Slender Man case: woman who stabbed classmate to be released from 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 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.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
The Guardian
7 minutes ago
- The Guardian
Migrants at Ice jail in Miami made to kneel to eat ‘like dogs', report alleges
Migrants at a Miami immigration jail were shackled with their hands tied behind their backs and made to kneel to eat food from styrofoam plates 'like dogs', according to a report published on Monday into conditions at three overcrowded south Florida facilities. The incident at the downtown federal detention center is one of a succession of alleged abuses at Immigration and Customs Enforcement Agency (Ice) operated jails in the state since January, chronicled by advocacy groups Human Rights Watch, Americans for Immigrant Justice, and Sanctuary of the South from interviews with detainees. Dozens of men had been packed into a holding cell for hours, the report said, and denied lunch until about 7pm. They remained shackled with the food on chairs in front of them. 'We had to eat like animals,' one detainee named Pedro said. Degrading treatment by guards is commonplace in all three jails, the groups say. At the Krome North service processing center in west Miami, female detainees were made to use toilets in full view of men being held there, and were denied access to gender-appropriate care, showers, or adequate food. The jail was so far beyond capacity, some transferring detainees reported, that they were held for more than 24 hours in a bus in the parking lot. Men and women were confined together, and unshackled only when they needed to use the single toilet, which quickly became clogged. 'The bus became disgusting. It was the type of toilet in which normally people only urinate but because we were on the bus for so long, and we were not permitted to leave it, others defecated in the toilet,' one man said. 'Because of this, the whole bus smelled strongly of feces.' When the group was finally admitted into the facility, they said, many spent up to 12 days crammed into a frigid intake room they christened la hierela - the ice box - with no bedding or warm clothing, sleeping instead on the cold concrete floor. There was so little space at Krome, and so many detainees, the report says, that every available room was used to hold new arrivals. 'By the time I left, almost all the visitation rooms were full. A few were so full men couldn't even sit, all had to stand,' Andrea, a female detainee, said. At the third facility, the Broward transitional center in Pompano Beach, where a 44-year-old Haitian woman, Marie Ange Blaise, died in April, detainees said they were routinely denied adequate medical or psychological care. Some suffered delayed treatment for injuries and chronic conditions, and dismissive or hostile responses from staff, the report said. In one alleged incident in April at the downtown Miami jail, staff turned off a surveillance camera and a 'disturbance control team' brutalized detainees who were protesting a lack of medical attention to one of their number who was coughing up blood. One detainee suffered a broken finger. All three facilities were severely overcrowded, the former detainees said, a contributory factor in Florida's decision to quickly build the controversial 'Alligator Alcatraz' jail in the Everglades intended to eventually hold up to 5,000 undocumented migrants awaiting deportation. Immigration detention numbers nationally were at an average of 56,400 per day in mid-June, with almost 72% having no criminal history, according to the report. The daily average during the whole of 2024 was 37,500, HRW said. The groups say that the documented abuses reflect inhumane conditions inside federal immigration facilities that have worsened significantly since Trump's January inauguration and subsequent push to ramp up detentions and deportations. 'The anti-immigrant escalation and enforcement tactics under the Trump administration are terrorizing communities and ripping families apart, which is especially cruel in the state of Florida, which thrives because of its immigrant communities,' said Katie Blankenship, immigration attorney and co-founder of Sanctuary of the South. 'The rapid, chaotic, and cruel approach to arresting and locking people up is literally deadly and causing a human rights crisis that will plague this state and the entire country for years to come.' The Guardian has contacted Ice for comment.
The Guardian
7 minutes ago
- The Guardian
Labour says Reform UK ‘trying to divide communities' ahead of Farage speech on crime
Update: Date: 2025-07-21T08:19:51.000Z Title: Farage's plans to reform criminal justice system criticised ahead of speech Content: Good morning and welcome to our live coverage of UK politics. Nigel Farage is to lay out plans that he claims would end all early release schemes for sex offenders and serious violent offenders if he were to become prime minister. In a speech in London later today, the Reform UK leader will also reportedly promise to build 30,000 new prison places to tackle the overcrowding crisis, appoint 30,000 more police officers within five years and deport 10,400 foreign offenders currently in British jails. He has not said how these policies will be funded and will likely face questions on how he would negotiate return agreements for foreign offenders. Some of his promises – like sending some of the most serious criminals to overseas jails, including in El Salavdor – will also likely face serious legal obstacles if they were ever realised. Farage, whose Reform party is leading many polls, was quoted by the Daily Telegraph as having said: Reform UK will be the toughest party on law and order this country has ever seen. We will cut crime in half. We will take back control of our streets, we will take back control of our courts and prisons. We are expecting more details on Reform's plans at around 11am. Reform's attempt to woo voters with a tough on crime message stands in contrast to the proposals recently suggested by Sir Brian Leveson, a former senior judge who was asked by the Lord Chancellor to come up with ways to reduce the backlog of cases in the criminal courts. Recommendations in the report included increased use of out-of-court resolutions, greater use of rehabilitation programmes and health intervention programmes and increasing the maximum reduction for entering a guilty plea at the first opportunity from 33% to 40%. Diana Johnson, the policing minister, said that Reform is not serious about implementing real changes to the criminal justice system as the party 'voted to try to block measures to crack down on knife crime, antisocial behaviour, shop theft and child sexual abuse'. 'They should focus more on practical solutions to support our police, combat crime, deliver justice for victims of crime, rather than chasing headlines, spouting slogans and trying to divide communities,' she added. Here is the agenda for the day. 09.45am: Sir Jon Cunliffe, Independent Water Commission chair, to give speech. 11am: Nigel Farage to make a speech in London on the criminal justice system. 13:00pm: Orgreave Truth and Justice Campaign press conference in Sheffield. 14.30pm: Keir Starmer to appear at the Liaison Committee.
Daily Mail
20 minutes ago
- Daily Mail
Major breakthrough in burglary of Joe Burrow's $7.5 million mansion after shocking sports star robbery epidemic
New York authorities have made a major breakthrough in the burglary of NFL star Joe Burrow's home as a pawn shop owner pleaded guilty to buying and selling stolen items from athletes' properties. The burglary of the Cincinnati Bengals ' $7.5 million mansion, which was covered on Netflix's 'Quarterback' docuseries, occurred on December 9 while Burrow was on the road for a game against the Dallas Cowboys. The pattern of athletes' homes burglarized while they were publicly scheduled elsewhere includes Kansas City Chiefs stars Patrick Mahomes and Travis Kelce, and NBA stars Luka Doncic of the Los Angeles Lakers and Mike Conley Jr. of the Minnesota Timberwolves. The pawn shop owner, Dimitriy Nezhinskiy, 43, of North Bergen, N.J., pleaded guilty on Friday to one count of conspiracy to receive stolen property in a Brooklyn federal court. He admitted knowingly purchasing stolen property, including high-end watches, jewelry and handbags. Nezhinskiy, whose sentencing date has not been determined, faces a maximum of five years in prison and restitution and forfeiture of more than $2.5 million. In addition, because he is from the country of Georgia while legally residing in the United States, Nezhinskiy faces federal charges and the possibility of deportation, District Judge William F. Kuntz said. 'This defendant ran a black-market pipeline, buying stolen luxury goods from organized theft crews that targeted homes and businesses,' New York City Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch said in a news release on Friday. 'It was a deliberate operation that helped professional burglars prey on innocent people.' Co-defendant Juan Villar, 48, who co-managed the pawn shop, pleaded guilty in June to the same charge, per Friday's news release. The two men worked together between 2020 and this year, according to the release, as 'fences' to receive and buy stolen goods from outside of New York. Villar, of Queens, N.Y., also is awaiting sentencing. The news release said that South American Theft Group traveled the United States and targeted homes in affluent neighborhoods as well as jewelry vendors. The investigation involving multiple states has resulted in six arrests. Nezhinskiy and Villar haven't been charged with specific burglaries. Police searched the pawn shop as well as storage units owned by Nezhinskiy in New Jersey and found suspected stolen property including sports memorabilia, artwork and fine wine as well as luxury goods and clothing and 'power tools consistent with those commonly used in burglaries and opening safes,' according to the news release. Four Chilean nationals were stopped and arrested by police on suspicion of robbery. Police found the group in possession of LSU and Bengals gear, which is believed to have been taken from Burrow's home. Officers said the men were in the country illegally after overstaying their permission. Three of the men are facing federal charges for allegedly transporting stolen goods and falsifying record in a federal investigation. Those three are suspected by investigators of orchestrating similar robberies at the homes of Kansas City Chiefs stars Travis Kelce and Patrick Mahomes. In a shocking photo laid bare in court documents, all four men linked to the Burrow burglary could be seen posing in the jewelry they allegedly stole at his home - including the NFL star's personalized diamond-encrusted chains. Olivia Ponton (right) was the one who called the police over the break-in at Burrow's home They are understood to have made off with over $300,000 worth of his luxury possessions, according to federal prosecutors. Burrow addressed the robbery at the time, although he was clearly skittish about saying too much publicly. 'So obviously everybody has heard what has happened,' Burrow said in a statement after the robbery. 'I feel like my privacy has been violated in more ways than one. And way more is already out there than I would want out there and that I care to share, so that's all I got to say about that.' The incident was initially shrouded in mystery after it emerged that the 911 call was made by Sports Illustrated Swimsuit model Olivia Ponton rather than the quarterback's longtime partner Olivia Holzmacher. Although Holzmacher is no longer believed to be involved with Burrow, Ponton has stayed silent on her relationship with the quarterback, refusing to address the topic when asked by paparazzo at last month's Met Gala . However, the two were recently spotted out late in New York. Ponton - who boasts eight million followers on TikTok - is said to have told officers that she noticed 'a shattered bedroom window and the room ransacked' when she arrived at Burrow's property on December 9 . Burrow was out of town at the time.
