‘Slender Man’ Stabbing Attacker Granted Psychiatric Hospital Release

Morgan Geyser, who nearly stabbed her classmate Payton Leutner to death when she was 12, will be released from Winnebago Mental Health Institute after seven years. The Wisconsin resident, now 22 years 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 friend Anissa Weier.

Waukesha County Circuit Judge Michael Bohren ordered Geyser’s release from the psychiatric hospital on Thursday, Jan. 9. He acknowledged the incident, in which Leutner was stabbed 19 times, as being a “brutal, terrible offense.” Geyser and Weier, who was released in 2021, previously told investigators that they feared the online meme figure Slender Man would harm their family members if they didn’t attack Leutner.

“She’s done what she’s supposed to do,” Bohren stated, echoing the testimony of three experts who stated that Geyser has made progress in addressing mental illness. “She appears to have a good attitude.” Within 60 days, she will be placed in a group home and supervised in her release. The conditions of release will be determined by Wisconsin’s Department of Health Services.

The judge found that Geyser is no longer a safety risk, which reverses the ruling made when her release was initially denied in April 2024. Geyser 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’s allegedly attempted to hang herself in Oct. 2021 and decided to stop taking antipsychotic medications in 2022.

Last January, a doctor stated that Geyser had “improved quite dramatically” and the psychiatric institution could no longer provide the care she needed as far as “help with socialization, help with education,” and “help with becoming independent” were concerned.