Slender Man stabber tries for conditional release again after escape

Eight months after she escaped from a group home and fled to Illinois, Morgan Geyser is trying again for release.WAUKESHA, Wis. (CN) — Morgan Geyser, who stabbed her best friend 19 times in 2014 because she believed the horror character Slender Man told her to do so, petitioned for conditional release again Tuesday after running away from a group home late last year.Geyser, 24, had been incarcerated at the Winnebago Mental Health Institute for over a decade until her conditional release in January 2025 by the same judge who presided over the original trial.She was placed in a group home in Madison in September 2025 against prosecutors’ objections. Two months later, Geyser cut off her Department of Corrections ankle monitor and hopped on a bus to Chicago with a friend, Chad Mecca, 42.The pair walked 20 miles from the bus station to Posen, Illinois, where they were detained by local police at a gas station the following day.As a result, Waukesha County Circuit Court Judge Scott Wagner revoked her release and sent her back to the Winnebago facility just before Christmas last year.On Tuesday, attorney Anthony Cotton filed a renewed petition for conditional release and asked the court to schedule a hearing. Within 20 days of filing, the court is required to appoint mental health professionals to speak with Geyser to determine if she is fit for release.Cotton did not respond for comment on how he plans to overcome the circumstances of her previous escape in court. He has represented Geyser since 2014 and repeatedly expressed high hopes for her future.Geyser was sentenced to 40 years in the Winnebago facility in 2018 for her part in the premeditated stabbing of her friend, Payton Leutner, when they were 12 years old. She claimed the murderous creepypasta character Slender Man made her do it, a defense that continues to turn heads across the globe to this day.This is her fifth petition for conditional release — the first three of which were unsuccessful.Her attorney told reporters in September 2025 after her conditional release plan was approved that Geyser no longer believes in Slender Man’s existence and the crime was a result of mental health problems that have since been treated.The state strongly opposed Geyser’s release all four times she petitioned and even took steps to delay her move to a group home after her release was finally granted.District attorneys appeared in court empty-handed on two separate occasions with little explanation for why they didn’t have a release plan to present.The Wisconsin Department of Health Services — the agency tasked with creating a plan that included GPS monitoring, house arrest, group home placement and a therapy schedule — also delayed her release proceedings by petitioning to revoke her release just three days before the final hearing.Former Waukesha County Circuit Court Judge Michael Bohren, who presided over the original trial, was not impressed with the state’s handling of the case.“This is what some may refer to as a high-profile case, which would mean that the Ts are crossed and the I’s are dotted to be sure all rights are protected, not a subterfuge of trickery or an ambush with new issues being raised at the last minute,” Bohren said in April 2025.Waukesha County Assistant District Attorney Abbey Nickolie reminded reporters at a press conference held after Geyser escaped her opposition to release and raised alarm bells about a communication breakdown that allowed her to flee 200 miles before being caught.Although the corrections department was alerted around 9:30 p.m. that Geyser’s ankle monitor was malfunctioning, it didn’t contact the group home for two hours, allowing her to buy a bus ticket out of the state.Madison Police weren’t notified until the next morning when the group home reported her missing. No one alerted Geyser’s victim of the escape for nearly 12 hours, according to the Waukesha County District Attorney’s Office.When officers finally stopped her in Posen, she refused to give her real name because she had done something “really bad.”The officer can be heard on body camera footage posted to the Posen Police Facebook page saying it couldn’t be that bad and joking, “You’re not wanted for murder, right?” After giving her true identity, she instructed the officers to Google her.If Geyser is released, the health services department will again be tasked with finding a group home willing to take on such a high-profile case.Before then, though, she faces another lengthy hearing where the court will hear from appointed examiners, her own doctors from the Winnebago facility and other witnesses on her behalf or on behalf of her victim.Her last conditional release hearing stretched on for over six hours, and the county is likely to fight just as hard this time around to block her efforts.Subscribe to our free newslettersOur weekly newsletter Closing Arguments offers the latest about ongoing trials, major litigation and rulings in courthouses around the U.S. and the world, while the monthly Under the Lights dishes the legal dirt from Hollywood, sports, Big Tech and the arts.Additional Reads