GREEN BAY, WI (WTAQ-WLUK) — The state began laying out its case in the trial of Taylor Schabusiness. She’s the 25-year old woman accused of killing and dismembering Shad Thyrion in February of 2022.
Following brief opening statements by both the state and defense, prosecutors called their first witnesses.
First on the stand was a supervisor from the Brown County 911 Center. During her testimony, the jury heard the 911 made by the boyfriend of Thyrion’s mother. Steve Hendricks called 911 after his girlfriend, Tara Pakanich, Thyrion’s mother, found what she believed was his head in a bucket in the basement of her house.
The first two officers to arrive at Pakanich’s home testified about locating the head in the bucket as well. The officers calling for backup and helping to secure the crime scene.
Thyrion’s mother also testified, telling the jury about being woken up in the middle of the night, by a door to her home slamming. She got out of bed, and checked the basement of her home, to see if her son was there. When she didn’t find him in the basement, she turned to walk upstairs and that’s when she saw a five gallon bucket with a towel on top of it. Pakanich said she took the towel off the bucket and found her son’s head inside.
In total, the state put seven witnesses on the stand before the jury took its lunch break.
A jury of nine women and seven men will hear the case. Four of the jurors will be selected as alternates following closing arguments and will not take part in deliberations.
Opening statements begin Monday morning.
Schabusiness is charged with first-degree intentional homicide, mutilating a corpse and third-degree sexual assault.
According to the criminal complaint, police were called to a residence on Stony Brook Lane early in the morning of Feb. 23, 2022. There, police found a severed head inside a bucket in the basement. Schabusiness said she and Thyrion were using drugs, including meth, and engaging in sexual play when he was strangled. She then sexually abused him, dismembered the body and placed body parts in various locations in the home and a vehicle, the criminal complaint states.
The competency issue has been raised several times since murder, with Judge Thomas Walsh ruling each time she is competent to stand trial.
