Slender Man stabber Morgan Geyser in custody after escape : NPR

[ad_1] <img src="https://npr.brightspotcdn.com/dims3/default/strip/false/crop/7130x4752+0+0/resize/1100/quality/50/format/jpeg/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fnpr-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2F94%2Fb2%2F5958ccc64dfdbe03af00b5e08f84%2Fap25009594397225.jpg" data-template="https://npr.brightspotcdn.com/dims3/default/strip/false/crop/7130x4752+0+0/resize/{width}/quality/{quality}/format/{format}/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fnpr-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2F94%2Fb2%2F5958ccc64dfdbe03af00b5e08f84%2Fap25009594397225.jpg" class="img" alt="Morgan Geyser appears in court in Jan. 2025, in Waukesha, Wis. Geyser was released from a psychiatric facility to a group home earlier this year" fetchpriority="high"/> Morgan Geyser seems in court docket in January in Waukesha, Wis. Geyser was launched from a psychiatric facility to a gaggle house earlier this yr. Morry Gash/AP cover caption

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Morry Gash/AP Morgan Geyser, one of many perpetrators of the 2014 "Slender Man stabbing," was taken into custody close to Chicago on Sunday, a day after slicing off her ankle monitor and leaving her Wisconsin group house.

Geyser was reported lacking on Saturday evening after correction officers had been notified that her GPS monitoring bracelet was malfunctioning. They contacted the group house and discovered that "she was not on the house and that she had eliminated her GPS bracelet," in keeping with the Madison Police Division.

Madison police mentioned they weren't made conscious of her disappearance till practically 12 hours later, on Sunday morning. Because the search unfolded, Geyser's legal professional, Tony Cotton, posted a video to Instagram urging her to show herself in.

"Don't proceed to stay on the run like this," he mentioned. "It isn't in your greatest curiosity to deal with this matter that approach.

Geyser was discovered Sunday evening throughout state traces, some 165 miles away in Posen, Ailing. — about 20 miles south of Chicago — the Posen Police Division mentioned on Monday. They mentioned officers responded to a report of a person and lady loitering behind a truck cease, and located the 2 sleeping on the sidewalk. The lady repeatedly refused to offer her title and initially gave them a faux one.

"After continued makes an attempt to establish her, she lastly said that she did not wish to inform officers who she was as a result of she had 'performed one thing actually unhealthy,' and steered that officers might 'simply Google' her title," police added. "As soon as she supplied her true identification, officers confirmed she was Morgan Geyser, who was wished out of Wisconsin for escape after strolling away from a gaggle house the place she had been positioned."

Geyser, now 23, moved into the group house in Madison this fall, after she was launched from the psychiatric facility the place she had spent the final seven years. A decide accepted her launch over a decade after she and a good friend lured their classmate into the Wisconsin woods, stabbed her greater than a dozen occasions and left her for useless to appease the fictional supernatural villain Slender Man.

Posen police say Geyser and the male, whom they didn't title, had been taken into custody with out incident on Sunday. Cotton, her legal professional, advised NPR in an emailed assertion on Monday that it isn't clear whether or not she left the group house voluntarily or "whether or not one thing extra nefarious happened corresponding to abduction."

"As I've mentioned earlier than, the largest worry I had for Morgan upon her launch from the psychological hospital was her capacity to navigate new relationships, notably with older males who may not have her greatest pursuits in thoughts," Cotton wrote. "I witnessed first hand throughout the 12 years that I represented Morgan how there have been seemingly regular males who would discover their approach into her orbit and act in ways in which had been extremely inappropriate."

NPR has additionally contacted the police departments in Madison and Posen for extra data, however didn't hear again by publication time.

A refresher on Geyser's case Geyser — alongside along with her good friend Anissa Weier — lured their classmate Payton Leutner to a wooded space in Waukesha, Wis., after a sleepover in Could 2014, when all three had been 12 years outdated.

The ladies acquired Leutner to lie down beneath the guise of taking part in cover and search, then Geyser stabbed her 19 occasions — within the arms, legs and torso — whereas Weier egged her on.

The 2 then advised Leutner they might search for assist however as a substitute started a deliberate trek in direction of a forest in northern Wisconsin the place they believed Slender Man lived in a mansion. Police discovered and apprehended them hours afterward the aspect of the freeway, they usually had been charged with tried homicide the subsequent day. Geyser and Weier advised detectives that that they had orchestrated the assault to appease the fictional character.

In the meantime, Leutner managed to crawl out of the woods and was taken to a hospital for emergency surgical procedure after being found by a passing bicyclist. One of many docs who handled her later mentioned that one of many stab wounds had missed a serious artery by lower than a millimeter.

The perpetrators, who had been each tried as adults, had been discovered responsible by purpose of psychological illness or defect in 2017 and dedicated to the Winnebago Psychological Well being Institute — Weier for 25 years, and Geyser for 40. Weir was launched in 2021, whereas Geyser appealed for launch 4 occasions within the final two years, most not too long ago in October 2024.

A decide accepted Geyser's conditional launch after a listening to in January, throughout which three consultants testified concerning the progress she had made in psychological well being therapy. However she was unable to maneuver out for greater than half a yr after that resulting from authorized and logistical challenges.

Officers with Wisconsin's well being division opposed Geyser's launch, alleging that Geyser did not inform her remedy crew that she had learn a guide about homicide and promoting organs on the black market, and that she had been speaking with a person who collects homicide memorabilia. Cotton responded that Geyser solely learn what facility workers allowed and that workers had been conscious of her communications with the collector, which she stopped after studying he was promoting issues that she despatched him.

Then, prosecutors objected to the discharge plan after Leutner's mom expressed concern that the chosen group house was solely eight miles away from the place her daughter was dwelling. Leutner advised ABC Information in 2020 that she nonetheless slept with a pair of damaged scissors beneath the pillow subsequent to her "simply in case," although she did not worry the concept of Geyser being launched sooner or later.

"If she ever tried to return by me, she would go proper again the place she was," mentioned Leutner, who credit her expertise with motivating her to pursue a profession within the medical area.

A decide accepted the Wisconsin Division of Well being Providers' revised plan in July. However by the tip of the summer season, potential placements at three totally different group houses had fallen by for numerous causes, together with public backlash.

Cotton advised the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel in late October that Geyser had been positioned in a gaggle house, although its actual location was sealed by the court docket. She disappeared lower than a month later.