Wisconsin judge refuses to block Slender Man attacker's release from psychiatric hospital
Morgan Geyser has spent the last seven years at the Winnebago Mental Health Institute. Waukesha County Circuit Judge Michael Bohren in January ordered her released after state and county health officials completed a community supervision and housing plan.
Bohren was set to review the plan at a Feb. 28 hearing but prosecutors never presented it to him, instead asking him at the hearing to revoke her release.
Deputy District Attorney Abbey Nickolie alleged during a follow-up hearing Thursday that Geyser, now 22, didn't tell her treatment team that she has been reading novels about murder and the sale of human organs on the black market. She also didn't inform the treatment team that she has been communicating with a man who collects murder memorabilia, allowing him to visit her and sending him artwork of a 'very violent nature,' Nickolie told the judge.
Geyser's attorney, Tony Cotton, countered that Geyser only reads books the facility makes available to her and hospital officials track all her communications. She told her treatment team about the books and communications when asked, he said, adding that she can't have violated any conditions of release because conditions haven't been set.
Bohren said that the revocation request lacked substance and he didn't believe Geyser was trying to intentionally hide anything.
'I don't see the risk to the public,' the judge said.
Geyser and her friend, Anissa Weier, lured Payton Leutner to a Waukesha park after a sleepover in 2014. Geyser stabbed Leutner 19 times while Weier egged her on. They left Leutner for dead but she crawled out of the woods and got help from a passing bicyclist. All three girls were 12 years old.
Leutner barely survived her wounds. Geyser and Weier told investigators that they attacked her to earn the right to be Slender Man's servants and to ensure Slender Man didn't hurt them or their families.
Geyser pleaded guilty to attempted first-degree attempted homicide in 2017 but claimed she wasn't responsible for her actions because she was mentally ill. Bohren had committed her to the psychiatric hospital for 40 years in 2018.
Geyser has asked the judge for a conditional release four times since June 2022. She withdrew her first two petitions. The judge denied her third request in April 2024, finding that she was still a threat to the public. She filed her latest request in October.
He granted her fourth request in January after three psychologists testified that she's made progress improving her coping skills and emotional control and doesn't retreat into fantasy as often. One of the psychologists, Dr. Ken Robbins, warned that Geyser could become dangerous if she remains at Winnebago and loses hope.
Prosecutors countered that Geyser couldn't be trusted, pointing to how she claimed during evaluations last year that she really attacked Leutner as a way of escaping her abusive father rather than to please Slender Man. They implied she was lying in hopes of increasing the odds she'd be released.
Bohren ultimately found that Geyser had maximized her treatment at Winnebago and to be truly rehabilitated she has to rejoin society.
Weier pleaded guilty to being a party to attempted second-degree intentional homicide with a dangerous weapon in 2017, but like Geyser claimed she wasn't responsible due to mental illness. She was committed to 25 years in a mental hospital but was granted release in 2021 on condition that she live with her father and wear a GPS monitor.
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Daily Mail
05-08-2025
- Daily Mail
Families distraught at news that Slender Man stabber is moving to their city after being freed
News that the Slender Man stabber will be moving to a quaint Wisconsin suburb after being released from a psychiatric facility has outraged residents of the community the killer will soon call home. Morgan Geyser, 23, is set to move from a psychiatric hospital in Oshkosh to a group home in Sun Prairie, near Madison, after a judge ordered her release earlier this year. Geyser and her friend Anissa Weier lured classmate Payton Leutner into the woods in Waukesha and stabbed her 19 times as a sacrifice to the eerie fictional character in 2014. All three of the girls were 12 at the time. Weier and Geyser were both found not guilty of the attempted killing by reason of mental disease or defect. Now, Sun Prairie locals are terrified for the arrival of their new neighbor, with some residents even looking to move elsewhere. Mother Gabrielle Alturk, who has lived in Sun Prairie for eight years, told WMTV that the area always felt safe and she would let her 13-year-old child explore the city alongside friends without adult supervision. She is worried about what Geyser's arrival means for the safety and security of Sun Prairie's residents. 'The community, that I know of, is extremely concerned because, you know, she was a kid when she planned a premeditated, cold calculated murder,' Alturk said. During the vicious attack in 2014, Geyser stabbed Leutner 19 times while Weier cheered on the cold-hearted act of violence before leaving the victim to die. Leutner miraculously survived. 'It's horrible' Alturk continued. 'We're afraid. We don't know where she's going to be; that's the worst part. This is a safe community, this is a community filled with children.' Geyser's attorney has said that the 23–year–old will have to wear a GPS monitor so her location will be known at all times. 'People should be aware of what is going on in their community, but people have to be released somewhere, and so if you permit cities to object, then you'd have everybody objecting and you'd never release people,' said Geyser's attorney, Anthony Cotton. Sun Prairie city attorney Kathleen McDaniel told WISN that residents would be 'outraged' by the decision to bring Geyser into the community. 'Our residents, if they find out about this, will be outraged. And they understand that the plan is confidential. But unfortunately, due to the notoriety of this case, I think if our residents see Ms. Geyser outside of the home or taking a walk in the neighborhood with supervision, they will be aware of who she is,' McDaniel said. Geyser's attorney argued that the Sun Prairie group home will have more resources and treatments for her to transition back into the community. 'I think what everybody wants is that she will readjust to society. She's been in custody for 10 years now... Imagine being 12 years old and now in your early 20s and you've never left confinement. It's horrible. So this facility really will allow her to grow as a person and I think be as a safer and better member of the community,' Cotton said. Geyser, left, stabbed Payton Leutner across her arms, legs and torso, hitting major arteries and severing her diaphragm. Geyser did this while Anissa Weier, right, egged her on Authorities have insisted that when Geyser does arrive, they're prepared to keep Sun Prairie's population safe. 'We understand why that type of release would raise concerns amongst our community,' Sun Prairie Assistant Police Chief Ryan Cox told WMTV. 'But your police department is absolutely prepared for it. We have all the information that we need in order to respond accordingly.' Geyser's release from the psychiatric hospital had been postponed several times. In April, the Leutner family flagged their concerns about Geyser's group home being just eight miles from their house. Weier and Geyser had conspired for months to slaughter Leutner in the name of the horror character Slender Man. Geyser and Weier were charged in adult court with first–degree attempted intentional homicide. Weier had pleaded guilty to the lesser charge of attempted second–degree intentional homicide as a party to a crime, but the jury found her to be not guilty by mental disease or defect in 2017. She was sentenced to 25 years in a mental hospital but was granted release in 2021 after agreeing to live with her father and to wear a GPS monitor. Geyser, who has schizophrenia, pleaded guilty to first–degree murder, but as part of her plea deal, was convicted but found not guilty by reason of mental disease or defect in 2018. Waukesha County Circuit Judge Michael Bohren, who has since retired, had committed her to a psychiatric hospital for 40 years – a sentence of which she only served about 25 percent. Circuit Judge Scott Wagner, who made the ruling in mid–July, did not release any further details about the decision to let Geyser go. In January, Bohren said Geyser could be released after three experts testified that she was making progress battling her mental illness. During the same hearing, Geyser also came out as transgender, but female pronouns have continued to be used for court consistency, explained Dr. Brooke Lundbohm, who evaluated Geyser.
The Guardian
18-07-2025
- The Guardian
Slender Man case: woman who stabbed classmate to be released from psychiatric hospital
A 22-year-old woman who stabbed a classmate a decade ago believing that the act would earn her the right to be servant of Slender Man, a fictional supernatural character, is set to be released from a Wisconsin psychiatric hospital. Waukesha county circuit Judge Scott Wagner agreed on Thursday to the conditional release of Morgan Geyser from Winnebago mental health institute, a psychiatric hospital where she has spent the last seven years. In 2014, Geyser and Anissa Weier lured their friend Payton Leutner to join a game of hide-and-seek in heavily wooded Davids Park near Waukesha, Wisconsin. Geyser stabbed Leutner 19 times, nearly killing her, while Weier egged her on. All three girls were 12 years old at the time. Geyser and Weier later told investigators they had committed the crime to appease Slender Man, a thin, unnaturally tall humanoid character that originated as a creepypasta internet meme created by a Something Awful forum user, Eric Knudsen, in 2009. Five hours after the attack, Weier and Geyser were arrested in a nearby furniture store, still in possession of the knife used in the stabbing, and told police they were going to meet Slender Man at Slender Mansion in a forest 200 miles away. Geyser later disclosed lifelong visual and auditory hallucinations that included figures she interpreted as ghosts, colors melting down walls, and imaginary friends. Her mother described her as being 'floridly psychotic' and she was later diagnosed with early onset childhood schizophrenia. Geyser ultimately pleaded guilty to being a party to attempted first-degree intentional homicide in 2017 but claimed she wasn't responsible because she was mentally ill. She was later committed to a psychiatric hospital for 40 years. Weier pleaded guilty to being a party to attempted second-degree intentional homicide with a dangerous weapon. Like Geyser, she claimed she was mentally ill and not responsible for her actions. She was committed to 25 years in a mental hospital but was granted release in 2021. The case drew widespread attention, in part because the character Slender Man had been photo-edited into everyday images of children at play, creating a disturbing juxtaposition of childhood innocence and the transition to a more complex, adult understanding of reality. Subsequent efforts to secure Geyer's release from the psychiatric home have taken several turns. Earlier this year, a judge ruled she could be released after three experts testified she has made progress and argued that she did not present a future risk. But in March, Payton Leutner, the mother of the victim, said the group home that Geyser was to be released to was eight miles away from where she lives. Wisconsin health officials were ordered to come up with a new plan. State health officials also argued that she didn't volunteer to her therapy team that she had read Rent Boy, a novel about murder and selling organs on the black market, and alleged she had communicated with a man who collects murder memorabilia. 'The state has real concerns these things are, frankly, just red flags at this point,' said Abbey Nickolie, the Waukesha county prosecutor, at the hearing. But Geyser's attorney Tony Cotton described the state's request to keep her in hospital as a 'hit job' and said his client was 'not more dangerous today'. But Thursday, the plan to release Geyser, which has not been made public, was approved. Geyser's attorney, who did not respond to requests for comment, told the court that his client needs to be involved in the community and needs to 'move on with her life', reported TMJ-TV Milwaukee.
Daily Mail
18-07-2025
- Daily Mail
Slender Man stabber to be RELEASED after bombshell ruling
The Slender Man stabber will be released from a mental hospital more than a decade after trying to kill her friend as a sacrifice to the eerie fictional character. Morgan Geyser, 22, of Wisconsin, was granted conditional release from the Winnebago Mental Health Institute, where she has spent the past seven years, on Thursday. Geyser was arrested after she and her classmate Anissa Weier lured Peyton Leutner to the woods after a sleepover in 2014. They were all 12 years old at the time. Weier and Geyser had conspired for months to slaughter Leutner in the name of the horror character Slender Man. During the vicious attack, Geyser stabbed Leutner 19 times while Weier cheered on the cold-hearted act of violence before leaving the helpless victim to die. Leutner miraculously survived, and Geyser and Weier were charged in adult court with first-degree attempted intentional homicide. Weier had pleaded guilty to the lesser charge of attempted second-degree intentional homicide as a party to a crime, but the jury found her to be not guilty by mental disease or defect in 2017. She was sentenced to 25 years in a mental hospital but was granted release in 2021 after agreeing to live with her father and to wear a GPS monitor. Geyser, who has schizophrenia, pleaded guilty to first-degree murder, but as part of her plea deal, was convicted but found not guilty by reason of mental disease or defect in 2018. Waukesha County Circuit Judge Michael Bohren, who has since retired, had committed her to a psychiatric hospital for 40 years - a sentence she only served about 25 percent of. Circuit Judge Scott Wagner, who made the Thursday ruling, did not release any further details about the decision to let Geyser go. In January, Bohren said Geyser could be released after three experts testified that she was making progress battling her mental illness. During the same hearing, Geyser also came out as transgender, but female pronouns have continued to be used for court consistency, Dr. Brooke Lundbohm, who psych evaluated Geyser, explained. 'In her treatment records, she's now identified with male pronouns and a separate name,' Lundbohm continued, adding that Geyser's new name is Ethan. At the time, Dr. Kenneth Robbins claimed the Geyser no longer has psychosis, symptoms experts who have worked with her generally agree played a major role in the violent assault she committed. Lundbohm's treatment team came to the same conclusion. When the judge asked Robbins if she was 'faking' her psychotic symptoms back in 2014 when the stabbing occurred, he quickly responded 'no.' 'I think either she was experiencing transient psychotic symptoms, which is to say psychotic symptoms that didn't persist and gradually went away,' Robbins explained. 'Or the intensity of her fantasies based on some of the trauma she had experienced were so intense that she believed them to be true.' The trauma Robbins was referring to was Geyser's claims of sexual abuse by her father, who died in 2023. Geyser's father had also reportedly been diagnosed with schizophrenia, Stacie Leutner told ABC. Geyser's symptoms more closely align with post traumatic stress disorder, anxiety and autism, Robbins added. While Bohren agreed to Geyser's release - effectively slashing her sentence by about three decades - the original plan had to be reworked. In March, prosecutors rejected the proposal to integrate Geyser back into society after Leutner's mother, Stacie, expressed concern that Geyser's group home was set to be just eight miles away from her daughter. The judge then ordered the Department of Health Services to draft a new plan, which was ultimately okayed on Thursday. While the judge was onboard with Geyser walking free, claims of her disturbing habits inside the mental facility have sparked concern. In March, Wisconsin health officials argued Geyser was in no condition to walk free from the institution after evidence emerged of an unsettling correspondence she was having with an 'older man' called Jeffrey who sold murder memorabilia. 'I asked Ms. Geyser who are the people she's communicating with on the outside, and his name came up,' Nicole Whiteaker, he conditional release program supervisor, testified in March. Jeffery, who first visited her in person in June 2023, sent her a letter after she was granted conditional release in January 2025. Geyser reportedly ripped it up and threw it away, Whiteaker said. 'After the team became aware of him, it was during that meeting that Ms. Geyer asked for a no contact order,' Whiteaker said, adding that she found details about Geyser on the man's Facebook that were 'concerning'. She had sent him her own sketch of a decapitated body and a postcard saying she wants to be intimate with him. 'We found that there were letters and drawing that she had sent him. A postcard,' Whiteaker said. 'And he was selling them.' The drawings were described as 'horror' art, which concerned Whiteaker and her team. The pieces of art were labeled with Geyser's name, so potential buyers knew what they were getting, according to Whiteaker's testimony. One of the drawings, shown in court, depicted a unearthly creature with the message 'they crumble as they crawl.' Geyser also 'recalled that [Jeffery] would get sexual gratification from her index offense and I believe there was letters written back and forth' about that, Whiteaker said. Geyser also did not reveal to her therapists that she had been reading a novel with violent themes about murder and black market organ sales called Rent Boy. But her lawyer, Tony Cotton, pushed back, saying Geyser only read what the facility allowed, and staff knew she had been communicating with the collector. He also pointed out that Geyser was the one who asked for the no contact order, something she requested when she found out thdat Jeffery was sexually interested in her crime. Cotton said that she stopped talking to the man in 2024 after she discovered he was selling things she sent him. Bohren, who has since retired and passed the case along to Wagner, agreed with Cotton's points. In 2014, Geyser stabbed Leutner across her arms, legs and torso, hitting major arteries and severing her diaphragm. Geyser did this while Weier egged her on. Weier ordered Leutner lay down and cover herself in leaves during a game of hide and seek before Geyser started attacking her. Leutner's near death experience came a day after they all celebrated Geyser's birthday. After the young assailants fled, Geyser mustered up the strength to crawl out of the woods and was found by a cyclist. The girls claimed they were motivated by the fictional Slender Man, sparking a moral panic over potential copycat attacks as the character swept the internet. Both Geyser and Weier told detectives they felt they had to kill Leutner to become Slender Man's 'proxies,' or servants, and that the character would kill their families if they didn't follow through.
