MADISON, Wis. (AP) — A Wisconsin woman who admitted to nearly stabbing a classmate to death at age 12 to please the online horror character Slender Man has been found in Illinois after she cut off an electronic monitoring device and left a group home, authorities said.
Madison police issued an alert Sunday for Morgan Geyser, now 23, saying she was last seen around 8 p.m. Saturday with an adult acquaintance.
The department issued an update late Sunday that Geyser was taken into custody in Illinois.
She was found at a truck stop in Posen, Illinois, the Posen Police Department confirmed early Monday. Posen is about 25 miles (40 kilometers) south of Chicago. The community is about 170 miles (274 kilometers) south of Madison.
Geyser was found with a 42-year-old man who was charged with criminal trespassing and obstructing identification, Posen police confirmed. He has since been released from custody.
Geyser was placed in a group home this year after being granted conditional release from the Winnebago Mental Health Institute. She was sent to the psychiatric institute in 2018 after pleading guilty to attempted first-degree intentional homicide in a deal with prosecutors to avoid prison. The stabbing happened in 2014.
Geyser’s attorney, Tony Cotton, said Sunday that he did not know what happened with his client and urged Geyser to turn herself in.
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The Madison Police Department said Sunday that it was not made aware that Geyser was missing until nearly 12 hours after she left the group home. The state Department of Corrections received an alert Saturday night that Geyser’s ankle monitor had malfunctioned. The department contacted the group home where she lived about two hours later and was told she was not there and had removed the bracelet, Madison police said.
The Department of Corrections issued an apprehension request just after midnight. The Madison Police Department said it did not learn Geyser was missing until someone from the group home called the next morning. The corrections department did not immediately respond to an email seeking comment.
Authorities say Geyser and her friend, Anissa Weier, also 12, lured their classmate, Payton Leutner, to a suburban Milwaukee park after a sleepover. Geyser stabbed Leutner more than a dozen times while Weier egged her on. Leutner barely survived.
The girls later told investigators that they attacked Leutner to earn the right to be Slender Man’s servants and they feared he’d harm their families if they didn’t follow through.
Slender Man was created online by Eric Knudson in 2009 as a mysterious figure photo-edited into everyday images of children at play. He grew into a popular boogeyman, appearing in video games, online stories and a 2018 movie.
Weier pleaded guilty to attempted second-degree intentional homicide. She was also sent to the psychiatric center and granted release in 2021.
