Update
Morgan Geyser, convicteed for stabbing a classmate to appease the fictional character Slender Man, received conditional release from a state psychiatric hospital on Thursday, FOX 6 Milwaukee reports.
Initial Coverage
A Wisconsin woman, who stabbed her classmate over a decade ago, a judge’s permission to be released from a psychiatric hospital.
In court Thursday, 22-year-old Morgan Geyser sought release from the Winnebago Mental Health Institute, marking her third petition for freedom. Last year, she withdrew her initial petition two months after filing it.
Court TV reports that Waukesha County Circuit Judge Michael Bohren denied her second request in April, stating she still poses a risk to the public after the stabbing of 12-year-old Payton Leutner.
As CrimeOnline previously reported, following a sleepover celebrating her Geyser’s 12th birthday in May 2014, Anissa Weier and Geyser lured Payton Leutner to the woods, stabbed her 19 times, and left her for dead. The pair later told police they carried out the attack to satisfy Slender Man, a fictional horror character popularized in an eponymous indie video game.
Weier and Geyser claimed they believed their families would be harmed if they did not attack their classmate, the news outlet reported.
Payton survived the attack after she made her way to a nearby road and flagged down a cyclist.
Weir was released in 2021, and ordered to live with her father.
Meanwhile, Payton’s mother, Stacie Leutner, issued a statement, pushing to keep Geysee from being released.
“Morgan Geyser has withdrawn her request to be released twice. More recently, her request was denied. We are confident that the judicial system will make a decision that will ensure the community and my daughter remain safe,” Leutner said in a statement to ABC News.
The story is developing. Check back for updates.
[Feature Photo:FILE – In this Sept. 13, 2017 file photo, Anissa Weier, listens as former teachers testify during her trial in Waukesha County Court, in Waukesha, Wis. One of the two Wisconsin girls accused of stabbing a classmate, Payton Leuter, in 2014 to gain the favor of a horror character named Slender Man will soon learn how long she will spend in a mental health facility. A judge in Waukesha County Circuit Court on Thursday, Dec. 21, 2017, is expected to send 16-year-old Weier to a facility for at least three years after she was previously found not guilty by reason of mental disease or defect. (Rick Wood/Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel via AP, Pool, File)]
