Judge explains why he ordered competency exam of Taylor Schabusiness in Green Bay dismemberment case
GREEN BAY - A woman accused of beheading and dismembering a Green Bay man in his mother's basement will undergo a mental health evaluation to determine if she's competent to stand trial.
Taylor Schabusiness, 24, is accused of killing Shad Thyrion while choking him with a chain as part of a sex act, then cutting off his head with a bread knife and leaving it in a bucket where his mother later made the grisly discovery.
She is charged with first-degree intentional homicide, mutilating a corpse and third-degree sexual assault, all as a repeat offender because of a prior criminal record. Schabusiness faces life in prison if convicted. She's being held in the Brown County Jail on $2 million bail.
Thyrion, also 24, was a former student in the Howard-Suamico School District who worked with his father and grandfather in their family business, according to his obituary. Schabusiness also attended Howard-Suamico schools, though it's unclear if that's how they met.
Schabusiness appeared in court via Zoom Thursday morning, standing with her arms crossed and showing her face to the court only when Brown County Judge Tom Walsh asked if she was actively listening to what was happening in the competency hearing.
She will need to undergo an in-patient evaluation within 15 days after she arrives at a mental health facility.
According to the criminal complaint:
Schabusiness told investigators that on the night of Feb. 21, she and Thyrion smoked marijuana and methamphetamine at an Eastman Avenue apartment on Green Bay's east side, and that she injected Thyrion and herself with trazodone, an antidepressant.
At some point, they went to his mother's home on Stony Brook Lane on Green Bay's west side and went into the basement. The two were there for all or much of Feb. 22, Thyrion's mother told police.
About five minutes after they went into the basement together, Thyrion got out two metal silver chains, one that he had around his neck and one he gave her, Schabusiness told police. He laid face down on the bed and Schabusiness said she went "crazy" and began to choke him with the chain and she did not stop even though he was coughing up blood and his face turned purple.
Schabusiness said she continued choking him until he stopped breathing, the complaint says.
Complaint describes gruesome discovery in Green Bay
Schabusiness told police she "played with the victim's body for like two or three hours," which led to the sexual assault charge. Then she used knives from the kitchen to decapitate and dismember Thyrion, planning to take all the body parts with her, "but she got lazy" and didn't. Some body parts were discovered in the van she was driving and some in the basement, placed in plastic shopping bags, a cardboard box, a plastic bucket and a plastic storage container, the complaint says.
Thyrion's mother said she was awakened by a storm door slamming in the predawn hours of Feb. 23 and she heard a vehicle. She got up, saw a light in the basement and went down there where she discovered a bucket with her son's head in it, the complaint says.
Schabusiness was arrested within hours at the Eastman Avenue apartment, where she told a detective she had blacked out while choking Thyrion but then was able to describe his death and her actions afterward in detail, according to the complaint.
"Schabusiness made the comment that she was 'already this far' so she just kept on, referring to choking the victim," the complaint says, quoting the detective's report.
"Schabusiness stated she enjoyed choking him and made comments to detectives asking if they knew what it was like to love something so much that you kill it," the complaint says.
Judge says Schabusiness was 'confusing' about picking attorney
During the hearing Thursday, attorneys discussed a conflict about whether public defender Quinn Jolly or attorney Heather Richmond will be Schabusiness’ defense attorney in the case.
Walsh said she has the right to choose who she wants representing her, but her ability to do so comes into question because of her competency. Jolly said he filed the motion seeking a competency exam based on conversations he had with her.
Walsh said he decided to give Schabusiness a competency evaluation based on several factors: Jolly's questioning of her competency, the criminal complaint, the “confusing” decisions Schabusiness made in determining her attorney, and that she didn’t “seem to be directly engaging with the court” on Thursday.
He denied Jolly's request to seal documents related to the attorney selection.
The mental health assessment will be conducted by a psychiatrist to see if Schabusiness is able to understand her case and assist her defense attorney. If an evaluation finds she's not competent to stand trial, the case would continue only after she's treated and restored to competency.
A review hearing was scheduled to look at the results of the evaluation on April 4.
Meanwhile, an online fundraiser started by a cousin of Thyrion's mother has raised over $11,300 from 282 donors to help the family pay for his funeral and other expenses.
Contact Benita Mathew at bmathew@gannett.com. Follow her on Twitter at @benita_mathew.