Slender Man Stabbing Teen Granted Release

Anissa Weier to leave mental health facility once release plan is finalized
By Arden Dier,  Newser Staff
Posted Jul 2, 2021 8:15 AM CDT
Slender Man Stabbing Teen Granted Release
In this Dec. 21, 2017, file photo, Anissa Weier is led into Court for her sentencing hearing, in Waukesha, Wis.   (Michael Sears/Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel via AP, File)

One of a pair who tried to kill a classmate to appease fictional horror character Slender Man will soon go free. A Wisconsin judge on Thursday ordered the release of 19-year-old Anissa Weier, who's been at a state mental health facility since pleading guilty to attempted second-degree intentional homicide in 2017. She was sentenced to 25 years at the Winnebago Mental Health Institute but petitioned for conditional release in March, saying she was no longer a threat to anyone and had completed all available treatments offered by Winnebago, per the AP. Weier and Morgan Geyser were convicted of luring Payton Leutner into the woods at a Waukesha park in May 2014. Geyser stabbed Leutner 19 times as Weier urged her on. The pair later said they believed Slender Man would otherwise hurt them or their families, per the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. All three girls were 12 at the time.

Prosecutors argued Weier remains susceptible to bad influences, noting she attracts people with "myriad psychological issues." They added there was no certainty she wouldn't attack someone again. But Waukesha County Judge Michael Bohren said there was no "clear and convincing evidence that the defendant poses a substantial risk of harm to others, herself, or serious property damage." He said reports from the facility showed she understood her crime, was cooperative with treatment, hadn't shown any dangerous behavior, and hadn't received any psychotic medication. Bohren gave state officials 60 days to come up with a conditional release plan; Weier was returned to Winnebago pending another hearing in September. Upon release, she is to be monitored for the full length of her sentence, until the age of 37. (Geyser was sentenced 40 years in a mental hospital. Read how Leutner's doing lately.)

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