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2024 True Crime Updates: Idaho Murders, LISK, Mexico Surfer Deaths
A new update has emerged in the Slender Man case, over a decade after the terrifying ordeal.
Nearly 11 years ago, Morgan Geyser and Anissa Weier lured friend Payton Leutner into the woods where Geyser repeatedly stabbed her in an attempt to please the fictional character Slender Man—saying they feared he would harm their families if they didn't. On Jan. 9, a Wisconsin judge ruled the now 22-year-old Geyser is well enough to be released from a psychiatric hospital, according to NBC News.
Geyser—who pleaded guilty in October 2017 to the May 2014 attempted homicide—has spent almost seven years at the Winnebago Mental Health Institute and will now be moved to a group home, where they will continue to monitor her mental health. NBC News added that three medical experts testified on Jan. 9 that she has made considerable progress, explaining to Waukesha County Circuit Judge Michael Bohren that she does not pose a risk outside the hospital.
"There's nothing to suggest that she is a danger to herself or others," Dr. Kenneth Robbins, a psychiatrist treating Geyser, said per NBC News. "And I think there's very little at this point that Winnebago can do for her, and that's what they would say as well. I think it's in her interest and in everybody's interest to try to help her now become the person she can become."
AP Photo/Morry Gash
He continued, "I think that there is the risk that over time, if she is limited by the things that Winnebago can offer her, I could imagine her becoming hopeless at some point and potentially becoming a danger to herself. So yes, perhaps ironically, I think she would be safer outside of Winnebago."
Forensic psychologist Deborah Collins agreed with Dr. Robbins, saying that her "compliance in the institution is remarkable" and adding, "Certainly for Ms. Geyser, the longer she's there at this point, I think the more challenging it's going to be to reintegrate."
E! News has reached out to Geyser's lawyer for comment, but has not heard back.
Geyser and Weier made headlines in 2014 for their attack on Leutner in which Geyser stabbed her friend since fourth grade 19 times with a kitchen knife while Weier cheered her on. Remarkably, Leutner survived the attack and crawled her way to the side of the road where a passing bicyclist saw her and called 911.
AP Photo/Morry Gash
While Geyser pleaded guilty to attempted first-degree intentional homicide, Weier pleaded guilty in August 2017 to attempted second-degree homicide due to mental illness or defect, and was sentenced to at least three years and up to 25 years in a mental health facility. The now 23-year-old was also sent to the psychiatric center, but was granted release in 2021 to live with her father and ordered to wear a GPS monitor, according to the Associated Press.
As for Leutner, she has attempted to maintain a low profile since her attack, first speaking out publicly about it in a 2019 interview with 20/20. At the time, she shared that she slept with a pair of broken scissors under her pillow "just in case." But she noted that she was strangely grateful for the ordeal, saying that if she ever spoke to Geyser again she would "probably, initially thank her."
"Just because of what she did, I have the life I have now," Leutner explained. "I really, really like it and I have a plan. I didn't have a plan when I was 12, and now, I do because of everything that I went through. I wouldn't think that someone who went through what I did would ever say that, but that's truly how I feel. Without the whole situation, I wouldn't be who I am."
(E! and NBC News are both part of the NBCUniversal family.)
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