Wisconsin woman convicted in 'Slenderman' stabbing captured after weekend escape

By Rich McKay

A Wisconsin woman convicted in the 2014 stabbing of a sixth-grade classmate, purportedly to appease the fictional horror character "Slenderman," was apprehended on Sunday after fleeing from a group home without authorization, police said.

Morgan Geyser, 22, was taken into custody about 200 miles away in Posen, Illinois. A day earlier she allegedly escaped from the home in Madison, Wisconsin, after cutting off her Department of Corrections monitoring ankle bracelet, police said on social media.

Geyser was found behind a truck stop with a 42-year-old man, whose name was not released by the Posen Police Department. He was also taken into custody, police said.

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It was unclear on Monday when an extradition hearing to take her from Illinois to Wisconsin might be held. A Posen Police Department spokesperson did not immediately return phone calls seeking comment.

A spokesperson for the Madison Police Department was unavailable for further comment on the case.

Geyser pleaded guilty in 2017 to attempted first-degree homicide in an attack on classmate Payton Leutner, who was stabbed 19 times. Geyser claimed she was not responsible due to mental illness. She was sentenced to serve a 40-year term in a state mental institution.

Geyser told investigators that she and a fellow classmate, Anissa Weier, both 12 at the time, lured Leutner into a wooded area during a sleepover in a Milwaukee suburb. They said they tried to kill her to please "Slenderman."

The fictional supernatural bogeyman originated as an internet meme and is typically depicted as a thin, tall humanoid with a featureless white face and head.

In March a Wisconsin judge ordered Geyser's release from the Winnebago Mental Health Institute and sent her to a group home, ABC News reported.

Weier was also convicted, also arguing mental illness. She was sentenced to 25 years in a mental institution, but was later released.