Slender Man attacker won't fight extradition to Wisconsin after fleeing
group home
[December 04, 2025]
By TODD RICHMOND
MADISON, Wis. (AP) — The Wisconsin woman who won release from a mental
institution after almost killing her sixth grade classmate in the name
of horror villain Slender Man only to flee the state weeks later won't
fight extradition from Illinois.
Morgan Geyser agreed not to contest her transfer from jail in Cook
County, Illinois, to Wisconsin during a hearing Tuesday, a court
spokesperson said. Wisconsin authorities now have 30 days to pick her
up.
Wisconsin health officials could revoke Geyser's conditional release and
send her back to the facility where she spent most of the past eight
years. She also could face new charges in connection with her escape.
Escape to Illinois
According to police, Geyser cut off her GPS monitoring bracelet on
Saturday evening and fled her Madison group home with a 43-year-old
companion. Police found them Sunday evening sleeping on a sidewalk
outside a truck stop in Posen, Illinois, a village of 5,300 people about
25 miles (40 kilometers) south of Chicago, and arrested them.
Police have identified Geyser's friend as male, but Geyser can be heard
on officers' body camera footage during their arrests saying that the
individual is transgender and refers to the person as “she."
Her friend has been charged with trespassing and obstruction, but The
Associated Press isn't naming the companion because the person hasn't
been charged with aiding Geyser's escape. The AP's attempts to contact
that person have been unsuccessful.
The companion did call WKOW-TV on Monday, however, saying the two became
friends at church and had seen each other daily for the past month.
Geyser decided to flee because she was afraid her group home would no
longer allow them to see each other, the person said.
“She ran because of me,” the friend told the television station.
‘You’re not wanted for murder, right?'
Geyser and her companion took a bus overnight into Illinois, the friend
said. The Posen officers’ body camera footage shows Geyser and her
friend shivering in the cold outside the truck stop as officers try to
ascertain their names and where they’re from. Geyser does most of the
talking while her friend gathers their belongings and places them in a
backpack, saying only “south” when asked where they're from and giving
officers a fake name. Her companion initially refused to give a name.
As officers threaten to arrest them, Geyser clutches a stuffed dog toy
and clings to her companion’s arm. When officers separate them, she
insists that her friend doesn’t know Geyser’s name or what she’s done.
When Geyser refuses to give her real name, an officer asks her: “You’re
not wanted for murder, right?”
Geyser repeatedly begs the officers to let her companion go. Pressed by
officers, Geyser says: “I did something really wrong.”
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Morgan Geyser appears in a Waukesha County courtroom, Jan. 9, 2025,
in Waukesha, Wis. (AP Photo/Morry Gash, file)
Geyser finally writes her real name on an officer’s notepad. As
they’re running her for warrants, she tries to go to her friend, but
an officer pushes her back.
“Let me say goodbye, please,” Geyser says. “I’ll never see her
again.”
After they’re led into squad cars, one of the officers remarks: “I
hope she didn’t commit a homicide. The way she’s talking, she’s
saying it’s really, really bad.”
The footage shows another officer discovering a notebook in the
couple’s bags entitled “Homeless Couples Guidebook.”
Companion: Geyser trying to move beyond Slender Man attack
Geyser’s friend told WKOW that they understand each other and
communicate in a “really good, healthy way" and she had explained
her past.
“I was like, ‘I don’t hate you. I think you’re clearly not that
person anymore. You’re trying very hard to move away from it. That
much is obvious,’” the companion said, adding later that Geyser was
going to flee the group home with or without the friend and the
person chose to go with her because Geyser wasn’t going to make it
on her own.
Stabbing meant to please horror character
Geyser and her friend, Anissa Weier, lured one of their classmates,
Payton Leutner, to a Waukesha park in 2014. Geyser stabbed Leutner
19 times, narrowly missing her heart, while Weier cheered her on.
All three girls were 12 years old at the time. Leutner barely
survived.
Geyser and Weier later told investigators they attacked Leutner in
hopes of impressing Slender Man and becoming his servants. They said
they were afraid Slender Man would hurt their families if they
didn’t carry out the attack.
Slender Man was created online by Eric Knudsen in 2009 as a
mysterious figure photo-edited into everyday images of children at
play. He grew into a popular boogeyman, appearing in video games,
online stories and a 2018 movie.
Both Geyser and Weier were ultimately committed to a state mental
institution — Geyser for 40 years and Weier for 25. Wisconsin law
allows people committed to state institutions to petition for
release. Weier earned conditional release in 2021. Geyser, now 23,
won conditional release this past September after four requests and
was placed in the group home.
___
This story was first published on Nov. 25. It was updated on Dec. 3
to correct the spelling of Eric Knudsen’s last name.
___
Associated Press reporter Scott Bauer contributed to this report.
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