Body camera footage has revealed the arrest of Morgan Geyser, the woman who was once convicted for attempting to kill her sixth-grade classmate to appease the horror character Slender Man. After escaping her group home in Wisconsin, Geyser was found at a truck stop in Posen, Illinois, where she was eventually caught by police. The incident triggered a nationwide manhunt, drawing significant media attention and raising questions about the management of mental health cases within the justice system.
Geyser had cut off her electronic ankle monitor and walked out of her group home in nearby Madison, according to the Madison Police Department. She was last seen with an adult acquaintance at around 2 p.m. on Saturday. Officers responding to a call regarding a male and female loitering behind a truck stop encountered Geyser and a man sleeping on a sidewalk. Despite several attempts to identify her, Geyser initially denied her identity and asked the officers to Google her. She eventually submitted her name on a piece of paper, leading to her arrest.
The male subject found with Geyser, identified as 43-year-old Chad Mecca, was also taken into custody. Mecca was charged with criminal trespassing and providing false information to police but was later released. According to Posen police, the pair had taken a Greyhound bus from Wisconsin to Chicago before walking to Posen. Mecca reportedly told WKOW that his connection to Geyser led her to flee.
Geyser and Anissa Weier were 12 when they lured fellow sixth-grader Payton Leutner into a Waukesha, Wisconsin, park and stabbed her 19 times to please the horror character Slender Man in 2014. Geyser pleaded guilty in 2017 to being a party to attempted first-degree intentional homicide but claimed she was not responsible for the attack due to mental illness. She was initially committed to a psychiatric hospital for 40 years, but a Wisconsin judge permitted her to be released into a group home earlier this year despite prosecutors’ objections.
Geyser is expected to appear in court on Tuesday for a hearing on extradition to Wisconsin. Her attorney did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment. The case highlights ongoing debates about the balance between mental health care and public safety, and the effectiveness of alternative treatment methods in preventing such crimes.