“Slender ManStabbing Case” Resurfacing As The Accused Takes A Plea

A few years ago, an incident so horrific occurred that the media covered the case incessantly. We watched in horror as an unthinkable violence was committed. The victim was an innocent twelve-year-old girl.

The case that adopted the colloquial name “The Slender Man Stabbing” occurred on May 31, 2014. This was no everyday attempted murder, the perpetrators were twelve-year-oldgirls, and the “Slender Man” was not the guilty one as the case title would assume.

On May 30, 2014, Payton Leutner went to a birthday sleepover at the Wisconsinhome of Morgan Geyser in Waukesha County.

Accompanying Payton and Morgan, was Anissa Weier, a mutual friend, and confidante. The morning after the sleepover the girls went to play hide and seek in the woods, but unbeknownst to Payton, the other two girls had a plan.

After a brutal and relentless attack, Payton was stabbed 19 times with a kitchen knife and left for dead in the woods; but it was not Payton’s day to die.

Payton crawled, wounded, to a bicycle path where she was found and taken to the hospital. She was successfully treated for her wounds and was released from the hospital after only six days.

This young, heroic girl had such a strong will to live that she pulled herself to safety. The doctors say one of the stab wounds missed an artery by a hair. Payton’s strength is nothing short of admirable.

The reason for the attack was claimed, by the accused, to be an act of protection for their own families from “Slender Man”. This is a fictional character that was sensationalized by the internet during the time of the stabbing.

Geyser and Weier believed that if they didn’t kill Payton, they themselves or their families would be harmed by “Slender Man.

The accused did not go to a parent or teacher with their concerns about “Slender Man.” Instead, they premeditated a malicious act towards a trusted friend.

Geyser had a supplies checklist of materials needed to commit murder, along with disturbing drawings of a girl over a dead body saying “I love Killing”, reported Daily Mail.

These thought out plans were not child’s play and bear witness to the cognizance of their actions, thus their accountability. “Slender man”was merely a scapegoat to evil, selfish desires.

Washington Post reported:

Slender Man started with an online post in 2009, as a mysterious specter photo-shopped into everyday images of children at play. He is typically depicted as a spidery figure in a black suit with a featureless white face. He was regarded by his devotees as alternately a sinister force and an avenging angel.”

How could someone believe a made-up character was so real that they’re willing to kill for them? Mental illness is a discussion point concerning this issue.

ABC News reported Geyser’s mom:

“told the newspaper her daughter was diagnosed with early onset schizophrenia while in custody. Geyser said Morgan’s father also suffers from schizophrenia but admitted she did not know to look for the symptoms in her daughter.”

Geyser was moved to a mental health facility after thearrest and has been treated to this day for schizophrenia. Anissa Weier is another story.

Why is this case getting media coverage all over again? One of the accused, Anissa Weier, took a plea deal.

ABC News reported on Anissa Weier’s plea:

The family of Payton Leutner, a Wisconsin teenage girl who survived a stabbing — allegedly at the hands of two other teenage girls who prosecutors say were trying to impress the fictional character Slender Man — said a plea agreement for one of the accused teens “is what is best.””

Having a child who has to relive a tragic moment in court for weeks, to months, is not something any parent wants. ABC News expounds on the defendants agreement to take the plea reporting:

It has been more than three years since our daughter was brutally attacked by two classmates who premeditatedly and meticulously planned their assault in an attempt to kill our daughter. These three years have been very difficult both physically and emotionally for Payton and our family. Paramount in our decision to accept today’s plea agreement is that it provides closure without having to have Payton testify and be forced to relive this horrific incident.”

Although Weier took a plea, she is not getting off easy. ABC News reported:

Anissa Weier, 15, one of two teens accused of stabbing Leutner 19 times, pleaded guilty Monday to attempted second-degree intentional homicide, party to a crime, with the use of a dangerous weapon as part of a plea deal.”

The recommended time in prison is ten years, with ten years monitoring. The judge, however, has the ability to throw out the recommendation, and extend the prison and monitoring time by years.

In court for the plea trial, Weier seemed to indicate she does not suffer from a mental illness.

Journal Sentinel reported:

“Weier, now a much more mature looking and sounding teenager, spoke at some length in court. She had to explain to Waukesha County Circuit Judge Michael Bohren that she understood what she had done and the consequences of pleading guilty to the new charge.”

Even after the crime happened the parents of Weier stated their daughter has “since expressed regret over the violent attack”, according to the Daily Mail.

Going back even furtherto before the trial began, the two girls were put in front of a judge to see if they were competent enough to stand trial, and the judge ruled they were.

The attorneys at that point tried to get the girls tried as juveniles, but in the state of Wisconsin, anyone over ten is tried for these types of heinous acts as adults.

When being tried as juveniles failed, attorneys then filed that their clients were mentally unfit.

Despite all this, Weier will go to trial next month to look at whether she is legally responsible because of her mental illness.

It will be a gross negligence of the judiciary process if Weier were released from her responsibilities of trying to take Payton Leutner’s life.

What message does the media send other troubled youth when such horrendous actions can be taken with no consequences to bear?

If she were to be found mentally ill, and not responsible for her crime of joining a friend to stab a twelve-year-old girl 19 times, she will only get three years in a mental hospital.

There is an underlying warning to this report, and that is the dangers of internet suggestion to a young, developing mind.

Shortly after the “Slender Man Stabbing” story took off Irene Taylor Brodsky directed a film called, “Beware The Slenderman.” This truecrime film exposed the dangers of unmonitored internet use.

The Atlantic reported:

if there’s a main thread to Beware the Slenderman, it’s how blurry the line between reality and fantasy can be for children, and how that line is especially exacerbated by constant internet use and other neurological and social factors.”

Children need direction in processing new material at a young age. They need to be told the boogeyman is not real, and that tigers are not friendly in real life.

They,also, need to be protected from information that is beyond their developmental comprehension. That is our job as parents.

As Brodsky pointed out, mental illness exacerbates these already touchy issues. A child that suffers from mental illness should be monitored more closely, and verbally processed through emotionally charged scenarios.

Weier may or may not be mentally ill, but she seems to recognize the extent of her actions. I can not imagine how her parents feel, and I would not wish that on anyone. We must be vigilant in our attention into our children’s lives.

It is more important to be called nosey, or have your child reluctantly allow you to sit with them as they explore the iPad on the couch than to have your child involved in actions they have no idea the consequences of.

Let us know if you have been following the case and your thoughts. Or, if you have a story that exemplifies the power of presence in your child’s life please share.