Wisconsin — Police have made public crime scene photos from the “Slender Man” stabbing case.
The images show the victim’s blood-drenched clothing and a kitchen knife used in the crime.
On May 31, 2014, in Waukesha, Wisconsin, 12-year-olds Anissa Weier and Morgan Geyser lured their friend Payton Leutner, 12, into the woods and stabbed her 19 times in an attempt to impress the fictional character Slender Man. Leutner crawled to a road where she was found; she recovered after six days in the hospital.
Weier and Geyser initially planned to attack Leutner on May 31, 2014, during a sleepover. They planned to tape the victim’s mouth shut, stab her in the neck, and flee. They did not carry out that attack; Geyser is believed to have wanted to give Leutner one more day to live. A second plan called for attacking Leutner in a bathroom at a local park.
The actual attack took place in a nearby forest during a game of hide-and-seek. Leutner was pinned down and stabbed 19 times in the arms, legs, and torso with a five-inch-long kitchen knife. Two wounds were to major arteries and one missed her heart by less than a millimeter and the other went through her diaphragm, cutting into her liver and stomach. Weier and Geyser then told Leutner they would get help for her, but instead simply left. Leutner dragged herself to a nearby road where she was found by a cyclist.
Weier and Geyser were apprehended near Interstate 94. The knife used in the stabbing was in a bag they carried. Weier and Geyser were described as feeling guilty for stabbing their friend, but felt that the attack was needed to appease Slender Man.
Weier and Geyser were found not guilty by reason of insanity and committed to long periods in mental health institutions.
Slender Man is a fictional entity created for a 2009 Photoshop contest on Something Awful, an online forum, the goal of which was to create paranormal images. The Slender Man mythos was later expanded by a number of other people who created fan fiction and additional artistic depictions of the entity.
Slender Man is depicted as a tall, faceless man in a black suit with tentacles growing out of his back. According to the Slender Man mythos, the entity can cause amnesia, bouts of coughing and paranoid behavior in individuals. He is often depicted hiding in forests or stalking children.
