Morgan Geyser, the Wisconsin woman who gained international notoriety for the 2014 Slender Man stabbing, has been apprehended after escaping from a group home where she was being monitored.
The 23-year-old was captured on Sunday evening in Posen, Illinois, approximately 170 miles south of Madison, Wisconsin, where she had been residing at a supervised facility.
The Escape and Capture
Madison police had issued an alert earlier on Sunday after Geyser cut off her monitoring bracelet and left the group home on Saturday evening. According to authorities, she was last seen with an adult acquaintance before her disappearance.
Police confirmed that Geyser was located at a truck stop in Posen, bringing a swift end to her brief period of freedom. The Wisconsin Department of Corrections had received an alert about the malfunctioning ankle monitor on Saturday night, prompting the immediate search operation.
Before her capture, Geyser's attorney, Tony Cotton, made a public appeal through social media, urging his client to surrender. "We worked too hard to secure freedom for her to continue on this path," Cotton stated in a video message.
The 2014 Slender Man Attack
The case dates back to 2014 when Geyser and her friend Anissa Weier, then all aged 12, lured their classmate Payton Leutner to a park in Waukesha, Wisconsin during a sleepover. In a shocking act of violence, Geyser stabbed Leutner 19 times while Weier encouraged the attack.
Leutner barely survived the assault after managing to crawl to a road where a passing cyclist found her and called emergency services.
During police interviews, both girls revealed they committed the brutal attack to become servants of the fictional horror character Slender Man. They claimed they believed the internet boogeyman would harm their families if they failed to carry out the stabbing.
Legal Proceedings and Institutionalisation
Both Geyser and Weier eventually pleaded guilty to attempted homicide charges. Geyser was sent to a psychiatric institute in 2018 before being transferred to the Madison group home in March of this year.
The Slender Man character that inspired the attack was created in 2009 by internet forum user Eric Knudson. The unnaturally tall, thin figure became an internet phenomenon, appearing in digitally altered photos, video games, online lore, and even a 2018 film.
The case raised significant questions about adolescent mental health, the influence of online content on vulnerable young people, and the justice system's approach to juvenile offenders with severe psychological issues.
