A Teen Charged in the Slender Man Stabbing is Free

Anissa Weier, who was sentenced to 25 years in a mental health facility after her role in the 2014 “Slender Man” stabbings, has been released from the facility.

Weier, who is now 19 years old, was released from the Winnebago Mental Health Institute after serving three years there, the New York Times reports. A Wisconsin judge ruled that Weier no longer poses a threat to others, confirmed by three of her doctors. The judge ordered Weier back to the facility temporarily while state officials outline her release plan.

Weier was just 12 years old when she and friend Morgan Geyser lured sixth-grade classmate Payton Leutner into a park in Waukesha, Wisconsin, where Geyser stabbed her 19 times as Weier watched on and encouraged her. Leutner survived her wounds and Weier and Geyser later told police they planned the classmate’s murder to appease a fictional character known as “Slender Man,” who first appeared online as a creepypasta meme.

In 2017 Weier plead guilty to being a party to attempted second-degree intentional homicide and was sentenced to 25 years in the mental health facility. Meanwhile, Geyser is still serving her 40-year sentence in a mental health facility, and unsuccessfully appealed to have her sentence changed in 2019.