A Wisconsin woman, who as a child nearly murdered a schoolmate to appease the fictional horror character Slender Man, has been ordered back to a state psychiatric hospital after escaping from a supervised group home.
Judge Revokes Conditional Release
On Tuesday 23 December 2025, Waukesha County Circuit Judge K. Scott Wagner granted a request from the state Department of Health Services to revoke the release privileges of 23-year-old Morgan Geyser. The decision came after Geyser absconded from her Madison group home in late November. Through her attorney, Tony Cotton, Geyser informed the judge last week that she would not contest the revocation, leading to a swift approval during a brief hearing.
The 2014 Slender Man Stabbing
The order marks another grim chapter in a case that shocked America. In 2014, when all three girls were just 12 years old, Geyser and her friend Anissa Weier lured their classmate, Payton Leutner, to a park in Waukesha. In a brutal attack, Geyser stabbed Leutner 19 times while Weier encouraged her. A passing cyclist found Leutner, who miraculously survived her horrific injuries.
Both attackers later told investigators they carried out the assault to gain the favour of Slender Man, a fictional online boogeyman. They believed impressing him would make them his servants and protect their families from harm. Following legal proceedings, both were committed to the Winnebago Mental Health Institute, with Geyser receiving a 40-year commitment and Weier a 25-year term.
A Failed Bid for Freedom
Anissa Weier earned a conditional release in 2021. Despite warnings from health officials that she could not be trusted, Judge Wagner granted Morgan Geyser conditional release in September 2025. She was subsequently placed in a Madison group home.
However, on 22 November, authorities say Geyser cut off her GPS monitor and fled the state with a 43-year-old companion. Police arrested the pair the following day at a truck stop outside Chicago, roughly 170 miles south of Madison. The companion told local media they had met at church and had been meeting daily for a month. Geyser allegedly escaped because she feared the group home would stop their meetings.
The Slender Man character was created online by Eric Knudsen in 2009 as a mysterious figure edited into photos of children. The mythos evolved into a popular horror archetype, featuring in video games, online stories, and a 2018 film.
