Slender Man stabbing defendant in custody after escape attempt went unnoticed

WAUKESHA, Wis. (CN) — Authorities said on Monday that a communication breakdown allowed Morgan Geyser, who stabbed her best friend 19 times to appease Slender Man, to escape a group home and flee over 200 miles.

Geyser, 22, was incarcerated at the Winnebago Mental Health Institute for over a decade for her part in the premeditated stabbing of her friend, Payton Leutner. The attack drew global attention at the time in large part due to Geyser’s defense — that the murderous creepy pasta character Slender Man made her do it.

She was released to a group home for continued treatment in September against prosecutors’ objections, nine months after she petitioned for conditional release from the Winnebago facility where she was sentenced to spend 40 years.

The state was tasked with drafting a release plan for Geyser that balanced her interest in reintegrating into society and public safety. The plan is sealed but ultimately contained provisions for GPS monitoring, a restraining order to stay away from her victim and a group home assignment.

Over the weekend, the location of her group home was revealed after the Madison Police Department announced on Sunday morning that she was missing. The statement noted that the Department of Corrections knew about her disappearance nearly 12 hours earlier and failed to notify them.

Geyser and a man were arrested later that day at a Thornton’s Truck Stop 20 miles south of downtown Chicago in Posen, Illinois. They were reported by an employee for loitering behind the building and were asleep on the sidewalk when officers approached, according to Posen Police Chief William Alexander.

Initially, Geyser and Chad Mecca, 42, gave the officer fake names but were later forced to reveal their real identities.

Alexander told Courthouse News that officers found bus tickets from Madison to Chicago among the pair’s personal belongings and suggested that they had run out of money and walked from the bus station to Posen.

Geyser initially told offers that she didn’t want to give them her real name, Alexander said, because she had done something “really bad.” The officer continued talking to her, stating that it “couldn’t be that bad” and to just cooperate.

When she gave the officer her real name, she told him to “just Google it.”

The initial announcement from Madison police said Geyser was last seen on Madison’s east side around 8 p.m. on Saturday with an “adult acquaintance” but that the department was not notified of her disappearance until Sunday morning.

The Department of Corrections could not be reached by press time about why it did not notify local police about Geyser’s disappearance. Madison police say that they didn’t know she was gone until someone from the group home dialed 911 to report her as a missing person.

Waukesha County District Attorney Lesli Boese said at a press conference on Monday that she was “very concerned” about the lapse in communications, creating a period of about two hours where Geyser was completely unmonitored.

There are conflicting reports about where Geyser and Mecca met, with some news organizations reporting that she fled with another woman from the group home who didn’t want Geyser to be alone, while others report that they met at church.

Mecca was arrested for obstruction related to giving officers a fake name and criminal trespassing. He has been released from custody.

Geyser remains in custody in Cook County, but DHS has issued a warrant for her return to Wisconsin.

Assistant District Attorney Abbey Nickolie noted during Monday’s press conference that she objected strongly to conditional release and supported a petition to revoke filed by DHS in March.

The agency said new details had come to light while it was putting together its release plan that caused alarm, including prior communications with a man outside the facility who expressed sexual arousal by her crimes and certain reading materials containing themes of horror and sexual sadism.

Waukesha County Circuit Court Judge Michael Bohren granted conditional release in January because he believed Geyser was no longer a danger to herself or others.

Bohren presided over the initial hearings in the Slender Man stabbing case when the grisly details of the index offense were coming to light.

Geyser and her co-defendant, Anissa Weier, both pleaded guilty in 2018 to avoid a trial. They admitted to planning their attack for months to take place at a sleepover for Geyser’s birthday.

The trio went for a walk in the woods, where Weier held Leutner down while Geyser stabbed her 19 times, according to court documents. They left Leutner in the woods and began walking to the woods where they believed Slender Man lived.

Leutner survived the attack and did not attend conditional release proceedings.

If Geyser accepts extradition, she will return to the Winnebago facility until DHS decides whether to petition to revoke her conditional release.

Follow @desdev5