WAUKESHA, Wis. — Pending modifications, a Waukesha County judge will approve the conditional release plan for “Slendarman” defendant Morgan Geyser.
Taking over the case from Judge Bohren, who recently retired, Judge K. Scott Wagner had concerns about the latest version of the conditional release plan.
Both the state and Geyer’s attorney Anthony Cotton agreed with an amendment to the plan received by the court on July 17 that would require court approval if Geyser needed to change either her residential placement in the future or for wearing a GPS monitoring device. The plan would also include medication monitoring while at the residential placement facility.
Pending finalization of the adjustments to the release plan, which a member of Wisconsin Community Services said could be completed by the end of the week, Judge Wagner would allow three days for any objections to the plan to be filed before ordering his final approval.
Geyer has been in custody at the Winnebago Mental Health Institute since 2017, after being found not guilty by reason of mental defect or disease for attempting to stab her classmate 12-year-old Payton Leutner to death to appease the fictional character “Slenderman” in 2014. Leutner survived the attack.
Her co-defendant Anissa Weier was released from Winnebago Mental Health to live with her father in 2021. Geyser has requested early release four times.
This is the third hearing on Geyer’s release plan since the latest petition was filed in October of 2024. Retired Judge Bohren granted the conditional release in January of 2025, but the Department of Health Services filed a motion to revoke release in February. That motion was denied the following month, with the proposed plan presented in April.
There were serious concerns with the initially proposed plan, primarily surrounding residential placement being within 8 miles of where the victim lives. This forced Wisconsin Community Services to request more time to craft an adjustment for the plan in May.
Once approved by the judge, Morgan Geyser, now 22, would be released to the residential placement facility on or around August 4, 2025.
