The Taylor Schabusiness Case: Murder, Meth, and a Head in a Bucket

0:00 Shad theory and didn't get tricked into danger by a total stranger. He willingly got into a car with someone familiar, someone he'd hooked up with before. She'd recently ripped off her ankle monitor, casually tossing aside any thoughts of staying sober. What happened next defies explanation. It was calculated, drug fueled, and unsettlingly deliberate. The woman responsible showed zero remorse. In fact, she seemed disturbingly comfortable with it. This is the story of Taylor Shebusiness, a woman with a criminal record, a troubling fascination with Jeffrey Dahmer, and a chilling determination to keep going even after murder.

0:41 If you like true crime stories delivered in quick, bingeable episodes, you're in the right place. Hit follow now for at least two new episodes every week. This is 10 Minute Murder. Let's get into it. Shad theory was 24. He lived in Green Bay, Wisconsin with his mom, Terra. He wasn't some big headline name before this.

1:22 He was just a guy trying to figure life out. He liked being around people, had a goofy sense of humor, and according to his family, was one of those quiet types who'd open up once you've earned it. He helped take care of his grandparents, stayed close with his family, and tried to keep the peace in his own way. Shad wasn't flashy. He worked odd jobs, spent time with friends, smoked a little weed here and there, nothing wild. People described him as gentle, and maybe that's part of what makes this whole thing hit even harder, because the person who killed him knew that about him. She knew he wouldn't fight her, at least not right away. He'd been spending time with Taylor's ship business, and on again, off again thing.

2:04 They weren't dating, but they were close enough to hang out, hook up, get high together, maybe he thought he could trust her, or maybe he didn't see the red flags until it was too late. The last person Shad saw alive was Taylor, and she had other plans. Taylor's ship business was 24 at the time too, but while Shad was mostly under the radar, Taylor had already racked up some red flags. A month before the murder, she led police on a chase and got slapped with a GPS ankle monitor. She removed it casually, went right back to doing whatever she wanted to do. That included drugs, violence, and behavior that made people around her uneasy.

2:45 Taylor wasn't just spiraling. She was sprinting toward a wall with her foot on the gas. She had a known meth problem. She was mixing drugs like it was some sort of fun experiment, and if that wasn't enough, she had a weird, deep obsession with Jeffrey Dahmer. At one point, during a psych of al, she claimed she had a thing with Dahmer just a year earlier, which is wild considering Dahmer died in 1994. And she meant it. She wasn't joking. She had photos of him saved in her phone, had read up on his life, and saw something in him that she seemed to relate to. By all accounts, Taylor's ship business was not well, but she was also violent, and when those two things collided, Shad ended up in the middle of it.

3:30 On February 21, 2022, Taylor picked up Shad outside his mom's house. They swung by to grab a friend, ended up at an apartment, smoked some weed, and hung out. Nothing unusual. But once the friend left, things took a turn. Taylor and Shad didn't stop at weed. They injected chrasodone, an antidepressant that's supposed to be taken orally, then smoked meth on top of that. Settatives and stimulants mixing in their system like a chemical bar fight. Later, they went back to Shad's place. His mom wasn't home. They went down to the basement, they had sex. According to Taylor, choking was part of their usual routine.

4:11 But this time, she used a metal chain. Not hands, not something flexible, a solid chain, and Shad couldn't break free. Taylor kept it around his neck until he coughed up blood. He struggled. She didn't stop. She told police she held it there for five minutes. He passed out. Then he died. Taylor didn't cough or help. She didn't panic. She stayed. Taylor stayed overnight at the house. Shad's body was still in the basement. She was likely still high. Meth lasts the long time, and she had mixed it with other drugs. Sleep wasn't happening. The next morning, she started what she called clean up.

4:53 She grabbed kitchen knives and began dismembering Shad's body. She cut off his head and used a bucket to catch the blood. Then poured it down the shower drain. She removed his limbs, some organs, and even his genitals. She hid the parts throughout the basement in boxes, bags, and buckets. Like she thought, no one would find them. She even took a few of them with her when she left. Two days later, Shad's mom, Tara, and her boyfriend came home. Tara went to the basement to check on him and saw a bucket with a towel over it. She lifted the towel and found her son's head inside. Her boyfriend called 911. Tara got on the line and said, "I'm pretty positive my son's head is in the bucket."

5:37 When asked if she was sure, she replied, "I'm not looking at it again." The dispatcher was so shocked, they asked if she might be hallucinating. She wasn't. Officer Alex Weinisch responded to the scene. He went down to the basement, lifted the towel, and confirmed what Tara had said. A human head sitting in a bucket. At first, he only saw some blood in what he thought looked like bits of flesh. But as investigators searched the basement, they found the rest. Shad's torso, organs, and a foot were stashed in bags and a large tote. And it didn't take long to figure out who had done it. After police found Shad's body, they started looking for tailor-shab business.

6:20 They didn't have to look very far. She was still in Green Bay, parked in her minivan. The van was a crockpot box, holding more of Shad's remains. Taylor hadn't changed clothes since the murder. They were still soaked in his blood. She had scratches all over his body, likely from Shad trying to fight back. Taylor claimed she did it to herself. Which tracks, if you're trying to sound innocent, while also covered in blood? When police asked what happened, she said, "That's a good question." She claimed she blacked out and didn't remember. Then she immediately started offering details. She told them they'd "have fun trying to find all the organs."

7:02 Like it was a game. Like this was some twisted scavenger hunt. Eventually she admitted to killing him. She said she went crazy during sex. She knew he lost consciousness while she was choking him, but she didn't stop. She said she was enjoying it too much. She never explained why she dismembered him or why she left his head in a bucket for his mother to find. She didn't seem to think those parts needed an explanation. On March 1st, 2022, Taylor's ship business was formally charged with first degree intentional homicide, third degree sexual assault, and mutilation of a corpse. A lawyer entered a plea of not guilty by reason of mental disease or defect.

7:43 From the start, it was clear this case was going to get messy. In February 2023, things hit a new level of chaos. During a court hearing, her lawyer asked for more time to evaluate her mental health. Taylor didn't like that, so in front of the judge, she stood up and attacked him. Started swinging, had to be physically restrained by a deputy. The court took a 10 minute break while they dragged her out. After that, her attorney quit. Not exactly shocking. A new lawyer stepped in and immediately tried to get the judge kicked off the case, claiming he'd been biased after watching his client throw hands in the courtroom. The judge said no. Then came the psychiatric evaluations.

8:26 Dr. Diane Litten, a forensic psychologist sat down with Taylor. The sessions didn't go well. Taylor refused to talk about the murder. She threw a chair at Dr. Litten during one of their meetings, and when she did speak, it was about weird stuff, like how she claimed she had a thing with Jeffrey Dahmer. Not figuratively, she meant it literally like they were somehow involved. In 2023. Dr. Litten said Taylor was probably experiencing a psychotic break. She believed Taylor was hearing voices and having full-blown hallucinations. That did not stop the trial from moving forward. The prosecution pointed to how methodical the murder was. Taylor planned to choke Shat.

9:07 She brought the chain. She stayed after he died. She mutilated him and hid the body parts. That is not blackout behavior. That's someone in control, even if they were high out of their mind. On July 26, 2023, the jury found her guilty on all charges. Two months later, she was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole. And even then, this story wasn't over. You'd think life in prison would be the end of this story, but Taylor's business didn't slow down after the trial. If anything, she got worse. In July 2024, while serving her sentence at the correctional facility, Taylor attacked a prison nurse.

9:48 It started over a medical staple. A sergeant stepped in and Taylor picked up a metal tray and started swinging. She was charged with battery by a prisoner. Another court case, another courtroom, same behavior. Then in April 2025, during a preliminary hearing for that battery charge, she lunged at her new attorney, again, mid-hearing. She was tackled by deputies and removed. The hearing continued without her. Over Zoom. And while her appeal went nowhere, her first post-conviction lawyer filed a no-merit brief in late 2024, basically saying there was nothing worth appealing. Taylor responded by firing him and trying to represent herself.

10:31 She submitted a handwritten motion asking for more time than missed her deadline. The court dismissed it. The appeal is dead. At this point, she has no legal team. She's facing a new trial in October 2025 for the prison assault. And she's still behind bars, serving life with no chance of parole. Taylor's Shebusiness has become her own worst case study. A story that started with drugs and violence turned into something much bigger, something relentless. And no matter how many times the system tries to close the book on her, she keeps ripping the pages back open. Thanks for listening to 10 Minute Murder.

11:21 Bingeable True Crime Stories. I'm Joe, I'm the host and thank you for taking the time to listen today. If you're a brand new listener, welcome. Make sure you hit subscribe. Go to the website 10minutemerder.com. You're going to find all kinds of things there. After you get some episodes under your belt, you binge away for a day or two, then you can send me an email. You've got a request for an episode for me to cover here on the podcast. Or just ask me a random question. You can do that. Go to 10minutemerder.com to get in touch with me. And here's one. This is from Sarah. Hi, Joe. Love the podcast. Your storytelling style makes even heavy cases easy to digest. So thanks for that. Curious about your take on something. With all these true crime documentaries coming out lately, do you think they're actually helping bring attention to cold cases?

12:07 Or are they mostly just entertainment at this point? Would love your thoughts. Keep up the great work. Sarah M. from North Carolina. Sarah, first of all, thank you for your email. And to answer your question, I think it's both. You're not listening to what I'm saying right now because you're researching it for a school paper. Most of the time, that's not happening. It's entertainment. What I'm doing here with documentaries are doing. It's to entertain you. As weird as that is to say, that's what it is. However, I do think that it helps solve cold cases. So if you're watching a documentary and you see the detectives on the case, they're talking about it.

12:49 They're going into detail about what they do know and all that. There's a reason they're participating. They're not doing it to make themselves famous. I hope not. Anyway, but they're doing it because they know the value and the power of the media. If they put this out there, this is what we're looking for. Here are the details that we know. How can you help us? That helps solve cold cases. And for those of us that obviously have zero information to give and to help solve the case, we're watching it for entertainment value. And I don't exactly like how that makes me feel to say that, but that's the truth of it. Alright, so that's going to do it. That is your episode for today. Thank you so much for listening.