What was Slender Man stabbing? Anissa Weier who was given 25 years in Wisconsin mental facility begs for release
WAUKESHA, WISCONSIN: Anissa Weier, one of the Waukesha girls convicted in the Slender Man stabbing, has now said that she has learned to forgive herself for her role in the crime and wants the chance to prove that she can be a "productive member of society."
In a letter filed with the court at a hearing on Wednesday, March 10, the 19-year-old asked Waukesha County Circuit Judge Michael Bohren that she be released early from the Winnebago Mental Health Institute in Oshkosh. She said, "I am not saying I am done with treatment. I am saying that I have exhausted all the resources available to me at the Winnebago Mental Health Institute. If I am to become a productive member of society, I need to be a part of society."
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Bohren sentenced her in December 2017 to 25 years in the mental health institution after a jury found her not criminally responsible for her role in the near-fatal stabbing of Payton Leutner, who was her sixth-grade classmate at the time. As per the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, a decision won't be made for at least another two months, after the state and defense have time to respond to reports filed by doctors who evaluated Weier in recent months. A conditional release hearing is scheduled for June 11.
If she is released, Weier would be assigned case managers through the state's Department of Health Services that would provide services to her until she is 37 -- the age she would have been if she served her time at the institution.
What was the Slender Man stabbing?
On May 31, 2014, in Waukesha, Wisconsin, two 12-year-old girls -- Weier and Morgan Geyser -- lured their friend Payton Leutner into the woods and stabbed her 19 times. They were trying to please Slender Man, a fictional character they believed was real.
According to a 2014 TechCrunch feature, the mythos of Slender Man was born on June 8, 2009, on the SomethingAwful forums under a thread titled “Create Paranormal Images.” He belonged to a man in Florida named Eric Knudsen. He was inspired by the works of HP Lovecraft, Stephen King, William S. Burroughs, and video games of the survival horror genre like ‘Silent Hill’ and ‘Resident Evil’.
The first image was of a tall, out-of-focus figure, next to a tree. As the Slender Man myth grew, he soon came to be defined as a supernatural creature appearing as a normal human being but almost 8 feet tall, known to stalk humans and cause many disappearances. He is described as a shadow creature that is missing a face. A part of the mythos also suggests that Slender Man does not directly kill his victims. Instead, he encourages others to in order to please him. Which is what Weier and Geyser did.
Despite her injuries, Leutner was able to crawl to a nearby road where a passing bicyclist stopped to help her. The bicyclist found her covered in blood, with injuries to her arms, legs, and torso. She recovered after six days in the hospital. A Waukesha County sheriff's deputy found Geyser and Weier hours later. A knife with a five-inch blade was in Weier's backpack.
While Weier was arrested, she did not do the actual stabbing. It was Geyser who reportedly stabbed the victim 19 times as Weier cheered her on. Geyser is currently serving a 40-year sentence for her role in the crime at a mental health facility.
Anissa Weier, one of two teens serving time in a mental health institution due to her involvement in the 2014 "Slender Man" stabbing case, appeared before Waukesha County Judge Michael Bohren today asking for release.
— Jake Ekdahl (@JakeaEkdahl) March 10, 2021
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Weier told police that Slender Man is the "leader" of Creepypasta, and one must kill to show dedication. Weier said that Geyser told her they should become "proxies" of Slender Man and kill their friend to prove themselves worthy of him. Doctors have testified that Weier was suffering from a shared delusional disorder that was magnified by her friendship with Geyser, who had the early stages of schizophrenia. They believed that Slender Man would harm them or their families if they didn't kill someone.
"I hate my actions on May 31, but through countless hours of therapy I no longer hate myself for them," Weier said. "I have forgiven myself for my participation in those events, and I ask that anyone affected forgive me as well. I have learned that forgiveness is a process of healing that helps release the pain of the past. I no longer want to be a source of pain in my community, and that is why I ask for forgiveness."