The Misery Machine - The Case of Shad Thyrion

Starting point is 00:00:00 Shad Rock Therian was born on September 7, 1997 in Green Bay, Wisconsin, to parents Tara Pachanick and Michael Therian. When he was young, his parents separated and both entered new relationships. He had three siblings, Ava, Sylvia, and Bo. Shad went to Bayport High School in Green Bay. After leaving school, those close to him said he worked with his father and grandfather in their family business. Now, Shad loved music. He often posted songs from his favorite. artists on social media. He liked a mix of music. He liked rap and electronic tunes from the

Starting point is 00:00:36 video game Kingdom Hearts. According to his family, he had an artistic talent and liked carving wood. At the time of our story, he was 24 years old. He had light brown hair and brown eyes, a light mustache, and a thin curly beard. He liked to wear chunky, beaded necklaces and bracelets. Shad's hobbies included camping and gaming. He enjoyed spending time with his family who described him as a kind and compassionate person. He was often selfless, putting the needs of other people before his own. When Shad met Taylor Shibisnes, they were both kids, and her name was Taylor Coronado. Taylor had a difficult childhood. She was born in Chicago on November 23, 1997, and lived there with her parents Maria and Arturo and her brother, Arturo Jr. When she was 11 years old, her family moved to

Starting point is 00:01:22 Wisconsin. The next year, her mother died from cirrhosis of the liver caused by alcoholism. Taylor met Shad in middle school, but by then she was already a troubled child. She struggled to pay attention and had behavior issues in class. In seventh grade, she began mental health treatment. She was diagnosed with a tension deficit disorder and put on medication. Over the next few years, she was diagnosed with severe depression and prescribed additional medications, including a mood stabilizer, an antidepressant, and an antipsychotic. At Bayport High School, Taylor and Shad became a couple, dating for two years.

Starting point is 00:01:56 After they broke up, the two remained friends. During her senior year, Taylor got into a physical fight with another student and was expelled, after which she subsequently moved to Texas to live with her paternal grandparents. There, she was able to finish high school. For the time she turned 18, she claimed she had weaned herself off of all of her medication. But Taylor wasn't the only person in the Coronado household who had gotten themselves into trouble. A few years later in 2017, her father, Arturo was convicted of DV and had to serve 30 days in jail within an additional 12 months of

Starting point is 00:02:31 probation. In 2018, he was arrested for the essay of a child. He fled no contest and was sentenced to 12 years in prison and an additional 18 years of supervision. He was also prohibited from contacting his female victim and her family. Though Taylor was not one of the victims of her father's crimes, it seems likely that her father was a difficult and a dangerous man to live with. Taylor lived in several cities in Texas, first Cotula with her grandparents as well as San Antonio, Houston, and Temple. Eventually, she returned to Wisconsin. She started dating Warren Shabot, who goes by the name Shibisness on social media. In 2018, she officially changed her name to Taylor Denise Shibisness, and Warren got Taylor's name tattooed on his neck. The couple got

Starting point is 00:03:19 married on February 14th, 2020. Warren had a pretty extensive criminal history. The years between In 2010 and 2020, he managed to rack up a laundry list of charges. This included resisting an officer and disorderly conduct related to a DV situation. For this, he pled no contest and had to serve 30 days in jail. Later, he was charged with driving while intoxicated. For that, he lost his driver's license and had to pay fines. Warren was also caught selling weed and took a plea deal for one year in prison and several years probation.

Starting point is 00:03:53 Now keep in mind, although it is currently declared. criminalized, the sale of weed in Wisconsin is still not legal in 2024. Additionally, Warren was charged with armed burglary and theft. For this crime, his lawyer negotiated another plea deal for two years in prison and three years probation. In the spring of 2020, Taylor also got into criminal trouble. She had been behaving strangely, walking in the middle of the street and knocking on people's doors.

Starting point is 00:04:20 Police were called and tried to help her. They asked her what she was doing. She told them she wasn't sure. She said she was on a different planet right now. She also showed them track marks on her arms and told them she had just shot up. When police tried to keep her from walking into oncoming traffic, she kicked them. Taylor was arrested and charged with battery of a law enforcement officer in resisting arrest. Eventually, the resisting arrest charge was dropped and she was found guilty of battery or threat

Starting point is 00:04:49 to a judge, prosecutor, or law enforcement officer, which is a felony in Wisconsin. On November 13th of 2020, Warren was arrested and charged with conspiracy to distribute a large amount of crystal to which he claimed he had been framed. While awaiting trial, he remained in jail. In early 2021, Taylor and Warren had a son together whom they named Mateo. At the time, Warren was still in prison. In April and again in May of 2021, Taylor became a danger to herself and was hospitalized. During her time in treatment, she was diagnosed with PT, PTSD and bipolar disorder. As we mentioned prior, Taylor had remained friends with Shad even after their

Starting point is 00:05:29 breakup in high school. After she moved back to Wisconsin, they managed to reconnect. Now, despite her marriage to Warren, she admitted they were sometimes intimate. One of those intimate times happens in August of 2021, while her husband was still locked up. At Thanksgiving that year, she posted pictures and video of her baby boy dressed up in a turkey costume. In December, she was still posting positive things about Warren on social media. She posted a cartoon of a couple when wearing an orange prison jumpsuit promising to stay together forever. On December 13th, she posted a picture of her baby wearing a blanket secured with a beadwork dream catcher that she made. She was hoping to earn some money and asked people to order handmade dream catchers or dog tags. By January of 2022, her relationship with

Starting point is 00:06:21 Warren was in trouble and she was angry. In the 10th, she posted, and I quote, double-crossed my loyalty. That's one thing you'll never get back, let's play. Now, mind you, Taylor was the one being unfaithful while her husband was incarcerated. Three days later, she wrote, I got hitched to show them my commitment, loyalty, and dedication to them, that I was never going to be how I used to be. Then they turn around an F on me. There's no way. I'll ever go into another relationship. Hashtag, can't trust no one. Later that month, she was sentenced to three months in jail

Starting point is 00:06:59 for the crime she committed in 2020. She was released with a GPS tracker on her ankle. In February, she was in a dark place. Using her cell phone, she searched for information on cadavers and Satan. She also did a number of searches for Jeffrey Dahmer, a serial killer from Wisconsin known for dismembering and eating parts of his victims.

Starting point is 00:07:19 She searched for the phrases, Jeffrey Dahmer walking into court all sexy, and Jeffrey Dahmer's butt. On February 12th, she opened a picture of Jeffrey Dahmer's face on her cell phone. She used another phone to snap a selfie with her face posed next to the serial killer's face. Though it was not her official address, Taylor was staying at the Eastman Avenue apartments with a friend named Scott. At this point in our story, she no longer had custody of her son. Shad had been staying with his father, but on February 21st, his mother picked him up at his dad's house.

Starting point is 00:07:55 She brought him to her home on Stony Brook Lane on the west side of Green Bay. He's planning to stay for a few days. At his mother's house, Shad had the partially finished basement to himself. There was no bathroom down there, but there was a laundry room and a shower. There was also a large open room that functioned as a guest room of sorts. The stack of three mattresses and a dresser sat at the far end. At the bottom of the stairs, a TV was set up on a desk with shell, above it. The room was also used for storage. A pile of toys and boxes, a cat tree with books and

Starting point is 00:08:26 papers stacked on it, and old cocktail table Pac-Man machine were scattered throughout the space. That evening, Taylor removed the GPS tracker from her ankle. She was hanging out with another friend named A.J. Gannon at the Eastman Avenue Apartments. A.J. also knew Shad from middle school, and they decided to ask him to join them. Taylor borrowed her roommate Scott's van and drove to Stony Brook Lane. There, she and AJ picked Shad up around 9.30 p.m. and went back to Eastman Avenue. At the apartment, the three smoked pot while AJ drank. After some time there, they got back in the van and visited several places. They stopped by Shad's father's house for a few minutes. Then they went out looking to buy some crystal. Taylor didn't remember everywhere they went looking to score,

Starting point is 00:09:13 but she said she gave Shad $100 to buy it. Eventually, they went back to the apartment complex on Eastman Avenue. Taylor and Shad smoked some crystal and Taylor gave Shad a haircut. After A.J. left, Taylor said she and Shad injected crushed up Trasadone, an antidepressant medication which can give short feelings of euphoria. Taylor again borrowed her roommate's van and drove Shad back to his mother's house where they arrived in the dark hours of Tuesday morning. Taylor parked the minivan on the road in front of the house. His mother's boyfriend, Steve, let them in. The pair went downstairs to the basement room where Shad was staying. According to Taylor, about five minutes later, Shad pulled out two silver chains, one for each of them.

Starting point is 00:09:58 He told her they could use them for breathplay while they were being intimate later. Taylor spent the rest of the night and all of the next day there. When Shad's mom, Tara, got up the next morning, she thought they had been up late and were sleeping through the day. At one point, she heard Taylor downstairs talking but couldn't hear what she said. Tara thought it was odd that neither of them came upstairs to use the bathroom while she was home, but she didn't think too much of it. She and Steve left the house for part of the day, and she figured the pair could have woken up and come upstairs while she was gone.

Starting point is 00:10:29 In the early hours of Wednesday morning, Shad's mother, Tara, woke up to the sound of the storm door slamming shut. She then heard a vehicle start up and pull away. Tara got out of bed, she noticed the basement lights were still on. She went downstairs to see if Shad was in the basement, and to turn off the lights if he had left. On the way, Tara looked out the window and noticed the minivan was gone. Tara did not see Shad in the basement, and as she turned to walk back upstairs, she noticed a five-gallon bucket with a large beach towel on top of it.

Starting point is 00:11:01 Her first thought was they'd been using the bucket as a toilet, which would explain why she hadn't seen either of them upstairs. However, when she moved the towel, she saw something she never could have expected. She saw her son's head in the bucket. Unable to understand what she was seeing, she ran upstairs to wake up her boyfriend, Steve. Kara brought him downstairs and had him look inside of the bucket. Steve, who had bad eyesight, was not sure what he was seen either.

Starting point is 00:11:33 So soon, Steve placed a call to 911 to report this gruesome discovery. Steve confirmed his address and explained what his girlfriend saw. The 911 operator asked to speak directly. to Tara. She answered his questions in a calm, numb voice. When asked what she saw, Tara said, I'm pretty positive my son's head is in a bucket in my basement. The operator asked, What makes you think that? She replied, because I looked in the bucket. When he asked what she saw in the bucket, she said, exactly what I told you. She told him she had no idea where the rest of Shad's body was. At the end of the call, the 911 operator asked,

Starting point is 00:14:37 if it could be a fake Halloween head. She told him, I'm not touching it. I'm not looking at it again. She also asked if the officers could be quiet when they arrived. Her 16-year-old daughter was still asleep upstairs. Police from the Green Bay Police Department arrived at around 3.25 in the morning. Officer Alex Wainish talked to Steve and Tara at the door. Steve told the officer multiple times that he looked in the bucket

Starting point is 00:15:02 and didn't eff-and-know what he was looking at. Two officers descended the stairs into the basement. After Officer Wainish looked in the bucket and realized it was, in fact, indeed, a severed human head, he called for backup. He also conducted a sweep of the area to make sure no one was hiding in the basement. He found no one, but he did find a dried blood stain on the top of the stack of mattresses. Beyond that stack of mattresses, he found blood and chunks of human flesh on the floor. Meanwhile, a detective met with Tara. She told him she last saw Shad alive at 9.30 Monday evening when he rode off in the van with Taylor.

Starting point is 00:15:42 Armed with this information, another group of Green Bay officers went to the Eastman Avenue apartments where Taylor was staying with her friend Scott. As officers approached the apartment building, they passed the van she had been driving. A large crock pot box was visible through the back window. Officers noticed what appeared to be bloody footprints near the front of the van. While they were looking at the footprints, the lights came on in the van and Taylor exited the apartment building. Officers saw dried blood on her black hoodie and on her black sweatpants. When they placed her in handcuffs, they saw her hands were stained with blood. In the patrol car, she told officers she thought they were there because of a warrant for her arrest.

Starting point is 00:16:22 However, she did not mention Shad. Hey, is this blood? Does this look have blood to you? How am I just tripping? Bloody footprint? You see this right here? Could possibly be wrong. Who did that? How's it going?

Starting point is 00:17:26 Officer Russell with the Green Bay Police Department. Once in custody at the Green Bay Police Department, Taylor's hands and clothes were photographed. She had a deep cut on her left thumb and several scratches on her arms and hands. Her clothes were taken into evidence and officers gave her a yellow prison jumpsuit. After Taylor was read her Miranda rights, they let her know that they found Shad's head in a bucket. She responded, that's pretty effed up. When Detective Graff asked her what happens, at first she told him, that's a good question. She said that she had blacked out and couldn't remember what happened.

Starting point is 00:18:19 She remembered that no one else came into the basement. She remembered smoking ice, as she put it. She remembered setting a baggie full of the drug on a dresser. She remembered the chains Shad had gotten. As they continued to talk about the chains, Taylor said she had a brief flashback of the chains around his neck. In the flashback, she said that she was riding him like a donkey. Meanwhile, officers obtained search warrant so they could search Shad's mother's house,

Starting point is 00:18:48 the Eastman Avenue apartments, and Scott's minivan. They processed each site and collected forensic evidence. At Tara's house, medical examiner Dr. Vincent Trancheon, compared a photo of Shad to the remains located within the home. He was able to confirm it was indeed Shad's head inside of the bucket. He also noted visual evidence of strangulation. In the same bucket, Dr. Tranchita found Shad's private parts, which had been severed from his body,

Starting point is 00:19:18 along with a large quantity of blood and other bodily fluids. At the bottom of the bucket, he found two knives. Investigators found a glass pipe and the baggie of powder on the truble. dresser, right where Taylor told Detective Graff he would find them. They found numerous blood droplets on the concrete floor in front of the shower in the basements. Some had been partially washed away. Officers at the crime scene stayed in contact with Detective Graff, who was still interviewing Taylor. As the interview went on, Taylor remembered more of the evening. She told Detective Graff that she and Shapp were preparing to be intimate. She said they had choked each other in intimate situations

Starting point is 00:19:57 before in that she enjoyed choking her partners. She said Shad laid face down on the bed and she got on top of him. She said Shad put the chain around his neck. She put one of the chains around her own neck as well. The chain had a loop like a dog's choke collar. She pulled it through the loop and tight around his neck. As she pulled tighter, she said she could feel his heart beating. She told Detective Graft that she went crazy and kept pulling harder and harder on the chain.

Starting point is 00:20:27 Detective Graff asked her several times why she didn't stop. Taylor offered several different answers. She said she didn't mean to do it. She said she wanted to see what happened. She said she just went crazy. She said she was already this far, so just kept going. At one point, she said she blacked out while choking him, woke up to find him already purple,

Starting point is 00:20:50 and kept pulling on the chain. She also said she liked it. Although we will try to describe what happened with as much, care intact as possible. Taylor's actions were appalling. There's no way around that. After he died, Taylor said she played with his body for two to three hours with both her mouth and with toys. She said she cuddled his body. She stayed in the basement all of Tuesday through Tuesday night and into Wednesday morning. At one point, Shad's mother came down the basement stairs and went into the unfinished area where the cat's litter box was located. She brought

Starting point is 00:21:26 the cat downstairs with her but didn't look or enter the rest of the basement. While Tara thought her son was sleeping in, Taylor was laying next to his partially dismembered body. At some point early Tuesday morning before anyone else in the house was awake, Taylor had gone upstairs to the kitchen. She took several knives, including a long bread knife down to the basement. She told Detective Graff that the first thing she removed was his head. Taylor positioned the five-gallon bucket on the floor next to the bed. Next, she pulled Shad's lifeless body to the edge of the bed near the bucket. She said the bread knife worked best because of the serrated blade.

Starting point is 00:22:08 She told Detective Graff that she found the experience very arousing. At some points, she said she was, and I quote, sucking and cutting at the same time. When Detective Graff asked where the rest of the body was, Taylor told them the police were going to have fun trying to find it. She had placed the parts in several areas of the basement. She had also taken Summashad's body with her, hidden in the large crockpot box in the van. She said she had originally planned to take all of his body with her, but she said she got lazy and paranoid because of the drugs she was on.

Starting point is 00:22:44 At several points, she repeated that she couldn't believe she forgot to take his head. She said she nodded off several times while dismembering him. She also thought she might have continued cutting while she was asleep. She used the bucket in another large tote she found in the basement to catch the blood in other bodily fluids. She dumped some of the blood down the drain in the basement's shower, the same shower where investigators had already found drops of blood. Investigators also found a significant amount of blood soaked into the mattress and evidence of more blood under the bed. They found evidence of a puddle of blood that had been cleaned up near where Taylor said she had placed the bucket.

Starting point is 00:23:23 In addition to the bucket and tote, said she used, other containers she found in the basement to hold parts of Shad's body. She's a backpack and a duffel bag as well. She also used several Walmart grocery bags. Detective Graff asked her if she thought her actions were the right thing to do. She said she did it anyway. She went on to elaborate that when she loves something so much, she kills it. Taylor's initial interview was paused so she could get medical attention for the cut on her thumb as it was deep enough to require stitches. When she returned to the interview room, she was wearing a blue jumpsuit. At the end of the interview, Detective Graff told her, you do realize you are probably going to jail after this when we're done.

Starting point is 00:24:07 She responded quietly, I didn't know that. When asked if someone who takes a life and dismember someone should go to jail, she responded with, oh, fuck yeah. Back at the crime scene, investigators found his upper torso in a storage tote. Another knife and several internal organs were found in the same tote. Additional organs were found in several grocery bags. The medical examiner found the crock pot box on top of a basket of laundry in the van. Inside the box, he found additional body parts, including a leg. The forensic report concluded that the details Taylor mentioned in her confession were

Starting point is 00:24:50 consistent with the evidence found during their search. Taylor was charged with homicide, mutilating a corpse, and third-degree essay. She pled not guilty by reason of insanity. After the police interview, she was taken to the Brown County Jail and held on a $2 million bond. Brown County Jail was the facility her father was serving his time at, and both of them would remain in the same prison until after Taylor's trial. On February 14, 2023, Taylor was in a Brown County Circuit Court at a hearing to discuss her trial date and mental competence. She was represented by Attorney Quinn Jolly, who had also represented her father during his trial.

Starting point is 00:25:30 Attorney Jolly asked to move her trial date in order to give a defense expert time to review Taylor's file. Judge Thomas Walsh wasn't happy about the delay, but he agreed. Apparently, Taylor was not happy either, as she attacked her attorney repeatedly trying to elbow him in the face. Stop it. Rachel call. She was tackled by a deputy but continued to struggle. She wrapped her foot around something on his belt. The deputy cleared the courtroom and called for backup.

Starting point is 00:26:19 After wrestling her for about a minute, another deputy arrived. A few seconds later, they were joined by a third deputy. Together, they were able to untangle her foot and prop her up against the wall. Once calm, she asked what happened. The deputy responded, you went off on your attorney, Taylor. You went crazy on your attorney. Because they bring seven in? Yeah, let's just go to him.

Starting point is 00:26:39 When court resumed, Taylor's attorney filed a motion to withdraw from the case. He no longer wanted to represent her, which is understandable. After a few more delays, Taylor's trial started on July 24, 2023. It was held in two parts. In the first part, jurors decided whether she was guilty. In the second part, jurors determined whether her plea of insanity was invalid. Judge Thomas Waller, during the first part of the trial there were several disturbing moments a j the friend who had been with taylor and shad on the night of the murder testified about what he observed his testimony was bizarre and disjointed several times he forgot what he was saying mid-sentence when he described how they hung out and talked that night he twice used the phrase chopping it up his word choice caused taylor to

Starting point is 00:27:41 smile and laugh. She tried to hide her expression behind her hand or by taking a sip of water from a styrofoam cup. But she was clearly amused. About a minute later, he said it again. Her eyes were looking down, but she smiled. Basically, I went over to the apartments, and when, specifically, Basically, when I got there, I was, we were just chilling, chopping it up, like how we always do. And basically, I was, like, Taylor was thinking, asking, like, do you want to, you want to hang out with Shad? She was asking me, like, for consent to hang out with Shad, like, to bring him over. And I was like, yeah, that's fine. It's cool.

Starting point is 00:28:33 The medical examiner's testimony was also very disturbing. Dr. Tranchita said that Shad's body was pale and essentially bloodless, meaning all of the blood had been drained out of his body. This alone would have taken hours to accomplish. He was concerned about the blood samples he was able to retrieve from the bucket because there were other bodily fluids, such as spinal cord fluid inside of it. There also could have been blood from another person mixed in. He tested Shad's body for the presence of drugs. He found nicotine, T-H-C, Coke, Coke, Metabolites, and Crystal,

Starting point is 00:29:09 but he did not believe any of these substances contributed to his death. Bruising in pattern marks on the tongue indicated that Shad fought back. He tried to get the chain off his neck by lowering his chin. Taylor was pulling with so much force, the chain slid into his mouth and bruised him.

Starting point is 00:29:26 It left indentations consistent with the shape of the links on his tongue. Dr. Trancheetah said the official cause of death was strangulation, in the form of a significant amount of force applied to the neck. There were so many injuries on Shad's body, he needed multiple pages to record them all. He described the injury to the neck as a complete decapitation. He pointed out many cuts on the neck, cuts both above and below the side of decapitation.

Starting point is 00:29:52 He explained this meant it took multiple attempts in order to cut completely through the neck. There were marks that showed Taylor attempted to remove his right arm at the shoulder and also at his right elbow. but both of these attempts were unsuccessful. There were also numerous cuts and stab wounds on both arms and legs. On his right leg, all of the soft tissue on the thigh had been removed. Shad's femur bone was exposed and the right hip socket was open. From the knee down, the rest of his right leg was intact. Flaps of skin were removed from his left leg.

Starting point is 00:30:27 His left leg had been amputated from his knee down. His kneecap was found separate from the rest of his leg, which had been cut again the ankle. His left foot had been completely removed and stuffed inside of his chest cavity. Now, doctor, does the screen show what is page four of Exhibit 79? Yes, it does. I don't think I will ask you to describe every injury that's noted on this particular diagram as we would be here a while, but could you describe generally what is depicted in this, uh, uh, diagram of course this is a front and back view of the decedent's body where I'm attempting to show the points of dismemberment as well as points of sharp force

Starting point is 00:31:20 injury that are present the contusions I've also included here to try to show where they are or bruises and abrasions but for the most part I want to focus on the sharp force trauma in particular in this case we have the head has been decapitated at the level of the lower neck. The back has been largely flayed and defleshed. In other words, the skin of the back has been removed, also the muscles of the back have been removed so that we have exposed rib cage and spine.

Starting point is 00:31:54 The torso, so extending from about the neck to the groin, has been bisected or cut in half at the level of the lumbar vertebra, or the vertebra of the lower spine. lower spine so that we have access to the inside of the torso, both the pelvis and the upper aspect of the chest and abdomen. We have attempted amputations at the level of the right shoulder and right elbow. We have numerous cuts and stab wounds of the extremities.

Starting point is 00:32:35 When we get to the abdomen and thighs, we have areas of skin removal where flaps of skin have been removed. Where we get to the right thigh, all the soft tissue has been removed, so we're down to the bone. In other words, all we have is exposed femur for the length of the femur. When we get the lower extremities, the left lower extremity has been amputated to the level of the knee. The kneecap or patella was recovered separately. We have another amputation from the knee to the level of the ankle.

Starting point is 00:33:10 And the left foot was recovered from within the left chest cavity, placed within there. At the right lower extremity, we have, again, the femur, which has been largely defleshed, but I was able to re-approximate the pieces of muscle and pieces of skin to recreate what was there. And then we had the right knee to the right foot. still intact. Dr. Based on your training and experience, what kind of amount of time would be necessary

Starting point is 00:33:45 in order to create this sort of disruption to a body? Objection, speculation. It is my medical opinion that this would be quite a few hours. We have decapitation, we have dismemberment, we have transsection of the torso. Subsequently, internally, the body has been eviscerated. In other words, we have entered inside the body through various cuts, both at the abdomen and between the ribs, where the victim's organs have been removed largely one by one. We have castration of the decedent. The decedent has been castrated as well.

Starting point is 00:34:31 We have cutting or sawing through chopmark injuries of the bones. It is my medical opinion that this would have taken quite a great deal of time. Taylor's trial lasted for three days, and the jury deliberated for less than an hour. On July 27, 2023, they found Taylor guilty of first-degree intentional homicide, mutilation of a corpse with intent to conceal a crime, as well as third-degree essay. The next day, they heard arguments for her insanity plea. The expert witness hired by the defense psychologist Diane Linton said she didn't think that Taylor was of sound mind. She said Taylor was psychotic and claimed that she threw a chair at her during her evaluation.

Starting point is 00:35:14 Taylor also told her that she was in a relationship with Jeffrey Dahmer a year before. Dahmer was killed in prison by another inmate 29 years ago, long before Taylor was even born. Taylor's father Arturo also testified about Taylor's mental health issues. Still serving time for his child essay conviction, he appeared before the court wearing shackles in an orange prison jumpsuit. He talked about the trauma Taylor suffered from losing her mother so young. He also told the jury that Taylor's brother passed away in a motorcycle accident, causing her additional grief. Her brother died in July of 2022, months after she was already in prison. Arturo also blamed her husband Warren for supplying her with crystal and heroin.

Starting point is 00:35:59 He said she'd spent time in a psychiatric center in 2021 because she wasn't in her right minds. At the end of his testimony, he looked at Taylor in mouth, I love you and go bears. She melt the same words back to him. Now, Taylor's brother was a Bears fan. His love for the team was mentioned in his obituary, which was the most likely explanation for the somewhat odd phrase, that and they were from Chicago.

Starting point is 00:36:25 However, the jury was not moved by any of this testimony. They unanimously rejected her insanity plea. On September 26th, the sentencing hearings started about a half an hour late. When Taylor finally entered the courtroom, she was wearing a spit hood, which is a special hood designed so she couldn't easily spit on anyone or try to bite them. Officials said she was placed in the hood due to recent behavior issues, such as spitting on the people at the jail. Taylor's grandmother Esther Coronado testified at the hearing. She and her husband Juan Coronado are raising Taylor's two-year-old son Mateo. She said she didn't think her granddaughter was a monster.

Starting point is 00:37:02 She said she knew her granddaughter had to pay for her crime, but she believed Taylor should be allowed to, come back to society someday and spend time with her son. Now surprisingly, Chad's father, Michael, said he forgave Taylor. He said he was going to miss Shad, but he asked Judge Walsh to give her the possibility of parole, he said, and I quote, I believe everybody makes bad choices, maybe not to this scale, but I think there is a lot of hope for you. I think you can make use of your time and be a better person and do great things. It is no good to hate you. I know you've got a heart, got a mind, I wish you no harm, and I hope things go well for you, end quote. Shad's death was not the last tragedy to touch the Therian family. The time after his murder and before the trial, Shad's sister, Sylvia

Starting point is 00:37:51 Therian, died while being held at the Milwaukee County Jail. She'd been imprisoned since February 2022 on strangulation and battery charges. The 20-year-old was found in distress in her cell in December 16th of 2022. Sylvia had a history of what her mother called extreme mental health issues. As part of her struggle, she often ate foreign objects. She had been to the hospital many times as a result of this behavior. On this occasion, she'd eaten part of a diaper she had been given to wear in her cell. First responders were called and treated her, but she passed away 45 minutes later. This might have been why Michael chose to forgive Taylor. Shad's Uncle Kelly was not forgiving. He said he thought there was no excuse for what she's done.

Starting point is 00:38:36 I don't care if its drugs are upbringing. We all go through hard times growing up. He said making other people suffer because you were hurting was cowardly. He said, after Judge Walsh sentences you hear today, I will pray that you meet the same fate as your idealistic Jeffrey Dahmer. Now, Jeffrey Dahmer was killed by another prisoner while serving 15 life sentences. The audience in the courtroom applauded Kelly's statement. Taylor's attorney said she planned to address the court.

Starting point is 00:39:06 When the judge asked if she had anything to say, she replied, no, there isn't. Before he announced Taylor's sentence, Judge Walsh said he didn't have the words to adequately express the offense in this case. Said Taylor's actions were so foreign. They shocked the community. That, he said, is the gravity of this case. He sentenced Taylor to life in prison without the possibility of parole. Shad's family and friends left the courtroom quickly after the court. the sentence was announced. In October of 2023, Taylor was moved from the Brown County Jail to the

Starting point is 00:39:38 Te-Chita Correctional Institution. Shad's family, especially his mother Tara, were traumatized by his murder. In the wake of his death, Tara's cousin Michelle set up a go-fund me to help raise money to move the family out of the house he was killed in. Later, they asked for a fund so Tara could take off work and attend the trial. In addition to money, the family asked for prayers for justice, closure and healing. When his remains were released, Shad's family had him cremated. For them, it was a way to make him whole again. Understandably, they wanted to grieve in private. They didn't have a public funeral or memorial, though as likely they had some sort of private ceremony just for the family. The location of his ashes is known only to those closest to him. In the months before his

Starting point is 00:40:27 death, Shad's Facebook post showed that he was sad and struggling. Between music videos, he posted about difficult relationships and strong emotions. Even in his darkest times, though, he was still searching for beauty and purpose. Some of the entries, it almost feels like he was saying goodbye to the world. On January 15th, he wrote, When I leave this place, know that I loved every last bit, every drop of the rainstorm clouds I see, every person I touched and whoever didn't doubt me, I'm here still. Did you forget about me? On February 16th, he reposted a short poem called Be a Good Memory to Someone. It read, Someday, all of these will be just memories. We don't know what will happen tomorrow. Every second is a gift, so cherish it and be thankful. Have great

Starting point is 00:41:18 memories of today and as long as you have the opportunity be a good memory to someone after everything he went through shad deserves to be a good memory he deserves to be happier times wearing a ballcap glasses and a broad smile

The Misery Machine - The Case of Shad Thyrion

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