Slender Man Stabbing Assailant Released From Psychiatric Hospital

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A Wisconsin woman who was 12 years old when she stabbed her classmate nearly to death in an attempt to appease the fictional online character Slender Man will be released from a psychiatric hospital, a judge ruled on Thursday.

Why It Matters

The Slender Man stabbing case garnered worldwide attention when it occurred in Waukesha, Wisconsin.

The case dates back to May 2014, when a group of girls planned a sleepover with a classmate, Payton Leutner, and lured her into the woods in Waukesha. After some deliberation, Anissa Weier told Morgan Geyser to "go berserk" and assault the third preteen, and she did. The two girls then left Leutner alone to crawl out of the forest and find help.

The story inspired increased media attention to the Slender Man character, as well as to the control the figure had on impressionable children. The character, which first surfaced online as a horror image. A documentary on the topic, Beware the Slenderman, was released on HBO in 2016. There are also several horror films about the figure.

Morgan Geyser seen in court
Morgan Geyser appears in a Waukesha County courtroom on January 9, 2025, in Waukesha, Wisconsin. A judge ordered Geyser's release from a psychiatric hospital on Thursday. AP Photo/Morry Gash

What To Know

Morgan Geyser, who has spent nearly seven years at the Winnebago Mental Health Institute, had sought her release from Waukesha County Circuit Judge Michael Bohren, who originally committed her. Since June 2022, Geyser filed four petitions, though withdrew two of those, before Bohren rejected the third petition in April when he decided she still posed a public safety risk.

Geyser, now 22, filed her most recent petition for release in October. Following a day-long hearing on Thursday, Bohren ruled in her favor, concluding that she had fully utilized the treatment available at the Winnebago Mental Health Institute. Bohren directed the state Department of Health Services to draft a plan for her transition to a group home with supervision subject to his approval at a hearing within 60 days.

Following the incident in 2014, the girls later told investigators they carried out the attack on Leutner in an attempt to gain favor as servants of the fictional character Slender Man, driven by a belief that failing to act would result in harm to their families.

Geyser pleaded guilty to attempted first-degree intentional homicide in 2018 and was committed to a psychiatric facility due to mental illness. Weier, who pleaded guilty to attempted second-degree intentional homicide, was also sent to a psychiatric institution but was granted release in 2021. She now lives with her father under court-ordered GPS monitoring.

What People Are Saying

In 2019, Leutner appeared on ABC's 20/20 with David Muir where she spoke about the incident.

"After I heard why [Geyser] did it, I was like, 'Well, this doesn't surprise me at all because she believed so hard in this thing that she would do anything for it," she said.

What's Next

Geyser will transition to a group home with supervision until a hearing within 60 days.

This article includes reporting from The Associated Press.

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