Anissa Weier

The perpetrators, Anissa Weier (born November 10, 2001) and Morgan Geyser (born May 16, 2002), pinned down Payton Isabella Leutner (also known as Bella, a nickname used at the time of the crime) and stabbed her nineteen times in the arms, legs, and torso with a 5 inch blade.

Two wounds were to major organs; one missed a major artery of her heart by less than a millimeter, and another went through her diaphragm, cutting into her liver and stomach.

Weier and Geyser told Leutner to lie down while they would find help, but they did not get any upon leaving.

Afterwards, Leutner dragged herself to a nearby road where she was found by a cyclist.

The cyclist called 911 when he saw her.

Around five hours later, Weier and Geyser were apprehended near Interstate 94 at Steinhafel's furniture store, after walking 4.9 miles.

The knife used in the stabbing was in a bag they carried.

Their goal was to meet Slender Man at his mansion, called Slender Mansion, in the Nicolet National Forest, roughly a 200 mile hike from their location.

During their interviews, Geyser was described as feeling no empathy while Weier was described as feeling guilty for stabbing the victim, but both felt that the attack was needed to appease Slender Man.

Leutner left the hospital seven days after the attack.

Slender Man is a fictional entity created on the Something Awful online forums for a 2009 Photoshop paranormal image contest.

The Slender Man myths were later expanded by other people, who created fan fiction and artistic depictions of the entity.

Slender Man is a tall, thin character, with a featureless white face and head.

He is depicted as wearing a black suit, and is sometimes shown with tentacles growing out of his back.

According to the Slender Man myths, the entity can cause amnesia, bouts of coughing, and paranoid behavior in individuals.

He is often depicted hiding in forests.

On May 31, 2014, in Waukesha, Wisconsin, United States, two 12-year-old girls, Anissa Weier and Morgan Geyser, lured their friend Payton Leutner into a forest and stabbed her 19 times in an attempt to appease the fictional character Slender Man.

Leutner crawled to a road where she was found, and recovered after six days in the hospital.

Weier and Geyser were found not guilty by mental disease or defect and committed to mental health institutions for sentences of 25 years to life and 40 years to life, respectively.

After seven years, Weier was granted early release and will be under supervision until age 37.

The stabbing took place in Davids Park, a wooded area near Waukesha, Wisconsin, during a game of hide-and-seek on May 31, 2014.

She returned to school in September 2014.

While growing up, Geyser experienced many hallucinations such as ghosts, colors melting down walls, and imaginary friends (one named Maggie and another Sev).

One hallucination that occurred often was of a man Geyser named "It" whose body was the color of smoke and ink that stood behind her in mirrors or shifted around corners similar to that of Slender Man.

After the arrest, Geyser’s mother, Angie, stated she became “floridly psychotic.” Correctional officers saw Geyser talking to herself often, pretending to be a cat, and keeping ants as pets.

She saw unicorns as well as had continual conversations with Slender Man and other fictional characters such as Severus Snape.

In the fall of 2014, Geyser was moved to the Winnebago Mental Health Institute to determine if she would be competent enough to stand trial.

They diagnosed Geyser on October 22, 2014 with early-onset childhood schizophrenia.

However, instead of treatment and medication, they focused on explaining the law to Geyser to prepare her for trial.

Nearly half a year later, Geyser was found competent enough to stand trial.

Geyser’s schizophrenia was continually left untreated for nineteen months leading her to remain in a state of psychosis, or out of touch with reality.

In December she was sent back to Winnebago and given antipsychotics which later allowed Geyser to feel remorse after clearing her mind.

On March 23, 2016, Geyser was sent back to jail with the medication where she rapidly deteriorated.

Following the investigation, Geyser was charged with attempted first-degree homicide, a Class-A felony, and Weier was charged with attempted second-degree homicide, a Class-B felony.

Due to the nature of the offenses, both Weier and Geyser were waived out of juvenile court to be tried as adults.

In 2017, Weier pleaded guilty to being a party to attempted second-degree homicide.

A jury then found her "not guilty by mental disease or defect."

Geyser accepted a plea offer under which she would not go to trial, and would be evaluated by psychiatrists to determine how long she should be placed in a mental hospital.

She later pleaded guilty but was found not guilty by reason of mental disease or defect, and was diagnosed with schizophrenia, from which her father also suffers.

Weier was sentenced to 25 years to life, an indeterminate sentence involving at least three years locked confinement and involuntary treatment in a state psychiatric institute, followed by communal supervision until age 37.