Madison Meeks 

Editor in Chief

mvm7037@psu.edu

WAUKESHA, WIS. – On January 29, A Wisconsin judge was called into the courtroom for a scheduled hearing. The hearing was for a woman who wanted to be released from a mental institution after being put there for ten years. This woman was no other than 21-year-old Morgan Geyser, who pleaded guilty to repeatedly stabbing her classmate to please the fictional horror character Slender Man when she was only 12 years old.

In 2014, Geyser and her friend Anissa Weier were only 12. According to interrogation footage from 2014, the two girls had plotted for months the attack on their friend Payton Leutner. They had planned a sleepover, where they had lured Leutner into the woods and stabbed her. According to Inside Edition, Geyser had stabbed her friend 19 times while Weier cheered on. Once the attack was over, the two left Leutner for dead. She then crawled to the nearest bike path and survived the brutal attack. The two attempted killers were found later the same day walking along a highway by police. 

According to Authorities at the time of the attack, the girls had hoped their attack would please the fictional character Slender Man, whom they would read about in horror stories. They said in interviews that they believed that the character would kill their families if they did not become his servants. In the fall of 2014, Geyser was moved to Winnebago Mental Health Institute, where an evaluation was done to determine if she would stand trial due to her hallucinations. This delayed the decision to send her case to juvenile court. She stated that she would see imaginary people, such as a body that was the color of smoke and resembled Slender Man. She was diagnosed with early on-set childhood schizophrenia. Instead of treating her, the institute focused on explaining the law to her so that she could stand trial. Geyser then entered a state of psychosis due to not being treated for 19 months. 

 In December 2014, both suspects were ruled competent to stand trial, and preliminary hearings were set. Both the suspects’ trials were placed, and it was decided that they would be tried as Adults after the judge denied the argument of “kill or be killed.” At a court hearing, her defense stated that her history of schizophrenia may have been genetic because her father had a similar mental illness as a young child. Geyser pleaded not guilty for reason of mental disease, and two doctors were ordered to give evaluations of Geyser in August 2016. Her friend Anissa Weier then also pleads not guilty for reason of mental disease. Then, a year later, Weier pleaded guilty to attempted second-degree homicide with the use of a deadly weapon. She is later found not guilty of mental disease. 

At 15 years old, Weier was committed to Winnebago Mental Health Institute for 25 years. She would have to spend three years there before seeking release from community supervision, which would last until she was 37. In 2018, Geyser was then committed to 40 years of mental health treatment and would remain in a secure mental institute. She pleaded guilty to attempted first-degree intentional homicide. In 2021, Weier was granted conditional release after no evidence was found that she would be a harm to others. She was ordered to wear a GPS monitor at all times. 

January 29 marks the second time Geyser has asked a judge to release her from Winnebago Mental Health Institute. She had requested release in 2022 but withdrew that petition. The result of the hearing has yet to be made known to the public. Morgan Geyser remains to be treated at Winnebago Mental Health Institute.