A shocking moment was witnessed in a murder trial as a woman accused of decapitating her lover made a crude gesture in court.
When two people decide to spend the rest of their lives together, nobody expects that the relationship will take a grizzly turn, but that’s allegedly what happened in the city of Wisconsin.
After finding the gruesome scene in her own basement, Shad Thyrion’s mother discovered her son's body.
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The 25-year-old was supposedly in a loved-up relationship with Taylor Denise Schabusiness, who stayed with him in the basement of his mother’s home.
It wasn’t until an alleged drug-fuelled night in February 2022 that everything went horribly wrong for Thyrion.
That night, the pair were said to have been engaging in some pretty hardcore drugs when Schabusiness suddenly flipped and murdered her young boyfriend with a chain around his neck.
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It wasn’t long until Schabusiness was apprehended and charged with first-degree intentional homicide, mutilating a corpse and third-degree sexual assault of her former partner.
Now, the court case is in full session, with the jury having been shown the footage of the moment police found a severed head and penis in a bucket in the basement.
Schabusiness' former attorney Quinn Jolly entered a plea of not guilty by reason of insanity, and his client attacked him in the courtroom in February when he asked the judge to move forward a court date to assess if she was mentally fit to stand trial.
Brown County Circuit Court Judge Thomas Walsh has now ruled that Schabusiness is competent to stand trial before a jury, and a plea of not guilty has been entered on her behalf.
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The trial will take place in two stages - the jury will first be asked to consider if Schabusiness is guilty of the charges, and if they find that she is, they will be asked to determine if she was suffering from a mental illness at the time of the alleged crime.
The murder suspect has so far been stoic during the trial. That is, until now.
In a video posted to Facebook by WBAY TV-2, Schabusiness can be seen gesturing her hand like a gun while seated by her current attorney Christopher Froelich.
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The news station captioned the video with some more insights into what was happening at the time, writing: "While in court Tuesday, Taylor Schabusiness was recorded making a finger gun gesture.
"According to Brittany Schmidt WBAY, the judge has been made aware of these actions made this morning by Schabusiness while the jury was not seated.
"The court was on the record as the defense and state were taking up an issue regarding mental health."
As the court proceedings can be watched live, there's no telling what other antics Schabusiness will try to pull.
Topics: News, US News, YouTube, Crime, True crime
Britt Jones