'Slender Man' stabber's legal team demand that she be returned to same mental facility she escaped from

The legal team of Morgan Geyser, the woman who as a child stabbed her friend as an offer to Slender Man, are pushing for the 23-year-old to be moved out of the Waukesha County Jail and back into a secure mental health institution, arguing that jail is not an appropriate setting for a defendant who was previously found not guilty by reason of mental disease. Geyser has been held since her extradition from Illinois last week after fleeing from supervised group home in Madison.

Geyser was arrested on Nov. 23 at an Illinois truck stop alongside trans 43-year-old friend Chad Mecca, a day after she allegedly cut off her tracking bracelet and left the YoYo Quality Care group home.

Staff did not report her missing until early the next morning. She had been living at the home since September as part of a conditional release granted earlier this year, following nearly eight years at the Winnebago Mental Health Institute.

In a letter to Waukesha County Judge K. Scott Wagner, defense attorney Anthony Cotton said that Geyser should not remain in a correctional environment while her case is reviewed. “Given that she has no new criminal charges in Waukesha County and given that she has been previously found not guilty by reason of mental disease or defect on the underlying offense, it is our position that she should be housed in a mental health facility, not a correctional institution,” Cotton wrote.

State health officials are expected to determine on December 22 whether her conditional release should be formally revoked. This would return her to long-term inpatient care. Authorities have not yet confirmed whether Geyser will face new charges over the escape.

Cutting off an electronic monitoring device could carry felony penalties, but prosecutors in Dane County have not commented.

Geyser was 12 when she and co-defendant Anissa Weier attacked classmate Payton Leutner in 2014, stabbing her 19 times in a park after luring her there during a sleepover. Investigators said both girls admitted they were attempting to appease the fictional character Slender Man, believing he would harm their families if they did not comply. In 2017, both pleaded guilty to attempted intentional homicide but were found not guilty due to mental disease. Weier received a 25-year mental commitment, while Geyser was ordered to 40 years.