Morgan Geyser: Convicted Wisconsin woman in 'Slender Man' stabbing appeals for release from mental institution

Warning: This article contains a recollection of crime and can be triggering to some, readers’ discretion advised.

WISCONSIN: One of the two preteens from Wisconsin who were found guilty of trying to kill their friend in the infamous "Slender Man" stabbing almost ten years ago is pleading to be released from a mental health facility.

21-year-old Morgan Geyser has requested a conditional release from the Winnebago Mental Health Institute.

Anissa Weier was given conditional release in 2021

Geyser was first given a maximum sentence of 40 years in the facility in 2018, the outlet said, after it was determined that her friend Payton Leutner's brutal stabbing death was not caused by a mental illness, according to FOX6 News.

In 2022 and 2023, she retracted her earlier requests for an early release. Now, a judge has thirty days to designate physicians to examine Geyser before the matter comes up for court.

In September 2021, Anissa Weier—who was also imprisoned in Winnebago in 2017 for her involvement in the attack—was given conditional release. 

She was mandated to undergo GPS monitoring and outpatient mental health treatment; however, the latter requirement was lifted in September 2023.

Morgan Geyser and Anissa Weier attacked friend to placate Slender Man

Geyser and Weier, according to the prosecution, lured Leurner into the Waukesha woods after a sleepover in May 2014. Then, as Weier watched, Geyser repeatedly stabbed Leutner.

Leutner pulled herself out of the woods and flagged down a cyclist, narrowly escaping the attack. Later, the two attackers were discovered strolling alongside each other on an interstate.

In police interviews, Geyser and Weier stated that they attacked their friend to placate the imaginary being known as 'Slender Man.' Newsweek reports that this tall, thin, faceless creature was created in online forums and is rumored to haunt forests, frightening young people.

It is said that Weier and Geyser came upon Slender Man legend on the website Creepypasta. The most well-known instance of a wave of violence in which juvenile perpetrators claimed to have been motivated by the internet boogeyman was the Waukesha incident.

According to ABC News, a 14-year-old in Florida set her family's home on fire in 2014 after reading about Slender Man.