Wisconsin woman who stabbed classmate to please Slender Man caught after escaping monitor

A 23-year-old Wisconsin woman, Morgan Geyser, who nearly stabbed a classmate to death 11 years ago to please the horror character Slender Man, was captured in Illinois after cutting off her GPS monitoring bracelet and leaving a group home, Madison officials confirmed late Sunday night.

Geyser was last seen around 8 p.m. Saturday in the company of an adult acquaintance. Madison police released a recent image of her captured on security footage.

Geyser had been living in a group home following her release earlier this year from the Winnebago Mental Health Institute, a psychiatric hospital where she spent seven years. Her release came after three experts testified that she had made progress managing her mental illness.

In 2014, Geyser and her friend, Anissa Weier, lured 12-year-old Payton Leutner to a park in Waukesha after a sleepover. Geyser stabbed Leutner 19 times while Weier encouraged her. The girls told investigators they committed the attack to prove their loyalty to Slender Man and feared harm would come to their families if they failed. They had even planned to travel to Slender Man’s supposed mansion in northern Wisconsin afterward.

Leutner survived the brutal attack. In 2017, Geyser pleaded guilty to being party to attempted first-degree intentional homicide, citing mental illness as a defense. Waukesha County Circuit Judge Michael Bohren later committed her to a psychiatric hospital for 40 years.

Weier also pleaded guilty in 2017 to being party to attempted second-degree intentional homicide with a dangerous weapon and claimed mental illness. She was committed to a 25-year mental hospital but was released in 2021 under conditions to live with her father and wear a GPS monitor.

Clued from CBSNEWS