Judge releases woman who stabbed a classmate to please Slender Man from a psychiatric hospital

MADISON, Wis. (AP) —

A Wisconsin woman who at age 12 stabbed her sixth grade classmate nearly to death to please online horror character Slender Man is set to be released from a psychiatric hospital, a judge ordered Thursday.

Morgan Geyser has spent nearly seven years at the Winnebago Mental Health Institute. She has petitioned Waukesha County Circuit Judge Michael Bohren, who committed her, for release four times since June 2022. She withdrew her first two petitions and Bohren denied her second request this past April, finding she still presented a threat to the public.

Geyser filed her latest petition in October. Bohren decided to grant her release after a day-long hearing Thursday, finding that she had maximized her treatment options at the facility. He ordered the state Department of Health Services to set up a plan for housing her in a group home and supervising her subject to his approval at a hearing within 60 days.

Geyser and Anissa Weier were 12 years old in 2014 when they lured their classmate, Payton Leutner, to a Waukesha park after a sleepover. Geyser stabbed Leutner 19 times while Weier egged her on. Leutner barely survived.

The girls later told investigators that they attacked Leutner to earn the right to be Slender Man’s servants and they feared he would harm their families if they didn’t follow through.

Geyser pleaded guilty to attempted first-degree intentional homicide and was sent to the psychiatric institute due to mental illness in 2018. Weier pleaded guilty to attempted second-degree intentional homicide. She was also sent to the psychiatric center but was granted release in 2021 to live with her father and was ordered to wear a GPS monitor.