Slender Man stabber who almost killed classmate when she was 12 is too dangerous to free from mental hospital, psychologists tell court

The Slender Man stabber who nearly killed a classmate when she was 12-years-old is too dangerous to be released from a mental hospital, a court has heard. 

Morgan Geyser, now 21, has requested to leave Winnebago Mental Health Institute on conditional release, 10 years after she was ordered to spend 40 years there over the 2014 stabbing of Payton Leutner, who was also 12 at the time. 

But on Wednesday, two psychologists said doing so would be a bad idea, with one branding the would-be killer's behavior as 'callous'. 

'It's my opinion to a reasonable degree of professional certainty that she currently presents a significant risk of bodily harm to herself or others if conditionally released,'  Dr. Deborah Collins said. 

Another psychologist, Dr. Brooke Lundbohm told the court: 'That would be rather remarkable. That would be very callous as well,' of Geyser's claims that she'd previously faked psychosis symptoms 

Geyster appeared in court Thursday handcuffed, with her head partly-shaved and a haunted-expression on her face. She wore a tweed dress and black pantyhose. 

Geyser was ordered to spend 40 years there following the gruesome attack she and her friend Anissa Weier carried out on Payton Leutner. The pair lured Leutner to a wooded area of a Milwaukee suburb in 2014, where they stabbed her 19 times. 

They then triggered a sensation after claiming a supernatural figure called the Slender Man had directed them to do so.  

Collins added that is she had to estimate when she thought Geyser could be released from the hospital, it would be in six to 12 months. 

'I know she's not ready now,' Collins said. 

'We have issues with being able to reliably trust her own self appraisal,' Lundbohm added. 

'If the person is not able to have insight into their mental health condition, the potential warning signs, the triggers that could cause decline, have insight into the kinds of treatment that may be beneficial - it raises a lot of concerns,' Lundbohm testified. 

Weier was previously granted conditional release from a mental institution in 2021.

Geyser's attorney, Anthony Cotton, is expected to resume with a  cross-examination and introduce a third medical professional, Dr. Kenneth Robbins, to speak about her requested release. 

Judge Michael Bohren will then determine if he will consider Geyeser's release, which would see her move from the mental institution to her home.

If she is sent home, she will be monitored electronically and be visited regularly by state agents and mental health professionals. 

Relatives of Leutner were present at the hearing but did not speak. 

Following the brutal stabbing, Weier and Geyser admitted that they intended to kill Leutner because they wanted to join the cult of the 'Slender Man' after reading about him online.

The girls left Leutner for dead but she survived by crawling out of the woods to a path where a passing bicyclist found her. 

Both Geyser and Weier told detectives they felt they had to kill Leutner to become Slender Man's 'proxies', or servants, and that the character would kill their families if they didn't follow through.  

In response to the vicious crime, Eric Knudsen, who created Slender Man in 2009, said that he was 'deeply saddened' to hear about it. 

'I am deeply saddened by the tragedy in Wisconsin and my heart goes out to the families of those affected by this terrible act,' Knudsen said. 

Geyser, who is schizophrenic, admitted to manipulating Weier into believing in Slender Man. 

Weier sentenced to 25 years in a mental institution after having been found not guilty of second-degree murder by reason of insanity.

In 2020, Geyser, then 18, pleaded guilty to first-degree attempted homicide and in 2017, she was found not guilty by reason of insanity.

Her then attorney, Matthew Pinix, appealed the ruling by arguing that Geyser should have been charged with second-degree intentional homicide, which would have placed the case in juvenile court rather than adult court. 

Leutner spoke out about the horrifying ordeal, which left her traumatized for months and covered in 25 scars, for the first time in a docu-series called Inside The Verdict: Slender Man last fall. 

She described how during the attack Geyser told her: 'Don't be afraid. I'm only a little kitty cat.' 

The girls then fled the woods, leaving Leutner for dead. 

They later told detectives that they believed Leutner would not survive. 

'So, we told her we we're gonna get help, but we really weren't. We were going to run and let her - pass away,' Weier told detectives. 

Geyser, after describing the crime in a separate interview, became worried about how much she had revealed. 

In a clip from her interrogation, she confessed: 'I might as well just say it, we were trying to kill her. Will I regret giving you this information later?' 

Both Geyser and Weier apologized for their actions during their sentencing hearings, but the judge determined that neither were mentally fit to be released.