Thumbnail and photo credit: Michael Sears for Milwaukee Journal Sentiel.
The second Slenderman perpetrator, in the 2014 Slenderman Stabbing, received a 40-year-sentence to a mental hospital today. Morgan Geyser and her friend, Anissa Weier, stabbed a third friend, in Wisconsin, in 2014, when they were both 12. The two claimed that they had to stab their friend to appease the fictional character Slenderman. Geyser, now 15, spoke briefly before her sentence and broke down in tears while apologizing to the victim and her family.
“I just want to let Bella and her family know I’m sorry,” she said. “And I hope she’s doing well.”
Geyser and Weier both admitted to stabbing their friend 19 times before leaving her to die. While the defense team tried to reduce Geyser’s sentence, Judge Michael Bohren granted the maximum penalty of 40 years.
“What we can’t forget is this was an attempted murder,” Bohren remarked. Geyser’s defense attorneys brought in doctors that treated Geyser in order to try and reduce Geyser’s sentence, as well as using the court and medical documents stating that Geyser has schizophrenia. One doctor, Dr. Brooke Lundbohm, noted that Geyser made significant progress and improvements in her condition, but also noted that Geyser had continued to hear voices since September.
Dr. Berney says Morgan Geyser has experienced a sense of loss after no longer hearing voices due to Schizophrenia. He says it is not uncommon after patients take anti-psychotics. #slenderman
— Lindsey Branwall (@lindseybranwall) February 1, 2018
“This was not a close call,” Lundbohm stated. However, three doctors mentioned that in Geyser’s current facility, she is a child amongst adults, and believe that she would benefit by being in a facility with other teenagers.
“I believe at the present time she is no more dangerous than any adolescent her age,” said Dr. Kenneth Robbins.
Geyser pled guilty to first-degree intentional homicide, in October, in order to avoid going to prison. Weier pled guilty to second-degree intentional homicide and received a 25-year sentence in a mental hospital. Both girls could seek conditional releases before their sentences are finished.