Wisconsin authorities are moving fast to undo the fragile freedom of Morgan Geyser—the woman who nearly killed a classmate at age 12 in the infamous Slender Man stabbing—after she sliced off her GPS bracelet, vanished from her group home, and turned up outside Chicago two states away.
Late Tuesday, the Department of Corrections asked a Waukesha County judge to revoke Geyser’s conditional release, the hard-won arrangement that allowed the 23-year-old to leave a state mental institution and relocate to supervised housing. By Wednesday, the judge had sealed the petition entirely, keeping the public in the dark while officials decide whether Geyser will be returned to the institution where she spent most of the last decade.
The escape was dramatic. Authorities say Geyser cut off her GPS tracker on Saturday night and fled the Madison-area group home with a 43-year-old companion. By Sunday night, police caught up with her near Chicago—170 miles away—ending the cross-state disappearance that triggered a massive search.
Geyser did not fight extradition during a brief court appearance in Chicago on Tuesday. Wisconsin officials now have 30 days to retrieve her.
Her attorney, Tony Cotton, has not commented on the state’s demand to revoke her release. If the court agrees, Geyser could be returned to the Winnebago Mental Health Institute, where she was committed after the 2014 stabbing that shocked the nation. She could also face fresh charges tied to the escape.
Her companion has been charged with trespassing and obstruction, but not with helping Geyser flee. The Associated Press is not naming the individual, who has denied involvement but admitted to daily contact with Geyser over the past month. In an interview with WKOW-TV, the companion insisted Geyser only ran because she feared the group home was going to prevent their visits.
“She ran because of me,” the companion said, adding that the pair took an overnight bus into Illinois.
Geyser’s past casts a long shadow over the present. In 2014, she and classmate Anissa Weier lured their friend Payton Leutner into the woods in Waukesha and stabbed her 19 times, hoping to appease the fictional horror figure Slender Man. Leutner barely survived. Both attackers were found not guilty by reason of mental disease and sent to state institutions—Geyser for up to 40 years, Weier for 25.
Geyser’s road to conditional release was fraught. State health officials tried to block her earlier this year, warning that she had shown troubling interests—including reading a murder-themed novel and allegedly corresponding with a man who collects murder memorabilia. Officials said she even sent him a sketch of a decapitated body and a postcard expressing romantic interest.
The judge ruled the concerns insufficient and approved her release in September.
