Morgan Geyser, aged 23, was recently apprehended by Illinois police after allegedly fleeing a group home in Madison, Wisconsin, where she had been residing following her conviction for the 2014 stabbing of a classmate. The incident was reportedly connected to Geyser’s belief in Slender Man, an online fictional character. She was captured at a truck stop in Posen, Illinois, approximately 170 miles from the group home, after officers received reports of a man and woman loitering and found them sleeping on the sidewalk.
Upon being identified, Geyser initially refused to disclose her name, stating that she had “done something really bad” and suggested that officers could “just Google” her name for more information. She was wanted in Wisconsin at the time, leading to her detention. The companion found with her, a 42-year-old man, was charged with trespassing and obstructing identification but was later released.
Geyser was involved in a high-profile case known as the “Slender Man stabbing,” which shocked the local community and gained national attention. At the age of 12, she and her friend Anissa Weier lured their classmate, Payton Leutner, to a park after a sleepover, where Geyser stabbed her 19 times with Weier encouraging the act. The victim survived and was discovered by a passing cyclist. Geyser was tried as an adult, pleaded guilty to first-degree intentional homicide, and received a 40-year sentence in a mental health facility, with conditional release granted in July.
The Slender Man character, which the girls claimed inspired them to commit the attack, is a figure associated with horror culture on the internet, having originated from a 2009 post on a comedy website. Following the stabbing, various online platforms took steps to disassociate from any real-life violence connected to the character.
Source: https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cvgkwgyqzn0o?at_medium=RSS&at_campaign=rss