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 wooded area of a local park and stabbed her 19 times to appease the fictional character Slender Man.
[4] The three friends Anissa Weiser, Morgan Geyser and Payton had been to a sleepover the night before the stabbing which took place on January the 30th, 2014, during a game of hide-and-seek in heavily wooded Davids Park near Waukesha, Wisconsin.
During the police investigation and pre-trial psychiatric evaluations, Morgan Geyser disclosed lifelong visual and auditory hallucinations beginning in early childhood.
These hallucinations typically included figures she interpreted as ghosts, colors melting down walls, and imaginary friends named Maggie and Sev.
[5] Geyser's treatment for schizophrenia was erratic and inadequate for 19 months, which is believed to have exacerbated her cyclic regressions into psychosis and reduced her ability to recognize delusions against reality.
[12] In December 2015, Geyser began a consistent, long-term regimen of antipsychotic medication, which enabled her to understand what she had done and display appropriate feelings related to her crime, such as guilt and remorse.
"[18][19] Geyser accepted a plea offer that stipulated she would not undergo a trial if she pleaded guilty and agreed to further evaluation by psychiatrists to determine appropriate duration of commitment to a forensic psychiatric hospital.
If released, she will remain under communal supervision and undergo periodic reevaluations intended to identify need for reinstitution and/or further treatment as required by the sentence imposed.
[13][25] At a hearing on March 10, 2021, Weier, who was then 19 years old, submitted a letter to the court stating that she was "sorry and deeply regretful for the agony, pain, and fear I have caused," not just to Leutner, but to "my community as well."
On July 1, 2021, Waukesha County Judge Michael Bohren ordered Weier released from the Winnebago Mental Health Institute, gave state officials 60 days to draft a conditional release plan, and required that Weier be assigned Wisconsin Department of Health Services case managers to supervise her progress until she is 37 years old, the length of her commitment.
[26] On September 13, 2021, Weier was released with multiple stipulations, including 24-hour GPS monitoring that required her to request permission before leaving Waukesha County.
[36] On June 5, 2014, Slender Man creator Eric Knudsen released a statement of condolence: "I am deeply saddened by the tragedy in Wisconsin and my heart goes out to the families of those affected by this terrible act.
Joe Jozwowski, an administrator on a creepypasta website, said the purpose of the stream was to show that members of the community care for the victim and do not condone real-world violence.
[43] In September 2021, after Weier's release, it was reported that Leutner no longer lived in Waukesha County and was attending an undisclosed college as a sophomore student.
"[4] John Egelhof, a retired agent of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, argued that the Internet has become a "black hole" that risks exposing children to a more sinister world.
[46] Shira Chess, an assistant professor of mass media arts at the University of Georgia, described creepypasta as no more dangerous than stories about vampires or zombies.
[47] A season 16 episode of Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, titled "Glasgowman's Wrath,” is loosely based on the event.
The film stars Ella West Jerrier, Sophia Grace McCarthy, Skylar Morgan Jones, Angela Kinsey, Drew Powell, and Carrie Hood.
[50][51] On March 31, 2019, another movie inspired by the Slender Man stabbing titled Mercy Black, starring Daniella Pineda, was released on Netflix.
Directed by Owen Egerton and produced by Blumhouse Productions, it tells the story of two girls with pre-schizophrenia who attempt to murder their friend, believing that a spirit named Mercy Black will offer them a gift in return.