WI Woman Who Stabbed Friend To Please ‘Slender Man’ Granted Release

WAUKESHA, WI — A Wisconsin judge ruled Thursday that Morgan Geyser, who stabbed her friend 19 times at the age of 12 in an attempt to appease the fictional character Slender Man, will be released from a psychiatric center.

Geyser, now 22, was sentenced at age 15 to a 40-year commitment at the Winnebago Mental Health Institute. Judge Michael O. Bohren granted her release, determining that she no longer poses a threat to herself or others a decade after the crime, the New York Times reported.

Since 2022, Geyser had repeatedly petitioned for her release, including a request denied by Judge Bohren last April, when he concluded there was still a significant risk she could harm herself or others.

On May 31, 2014, Morgan Geyser and her classmate, Anissa Weier, lured their friend, Payton Leutner, into a wooded area in Waukesha. All three were 12 at the time.

Geyser stabbed Leutner 19 times with a kitchen knife while Weier held her down.

Despite her severe injuries, Leutner managed to crawl out of the woods, where she was discovered by a passing cyclist the next morning. She survived after months of intensive recovery, as Patch previously reported.

Geyser and Weier were later apprehended while walking toward a mansion they believed belonged to Slender Man, a fictional internet character depicted as a tall, faceless figure in a suit.

The pair told authorities they committed the attack to appease the mythical figure.