GLOBAL – Morgan Geyser, a 23-year-old woman who gained international notoriety for the 2014 'Slender Man' stabbing, was apprehended in Posen, Illinois, on Sunday, November 23, 2025, following a brief escape from a Wisconsin group home. Her capture concludes a manhunt that drew significant media attention, casting a renewed spotlight on a case that has long captivated and disturbed the public.

According to the Madison Police Department in Wisconsin, Geyser fled her supervised group home on the evening of Saturday, November 22, 2025. She allegedly cut off her GPS monitoring bracelet and left with an adult acquaintance. The Wisconsin Department of Corrections received an alert about a malfunction with her ankle monitor around 9:30 p.m. Saturday but, due to what officials have called a communication breakdown, Madison police were not notified of her disappearance until a 911 call from the group home the following morning.

Geyser was discovered sleeping on a sidewalk behind a Thornton's truck stop in Posen, a suburb about 274 kilometers south of Madison. Posen Police Chief William Alexander stated that when officers responded to a loitering complaint, Geyser initially provided a false name. She then reportedly told them she had "done something really bad" and suggested they could "just Google" her name to learn her identity. She was taken into custody without incident and is awaiting an extradition hearing to be returned to Wisconsin.

A 42-year-old companion, identified in some reports as Chad Mecca, was with Geyser and was charged with obstructing identification before being released. Reports indicate the pair traveled by bus to the Chicago area.

The 2014 'Slender Man' Stabbing

The case dates back to May 31, 2014, in Waukesha, Wisconsin. Geyser and her friend, Anissa Weier, both 12 years old at the time, lured their classmate Payton Leutner into a wooded park after a sleepover. There, Geyser stabbed Leutner 19 times with a kitchen knife while Weier encouraged her. The attack was a premeditated attempt to appease 'Slender Man,' a fictional supernatural character created on an internet forum in 2009. The girls told investigators they believed they had to commit the murder to become servants of the entity and protect their families from him.

Leutner miraculously survived after dragging herself to a nearby road where a cyclist found her and called for help. She sustained life-threatening injuries, with stab wounds missing a major heart artery by less than a millimeter. Geyser and Weier were apprehended by police later that day.

Legal Proceedings and Mental Health

The case sparked a significant debate about the intersection of mental health, juvenile justice, and the influence of online culture on children. Despite their age, Geyser and Weier were initially charged as adults with attempted first-degree intentional homicide.

Geyser was diagnosed with early-onset schizophrenia. In 2017, she pleaded guilty but was found not guilty by reason of mental disease or defect. A judge sentenced her to the maximum of 40 years in a state psychiatric institution, the Winnebago Mental Health Institute. Anissa Weier also pleaded guilty to a lesser charge and was found not guilty by reason of mental disease; she was sentenced to 25 years in a mental health facility and was granted a conditional release in 2021.

After years of treatment, a Waukesha County judge granted Geyser conditional release in July 2025, a decision prosecutors had opposed. The judge determined she had made sufficient progress and no longer posed a significant risk. She was moved to the group home in September 2025 under strict supervision, including the GPS monitoring she later removed.

Implications and Reactions

Geyser's escape and recapture have prompted concern and raised questions about the protocols for supervising individuals released under such conditions. The Waukesha County District Attorney's Office, which had argued against her release, stated it will support a petition to revoke her conditional release.

A spokesperson for the victim, Payton Leutner, confirmed that she and her family are safe and have been in close contact with law enforcement. In a 2019 interview, Leutner spoke of the lasting trauma but also of her resilience, stating the experience inspired her to pursue a career in medicine. The case's global notoriety highlights ongoing societal concerns about how to manage offenders with severe mental illness and the powerful, sometimes dangerous, influence of digital folklore on impressionable minds.