It was a Saturday morning in late May. Most twelve-year-old girls were probably sleeping in or watching cartoons, but in Waukesha, Wisconsin, things took a turn that basically sounds like a horror movie script. If you’re wondering when did the Slender Man stabbing happen, the date was May 31, 2014. It’s one of those cases that sticks with you, not just because of the violence, but because the motive was tied to an internet ghost story.
Two girls, Morgan Geyser and Anissa Weier, lured their best friend Payton Leutner into the woods. They had just celebrated Morgan’s birthday with a sleepover the night before. Honestly, it’s chilling to think they were eating breakfast and playing dress-up just hours before the attack. They ended up in David’s Park, supposedly to play hide-and-seek, but that was just a ruse.
The Day Everything Changed: May 31, 2014
The actual attack happened around mid-morning. It wasn't some spur-of-the-moment thing, either. These girls had been planning this for months, thinking they had to kill someone to become "proxies" for Slender Man. They were convinced that if they didn't, the fictional character would kill their families. It’s hard to wrap your head around that kind of logic, but for them, it was terrifyingly real.
Payton was stabbed 19 times.
The weapon was a kitchen knife with a five-inch blade. Morgan did the actual stabbing while Anissa encouraged her. They left Payton in the woods to die, telling her they were going to get help. They didn't. They just walked away, heading toward the Nicolet National Forest where they thought Slender Man’s mansion was located.
A Miraculous Survival
Payton is a fighter. Despite her injuries—one of which missed a major artery by the width of a human hair—she crawled out of the woods. A passing cyclist named Greg Steinberg found her lying near a bike path and called 911.
- The Surgery: It took six hours of emergency surgery to save her.
- The Recovery: She was out of the hospital in just seven days.
- The Resilience: She actually went back to school that same September.
While Payton was fighting for her life, the police picked up Morgan and Anissa about five miles away. They were walking along I-94, still carrying the knife in a backpack. They didn't even try to hide what they did; they told the cops everything.
Legal Battles and Mental Health Realities
Because the crime was so severe, the girls were originally charged as adults. This was a huge point of contention in the legal world. How do you try a twelve-year-old as an adult when their motive is a creepypasta character?
In 2017, both girls eventually pleaded guilty to different versions of attempted homicide, but they both used an "insanity" defense (legally known as "not guilty by reason of mental disease or defect"). The court agreed.
Morgan Geyser was diagnosed with early-onset childhood schizophrenia. Her father actually had the same condition, which added a layer of tragedy to the whole mess. She was sentenced to 40 years in a psychiatric institution. Anissa Weier, who was found to have a shared delusional disorder, got 25 years.
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Where Are They Now?
People often think these sentences mean they stay locked in a hospital forever. That's not how Wisconsin law works. They are allowed to petition for release every six months if they can prove they aren't a danger anymore.
Anissa was released first, back in 2021. She’s been living under GPS monitoring and strict supervision. Morgan’s path has been much more chaotic. After years of petitions, she was finally granted a conditional release to a group home in 2025.
But things went sideways fast.
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Just a few months ago, in November 2025, Morgan actually cut off her ankle monitor and fled the group home. It sparked a massive manhunt. Police eventually found her sleeping outside a truck stop in Posen, Illinois, with a 42-year-old man she’d met. When the cops caught her, she reportedly told them they should "just Google her" to find out who she was. She's back in custody now, and that escape pretty much killed her chances of living in a low-security environment anytime soon.
Moving Forward and Staying Safe
The Slender Man stabbing remains a landmark case for how we look at kids, the internet, and mental health. It’s a reminder that what looks like a harmless meme to most can be a dangerous obsession for a child struggling with undiagnosed issues.
If you're a parent or educator, the best takeaway isn't to ban the internet. That's impossible. Instead, keep the dialogue open. Talk about the difference between fiction and reality. If a kid seems overly fixated on "dark" web content or starts acting out "rituals," it's worth a conversation with a professional.
Payton Leutner has since graduated high school and is moving on with her life, showing incredible strength after such a traumatic event. The scars are there, but they don't define her.
To stay informed on cases like this, you can follow the official Wisconsin Court System website or reputable news outlets like the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, which have covered every hearing since 2014. Understanding the timeline of when did the Slender Man stabbing happen is just the first step in understanding the complex web of mental health and digital culture that led to that day in the woods.
Check your local community resources for youth mental health programs if you're looking to support early intervention initiatives in your area.