MADISON, Wis. (AP) — A Wisconsin woman who admitted to helping stab a classmate to please the horror character Slender Man will be freed Monday from a mental health institution, a judge ruled Friday.
Anissa Weier, 19, will be released after spending almost four years at the Winnebago Mental Health Institute. She will be subject to constant GPS monitoring and receive outpatient psychiatric treatment under the conditions of her release.
Waukesha County Judge Michael Bohren said the report prepared for Weier’s release was fair and “provides for the protection of the community” as well as for the victim, Payton Leutner, and for Weier herself.
Weier and friend Morgan Geyser lured classmate Leutner into a park in the Milwaukee suburb of Waukesha following a sleepover in May 2014. Geyser stabbed Leutner multiple times, while Weier urged her on. All three girls were 12 at the time.
They left Leutner for dead but a passing bicyclist found her. She suffered 19 stab wounds and barely survived. Police found Weier and Geyser later that day walking on Interstate 94 in Waukesha. They said they were traveling to Slender Man’s mansion and attacked Leutner because they thought it would make them Slender Man’s servants and prevent him from killing their families.
Bohren had ruled in July that Weier no longer posed a threat and ordered state officials to draw up a release plan.
The Slender Man character grew out of internet stories. He’s depicted as a spidery figure in a black suit with a blank white face. Sony Pictures released a movie about Slender Man stalking three girls in 2018. Weier’s father blasted the film as an attempt to capitalize on a tragedy.
Weier pleaded guilty to attempted second-degree intentional homicide. Borhen sentenced her to 25 years at the Winnebago Mental Health Institute in December 2017. She argued in a petition for conditional release that she has exhausted all her treatment options at the facility and needs to rejoin society, vowing she’d never let herself “become a weapon again.”
Geyser pleaded guilty to attempted first-degree intentional homicide. Bohren sentenced her to 40 years in a mental health facility in February 2018. She has argued that her case should have been heard in juvenile court, but an appellate court ruled last year the case was properly heard in adult court.
