Facebook Morgan Geyser with her parents, mother Angie Geyser and father Matthew Geyser.
Morgan Geyser was only 12 years old when she was accused of stabbing a middle school classmate because she was fascinated with the fictional Slender Man character. Her attorneys argued that she was suffering from delusions and mental illness.
Who are Geyser’s parents? Their names are Angie Geyser and Matthew Geyser.
In 2018, Angie Geyser spoke to 20/20. “I couldn’t believe what I was hearing,” Morgan’s mom said. “I never would have imagined that my daughter was capable of hurting another person.”
Both Geyser and co-defendant Anissa Weier are being held in mental health institutions, where they received 40 and 25 year terms, respectively. According to Wisconsin court records, Geyser was found “Guilty but Not Guilty Due to Mental Disease/Defect,” as was Weier.
The victim, Payton Leutner, is speaking out for the first time ever about the stabbing attack to ABC’s 20/20 on Friday, October 25, 2019. All three girls were 12 at the time. “I’ve come to accept all of the scars that I have,” Leutner said to ABC’s David Muir. “It’s just a part of me. I don’t think much of them. They will probably go away and fade eventually.”
It is a rare scene – two 12-year-old girls describe to police how they lured and attacked their friend with a knife in the woods.
Tonight on our 2-hour 20/20, @DavidMuir shares his latest new interviews and details from the ‘Slender Man’ case. t.co/OfBXK4EL9Q
Geyser was sentenced in February 2018. Online court records in her case state that the “court orders the defendant to be committed to the Department of Health Services for 40 YEARS commencing 2/1/18…Court further finds that conditional release would pose a significant risk of bodily injury to the defendant or others. Both the State and Defense stipulate to the institutional care. Court orders placement as Institutional Care.”
Here’s what you need to know:
1. Morgan’s Mom Posts Photos of Her Daughter on Facebook, Along With Statements About Mental Illness
A photo collage on the Facebook page of Morgan Geyser’s mom/
ABC News reported that although Geyser “may periodically petition for release from the hospital in the future, she will be under institutional supervision for that time.” According to USA Today, the way it works is that people confined to mental institutions can “petition for conditional release every six months, if treating staff support the move.” A judge would have to approve this though. Geyser’s attorney’s are appealing her case, arguing she shouldn’t have been tried in adult court because she is mentally ill.
Her mother, Angie Geyser, has posted numerous pictures of Morgan on Facebook. “I don’t know which I love more, the fact that she looks more and more like me as she gets older, or how happy she is when people tell her she looks like her mom. ❤,” she wrote with one photo showing Morgan. In 2016, a friend asked whether Morgan could receive cards. Angie replied, “She can, but in the past hasn’t reacted well to receiving them. You just never know how she will react. Unfortunately, it would most likely upset her. I appreciate the thought, though. ❤️”
Angie shared a graphic about mental illness awareness. The family also has a son. Her Facebook page is filled with her daughter’s artwork, and pictures showing typical family activities in what were better times. “Mom of two beautiful children and a small army of pets,” her Facebook profile reads. “I love someone with schizophrenia,” Angie wrote on Facebook in 2017.
It was revealed in court that Geyser has schizophrenia. According to USA Today, an expert told the court during her 2018 sentencing that “after her psychotropic medications were adjusted… Geyser has not shown any symptoms of psychosis and is open about treatment, never resists taking her medication and has never been violent or aggressive.”
However, a psychologist for the state told the judge she wouldn’t support conditional release for Geyser because she had recently heard “the voice of Maggie, a hallucinatory voice she had been hearing for years.”
2. Morgan’s Dad Has Schizophrenia, It Was Revealed in Court
The Geyser family.
ABC News reported that “Morgan’s father has schizophrenia” and was “hospitalized at least four times as a teenager to treat his own schizophrenia.”
“When they told us what had happened and that she had done it because she believes Slender Man is real … that’s where my mind went, is that she must be sick,” Angie Geyser said, according to ABC.
The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported that court testimony established that Matthew Geyser, Morgan’s dad, went on disability due to mental illness. The newspaper reported that Matthew’s ex-wife Amy Geyser disputed tabloid accusations that he was a “devil worshipper,” calling him a “kind soul.” He was hospitalized and attempted suicide, the newspaper reported.
Matt’s Facebook page, reviewed by Heavy, shows that his profile picture is a drawing of a figure that reads “A ghost for me.” His cover photo shows cartoon characters looking at the starry sky. Nothing else is visible. His likes include Wisconsin sports teams and movies like Beetlejuice, Machete Kills, The Equalizer, and A Monster Calls. He’s a fan of Stephen King’s books.
Morgan Geyser with her mom.
Daily Mail reported that Matt Geyser, before the stabbing attack, had posted a picture his daughter drew of Slender Man on Instagram.
“‘Only Mogo (Morgan) draws Slenderman in crayon on a napkin when we are out to dinner’,” Daily Mail reported, adding, “He tagged Morgan’s mother Angela in the post and four of his friends, ‘liked it.'” The Instagram page was named Deadboy420.
In the 2014 article, Daily Mail also reported that “Email addresses linked to Matt Geyser’s name and address on public records include the words ‘ILOVEEVIL’ or variously ‘ILOVEEVIL666’” and he’d posted “a picture of a ticket for a Shadows Fall concert, a group with albums including Of One Blood and The War Within.”
Daily Mail alleged: “His wife Angie has also posted a number of pictures of skulls and one eerie image of a church and grave yard at night on her Instagram page.” Neither parent has a criminal history in Wisconsin.
Matt has a different Instagram page now. He’s posted positive comments about his daughter, writing, “Huge, happy smile. She’s my all time favorite daughter.”
In August, he wrote with the above photo, “Mogo and I love to doodle.”
3. The Victim’s Mother Says She Feels Morgan’s Parents Are ‘Going Through Their Own Hell’
Morgan Geyser
Stacie Leutner, the victim’s mother, told ABC that she used to be angry at Morgan’s parents but is no longer angry.
“I was angry for a long time, especially [at] Morgan’s parents, knowing that Morgan’s dad had schizophrenia. … For a long time I thought that they were maybe just in denial and ignoring her symptoms,” Stacie Leutner said to ABC. “But I’m not angry anymore, because I recognize that they’re going through their own hell.”
There is a Facebook page called Support Morgan Geyser. The page reads, “Despite popular belief, we don’t support the fact that she tried to murder someone. In fact we think thats the most heinous thing, however, we support the fact that she must not have been well mentally so she needs help. We don’t support Morgan’s alleged crime. We support her getting well and being given a second chance.”
According to Courthouse News and Wisconsin appellate court records, Geyser’s attorneys filed a 46-page brief on her behalf with Wisconsin state appellate courts in 2019. “The juvenile court, not the adult court, had exclusive jurisdiction over her crime, and the circuit court should have discharged her adult-court case following her preliminary hearing,” it read.
“Of course, Slender Man had never actually visited Geyser; the interactions were a hallucination and a byproduct of her mental illness,” the court brief continued. “Geyser believed that if she did not do what Slender Man wanted- namely to kill to become his proxy- he would, in turn, kill her or her family.”
Passage from the appellate court brief.
The brief continued: “…the tactics police used with Geyser may have passed muster with a fully-functional adult, but Geyser was far from that. She did not understand her legal rights, including what an attorney could do for her. The interviewing detective repeatedly minimized the seriousness of her crime and the effect of confessing to it. On balance, the tactics police used on Geyser were coercive and most certainly overwhelmed whatever minimal ability she had to resist.”
The brief stated the issue before the court as “Whether a barely twelve-year-old, severely mentally ill person who is disallowed parental support during a custodial interrogation, suffering from active delusions, and hours earlier attempted to kill under the true belief that it would protect her from a fictitious character can knowingly, intelligently, and voluntarily waive the constitutional rights to which she is entitled in a criminal proceeding when, still three weeks later, she is found not to understand those basic rights?”
Read the brief here.
In 2009, the Juvenile Law Center, Center for Juvenile Law & Policy and Center on Wrongful Convictions of Youth filed a brief with Wisconsin appellate courts arguing on Geyser’s behalf. You can read it in full here. The appeals court history is here.
They wrote that the “lower court’s ruling that Morgan Geyser, a 12 year old child suffering from hallucinations at the time she spoke to police, voluntarily, intelligently, and knowingly waived her Miranda rights failed to appropriately account for her young age. Amici urge this Court to clarify the appropriate standards for assessing whether a twelve year old can knowingly and intelligently waive her Miranda rights.”
Morgan was “suffering from an undiagnosed and untreated mental illness. She had no prior experience with the criminal justice system and seven needed tutoring three weeks after the interrogation to understand how various legal concepts applied to her situation.”
The case is listed as awaiting for decision.
4. Morgan’s Mom Says Morgan & Anissa Were Just ‘Typical Girls’
Facebook/mugshotSee court records in the Slender Man case. Above is Morgan Geyser (l) and Anissa Weier (r).
In the 20/20 interview in 2018, Angie Geyser said she didn’t see any warning signs. “They [Morgan and Payton] would sit up in Morgan’s room and they would do each other’s nails, and they would laugh, and make a mess,” Angie Geyser said to ABC. “They were just typical girls.”
She knew about her daughter’s fascination with Slender Man but didn’t think anything of it. “She would show us some of the pictures, and she would read us some of the stories, and while some of the subject matter was a little dark, I wasn’t concerned,” she said.
“When I was Morgan’s age, I was reading Stephen King novels. I remember being 11 years old and riding home from the library with [the book] ‘IT’ under my arm. And that’s a very scary and dark story, so I just thought it was normal for a child of middle school age to be interested in scary stories.”
5. The Complaint Gives a Detailed Description of the Accusations Against the Two Girls, Including How They Became Entranced With Slender Man
Despite their young ages, both Morgan E. Geyer and Anissa E. Weier were charged in 2014 in an adult criminal complaint. Morgan’s date of birth was given as May 16, 2002, and Anissa Weier’s date of birth was given as 11/10/2001.
At the time of the criminal charges, Morgan was listed as standing 5 foot 4 inches tall and weighing 115 pounds; Weier was listed as standing 5 foot 2 inches tall and weighing 139 pounds. Geyser was charged with attempted first-degree intentional homicide, part to the crime. She also faced a penalty enhancer for using a knife.
Weier was charged with attempted first-degree intentional homicide with a dangerous weapon, party to a crime, as well.
This is what the criminal complaint alleged:
On May 31, 2014, a man named Greg R. Steinberg contacted the City of Waukesha, Wisconsin Police Department “to report a stabbing to a girl he located lying on the sidewalk in the area of Rivera Drive and Big Bend Road.” Steinberg told police that the girl stated, “Please help me. I’ve been stabbed.”
Wisconsin criminal complaint
He called 911 and tried to apply pressure to her wounded and stayed there until the Fire Department arrived. The victim was only named in the complaint as P.L., date of birth in February 2002. However, she was later identified voluntarily as Payton Leutner.
When the police officer responded, Payton was only wearing a white t-shirt under a black fleece jacket which was covered in blood. He asked if she was okay and she said no. When asked who did this to her, she stated her best friend, Morgan Geyser. Payton told police that the stabbings took place in the woods just to the east of Big Bend Road. She said she was in a lot of pain and the officer “observed multiple wounds on her body including on her legs as well as blood spots from her abdomen area.”
She was the young girl, stabbed 19 times by her best friends.
Now, Payton Leutner’s parents speak to @DavidMuir about their daughter’s resilience five years after surviving the attack. Our interviews with Payton and her family – @ABC2020 Friday at 9|8c
The complaint further alleged that Payton almost died from the stab wounds. It alleged:
The officer spoke to Payton again at Waukesha Memorial Hospital. She indicated “she did not want to go into the woods but was pushed inside. She was in extreme pain and could only answer yes or no questions, but at this time, the officer indicated Payton was given a CAT scan. A physician indicated there was fluid around her heart that required a thorax surgical team’s expertise. Payton had a total of nineteen stab wounds.
She was taken to surgery. Medical professionals told the officer that Payton was “one millimeter away from certain death.” That’s because one of the stab wounds to Payton’s chest missing a major artery near her heart by one millimeter. If that artery had been struck, Payton would have died within minutes.
Her heart was struck by the knife and medical personnel stated that Payton “was very lucky to be alive.” The officer noted that a different surgical team performed surgery on Payton’s abdomen. During that surgery, injuries were located to Payton’s liver, pancreas and stomach, all of which had been stabbed. At this time, the detective spoke to Weier.
The complaint alleges:
Weier told police about a website called Creepypasta.wiki. This was an internet site that talked about horror stories and nightmare stories. “People can create and write their own stories and in these stories Weier learned about a man named Slenderman. Weier indicated that Slenderman is the leader of the Creepypasta. Slenderman is at the top of the triangle. Just below Slenderman is the killer and below the killer is the proxy. Weier stated in order to be a proxy you needed to kill a person. This would show your dedication to Slenderman.”
Weier told police that “many people do not believe Slenderman is real and she stated she wanted to prove the skeptics wrong.” She indicated she had been reading the website since October of the year before and that Morgan Geyser introduced her to it. Geyser told Weier, “We should be proxies of Slender.” Weier stated okay, how do we do that?
The complaint alleges that Geyser stated to Weier, “We have to kill P.L. (Payton) to prove ourselves worthy to the Slender.” Weier was surprised but also excited to prove that he existed and to prove the skeptics were wrong. Thus, she stated “she felt she had to physically kill someone.”
Geyser told Weier that Geyser could have two friends over every year for her birthday and Geyer told Weier that they would kill Payton on the dad planned to be her birthday May 30, 2014. Weier explained more about “Slender” and “indicated they learned he lives in a mansion in the Nicolet National Park which they discovered was in Wisconsin. The plan was to kill (Payton) and walk to Slender’s mansion and become one of his proxies.”
Wisconsin criminal complaint
The complaint provides these further details:
On May 30, 2014, after school, Weier told police, according to the complaint, that she and Geyser went to Weier’s house where she packed a backpack full of clothes, granola bars, water bottles and a picture of her mother and her father and her siblings. She didn’t want to forget what her family looked like when they walked to the mansion.
Geyser’s father picked up Payton, and the three girls went to Skateland. They returned at 9:30 p.m. Weier stated that they went to sleep in Geyser’s room and indicated there was a plan in place to kill Payton while she was sleeping around 2 a.m. The plan was to put duct tape over her mouth, stab her in the neck, put the covers over her to make it look like she was sleeping and run. This plan changed when they decided to go to Skateland that Friday night.
On the morning of May 31, 2014, the plan changed to kill Payton in the park bathroom as Weier noted the floor had a drain for the blood to go down. Weier indicated that when Geyser’s mom said they could go and play in the park, Geyser grabbed a knife from the house. Payton was walking in front of them and Geyser lifted up the left side of her white jacket and displayed the knife tucked in her waistband.
Weier stated she gave Geyser a look with wide eyes and Weier stated, “I thought, dear god, this was really happening.”
They eventually ended up in the bathroom “where Weier was going to do the stabbing because Weier knew all the weak spots.” “Once in the bathroom, Geyser handed Weier the knife and Weier explained that Geyser grabbed a hold of Payton’s arms in a stall almost restraining her. Weier stated she needed to talk to Geyser and told Geyser she couldn’t do it.
Wisconsin criminal complaint
Weier gave the knife back to Geyser at which time Weiser indicated Geyser attempted to restrain Payton but Geyser had a nervous breakdown and Weier had to calm Geyser down. A short time later Weier suggested they go for a walk and they began to walk outside in the park.” The complaint further states:
It was then that Weier pointed out the woods to Geyser and suggested they kill Payton in the woods. Weier indicated they said they were going to play hide and seek so they could distract Payton and kill her. Geyser was the first seeker and Payton and Weier began to hide. Weier told Payton where to hide and Payton began to kneel down. Weier told Payton to lay face down in the dirt and Payton refused and did not want to do that. Weier pushed and sat on Payton, who complained she could not breath and began to yell.
Weier thought if she sat on Payton restraining Payton, Geyser could stab Payton. Because of Payton’s yelling “this was attracting attention and Weier got off of her. Weier went to Geyser and told Geyser that Payton was not laying down. Geyser then gave Weier the knife and Weier told Geyser that Weier was too squeamish and gave the knife back to Geyser.”
Weier stated once Geyser got the knife back Geyser told Weier, I’m not going to until you tell me to.”
Weiser stated she started walking away from Geyser and told Geyser “go ballistic, go crazy.” Geyser said she would go ballistic and Weier said now. Geyser responded, “Don’t worry, I’m just a little kitty cat.”
Geyser then went to Payton and tackled her and then started stabbing her. Payton was screaming. Geyser was counting in her head and believed she stabbed Payton 17 times. Weier indicated that Payton screamed, “I hate you. I trusted you.”
She got up and stumbled toward the street. Weier did not want others to see Payton so Weier grabbed a hold of Payton’s arm and started directing Payton away from the street. Payton then fell down and said she couldn’t breath, see or walk.
She told Payton to lay down and be quiet indicating she would loose blood slower.
“Weier stated she told Payton this so Payton would again not draw attention to herself and would die. Weiser told Payton they were going to get her help but Weier indicated they never planned on getting help for Payton. It was the hope that Payton would die and they would see Slender and know that he exists. They backed away and walked to Walmart, leaving her there.
Weier talked about the planning stages and said every now and then she and Geyser would whisper about the plan to kill Payton when they were on the bus. She stated they talked about living in the woods and what they would need to do to defeat animals.
They whispered as they talked because they didn’t want people to hear them because they would go to prison if they ever found out. They used code words and stated cracker meant knife or it meant killing and camping trip meant the Nicolet National Park.
Asked if she knew what it meant to kill someone Weier stated, “I believe it’s ending a life and I regret it. The bad part of me wanted her to die, the good part of me wanted her to live.”
Wisconsin criminal complaint
Geyser stated that there was a plan to try and kill Payton. She was going to try and do it when Payton was sleeping so they didn’t have to look into her eyes. She said that Weier was very prepared to go with it but Geyser found many flaws in that plan.
When Geyser was asked if there was another way, she stated, “same way except probably duct tape her mouth shut.” When asked why they didn’t do it that way, she stated, I wanted to give Bella one more day. I wanted to see if I could put it off but it didn’t work out.”
She stated Weier had several plans, including stabbing Payton in the park bathroom, and it was hard to keep track of all of them. She said that Weier tried to knock Payton out. After they went to the bathroom, they were by some trees at the dead end and then “stabby, stab, stab.”
Geyser said they told Payton they were going to go bird watching and they played hide and seek. Geyser counted first and Weier and Payton hid. Geyser found them both. They played a second game of hide and seek and then Weier did the jumping thing. Geyser had the knife most of the time and indicated when they left her mother’s house, she had the knife in the pocket. She stated she took the knife out of the bag and Payton got stabbed. At one point when asked who stabbed Payton, Gesyer stated, “both of us.”
Geyser said they told Payton “people that trust you are very gullible.” While playing hide and seek, Weier jumped Payton and stated, “kitty, now.”
Geyser said Weier calls Geyser kitty because Geyser has cats. Geyser stated, “then we stabbed her. I think it was Weier first. Weier sorted of put the knife in my hand and then I continued to stab her.” She said she wasn’t sure how many times she stabbed Payton and indicated she heard screaming.
They saw a police officer had come to the scene and were hiding in the woods. At one point, Geyser stated she was sorry. She said she put the knife back into her bag and wiped it off on her jacket and told the detective, “it was weird that I didn’t feel remorse.”
Asked why they did this, Geyser stated that Weier said they had to or he would kill our family. When asked who he was Geyser stated she did not know him. She stated the stabbing “seemed necessary.”
“I may as well just say it. Kill her,” Geyser said when asked what she was trying to do.
As for Slenderman, Geyser said she had never met him but he watches her and he can read your mind and can teleport. He has tendrolls on him and they are sharp. She sees him in her dreams when no one else does and you start to get Slender sickness because of Slender radiation.
He is not on the computer because he doesn’t like technology. When asked if she knew what she did was wrong she said “probably wrong.” She asked if it was illegal to stab someone in self defense. Sometimes, the detective stated. He asked Geyser if this is what happened and Geyser said no.
When arrested, police found a large kitchen knife in one of Geyser’s mother’s old purses sitting between the girls. Geyser said she put the knife back into after wiping it off on her jacket. Weier’s father William Weier did indicate he was missing a two and a half inch knife from his residence. The above details of the girls’ comments and the case narrative come from the State of Wisconsin criminal complaint’s accusations.