Woman who stabbed classmate to please Slender Man files third release request

[October 12, 2024]  WAUKESHA, Wis. (AP) — A Wisconsin woman accused of stabbing her classmate to please horror character Slender Man more than a decade ago asked a judge again Friday to release her from a psychiatric hospital. 

Morgan Geyser is led out Waukesha County Circuit Court after day one of a motion hearing, April 10, 2024, in Waukesha, Wis. (Scott Ash/Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel via AP, File)

Morgan Geyser, who is now 22 years old, filed a petition with Waukesha County Circuit Judge Michael Bohren seeking her release from the Winnebago Mental Health Institute. The petition marks the third time in the last two years she has asked Bohren to let her out of the facility.

She withdrew her first petition two months after filing it in 2022. Bohren denied her second request this past April, saying she remains a risk to the public.

The one-page petition doesn't include any arguments for Geyser's release. Instead, it cites state laws that require Bohren within 20 days to appoint at least one expert to examine her and produce a report within 30 days of being appointed. The petition also requests the judge schedule a hearing, noting that state law requires him to hold one within 30 days of receiving the examiner's report. Bohren set the hearing for Nov. 1.

Geyser's attorney, Anthony Cotton, didn't immediately respond to email and telephone messages Friday morning.

Geyser and Anissa Weier were 12 in 2014 when they lured 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 they wanted to earn the right to be servants of the fictional Slender Man and that they feared he would harm their families if they didn’t carry out the attack.

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

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