Taylor Schabusiness: Mum found her sons head hidden in a bucket| She gets life worse than Execution.

Taylor Schabusiness: Mum found her sons head hidden in a bucket| She gets life worse than Execution.

A Wisconsin woman serving a life sentence for killing and dismembering her boyfriend will go on trial again this fall.

Taylor Schabusiness has pleaded not guilty to charges of battery by a prisoner for allegedly attacking a nurse and an officer at a correctional facility where she was being housed while awaiting trial in 2023.

She is also being charged as a repeat offender. The 27-year-old had public outbursts of violence as well, famously attacking her then-attorney during a court hearing in February of 2023.

Reports say during her most recent court appearance, she was restrained and heavily guarded. She was also issued a warning by the judge to behave.

Her trial was set for October 27th and is expected to last 3 days.

Schabusiness was sentenced to life without the possibility of parole in September 2023 for killing and decapitating her boyfriend in 2022.

For Inside Edition Digital, I’m Mara Montalbano.

A bucket sat in the corner of the basement covered with a towel.

Tara Pakanich had come downstairs looking for her son. It was early morning on February 2022, and she had heard the door shut. She thought maybe Shad had left with Taylor, the woman he’d been seeing, the woman who had been down in that basement with him all night.

But something made her lift the towel. What she found beneath it would make the 911 call one of the most disturbing in Green Bay history.

The dispatcher asked if she was hallucinating. She wasn’t.

The trial that followed would shock Wisconsin, not just because of what Taylor Schabusiness did to Shad Theurion’s body, not just because she admitted to enjoying it, but because it forced a courtroom to confront a question that has no easy answer.

Where does drug-fueled madness end and true mental illness begin? And does it even matter when the result is the same?

Schabusiness claimed she loved Shad Theurion. She also claimed she couldn’t stop choking him. She told detectives she wanted to see what would happen; she asked them if they knew what it was like to love something so much you kill it.

But before the confession, before the body parts scattered through the basement and stuffed into a crockpot box in her minivan, before she told a forensic psychologist she had a thing with Jeffrey Dahmer, there was a young woman growing up in Wisconsin, a woman whose mental health records would become evidence.

A woman who by age 24 had already been convicted of fleeing police and was wearing a GPS ankle monitor she had removed. And there was a young man named Shad Theurion, 25 years old, a son, a friend, someone bound together by addiction and something far darker.

This is the story of the Green Bay basement murder. If this is your first time here, this channel covers the most complex cases in criminal history. We go deeper than the headlines. We tell the full story from beginning to end. If that’s something you’re interested in, consider subscribing to No Way Out and hitting the notification bell so you don’t miss what comes next.

On November 23rd, 1997, in the city of Chicago, Illinois, Mara and Arturo Coronado welcomed their daughter into the world. They named her Taylor Denise Coronado.

The family lived in a modest neighborhood, and by all accounts, the early years of Taylor’s life appeared ordinary. Her father worked to support the family, and her mother stayed home to raise Taylor and her younger brother, Arturo Jr., who everyone called AJ.

Those who knew the young Taylor described her as a normal girl. She played volleyball and showed interest in typical activities for someone her age. The family attended local events and maintained relationships with extended relatives, including Taylor’s paternal grandparents Juan and Esther Coronado, who survived in Cotulla, Texas. Her maternal grandparents Randall Flug and Patty Flug Williams were also part of her life during these formative years.

When Taylor was in fourth grade, the Coronado family made a significant move from Chicago to Green Bay, Wisconsin. This relocation would place Taylor in an entirely new environment. She enrolled in local public schools and began adapting to life in this smaller Wisconsin city, known more for its football team than for major crime.

The move seemed like a fresh start for the family. But underneath the surface, problems were already developing. Taylor’s mother, Mara, struggled with alcohol dependency. The addiction had taken hold gradually over the years, and by the time the family settled in Wisconsin, it had become a serious issue.

Mara’s drinking affected the household in ways that would not become fully apparent until years later, when Taylor herself would recount these experiences to mental health professionals.

Taylor attended elementary school in Green Bay and appeared to adjust to her new surroundings. She made friends and participated in school activities. Teachers noted nothing particularly alarming about her behavior during these early years. She was simply another student navigating the challenges of growing up and the transition to a new community.

The Coronado household maintained its routines despite Mara’s struggles. Arturo worked to provide for his wife and two children. Taylor and AJ grew up together in Green Bay, forming the bond that siblings often share when facing household difficulties. They relied on each other as their mother’s condition worsened with each passing year.

By 2009, Taylor had reached the age of 11. She was approaching middle school and all the changes that come with adolescence. Her brother AJ was younger, still in elementary school, looking up to his older sister.

The family continued their daily lives in Green Bay, unaware that a devastating loss was about to shatter everything Taylor knew about stability and family.

On May 20th, 2009, Mara Flug Coronado passed away suddenly at her residence. She was only 41 years old. The cause was cirrhosis of the liver, a direct result of her years of alcoholism.

Taylor, just 11 years old, lost her mother without warning. The woman who had raised her, despite all her flaws and struggles, was gone.

After Mara’s passing, 11-year-old Taylor faced a home that would never be the same. Her father, Arturo, was now a single parent, left to raise two children while grieving his wife. The household that had already been strained by addiction now carried the weight of profound loss. Taylor watched as everything she knew about family crumbled around her.

Within a relatively short time, Arturo Coronado remarried. His new wife brought three of her own children into the household. For Taylor, this meant sharing her father with an entirely new family. The adjustment proved difficult.

Taylor felt abandoned by her father. She believed she was losing him to these newcomers, these strangers who had suddenly become her stepsiblings. The living situation deteriorated.

Taylor and her brother AJ found themselves relegated to the basement of their own home. From a nice house where they had been raised by both parents, they were now living in a basement while their stepmother and her family occupied the main living spaces. This arrangement created deep resentment in Taylor, a feeling of being unwanted in her own family.

By seventh grade, Taylor’s behavioral problems had become serious enough that she was referred for mental health treatment. School officials documented attention and concentration problems. She struggled to focus on her studies and began acting out in class.

Medical professionals diagnosed her with symptoms they believed stemmed from ADD or ADHD, and she was placed on medication to address these issues.

The prescription medications expanded over time. In addition to the ADHD medication, Taylor was prescribed a mood stabilizer, an antidepressant, and an antipsychotic. At such a young age, she was already managing a complex medication regimen. These prescriptions would continue through her teenage years, though her compliance with taking them would become increasingly inconsistent.

Taylor attended Bayport High School in Green Bay. It was there that she first met a boy named Shad Theurion. They were classmates born just two months apart in 1997. Their paths crossed in the hallways and classrooms of the school, and eventually they began dating. For about two years, Taylor and Shad were a couple, high school sweethearts in a Wisconsin town.

Their relationship seemed typical for teenagers their age. But Taylor’s problems followed her into high school. Her behavior grew more volatile, and the conflicts with other students escalated. Eventually, she was expelled from Bayport High School for fighting with another student.

The expulsion represented a turning point. She could no longer remain in her father’s home, and arrangements were made for her to live elsewhere.

Taylor moved to Cotulla, Texas, to live with her paternal grandparents, Juan and Esther Coronado. In this small Texas town, far from Wisconsin and far from her father, she completed her schooling. She was separated from AJ, separated from the few friends she had made, and separated from Shad Theurion.

The distance seemed to offer a chance at stability, but the damage had already been done. During her time in Texas, Taylor turned 18. At that age, she made the decision to wean herself off all the psychiatric medications she had been taking since seventh grade.

Without medical supervision, she stopped taking the mood stabilizers, the antidepressants, and the antipsychotics. She believed she no longer needed them. This decision would have consequences that no one could yet foresee.

Eventually, Taylor returned to Wisconsin to live with her father, but the household had not improved. The relationship with her stepmother remained strained. Meanwhile, her father, Arturo, was developing problems of his own.

By the time Taylor reached her early 20s, her life had taken a troubling direction. The mental health issues that had been identified in seventh grade remained unaddressed. Without her medications, the symptoms that doctors had tried to treat continued unchecked.

She was diagnosed at various points with severe depression, PTSD, and what some professionals believed was bipolar disorder. Taylor also began using drugs.

By 18, she had started with marijuana and cocaine, but it was methamphetamine that would eventually dominate her life. The drug took hold gradually, and by her early 20s, Taylor was using meth up to 10 times a day. The addiction consumed her, altering her behavior and accelerating her mental deterioration.

Around 2017, Taylor met a man named Warren Schabo. Warren was older than Taylor and had an extensive criminal history in Wisconsin. He had convictions for armed burglary, theft, disorderly conduct with a domestic abuse modifier, resisting an officer, and marijuana distribution. He was deeply involved in the methamphetamine trade, both using and selling the substance.

Taylor was drawn to Warren despite his criminal background. Perhaps she saw something of herself in him, or perhaps she was simply attracted to the lifestyle he represented. According to what Taylor later told forensic psychologist Diane Litton, Warren introduced her to methamphetamine.

Warren created the name Schabusiness as a play on his real surname, Schabo. The name represented what they called their empire, a term Warren used to describe their bond and lifestyle. They adopted the phrase “the Schabusiness way” to describe their approach to life, a mixture of loyalty, defiance, and disregard for conventional society.

Taylor legally changed her name from Taylor Coronado to Taylor Schabusiness in 2018. She embraced the identity completely, leaving behind the name her parents had given her. The transformation from the volleyball-playing girl in Chicago to Taylor Schabusiness was now complete in name.

She had found someone who accepted her troubled nature and offered her a sense of belonging, even if that belonging was rooted in substance abuse and criminal behavior.

On Valentine’s Day 2020, Taylor and Warren made their relationship official. They married at a courthouse in a simple ceremony. Warren had Taylor’s name tattooed on his neck, a permanent display of his devotion. Taylor in turn posted on social media about her commitment to the marriage.

But the marriage was troubled from the start. Warren’s involvement in methamphetamine distribution caught up with him. He conspired with others to distribute more than 500 grams of methamphetamine. He was caught with 46 grams of the substance and eventually convicted on federal drug charges.

Warren was sent to a federal detention center, leaving Taylor alone with her addiction and her demons.

Taylor’s first felony arrest occurred on June 21st, 2020, just months after her marriage. Her legal troubles had begun after meeting Warren, a pattern that suggested his influence had accelerated her downward spiral. Whatever stability she might have found was now gone. Her husband was in federal prison, and she was left to navigate her addiction without him.

In 2021, Taylor gave birth to a son named Matteo Coronado. The infant was born while Warren was serving his federal sentence. Taylor was in no condition to care for an infant. Her substance addiction, mental health issues, and unstable living situation made parenting impossible.

Matteo was placed with Warren’s parents in Texas, the same state where Taylor had once lived with her own grandparents. The cycle of family separation continued into another generation.

That same year, Taylor was hospitalized after a suicide attempt. The hospitalization occurred in April and May of 2021. During this time, medical professionals diagnosed her with post-traumatic stress disorder and confirmed the bipolar disorder that previous doctors had suspected. She was placed on new medications, but her compliance with treatment remained questionable.

In July 2021, tragedy struck the Coronado family again. Taylor’s brother, AJ, the boy who had lived with her in that basement, who had shared the trauma of losing their mother, was fatally injured in a motorcycle accident. He was only 22 years old.

Taylor had now lost both her mother and her only sibling. The grief compounded the existing mental health struggles that she had never properly addressed.

Taylor’s behavior grew increasingly erratic. In June 2020, police were called to a Green Bay neighborhood for a woman who appeared to be under the influence of narcotics. She was knocking on doors and wandering in the street.

When officers found Taylor, she told them she was not sure what was happening and that she was on a different planet right now. She showed them the fresh track marks on her arms. When police tried to stop Taylor from walking into oncoming traffic, she became combative. She kicked at the officers, resulting in charges of battery on a law enforcement officer and resisting arrest.

As Taylor’s mental state deteriorated, she developed an unusual fixation. She became obsessed with Jeffrey Dahmer, the notorious serial killer from Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Dahmer had taken the lives of 17 men and boys between 1978 and 1991. He had committed acts of dismemberment and worse. He had been sentenced to over 900 years in prison before losing his life at the hands of a fellow inmate in 1994.

Taylor’s interest in Dahmer went far beyond casual curiosity. Her cell phone contained over two dozen searches related to the individual. The search terms were specific and disturbing. She had searched for “Jeffrey Dahmer walking into court, all sexy.” She had searched for “Jeffrey Dahmer’s butt.” These were not the searches of someone conducting research.

They were the searches of someone infatuated with a person who had committed terrible acts. On her phone, Taylor saved images of Jeffrey Dahmer. She took a selfie posing next to her phone which displayed a photograph of young Jeffrey Dahmer. She kept these images accessible, returning to them regularly. The individual who had terrorized Wisconsin decades earlier had become a source of fascination for this troubled young woman.

Taylor’s social media posts during this period reflected her deteriorating mental state. In 2022, she wrote cryptic and violent statements. One post read, “Went off and told an addict, I will never stop buying you dope so I could sit back watch you pass on.” Another post from January 2022 stated, “Double crossed my loyalty. That is one thing you will never get back. Let us play.” The messages hinted at anger and a willingness to cause harm.

Meanwhile, Taylor’s legal troubles continued. In late 2021, she led police on a high-speed chase through Green Bay, reaching speeds of 80 mph in city limits. She was arrested and convicted of fleeing, eluding, and obstructing police.

The court sentenced her to 3 months in jail and fitted her with a GPS ankle monitor upon release. Taylor was convicted on January 3rd, 2022. The ankle monitor was intended to track her movements and ensure she complied with the terms of her release. It was a standard precaution for someone with her history of fleeing from law enforcement.

But Taylor had no intention of being tracked. She removed the GPS monitor from her ankle. The device that was supposed to keep tabs on her location was simply discarded.

Taylor was now free to go wherever she wanted without supervision. Free to reconnect with people from her past, free to seek out the high school boyfriend she had never fully let go of.

By February 2022, Taylor Schabusiness was 24 years old. She was addicted to methamphetamine, off her psychiatric medications, grieving the losses of her mother and brother, separated from her infant son, and obsessed with a serial killer. Her marriage to Warren had deteriorated while he sat in federal prison. She was alone, unstable, and searching for connection.

It was during this time that Taylor reached out to Shad Theurion. The boy she had dated at Bayport High School was now a man, still living in Green Bay, still kind and compassionate. Their paths had diverged after high school, but they had never completely lost touch. Now with her life falling apart, Taylor turned back to someone familiar.

She had no way of knowing that this reconnection would end in tragedy, and neither did Shad.

To understand what happened in that basement on Stony Brook Lane, we must first understand the man whose life was taken there. Shad Theurion was more than just Taylor’s high school boyfriend. He was a son, a brother, a friend, and a young man with his whole life ahead of him.

Shadrock Theurion was born on September 7th, 1997 in Green Bay, Wisconsin. He entered the world just two months before Taylor Coronado was born in Chicago. Their lives would intersect years later at Bayport High School. But in those early years, Shad knew nothing of the girl who would one day end his life.

His parents were Tara Pakanich and Michael Theurion. They raised Shad in the Green Bay area where generations of his family had lived and worked. Though his parents eventually separated, both remained actively involved in his upbringing. Shad never lacked for love or support from either side of his family.

Shad grew up with siblings who adored him. He had two sisters, Arva and Silva, and a brother named Bo. The family was close-knit, gathering for holidays and spending time together whenever possible. Shad was the kind of brother who looked out for his siblings, who showed up when it mattered, who made people feel valued.

Those who knew Shad consistently described him with the same words: kind and compassionate. He was the type of person who thought of others before himself. His family’s accounts painted a picture of a young man who valued his relationships and treated people with genuine warmth. He had a gentle nature that drew people to him.

We mentioned earlier that Shad and Taylor met at Bayport High School and dated for approximately two years. But their relationship was just one chapter in Shad’s life, not the defining one. After they broke up, Shad moved forward. He graduated in 2015 and began building an adult life.

Shad went to work in the family business alongside his father, Michael, and his grandfather. He also worked as a laborer for a local construction company, engaging in physical work that kept him active. These were honest jobs, and Shad approached them with the reliability his family had come to expect from him. He showed up, he worked hard, he earned his way.

Outside of work, Shad pursued interests that reflected who he was. He loved the outdoors, spending time camping and fishing in Wisconsin’s lakes and forests. He enjoyed hunting, a common tradition in the area passed down through generations. He liked playing games and listening to music with friends, but his greatest passion was woodworking.

Shad was artistic in ways that surprised people who only knew him as a construction worker. He channeled that creativity into carving wood, producing pieces that his family treasured. The same hands that worked construction during the day created art in his spare time. It was a side of Shad that revealed depth beneath his easygoing exterior.

By 2022, Shad was 24 years old, the same age as Taylor. He lived with his mother, Tara Pakanich, and her boyfriend, Steve Hendris, at a house on Stony Brook Lane on the west side of Green Bay.

The arrangement was common for young people in the area, a way to save money while still maintaining independence. Shad had his own space in the basement, contributed to the household, and came and went as he pleased.

Like many young people, Shad had some minor trouble with the law. Court records showed charges for disorderly conduct and resisting arrest in 2021. These were relatively minor offenses, the kind that did not define a person or predict future behavior. Shad was not a criminal. He was simply a young man who had made some mistakes while figuring out adulthood.

When Taylor Schabusiness reached out to reconnect in early 2022, Shad did not turn her away. The girl he had dated in high school had clearly changed. She had married, had a son, and struggled with addiction. But Shad’s compassionate nature meant he did not judge people for their struggles. He saw someone he had once cared about, someone who needed connection.

They began spending time together again. It was not a full relationship, not like what they had shared in high school. Taylor was technically still married to Warren, though he remained in federal prison. What developed between Shad and Taylor was more casual, a physical connection between two people who shared history.

Shad had no way of knowing that Taylor’s mental state had deteriorated so severely. He had no way of knowing about her obsession with Jeffrey Dahmer or the violent thoughts that plagued her mind.

Shad Theurion was simply being himself: kind, accepting, willing to give someone a chance. That kindness would cost him everything. And the woman who would witness the aftermath of that kindness, the one who would carry the weight of discovery, was the same woman who had raised him with such love: his mother, Tara Pakanich.

Tara Pakanich had watched her son grow into the man described in the previous chapter. She had been there for all of it: the first steps, the school years, the graduation from Bayport, the jobs alongside his father. The house on Stony Brook Lane was where Shad came home to, where he stored his woodworking projects, where he felt safe. Tara had made sure of that.

She was a mother who loved her son deeply. Through his teenage years, through his first job, through all the ordinary milestones of life, Tara had been present. She had given Shad space to become an adult while keeping her door open. The basement was his domain, but the house was still home.

Tara’s boyfriend, Steve Hendris, had become part of the household over the years. He and Tara had built a life together, sharing the responsibilities of maintaining the home and looking out for each other. Steve cared about Shad, too, viewing him as part of the family unit they had created. The three of them coexisted comfortably in the house on Green Bay’s west side.

Tara was aware that Taylor Schabusiness had re-entered Shad’s life. She knew that her son had reconnected with his high school girlfriend. As a mother, Tara likely had concerns. She had known Taylor back when she dated Shad in high school, and she could see how dramatically Taylor had changed since those days. The bright-eyed teenager had become someone harder, someone who carried visible signs of a difficult life.

But Shad was 24 years old now, an adult capable of making his own decisions. Tara could express concern, but she could not choose her son’s friends or romantic partners. She trusted Shad’s judgment, even when that judgment led him to spend time with someone who made her uneasy.

The house on Stony Brook Lane had a basement where Shad spent much of his time. It was his space within the home, a place where he could have privacy while still being close to his mother. Tara occasionally heard activity from downstairs, the sounds of her son going about his life. She trusted that he was safe in their own home. After all, what could possibly happen in a basement in Green Bay, Wisconsin?

The answer to that question would come on the night of February 21st, 2022.

That evening, Tara knew that Taylor had picked up Shad around 9:30. She saw them leave together, as she had seen before. Young people often went out at night, and there was nothing unusual about Shad going somewhere with a friend. Tara had no reason to think this night would be different from any other.

Later that night, Shad and Taylor returned to the house. They went down to the basement. Tara and Steve were elsewhere in the house, giving Shad the privacy that any adult would expect.

At some point during the night, Tara noticed Taylor coming upstairs. She assumed Taylor was just using the bathroom, as visitors often did. She thought nothing of it.

Throughout the following day, February 22nd, Tara was aware that Shad and Taylor remained in the basement. Young people sometimes spent entire days together. Tara did not check on them, respecting her son’s space and his right to entertain guests without interference.

She went about her daily routine, unaware of what was happening directly below her feet, unaware that her son was already gone.

On the night of February 22nd, Tara and Steve went to bed. The house was quiet. Tara had no reason to suspect that anything was wrong. She fell asleep in her home, in the same house where her son was supposed to be, believing that when morning came, life would continue as it always had.

But in the early morning hours of February 23rd, 2022, Tara was awakened by the sound of a door slamming. She checked the time. It was around 2:30 in the morning. She noticed that the basement light was on, its glow visible from upstairs.

Concerned, Tara decided to check on her son. She walked toward the basement stairs, expecting to find Shad still down there, or perhaps see that he had left with Taylor.

What Tara Pakanich found at the bottom of those stairs would destroy her world forever. What she discovered in her own basement would be something no mother should ever have to see.

But before we reach that moment of discovery, we must return to the evening of February 21st. We must follow Taylor and Shad as they left the house on Stony Brook Lane, trace their movements through that night, and understand exactly what happened in the hours before Tara’s world fell apart.

It was February 21st, 2022, approximately 9:30 p.m. Taylor pulled up to the house on Stony Brook Lane in a gold Chrysler Town and Country minivan. Shad climbed into the vehicle, ready for what he thought would be an ordinary night out with the woman he had known since high school. They were joined by a friend, someone who would later become a witness in the case.

The three of them drove to an apartment on Eastman Avenue in Green Bay. This apartment was apparently where Taylor was staying at the time. Once inside, they began using substances together. They smoked marijuana, passing it around as young people often do.

After the friend left, Taylor and Shad continued using substances alone. They smoked methamphetamine together, inhaling the drug that Taylor had been addicted to for years. The meth entered their systems, altering their mental states and lowering their inhibitions.

But they did not stop there. Taylor and Shad also injected Trazodone. Trazodone is a prescription antidepressant, not typically injected. The combination of methamphetamine and Trazodone created a dangerous mix of stimulant and sedative effects. Both Taylor and Shad were now heavily intoxicated on multiple substances.

At some point during the night, Taylor and Shad returned to his mother’s house on Stony Brook Lane. This was when Tara noticed them come back, when she saw them head down to the basement. She had no idea what state they were in. She had no idea how much they had consumed. She simply saw her son return home with a friend, the same way he had done many times before.

The basement contained a mattress where Shad slept. It was a typical setup for a young man living with his mother. There was nothing unusual about the space itself. It was simply a basement bedroom, unremarkable in every way until it became the scene of unspeakable violence.

Taylor and Shad began engaging in intimate activity. They practiced what Taylor described as breath restriction, a dangerous activity involving intentional limitation of air flow during intimacy. It was something they had done together in the past. On this night, they used metal chains. Taylor described them as similar to a dog choke collar. Shad put the chain around his own neck. Taylor was on top of him as he lay face down on the mattress.

What had started as a night of substance use and intimacy was about to transform into something far worse. Taylor began pulling on the chain, restricting Shad’s breathing. At first, this may have been what they intended.

But Taylor did not stop when she should have. She kept pulling, kept choking, kept watching as Shad struggled beneath her. Something inside Taylor had broken, and she was about to cross a line from which there was no return. The kind, compassionate young man who had welcomed her back into his life was about to become her victim.

Shad began to cough up blood. His body was fighting for air, struggling against the chain that was cutting off his oxygen. His face started changing color, turning purple from the lack of blood flow. Taylor watched this happen.

Eventually, Taylor knew that Shad was gone. His face had turned completely purple. Blood had poured from his mouth. His body had stopped moving, stopped fighting, stopped breathing.

The young man who had been her high school boyfriend, who had been kind and compassionate, who had enjoyed woodworking and spending time with his family, was no longer alive.

But Taylor did not call for help. She did not attempt any kind of assistance, and what she did next would shock even the most experienced homicide investigators in Green Bay.

As morning arrived on February 22nd, 2022, Taylor Schabusiness faced a problem. She had just taken a man’s life in his mother’s basement. The body was too large for her to move in one piece. She needed to do something with Shad Theurion’s remains before his mother discovered what had happened.

Taylor went upstairs to the kitchen. She searched through the drawers until she found what she was looking for: knives. She selected several, including a bread knife with a serrated blade. Then she returned to the basement.

The dismemberment took place on the mattress where Shad had passed. Taylor positioned his body and began cutting. Her first target was his head. She wanted the head, she told detectives later, because she wanted to make sure he was really dead.