A judge on Thursday denied a request for conditional release from a Wisconsin woman who stabbed her middle school friend 19 times 10 years ago when they were both 12 years old. The crime, she later said, was done to impress an evil fictional character. Her name is Slenderman.
In January, Morgan Geyser, 21, requested early release from 40 years of confinement at the Winnebago Mental Health Institute in Oshkosh, Wisconsin, where she has been held since 2018, before Waukesha County Circuit Court Judge Michael Geyser. He petitioned Judge O. Boren for consideration. Whether she represents a threat to herself or others.
After hearing testimony from three experts and the institute's director, Judge Bolen determined that Mr. Geyser posed a significant risk of harm to himself or others and should remain in the facility.
Geyser, who appeared in court Wednesday wearing an orange shirt and pants with his wrists shackled, had no immediate comment. Her attorney, Anthony Cotton, said he would file another motion for her conditional release within six months, the minimum period allowed under Wisconsin law.
On May 31, 2014, Geyser and classmate Anissa Weir, both 12 years old, lured their friend Peyton Leutner, also 12, into a wooded area. At Weier's urging, Geyser stabbed Leutner 19 times. Severely injured, Leutner crawled out of the woods and was found by a cyclist. She was taken to the hospital, where she has since recovered from her injuries.
Police found Geyser and Weier near the highway several hours after the attack. They were reportedly on their way to a mansion in the Northwoods of Wisconsin. Slender Man is believed to be the home of a fictional character who is generally depicted as a tall, shadowy figure with an expressionless face.
Weir and Geyser told authorities they stabbed Leutner because they wanted to please Slender Man. They said they believed Slender Man was real and that killing Leutner would make them his “agents.”
The attack rattled residents of Waukesha, a quiet, orderly suburb of 70,000 people on Milwaukee's west side. The three girls lived there with their families and attended middle school. The case also raised the question of how parents can prevent their children from exploring the dark corners of the Internet, such as the forum where Slender Man was born.
Some of Leutner's relatives, who prosecutors said were “vehemently opposed” to Geyser's release, attended the two-day hearing that concluded Thursday. None of Geyser's family came.
Psychologists gave testimony that revealed the difficulty of assessing the health of Mr. Geyser, who had a traumatic childhood, a history of mental illness after the attack, and spent his entire adolescence in a psychiatric hospital. .
Geyser told psychologists that she was sexually assaulted by her father, who died in 2023. She said her mother did not protect her.
Deborah Collins, one of the psychologists who recommended against Geyser's conditional release, said Geyser attempted suicide by hanging in October 2021. She also claimed that Geyser stopped taking his antipsychotic medication in 2022 and committed suicide, she said. Faked mental illness to escape his abusive father.
Citing medical records, Dr. Collins testified that Ms. Geyser told a therapist last year: I didn't care, I couldn't care, I didn't know how to care. ”
Dr. Collins and another psychologist who testified described Ms. Geyser as an intelligent and empathetic person, but clearly psychotic at the time of the attack, and said her statements raised questions about her credibility. Ta.
Judge Bolen agreed.
“This is a brutal attack on a person,” he said. “This is a practical thing, if you will. This is bloody, this is bloody. Those are the risks.'' Until questions about her credibility are resolved. The risks are high,” he added.
Geyser and Weier were charged with attempted first-degree intentional homicide. They were charged as adults under Wisconsin law.
Geyser pleaded guilty to attempted first-degree intentional homicide as part of a deal in which prosecutors agreed not to seek prison time. She was sentenced to 40 years in a mental hospital.
Weier pleaded guilty in 2017 to a misdemeanor charge of attempted second-degree murder. Her jury later found that she was suffering from a mental illness at the time of her stabbing and that she should receive treatment rather than a prison sentence. She worked at the Winnebago Mental Health Institute for 25 years.
She was granted conditional release in July 2021 and is serving the remainder of her mandatory term at her father's home under electronic monitoring.
Geyser, who began treatment for early-onset schizophrenia while in custody in 2015, waived two previous requests for release in 2022 and 2023 based on a report from a psychologist. She filed her latest petition seeking her conditional release in January.
Geyser's mother, Angie Geyser, did not respond to a request for an interview before the hearing, but spoke on ABC News' “20/20'' in 2018.
“I never imagined that my daughter could hurt someone else,” she said.
Leutner, who has returned to the middle school after a month of recovery from the attack, declined a request for an interview. “I want to be a normal person and heal in peace,” she said in a text message.
Mr. Weier did not respond to a message seeking comment on Mr. Geyser's prospects for release, but his grandmother, Melody Weier, said in an interview before the hearing that “we would like Mr. Geyser to remain hospitalized due to his illness.'' Stated. ”
She said her granddaughter had struggled to return to a normal life since being released from a psychiatric hospital.
“People are the ones to judge,” she said. “That's not fair.”