Morgan Geyser Is Detained in Illinois After Fleeing Her Group Home, Police Say

Morgan Geyser, a 23-year-old who was found not guilty due to a mental defect in the 2014 ‘Slender Man Stabbing’ in Waukesha, has been located in Illinois after leaving her group home, according to the Madison Police Department.

Geyser was located and taken into custody at approximately 10:34 p.m., according to authorities.

The investigation into her escape and her accomplice is still ongoing.

According to the Posen Police Department in Illinois, authorities found Geyser with a man behind a Thornton’s Truck Stop, sleeping on the ground, while responding to a call about loitering. The officers say Geyser refused to provide them with her real name and to Google her to see the “bad things” she had done.

Both Geyser and the male subject she was with were detained without incident, the Posen Police Department said.

In a video posted to Instagram, Tony Cotton, Geyser’s lawyer, told Geyser directly, or for anyone in contact with her, to have her turn herself in immediately.

“If Morgan happens to see this,” Cotton said in the video, “turn yourself in, do not continue to remain on the run like this. It is not in your best interest to handle this matter in this way.”

The Madison Police Department released updates regarding the timeline of Geyser’s departure from the group home, asking the public to call 911 with any information before her recapture.

The Department of Corrections had received a notification that Geyser’s GPS monitoring bracelet was malfunctioning around 9:30 p.m., the MPD said. At 11:35 p.m., the group home notified the DOC that Geyser was not in the home and had removed her GPS bracelet.

The DOC filed an apprehension request around midnight, which the MPD said was never relayed to them. They were made aware of Geyser’s disappearance when the group home called to report Geyser as a missing person at 7:46 a.m. the next morning.

On July 31, the court approved Geyser to have a conditional release plan, assigning her to the group home. This came after Geyser had been ordered by the court to be committed to the Department of Health Services for 40 years, back in February 2017.

The ‘Slender Man Stabbing’ that Geyser was accused of, and ultimately found guilty of committing, but was also found not to be legally responsible under Wisconsin law for committing the crime because of the defendant’s mental condition, happened on May 21, 2014.

According to a 2019 Brief of Plaintiff-Respondent, Geyser, who at the time was an 11-year-old, was charged with one count of attempted homicide in the first degree, after working with Anissa Weier(at the time, 12-year-old), to plan a murder. They had planned this murder to appease the fictional character ‘Slender Man’.

The brief continues to explain that they invited the victim, Payton Leutner, to a sleepover, where they then lured her to the woods and stabbed her 19 times.

Weier, who had been charged with 2nd degree attempted intentional homicide, was also found guilty but not guilty due to mental disease or defect in December of 2017, being sentenced to a 25-year commitment with the Department of Health Services.

Weier was granted a conditional release plan in September 2021, with her GPS monitoring being removed by court order in September 2023.