Wisconsin woman dismembered man, stashed severed head in bucket, court docs say

GREEN BAY, Wis. — A Wisconsin woman has been charged with a slew of crimes, including murder, after a resident on Green Bay’s west side found a severed head stashed in the basement of her home.

Taylor Denise Schabusiness, 24, of Green Bay, is charged with first-degree intentional homicide, mutilation of a corpse and third-degree sexual assault, according to jail and court records. Schabusiness is being held in the Brown County Jail.

The victim has been publicly identified only as a 25-year-old man. It was unclear who found his remains last Wednesday, but authorities said the home where he was slain belongs to his mother.

A judge set Schabusiness’ bail at $2 million during a court hearing on Tuesday, WBAY reported. Prosecutors said Schabusiness, who has ties to Texas, is a flight risk.

She was also on probation at the time of the gruesome crime, but had slipped off her ankle monitor, according to the news station. Jail records show that her previous crime in August 2020 was resisting or obstructing an officer.

Watch Green Bay police Chief Christopher Davis speak briefly about the crime, courtesy of WBAY.

Assistant District Attorney Caleb Saunders described last week’s homicide as “one of the most serious offenses we had in this county in some time,” WBAY reported.

“I think the facts alleged are extremely concerning and disturbing and go to the violent nature and grave nature of the offense,” Saunders told the judge.

Editor’s note: The following story contains graphic details of a violent crime and may be disturbing for some readers.

Green Bay police Chief Christopher Davis said at a news conference last week that a 911 call around 3:25 a.m. Wednesday resulted in patrol officers going to a home in the 800 block of Stony Brook Lane for a “suspicious death.”

A criminal complaint obtained by WBAY indicates that the person who called 911 had found a bucket in the basement of the home. Inside the bucket, under a towel, was the victim’s head and genitals.

In a storage tote nearby was the man’s upper torso, the court documents allege. A mattress in the basement was stained with dried blood.

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“The investigation very early on led us to another location in the 2300 block of Eastman Avenue, where officers took a person of interest into custody,” the chief said.

Detectives learned that Schabusiness, who was the last person seen with the victim, was at that location. When they arrived, they found dried blood on her clothing, WBAY reported.

‘The police were going to have fun’

Once Schabusiness was in custody, detectives sat her down for questioning, according to the news station. When they asked her what had happened, she said, “That is a good question.”

Schabusiness told investigators she and the unnamed victim had spent the day before the murder together, smoking meth and having sex. Upon arriving at his mother’s home, she said, they incorporated chains into their sexual activity.

Schabusiness allegedly told the detectives she blacked out and went “crazy,” beginning to choke her companion. She said she did not mean to kill him but was enjoying the strangulation.

She said she got “paranoid and lazy” but said she thought it was the drugs making her paranoid. She then described cutting up the victim’s body.

“Schabusiness stated she used knives that she obtained from the kitchen of the residence, and that a bread knife worked the best because of the serrated blade,” the criminal complaint states, according to WBAY.

She initially told police that all the man’s body parts should be in the basement, but then corrected herself and said there “should be a foot or a leg in the minivan” she’d been driving.

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“Schabusiness stated the plan was for her to bring all of the body parts with her, but she got lazy and only ended up putting the leg/foot in the van and she forgot the head,” the criminal complaint states.

On the rear passenger seat of the van, officers found a Crock-Pot box. The box contained “additional human body parts, including legs,” according to the station.

Schabusiness said that while dismembering the body, she thought “that the police were going to have fun trying to find all of the organs,” court records state.

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