MADISON, Wis. (AP) —A Wisconsin woman who at age 12 stabbed her sixth grade classmate nearly to death to please online horror character Slender Man is set to be released from a psychiatric hospital, a judge ordered Thursday.
Morgan Geyser has spent nearly seven years at the Winnebago Mental Health Institute. She has petitioned Waukesha County Circuit Judge Michael Bohren, who committed her, for release four times since June 2022. She withdrew her first two petitions and Bohren denied her second request this past April, finding she still presented a threat to the public.
Geyser, now 22 years old, filed her latest petition in October. Bohren decided to grant her release after a day-long hearing Thursday, finding that she had maximized her treatment options at the facility and is no longer a safety risk. He ordered the state Department of Health Services to set up a plan for housing her in a group home and supervising her subject to his approval at a hearing within 60 days.
The judge said that Geyser’s crime was a “brutal, terrible offense” but she has since grown up and to be truly rehabilitated she must learn to exist within society.
“She’s done what she’s supposed to do,” Bohren said. “She appears to have a good attitude.”
Geyser and Anissa Weier were 12 years old in 2014 when they lured their classmate, 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 that they attacked Leutner to earn the right to be Slender Man’s servants and they feared he would harm their families if they didn’t follow through.
Geyser pleaded guilty to attempted first-degree intentional homicide and was sent to the psychiatric institute due to mental illness in 2018. Weier pleaded guilty to attempted second-degree intentional homicide. She was also sent to the psychiatric center but was granted release in 2021 to live with her father and was ordered to wear a GPS monitor.
Three psychologists who have been working with Geyser since she was committed to the institute testified at Thursday’s hearing that she’s made impressive progress in just the last six months and should be released.
Dr. Brooke Lundbohm testified that Winnebago staff weaned Geyser off her anti-psychotic medications by early 2023 and she’s suffered no symptoms since then.
Dr. Deborah Collins said Geyser is always at risk of reoffending simply because she almost killed someone but she has worked on her coping skills, improved her emotional control and retreats into fantasy less frequently. Collins added that Geyser told her that she hates what she did to Leutner and can’t forgive herself.
Dr. Ken Robbins told the judge that she could become dangerous if she remains confined at Winnebago and loses hope.
“The longer she’s there, at this point, the harder it’s going to be to re-integrate,” Robbins said.
Waukesha County Assistant Deputy Attorney Ted Szczupakiewicz argued that Geyser can’t be trusted, noting that she claimed during evaluations last year that she faked her delusions about Slender Man and actually attacked Leutner as a way of escaping her abusive father. He hinted that was a ploy to make release more likely.
The judge shrugged that off, saying it’s not unusual for mental illness diagnoses to evolve over time.
