Woman in Slender Man stabbing arrested in Chicago suburb after fleeing group home

POSEN, Ill. - A Wisconsin woman who admitted to stabbing a classmate in a near-fatal attack to please the fictional, online horror character 'Slender Man' in 2014 has been found in Illinois after she cut off an electronic monitoring device and left a group home, authorities said. 

What we know:

The Madison Police Department issued an alert Sunday for Morgan Geyser, now 23, reporting that she was last seen around 8 p.m. Saturday with an adult acquaintance. 

Police issued an update late Sunday evening confirming that Geyser was taken into custody in Illinois.

Geyser was found at a truck stop in Posen, according to officials there who confirmed her arrest early Monday. Posen is about 25 miles south of Chicago. The community is about 170 miles south of Madison.

Geyser was found with Chad Mecca, a 43-year-old who was charged with criminal trespassing and obstructing identification, Posen police confirmed. Mecca has since been released from custody under the SAFE-T Act but still faces those charges.

Geyser and Mecca took a Greyhound bus from Wisconsin to Chicago before walking the rest of the way to Posen, according to officials with the Posen Police Department. 

There, an employee at Thorntons travel center on Western Avenue noticed two people sleeping on the property and called 911 around 9:30 p.m. Sunday. Police say there were various bags and other belongings next to them. 

At first, Posen Police Chief William Alexander said Geyser and Mecca refused to provide officers with their real names. 

"Initially, they were reluctant to give any type of identification. Eventually, they gave a fake name — both of them gave a fake name to the officer. When nothing came back with those names, the officer pressed a little further," Alexander said. "'You could tell us, what did you do bad?' Because she said, 'I did something really bad and I'm afraid to tell you my correct name.' And he says, 'what did you do bad? It can't be that bad.' Little did we know."

Posen and Mecca were arrested. Posen police confirmed Geyser's identity through fingerprints.

Prosecutors said Geyser will not be charged in Cook County in an effort to streamline her extradition process. She was transferred to a Cook County facility in Markham on Monday. Soon, she will be moved to 26th and California, where an extradition hearing will be held Tuesday at 11 a.m. 

Geyser was placed in a group home this year after being granted conditional release from the Winnebago Mental Health Institute. She was sent to the psychiatric institute in 2018 after pleading guilty to attempted first-degree intentional homicide in a deal with prosecutors to avoid prison. 

The stabbing happened in 2014 — when Geyser was only 12 years old. 

Geyser's attorney, Tony Cotton, said Sunday that he did not know what happened with his client and urged Geyser to turn herself in.

On Tuesday, prosecutors with the Waukesha County District Attorney's Office weighed in.

"It's extremely concerning that you would so blatantly violate a very, very simple condition to stay in a placement and keep your bracelet on, and that we have no idea what was going on is extremely concerning to the state, because immediately my thoughts went to the victim," said Assistant District Attorney Abbey Nickolie.

The Madison Police Department said Sunday that it was not made aware that Geyser was missing until nearly 12 hours after she left the group home. The state Department of Corrections received an alert Saturday night that Geyser's ankle monitor had malfunctioned. The department contacted the group home where she lived about two hours later and was told she was not there and had removed the bracelet, Madison police said.

The Department of Corrections issued an apprehension request just after midnight. The Madison Police Department said it did not learn Geyser was missing until someone from the group home called the next morning. 

The corrections department did not immediately respond to an email seeking comment.

The backstory:

Authorities say Geyser and her friend, Anissa Weier, also 12 at the time, lured their classmate, Payton Leutner, to a suburban Milwaukee park after a sleepover. Geyser stabbed Leutner 19 times while Weier egged her on. Leutner survived the attack with serious injuries. 

The girls later told investigators that they attacked Leutner to earn the right to be Slender Man's servants and they feared he'd harm their families if they didn't follow through.

Slender Man was created online by Eric Knudson in 2009 as a mysterious, faceless figure photo-edited into everyday images of children at play. He grew into a popular boogeyman, appearing in video games, online stories and a 2018 movie.

Weier pleaded guilty to attempted second-degree intentional homicide. Both girls were later found not guilty by reason of mental disease or defect. Like Geyser, Weier was also sent to a psychiatric center. Weier was granted supervised release in 2021.