Teen convicted in 2014 ‘Slender Man’ stabbing to be released from mental health facility on Monday
New York Daily News/September 11, 2021
By Jessica Schladebeck
After nearly four years in a mental health clinic for the 2014 stabbing of a young classmate — an attack she claimed was inspired by the fictional horror character, Slender Man — Anissa Weier will be released on Monday under strict conditions, a judge has ruled
Weier was only 12-years-old when she and her friend, Morgan Geyser, lured Payton Leutner, also 12, into the woods in Waukesha, Wisc. Despite suffering 19 stab wounds, including one that narrowly missed her heart, Leutner survived the attack thanks to a passing bicyclist, who was able to get her medical help in time.
Prosecutors said that Geyser stabbed Leutner multiple times as Weier urged her on.
Weier eventually pleaded guilty to attempted second-degree intentional homicide while Geyser pleaded guilty to attempted first-degree intentional homicide. Judge Michael Bohren in 2017 ordered both teens be sent to the Winnebago Mental Health Institute, where they would serve 25-year and 40-year sentences, respectively.
In her petition for conditional release, Weier argued that she had taken advantage of all the treatment options at the facility and needed to rejoin the real world in order to evolve. She vowed she’d never let herself “become a weapon again.”
“I have exhausted all the resources available to me at the Winnebago Mental Health Institute,” Weier wrote in a letter presented to the judge earlier this year. “If I am to become a productive member of society, I need to be a part of society.”
In July, Bohren concluded Weier, now 19, no longer poses a threat to society and began drawing up plans for her release.
“She looks forward to moving on into a productive life,” her attorney, Maura McMahon told the judge.
She will be freed from the mental health facility on Monday under strict conditions including a case manager, who will monitor her medication for post-traumatic stress disorder, anxiety and a personality disorder. What’s more, her cellphone will be blocked from accessing the internet, and she will be banned from using social media in any capacity.
Drugs and alcohol will also be prohibited under conditions of her release. Weier will additionally be forbidden from entering a bar, possessing a weapon and having any contact with Leutner or her family.
Both the victim and her loved ones declined to speak on Weier’s upcoming release.
In a 2019 interview, Leutner told ABC News she was doing well and that her hope was to “put everything behind me and live my life normally.”
The violent attack unfolded in 2014 and has dominated headlines ever since — primarily due to the girls’ invoking of Slender Man. The spooky character, often depicted as an unrealistically tall and thin figure without a face, has its roots in internet message boards and is notorious for stalking children.
Both Weier and Geyser said they invited Leutner to a sleepover and then stabbed her because they feared Slender Man would kill them and their families.
With News Wire Services
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