A Wisconsin woman accused of stabbing her classmate to please horror character Slender Man more than a decade ago asked a judge again Friday to release her from a psychiatric hospital.
Morgan Geyser, who is now 22 years old, filed a petition with Waukesha County Circuit Judge Michael Bohren seeking her release from the Winnebago Mental Health Institute. The petition marks the third time in the last two years she has asked Bohren to let her out of the facility.
She withdrew her first petition two months after filing it in 2022. Bohren denied her second request this past April, saying she remains a risk to the public.
Have you had any patients with a history of violence at this level?
I don’t work with patients, and my area of research doesn’t have much overlap with psychopathy or schizotypal behavior thankfully. My research subjects are screened to try and exclude people with those traits beforehand. I’ve known colleagues that have spent some time working for prison populations though, so if your question is whether I think this particular girl is beyond saving, not even close. Some of the stories my colleagues have told me about patients they had at prison, patients that scared them even when an armed guard was present, those patients don’t typically feel remorseful for what they’ve done or even acknowledge it was wrong. It seems like in this case, the girl got wrapped up in a fantasy that was encouraged when she was young by her friend, and nobody was there to intervene and push her back to reality. It’s just a sad tragedy. If anything, I’d be more worried about her succumbing to depression due to guilt.