Slender Man girl, 15, admits attacking pal who was knifed 19 times on birthday sleepover ‘because fictional character told her to’
A TEENAGE girl admitted attacking her friend who was stabbed 19 times at a sleepover, claiming fictional character the Slender Man told her to.
Anissa Weier, 15, and Morgan Geyser from Waukesha, Milwaukee, were charged with first-degree intentional homocide in 2014 after Payton Leutner was attacked in a park.
Weier pleaded guilty to attempted second-degree homocide as a party to a crime, with use of a deadly weapon, and faces up to 10 years in prison.
When she was first arrested Weier claimed the pair were told to attack Leutner by the Slender Man, a fictional character created as an internet meme.
The pair are accused of stabbing Leutner in her chest, arms and abdomen, and leaving the schoolgirl "the width of a human hair" away from death, according to doctors.
Leutner managed to crawl out of the park and was found by a cyclist.
Weier and Geyser reportedly planned to meet the Slender Man in a forest hundreds of miles away after the attack.
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The teen, who was 12 years old when she was first charged, told Waukesha County Circuit Judge Michael Bohren: "I believed that if I didn’t go through with it, Slender Man would come and attack and kill myself, my friends and my family. Those I cared about the most."
If she is found not guilty, Weier could spend three years in a mental hospital.
Geyser pleaded not guilty by reason of mental illness and was transferred to a mental health facility in 2016.
Weier's trial is scheduled to begin on September 11 and is expected to last about two weeks, while Geyser will go to trial in October.
Slender Man is a fictional character created by Victor Surge – real name Eric Knudsen – as part of an online photo editing competition.
The character took on a life of its own online as the images went viral and web users began to add fictional background to the character.
The evolution of the creepy figure led to Weier and Geyser blaming him for Payton’s killing in what became known as the Slender Man stabbing case.
They told police at the time they wanted to prove their loyalty to him and become his followers.
The two girls believed he was real, they claimed, and said they stabbed their classmate to protect their families from harm.
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