True Crime Collection

Slender Man Stabbing

Slender Man is a fictional entity created on the Something Awful online forums for a 2009 Photoshop image contest. The Slender Man mythos was later expanded by a number of people who created fan fiction and additional artistic depictions of the entity. Slender Man is a tall, thin character, with a featureless white face and head. He is depicted as wearing a black suit, and is sometimes shown with tentacles growing out of his back. According to the Slender Man mythos, the entity can cause amnesia, bouts of coughing and paranoid behaviour in individuals. He is often depicted hiding in forests or stalking children. 

The victim, Payton Leutner, and the perpetrators, Anissa Weier and Morgan Geyser, were all 12 years old at the time of the stabbing, and were classmates enrolled in the same school. The school's principal later confirmed that neither Anissa nor Morgan had any prior disciplinary issues. They had been at a sleepover together the night before the stabbing. The attackers had discovered Slender Man on the Creepypasta Wiki. They later said they had believed Slender Man to be real, and had wanted to demonstrate their loyalty to him so they could become his "proxies", live in his mansion, prove his existence, and prevent him from harming their families. They believed that the only way to do this would be to kill someone, after which they would become servants of the Slender Man and live in his mansion, which they thought was located in Chequamegon-Nicolet National Forest.  Morgan explained during police interviews that she had seen and heard hallucinations of people since the age of 3, and was certain that "Slender" had demanded she kill her best friend to save the lives of her own family. 

Anissa and Morgan initially planned to attack Payton on 30th May, 2014. They planned to tape the victim's mouth shut, stab her in the neck, and flee. They did not carry out that attack; Anissa and Morgan were believed to be "too tired" or "too groggy." Morgan was reported to have said "let her have another morning". A second plan called for attacking Payton in a bathroom at a local park, choosing the location for the fact that the bathroom had drains for Payton's blood. 

The actual attack took place in a nearby forest during a game of hide-and-seek on 31st May, 2014. Payton was pinned down and stabbed 19 times in the arms, legs, and torso with a kitchen knife with a 5 inch long blade. 2 wounds were to major organs, 1 missing a major artery of her heart by less than a millimetre, and another went through her diaphragm, cutting into her liver and stomach. Anissa told the victim to lay down because the blood will come out slower. Anissa and Morgan then told Payton they would get help for her, but instead simple left. Payton dragged herself to a nearby road where she was found by a cyclist. 

Anissa and Morgan were apprehended near Interstate 94 at Steinhafel's furniture store. The knife used in the stabbing was in a bag they carried. While Morgan felt no empathy, Anissa was described as feeling guilty for stabbing the victim, but felt that the attack was needed to appease Slender Man. 

Payton left the hospital 7 days after the attack. She returned to school in September 2014. 

In 2017, Anissa pleaded guilty to being a party to attempted second degree homicide. A jury then found her "not guilty by mental disease or defect." Morgan accepted a plea offer under which she would not go to trial and would be evaluated by psychiatrists to determine how long she should be placed in a mental hospital. She later pleaded guilty but was found not guilty by reason of mental disease or defect, and was diagnosed with schizophrenia, from which her father also suffers. 

Anissa was sentenced to 25 years to life, an indeterminate sentence involving at least 3 years locked confinement and involuntary treatment in a state psychiatric institute, followed by communal supervision until age 37. Morgan was sentenced to the maximum, 40 years to life, an indeterminate sentence involving at least 3 years locked in confinement, in addition to involuntary treatment in a state psychiatric institute until complete resolution of symptoms or until age 53, whichever may happen first; followed by continued communal supervision, periodic reevaluations and/or reinstitution and further treatment, as needed, as required by the sentence imposed. 

In 2018, a Wisconsin judge sentenced Morgan to 40 years under mental health facility's supervision. While Morgan will periodically have the opportunity to petition for her release from a mental health facility in the future, she will remain under institutional care for the duration of the sentence. During her trial, Morgan had been committed to the Winnebago Mental Health Institute and was the youngest patient there. 

In 2020, an appeals court rejected Morgan's petition to be retried as a juvenile. Her attorney, Matthew Pinix, argued that she should have been charged with attempted second degree intentional homicide rather than first degree, and argued that Morgan gave statements to investigators before being read her Miranda rights. He has petitioned the state Supreme Court to review the ruling.

In the aftermath of the stabbing, the Creepypasta Wiki was blocked throughout the Waukesha School District. On the Tuesday following the stabbing, Slender Man creator Eric Knudsen said: "I am deeply saddened by the tragedy in Wisconsin and my heart goes out to the families of those affected by this terrible act." Sloshedtrain, the administrator of the Creepypasta Wiki, said that the stabbing was an isolated incident and did not accurately represent the creepypasta community. He also stated that the Creepypasta Wiki was a literary website and that they did not condone murder or rituals. 

Members of the creepypasta community held a 24 hour live stream on YouTube 13th/14th June, 2014, to raise money for the stabbing victim. Joe Jozwowski, an administrator on a creepypasta website, said the purpose of the stream was to show that members of the community cared for the victim and did not condone real world violence because they enjoyed fiction that contains violence. 

On 12th August, Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker issued a proclamation declaring Wednesday, 13th August, 2014, "Purple Hearts for Healing Day" and encouraged the people of Wisconsin to wear purple on that day to honour the victim of the stabbing. He also praised the "strength and determination" exhibited by the victim during her recovery. 

The city of Madison, Wisconsin, held a 1 day bratwurst festival to honour the victim on 29th August, several days before the victim returned to school. Hot dog and bratwurst were sold to raise money towards the victim's medical costs. The event was run by over 250 volunteers, and raised over $70,000 for Payton Leutner.