USA TODAY National
A Wisconsin woman who brutally stabbed her sixth-grade classmate in 2014 to please the fictional horror character "Slender Man" is expected to be extradited after she was arrested in Illinois for fleeing her group home, authorities said Nov. 24.
Morgan Geyser, now 23, is expected to appear for an extradition hearing in Cook County, Illinois, on Nov. 25 after her arrest in Posen, a suburb of Chicago, television stations TMJ4 News and WFLD reported. Earlier on Nov. 24, Waukesha County District Attorney Lesli Boese confirmed that a warrant had been issued for Geyser's extradition to Wisconsin.
Boese said the Wisconsin Department of Health Services may choose to file a motion to revoke her conditional release. Geyser had been out of a state mental health institute since mid-September under an order by a Waukesha County judge allowing her to live in a group home in Madison, Wisconsin, with electronic monitoring.
"We are certainly hopeful that they do proceed with that," Boese said at a news conference. "We fully support it. We support that she should be in custody."
Geyser was found on the night of Nov. 23 in Posen after the Madison Police Department had alerted the public of her disappearance earlier that day. Madison police said Geyser had cut off her GPS monitoring bracelet and escaped on Nov. 22.
Geyser's expected return to Wisconsin comes as questions swirl over her escape and when police and the public were notified. Madison Police Chief John Patterson said the delay in notification was "not ideal" and police will review the process with the Wisconsin Department of Corrections to improve it the next time.
Questions around the notification timeline
Geyser was last seen in the area of Kroncke Drive at around 8:15 p.m. local time on Nov. 22 with "an adult acquaintance," according to the Madison Police Department. The Wisconsin Department of Corrections received an alert that Geyser’s GPS monitoring bracelet was malfunctioning at about 9:30 p.m.
The department "made contact with the adult group home" at around 11:30 p.m., police said. About five minutes later, the group home staff informed the department that Geyser was not at the home and that she had removed her monitoring bracelet.
The department then issued an apprehension request for Geyser at around midnight, but police said the request was "never relayed" to them. At 7:46 a.m., someone from the group home called 911 and reported Geyser as a missing person, according to police. Officers responded to the call and went to Kroncke Drive shortly before 8 a.m.
"This was the first time the Madison Police Department was made aware that Geyser was missing," police said in a statement.
Police previously told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, part of the USA TODAY Network, that they were alerted just before 8 a.m. on Nov. 23. The department then posted on their website about 45 minutes later, and on Facebook at around 10 a.m. It remains unclear why 12 hours passed between when she was last seen and when police and the public were notified.
During the Nov. 24 news conference, Boese said the Leutner family was unaware of Geyser's escape until someone from the district attorney's office contacted them. Boese noted that she has already reached out to state legislators to try to improve that notification process.
Morgan Geyser was found at a truck stop with a man
Geyser was taken into custody in Illinois at around 10:30 p.m. local time on Nov. 23, along with a man, according to authorities. The Posen Police Department, located south of downtown Chicago near the Indiana border, said in a statement that officers were called to Thornton’s Truck Stop for a report of a man and woman loitering behind the building.
Officers found both Geyser and the man she was with sleeping on the sidewalk. Geyser repeatedly refused to provide her real name and initially gave a false one, police said.
After officers tried to identify her, Geyser told officers she didn't want to say who she was because she had "done something really bad," according to police. Geyser also suggested officers could "just Google" her name.
Police said officers confirmed the woman was Geyser and took her into custody. The man she was with, whose name has not been released, was also taken into custody. Neither resisted arrest, police said.
During a separate news conference on Nov. 24, Posen Police Chief William Alexander said Geyser was taken to the Cook County Courthouse in Markham, Illinois, and will be transported to the Cook County Jail while awaiting her extradition hearing.
Anthony Cotton, Geyser's attorney, said Geyser had been in contact with a man on several occasions before her escape. He said he did not know if the man was the same one who was arrested in Illinois with Geyser.
Waukesha County prosecutors provided little information about the man arrested with Geyser, except that he likely did not live in the group home. Boese referred to him as "a person that was outside the placement location."
"There's a certain notoriety here that is of concern, that there are people that sought her out," Waukesha County Assistant District Attorney Abbey Nickolie said.
'Slender Man' case dates to 2014
Geyser, along with co-defendant Anissa Weier, was charged with attempted homicide of their friend, Payton Leutner, who was stabbed 19 times in Waukesha in May 2014. All three girls were 12 years old at the time.
Geyser and Weier said they believed they were doing the bidding of the fictional online character "Slender Man." They were found not guilty by reason of mental defect or disease in 2017 and sentenced to mental confinement: Weier for 25 years, and Geyser for 40 years.
Under her sentence, Geyser has been in the custody of the Wisconsin Department of Health Services. The agency told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel on Nov. 24 that it could not share more details on the case, and officials with Gov. Tony Evers' office did not respond to questions.
Waukesha County Circuit Judge Michael Bohren ruled in January that he saw no risk to the public or to her and ordered a plan to be made for her conditional release from Winnebago Mental Health Institute. In March, in response to an 11th-hour challenge by state health officials, Bohren reaffirmed her release to a group home with electronic monitoring.
State officials were concerned about violent material in a book Geyser was reading and artwork with dark themes she apparently sent to an older man who had visited her at the Winnebago facility. Waukesha County Circuit Judge Scott Wagner approved the plan of her release, and she was released to the group home after a final plan was signed on Sept. 17.
Separately, Dane County prosecutors now will decide whether to charge Geyser with escaping and disconnecting her monitor, since those alleged crimes took place in Madison. The Dane County District Attorney's office said charges had not yet been referred to its office from Madison police. Escaping custody is a felony in Wisconsin.
Contributing: Molly Beck, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: 'Slender Man' attacker faces extradition after escaping group home
Reporting by Hope Karnopp, Anna Kleiber, Sophie Carson, Chris Ramirez, Laura Schulte and Thao Nguyen, USA TODAY NETWORK / Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
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