‘Slender Man’ Attacker Found in Illinois After Cutting Off Electronic Monitor — What Happened and What Comes Next

Morgan Geyser, who was living under supervised release at a Madison, Wisconsin, group home for her role in the widely reported 2014 stabbing of classmate Payton Leutner, was located late Sunday in Posen, Illinois, about 150 miles from her placement after authorities say she removed her electronic monitoring bracelet.

Madison police say Geyser, 23, disappeared Saturday night after taking off the monitor. The next day, Posen police responded to a report of people loitering behind a truck-stop building and discovered a man and a woman sleeping on the sidewalk. Officers said Geyser initially gave a false name before acknowledging she did not want to identify herself because she had "done something really bad" and suggested officers could "just Google" her name.

How she was found and who accompanied her

Police identified the man found with Geyser as Chad Mecca. According to a police report, Mecca told investigators he and Geyser met through a church. He faces charges of criminal trespass and obstructing identification and was released on a citation with a court date scheduled for January. Geyser faces no new charges in Illinois; she was being held at Cook County jail pending extradition to Wisconsin, where authorities may pursue revocation of her conditional release.

The 2014 attack

Geyser was one of three 12-year-olds involved in a shocking 2014 attack in which classmate Payton Leutner was stabbed repeatedly and left for dead in woods near a park. Leutner survived after a passing bicyclist found her and called 911. Court records indicate she was stabbed near the heart and was described as "one millimeter away from certain death."

At 15, Geyser pleaded guilty to attempted first-degree murder and was committed to a mental health institution as part of a plea agreement. Her co-defendant, Anissa Weier, pleaded guilty to attempted second-degree homicide due to mental illness or defect and was committed for an extended period; she was later released under conditions including living with a parent and wearing a GPS monitor.

Release and supervision

Geyser spent nearly seven years at a state mental health facility before a judge ordered her conditional release earlier this year after state and county health officials approved a community supervision and housing plan. Prosecutors had sought to block the release, citing concerns about her reading habits and outside contacts, but the court approved supervised reintegration into the community.

Authorities say they are investigating how Geyser left the group home and whether anyone aided her. The Waukesha County district attorney has said the office will not act until a motion to revoke her conditional release is filed; Dane County officials are investigating an alleged violation for leaving her placement.

About Slender Man and the debate it sparked

The 2014 attack was linked to Slender Man, a crowdsourced internet character that originated in 2009 in a Photoshop contest on an online forum. Slender Man is commonly depicted as a tall, faceless figure in a dark suit, sometimes portrayed with tentacle-like appendages. Media and academic commentators classify the character as part of "creepypasta" — user-generated horror stories and images that spread across forums and social media.

Shira Chess, an associate professor of entertainment and media studies, has noted that Slender Man’s blank face and open-ended mythology made it easy for fans to reinterpret and expand the character. After the attack, Geyser and Weier told investigators they knew the character from online compilations of creepypasta. The incident intensified public discussion about youth exposure to violent online content, the boundary between fiction and reality, and how to supervise vulnerable teens in the digital age.

What comes next

Geyser will remain in Illinois custody while authorities process extradition to Wisconsin. Her next hearing was scheduled in Cook County to address temporary custody; Wisconsin officials may file to revoke her conditional release and pursue additional charges for leaving her placement. The case raises broader questions about mental health treatment, juvenile accountability, and the supervision of individuals returning to the community after institutional care.

Note: This account summarizes public statements from law enforcement, court records, and expert commentary on the Slender Man phenomenon. Identifying details and court outcomes are drawn from official records and statements released by authorities.