UPDATE at 3:30 p.m. on 11/24/2025: The Department of Health Services and the Wisconsin Department of Corrections provided the following statement to WTMJ:
People treated at Wisconsin Department of Health Services (DHS) facilities and community programs are patients and are therefore protected under patient privacy laws. As a mental health treatment provider for individuals at our facilities, we are bound by the same restrictions as a doctor or others who provide mental health care. Please see DHS 92.03(2) relating to the disclosure of patient status in response to inquiries: (a) No person may disclose information or acknowledge whether an individual has applied for, has received or is receiving treatment except with the informed consent of the individual, as authorized under s. 51.30 (4) (b), Stats., or as otherwise required by law and as governed by this subsection.
We cannot confirm nor deny whether an individual was treated in our facilities, programs, or where they may have been placed. We cannot offer any other information regarding their treatment or current status.
Additionally, when a patient treated at one of our facilities is released with specific conditions, DHS contracts with the Wisconsin Department of Corrections (DOC) to conduct supervision and monitoring activities on behalf of DHS. In such situations, because the DOC is an agent of DHS, DOC is similarly bound by many of the same patient privacy protections that DHS is as a medical provider. DOC can only provide background information on monitoring and supervision processes on behalf of DHS. They may not share information about any specific individual or patient. DOC and DHS can both share information already available through public court records.
Given these circumstances, beyond the information we are sharing below, neither DHS nor DOC will be able to comment further.
In Wisconsin, individuals who are found not guilty due to mental disease or defect are committed to the custody of DHS. Additionally, under state law, those individuals have the right to petition the court for release every six months.
Based on publicly available court records and documents, Geyser was previously granted conditional release. Publicly available court records show DHS sought revocation of conditional release before she was placed in the community. However, the revocation documents filed by DHS were sealed by the court. DHS is also limited in discussing the case by the privacy laws noted above. Accordingly, DHS is not able to share further details about the decision to seek revocation. A judge ultimately denied DHS’s request for revocation.
Individuals who are part of the conditional release program remain in DHS custody. DHS contracts with the Wisconsin DOC to have trained probation and parole agents supervise clients in the community on behalf of DHS.
In cases where GPS monitoring is ordered for patients on conditional release from a DHS facility, the GPS device is monitored through DOC’s electronic monitoring center. This is how individuals under DOC supervision are monitored, as well.
Importantly, not all alerts the department receives from devices are the result of tampering or because an individual has absconded. A device may also alert, for example, if the device has any technological issue. When the monitoring center receives an alert that a device is not functioning correctly or may have been tampered with, the monitoring center makes efforts to try to resolve the alert and attempts to contact the client. As part of its standard process when a device alerts, DOC immediately begins to attempt to reengage the GPS monitoring device. If the device cannot be brought back online, continues to malfunction and the client cannot be reached, the monitoring center takes steps to locate the individual. This includes making contact with the facility where the person lives, the individual’s agent, issuing an apprehension request (also known as a warrant) and contacting law enforcement.
If attempts to contact a client and restore the device to working order are unsuccessful, the DOC then works to ascertain the location of the individual being monitored. In situations in which an individual resides at a residential facility with others, the DOC works to contact the residential facility where the client was placed to determine whether an individual is on the premises.
When an individual is under DOC supervision at a residential facility, the department works to contact individuals who manage and supervise the facility. In many instances, the individual who manages and supervises the facility are not the same person, and the former may not always be the individual who resides on site to supervise the facility. Following these efforts, if an individual cannot be located on the premises at which they are supposed to be located or it is determined a GPS monitor has been tampered with, DOC issues an apprehension request.
DOC can confirm that, at approximately 12 a.m. on November 23, 2025, DOC’s monitoring center issued an apprehension request, also known as a warrant, for a client.
An apprehension request or warrant is an official notification to local and state law enforcement agencies that an individual cannot be located, has absconded, and must be apprehended. Once a warrant is issued, local and state law enforcement agencies and agents are on notice to apprehend the individual upon any engagement or interaction with law enforcement. A warrant issued by DOC is only valid within the state of Wisconsin.
Additionally, in situations in which the DOC has information regarding the individual’s potential current location, the DOC may also provide any information it currently has about an individual who is actively sought under a warrant as a courtesy to local law enforcement in order to help apprehend the individual as soon as possible.
We can also share that the DOC and the DHS both actively worked to support local law enforcement efforts to apprehend the individual who was the subject of the above warrant.
Additionally, in situations in which there is a belief an individual may have or could attempt to evade DOC’s warrant and law enforcement by crossing state lines, DOC may work with law enforcement to expand its warrant beyond the state of Wisconsin to seek a nationwide extraditable warrant. Typically, this process happens in the ensuing days.
We can confirm that, as it relates to the client for whom a warrant was issued at approximately midnight on November 23, 2025, DOC worked urgently to seek a nationwide extraditable warrant as soon as possible, in partnership with Waukesha County law enforcement.
In the event an individual is located across state lines and is apprehended, the individual will then need to be extradited to return to Wisconsin or must waive extradition in order to be relocated to the state. If an individual declines to waive extradition, the extradition process may take several months.
UPDATE at 2:45 p.m. on 11/24/2025: Waukesha County District Attorney Lesli Boese and Assistant District Attorney Abbey Nikolie detailed what will happen next for Morgan Geyser once she is extradited back to Wisconsin.
Boese first clarified that Geyser is under the care of the Department of Health Services (DHS), and not under the jurisdiction of Waukesha County. This changed over once the conditional release plan was signed on September 14, and Geyser was moved into a group home in Dane County as part of this plan.
However, since Waukesha was the county where the original charges for this case were filed, Geyser will likely return to custody in Waukesha County once court officials in Cook County, Illinois, agree on her extradition.
Once back in Wisconsin, it will then be up to DHS to determine whether Geyser’s conditional release plan remains in place. If they decide to file a petition to revoke the conditional release, DA Boese said that her office would support that revocation. “We support that [Geyser] should be in custody. Not only should she have been in custody from 2014 forward, but also for her not to be released from conditional release.”
It will also be the determination of the Dane County district attorney as to whether charges would be filed, since it is a felony to tamper with a GPS tracking device in Wisconsin. Police confirmed that Geyser had removed her tracking device, but it is unclear what damage occured, if any, to the device.
DA Boese also confirmed that it was a representative from the Waukesha County Victim Witness Program that communicated first and directly with the Leutner family when they learned that Geyser had escaped from her placement. It was then 12-year-old Payton Leutner who was stabbed and left for dead by Geyser and Anissa Weier in 2014. “We wanted to make sure that they were safe, and that they had a plan in place… [We’ve] been in contact with the family pretty consistently since then, offering services,” said Boese.
UPDATE at 12:45 p.m. on 11/24/2025: Police in Posen, Illinois, detail what happened when they discovered and arrested Slender Man attacker Morgan Geyser.
Officers responded to the Thornton’s Truck Stop on Western Avenue after receiving reports of a man and woman loitering behind the building. They found both people sleeping on the sidewalk when they arrived, with multiple bags of clothing surrounding them.
Posen Police Chief William Alexander said they had arrived by bus from Wisconsin, since they had bus tickets, but it was unclear what their final destination would be.
Geyser initially refused to provide her real name, giving a fake one instead. After being pressed, “she finally stated that she didn’t want to tell officers who she was because she had ‘done something really bad,’ and suggested that officers could ‘just Google’ her name.” Officers were able to confirm her identity as Morgan Geyser, and took her into custody.
Chief Alexander confirmed that Geyser has not yet been charged with anything, but was arrested for a warrant issued by Waukesha County at the request of the Department of Health Services. He said that by not charging her, it will help expedite her return to Wisconsin. Geyser was transferred to the Cook County jail, and has an extradition hearing set for Tuesday.
A 42-year-old man was also arrested with Geyser without incident. He’s was arrested for criminal trespassing and obstructing identification, and has been released.
Chief Alexander said he is not aware of the relationship between Geyser and the man. “Friends is what she told us initially. I don’t know that there’s any more to that relationship than friends.”
UPDATE at 6:05 a.m. on 11/24/2025: ASSOCIATED PRESS — A Wisconsin woman who admitted to nearly stabbing a classmate to death at age 12 to please the online horror character Slender Man has been found in Illinois after she cut off an electronic monitoring device and left a group home, authorities said.
Madison police issued an alert Sunday for Morgan Geyser, now 23, saying she was last seen around 8 p.m. Saturday with an adult acquaintance.
The department issued an update late Sunday that Geyser was taken into custody in Illinois.
She was found at a truck stop in Posen, Illinois, the Posen Police Department confirmed early Monday. Posen is about 25 miles (40 kilometers) south of Chicago. The community is about 170 miles (274 kilometers) south of Madison.
Geyser was found with a 42-year-old man who was charged with criminal trespassing and obstructing identification, Posen police confirmed. He has since been released from custody.
Geyser was placed in a group home this year after being granted conditional release from the Winnebago Mental Health Institute. She was sent to the psychiatric institute in 2018 after pleading guilty to attempted first-degree intentional homicide in a deal with prosecutors to avoid prison. The stabbing happened in 2014.
Geyser’s attorney, Tony Cotton, said Sunday that he did not know what happened with his client and urged Geyser to turn herself in.
The Madison Police Department said Sunday that it was not made aware that Geyser was missing until nearly 12 hours after she left the group home. The state Department of Corrections received an alert Saturday night that Geyser’s ankle monitor had malfunctioned. The department contacted the group home where she lived about two hours later and was told she was not there and had removed the bracelet, Madison police said.
The Department of Corrections issued an apprehension request just after midnight. The Madison Police Department said it did not learn Geyser was missing until someone from the group home called the next morning. The corrections department did not immediately respond to an email seeking comment.
Authorities say Geyser and her friend, Anissa Weier, also 12, lured their classmate, Payton Leutner, to a suburban Milwaukee park after a sleepover. Geyser stabbed Leutner more than a dozen times while Weier egged her on. Leutner barely survived.
The girls later told investigators that they attacked Leutner to earn the right to be Slender Man’s servants and they feared he’d harm their families if they didn’t follow through.
Slender Man was created online by Eric Knudson in 2009 as a mysterious figure photo-edited into everyday images of children at play. He grew into a popular boogeyman, appearing in video games, online stories and a 2018 movie.
Weier pleaded guilty to attempted second-degree intentional homicide. She was also sent to the psychiatric center and granted release in 2021.
UPDATE at 12:00 a.m. on 11/24/2025: MADISON, Wis. — Geyser was found in Illinois and taken into custody just before 10:35 p.m. Sunday.
An update from Madison Police said there is no longer a need to search for Morgan Geyser.
UPDATE at 10:00 p.m. on 11/23/25: MADISON, Wis. — An updated timeline says Madison Police were not made aware of Geyser’s dissapearance until Sunday morning.
The Department of Corrections received an alert that Geyser’s GPS monitoring bracelet was malfunctioning on Saturday around 9:30 p.m.
DOC made contact with the adult group home where Geyser was living at 11:30 p.m. Five minutes later, the group home informed DOC that Geyser was not there and that she had removed her GPS bracelet.
DOC then issued an apprehension request around midnight, which Madison Police said was not relayed to them.
Someone from the group home called 911 to report Geyser as a missing person on Sunday at 7:46 a.m., which police said was the first time they were made aware of her dissapearance.
Madison Police said the timeline is approximate and that information is subject to change as the investigation continues. Geyser has not been located as of 7:25 p.m. on Sunday.
UPDATE at 6:15p.m. on 11/23/25: MADISON, Wis. — Morgan Geyser’s attorney Anthony Cotton addressed her dissapearance in a video statement on social media:
MADISON, Wis. — Madison Police are searching for Morgan Geyser, who investigators say cut off her Wisconsin DOC monitoring bracelet and left a group home Saturday night.
Geyser was last seen around 8 p.m. near Kroncke Drive with an adult acquaintance. Police were notified of her disappearance Sunday morning, and her current whereabouts are unknown.
Authorities released a recent security image and are urging the public to call 911 immediately if she is spotted.
Geyser is one of the two girls convicted in the 2014 Slender Man stabbing and has been under state supervision since she was granted conditional release in September.
