A Wisconsin judge has mandated that a woman involved in the notorious 2014 Slender Man stabbing case return to a state psychiatric hospital following her escape from a group home in November.
Waukesha County Circuit Judge K. Scott Wagner has granted the state Department of Health Services’ request to cancel Morgan Geyser’s release privileges. The 23-year-old was detained at the Waukesha County Jail after being extradited from Illinois, subsequent to her escape from the YoYo Quality Care group home on November 22. Her absence was only discovered in the early hours of November 23.
Authorities found Geyser later that day at an Illinois truck stop, accompanied by 43-year-old Chad Mecca.
In a letter to Judge Wagner, Geyser’s attorney, Anthony Cotton, argued that she should be placed in a mental health facility rather than a jail.
Body camera footage from police shows officers approaching Geyser after her departure from a group home in Madison, Wisconsin, over the weekend. (Credit: Posen Police Department)
“Considering that she faces no new criminal charges in Waukesha County and was previously adjudicated not guilty by reason of mental disease or defect for the original offense, we believe she belongs in a mental health facility, not a correctional institution,” Cotton stated, as reported by FOX 11.
Geyser was granted conditional release in January after she spent nearly eight years at the Winnebago Mental Health Institute.Â
Police body camera video shows authorities confronting missing Slender Man stabber Morgan Geyser after she left a group home in Madison, Wisconsin over the weekend. (Posen Police Department)
Morgan Geyser appears in a Waukesha County courtroom Thursday, Jan. 9, 2025, in Waukesha, Wis. (AP Photo/Morry Gash)
In 2014, Geyser and her friend, Anissa Weier, were at a sleepover with Payton Leutner, who was lured to a local park by the two other girls. Geyser would go on to stab Leutner 19 times while Weier was egging her on.
The three girls were 12 when the attack happened.
Morgan Geyser was taken into custody in Posen, Illinois on Sunday, Nov. 23, 2025. (Posen Police Department)
After the attack, both Geyser and Weier admitted they were trying to kill Leutner in order to appease fictional horror character Slender Man. The girls claimed they were fearful of Slender Man hurting their own families if the attack didn’t happen.
In 2017, both girls pleaded guilty to being a party to attempted intentional homicide, but not guilty by reason of mental disease. Both girls were sentenced to mental confinement.Â
Weier was ordered to serve 25 years and Geyser was ordered to serve 40 years.
