Ideas can traverse the world at speeds previously unimaginable. A rumor sprouting in one location can spread like wildfire online. While the sharing of knowledge, thoughts, and dreams can lift people up, the negative possibilities associated with them can't be ignored.
A lingering example of the dark potential of the consciousness shared through the internet was in a courtroom on July 17, 2025. Morgan Guyser, who had pleaded guilty to the attempted first-degree murder of a friend she stabbed 19 times, was granted approval for her conditional release in her fourth attempt at a bid for freedom from the mental health facility where she's serving her time.
What could possibly possess two twelve-year-old girls to try to stab and kill one of their classmates? According to the defendants, they did so out of fear that the mythical Slender Man would kill their families if they didn't. At the time of the attack in 2012, the viral "Creepypasta" creation set off a public reaction akin to the "reefer madness" of the 1930s and the "Satanic Panic" that coincided with the rise of popularity for Dungeons & Dragons in the 1980s.
The pending release of Guyser may bring a long and messy story to an end. Her partner in crime, Anissa Weier, was released from a mental health facility in 2021 after serving four years of a 25-year sentence for being a party to attempted second-degree homicide.
Quite the Initiation Rite
The Slender Man (also called Slenderman ) originated in a forum on a site called Something Awful during a 2009 Photoshop contest. Tasked with creating a paranormal image, Eric Knudsen came up with an extremely tall and thin humanoid in a black suit with a featureless white face. He added text excerpts that gave the impression that the Slender Man had been abducting children for decades.
Knudsen's creation went viral, becoming part of online horror fiction lore known as "Creepypasta." The legend grew as people expanded the mythology with stories, "sightings," and video series posted online. By 2012, an independent video game based on the Slender Man was released, and cosplayers were showing up to conventions dressed as the mythical monster.
Right around that time, Guyser and Weier were 12-year-old girls in Waukesha, Wisconsin. After reading online that they could become proxies of the Slender Man and carry out his orders, they believed they needed to murder someone to achieve these roles. The girls testified in court that they believed if they didn't do so, the Slender Man would kill their families.
On May 31, 2014, Guyser and Weier had a sleepover for Guyser's birthday with their classmate and friend Payton Leutner. Having plotted her murder, they talked her into taking a nighttime walk in the woods. There, with Weier egging her on, Guyser produced a knife and stabbed Leutner 19 times.
Leaving Leutner to die, Guyser and Weier walked to a local Walmart to clean up before setting off on a planned 300-mile hike to the woods they believed the Slender Man lived in. Leutner managed to crawl to a nearby road and was found by a passing cyclist. She survived after several extensive surgeries.
After being arrested, the girls were diagnosed with mental illnesses but ultimately tried separately as adults. Both accepted plea deals that sentenced them to confinement in a mental health facility instead of prison. Guyser received 40 years, while Weier was given a term of 25 years.
Excitable Boy, They All Said
Judge Michael Bohren, who had presided over the original proceedings in 2014 and all other court hearings since then, approved Guyser's fourth attempt at release in January 2025, shortly before his retirement from the bench. Guyser has been incarcerated at the Winnebago Mental Health Institute since her sentencing.
Her release was delayed multiple times due to problems with the state, one of which involved Guyser entering a group home less than eight miles from where Leutner currently lives. As part of her release conditions, Guyser will be under heavy restrictions, required to wear a GPS tracker, and under house arrest.
Related Resources
- What Are the Differences Between First-Degree and Second-Degree Murder? (FindLaw's Law and Daily Life)
- What Is the Insanity Defense? (FindLaw's Criminal Procedure)
- Sentencing Guidelines in Criminal Charges: Overview (FindLaw's Criminal Law)
