Slender Man Stabber to Be Released From Psychiatric Facility, Judge Rules
Slender Man Attack
Morgan Geyser was originally approved to be discharged in January, but the process was delayed after state health officials raised concerns about books she read at the facility and a recurring visitor
In January, Waukesha County Circuit Judge Michael Bohren ordered Morgan Geyser’s release from Winnebago Mental Health Institute. The 22-year-old was sentenced to 40 years in a mental institution in 2018 after pleading guilty to attempted murder for the 2014 attack she carried out with her friend Anissa Weier. After seven years, Bohren decided Geyser was no longer a safety risk. However, Geyser’s discharge was halted after state health officials raised concerns about books she read at the facility and a recurring visitor. But Bohren has since decided her supervised release can proceed.
State Department of Health Services officials flagged that Geyser read Rent Boy — a novel about sex, murder, and an organ theft ring — and failed to disclose this to her therapy team. “The state has real concerns these things are, frankly, just red flags at this point,” Waukesha County Deputy District Attorney Abbey Nickolie said on Thursday, per Associated Press. Officials also claimed Geyser was in contact with a murder memorabilia collector, sending him sketches of decapitated bodies and expressing interest in being intimate with him.
Geyser’s attorney pushed back at the concerns. “Morgan is not more dangerous today,” Tony Cotton said. He claims that staff at the facility knowingly allowed patients access to Rent Boy, as well as biographies that Geyser enjoyed reading. He also noted that Geyser stopped communicating with the memorabilia collector when she learned that he was selling the items she sent him. He previously visited her three times in June 2023. Cotton suggested that the department wanted to keep her in the hospital as a “hit job.”
In January, Bohren ruled that Wisconsin’s Department of Health Services would determine the conditions of Geyser’s release as it was decided that she would be placed in a group home and supervised within her release within 60 days. Geyser’s release was initially denied in April 2024. She petitioned for release once again in October 2024. Her first two requests, issued in 2022, were denied on the grounds that she might harm herself or others. Geyser allegedly attempted to hang herself in October 2021 and decided to stop taking antipsychotic medications in 2022.
“She’s done what she’s supposed to do,” Bohren said in agreement with three experts who stated that Geyser has made progress in addressing mental illness. “She appears to have a good attitude.”
