Wisconsin Girl Reaches Plea Deal in 'Slender Man' Stabbing Case

Morgan Geyser, 15, will remain in a state mental hospital

under agreement announced in court

The Associated Press 

On May 31, 2014, rescue workers take a stabbing victim to the ambulance in Waukesha, Wis.

Prosecutors say two 12-year-old Wisconsin girls stabbed their friend nearly to death in the woods

to please the online mythological creature 'Slender Man.' (Abe Van Dyke/Associated Press)

One of two Wisconsin girls charged with stabbing a classmate to impress the fictitious horror character "Slender Man" will plead guilty in a deal that calls for her to avoid prison time, attorneys announced Friday.

Morgan Geyser, 15, will remain in a state mental hospital under an agreement announced in a court hearing two weeks before her trial was set to start. The deal calls for Geyser to be evaluated by doctors who will report to a judge for a determination of how long she should remain in treatment.

Geyser and Anissa Weier were charged with attempted first-degree intentional homicide in the 2014 attack on classmate Payton Leutner. Weier pleaded guilty to a reduced charge last month, and a jury later concluded she was mentally ill at the time of the crime. She faces at least three years in a mental hospital.

All three girls were 12 at the time.

Anissa Weier sits in a Wisconsin courtroom on Sept. 14 in Waukesha County Court. In August, she pleaded guilty to a reduced charge, and a jury later concluded she was mentally ill at the time of the offence. (Michael Sears//Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel/Associated Press)

"It's been a tragic experience for everyone" Geyser's attorney, Donna Kuchler, said after the brief court hearing. "Our hearts go out to the victim and her family. And we're very grateful that the district attorney's office gave this case the considering it deserves," she said.

A plea hearing to make the deal official is scheduled for Thursday.

Prosecutors alleged the teenage girls stabbed Leutner 19 times in a wooded area following a sleepover, then left her. The girls planned to walk hundreds of miles north to meet Slender Man in a forest.

Leutner was able to crawl out of the woods in the park to a path where she was found by a bicyclist.

Both girls are now presumed mentally ill at the time of the stabbing. Were they mentally ill before and after the stabbing? Were they so influenced by Slenderman that they became mentally ill? At 12 years old we should have some grasp of reality. Were they pot smokers? Is there an investigation into Slenderman? Did someone controlling Slenderman encourage the girls to do this evil? There are many unanswered questions to this story.