliberations.
Taylor Schabusiness, 25, was convicted by Brown County jurors of choking her 24-year-old boyfriend, Shad Thyrion, to death with a dog collar during a meth-fueled tryst in February 2022.
The guilty verdict was handed down just hours after footage of Schabusiness copping to the sick crime in the wake of her arrest was played to the court.
“I was sucking and cutting at the same time,” the killer admitted as she gave investigators a sick description of how she simultaneously dismembered and abused her boyfriend’s lifeless body.
Prosecutors had argued during the trial Schabusiness had strangled Thyrion at the Green Bay home he shared with his mother before she sexually abused him then dismembered his body with kitchen knives.
Thyrion’s severed head and penis were later found by his mom in a bucket in the basement of her home, jurors heard.
In his closing argument, Brown County District Attorney David Lasee called the entire case “bizarre.”
“This is strange. This is unnatural — but in no way is it unclear,” Lasee said. “She did cause Shad Thyrion’s death.”
Meanwhile, defense attorney Christopher Froelich said the case was “a puzzling, unclear collection of facts.”
“Was this an accidental death? Was there intent to kill Shad Thryion? It’s foggy, it’s cloudy, it’s hard to figure out,” Froelich said.
In her interrogation, which was played to the jury earlier Wednesday, Schabusiness described how her lover’s head was the “first thing I took off” and that she was “very” excited about abusing his corpse.
Green Bay Police Department Detective David Graf, who was in the interview room with Schabusiness, also testified Wednesday she admitted initially choking her boyfriend as foreplay — but she “enjoyed it” and “wanted to see what would happen,” if she continued.
After chopping off her boyfriend’s head, Graf testified that Schabusiness confessed to cuddling his corpse.
“She described how she had sexual contact with the body in terms of playing with his penis. Also, she described that she had a dildo that she placed into his mouth … And that she had also cuddled the body,” the detective told jurors.
Schabusiness’ trial will now move into a second phase to determine whether she was mentally ill and should be sent to a mental institution or prison.
Following her arrest, Schabusiness had a not guilty plea entered on her behalf by the court and a plea of not guilty by reason of insanity entered by her former attorney.
Brown County Circuit Court Judge Thomas Walsh ruled in March that Schabusiness was competent to stand trial.
In February, Schabusiness attacked her previous attorney during a hearing before a deputy wrestled her to the courtroom floor.
With Post wires
