The Wisconsin Slender Man stabbing shocked the nation when in 2014, two 12-year-old girls lured a friend into the woods and stabbed her 19 times. Miraculously she survived and now one of her attackers has been sentenced to spend 25 years in a mental institution. Anissa Meyer is now 16 and she won’t be free until she’s 37, thanks to time already served. She and Morgan Geyser, 16 lured Payton Leutner, also 16, into a wooded park in their town of Waukesha, WI in 2014. Morgan proceeded to stab Payton 19 times while Anissa cheered her on as they did the horrific act to impress Slender Man, a fictional internet horror character.
Anissa pleaded guilty in Aug. to second-degree intentional homicide as a party to a crime, but claimed she was mentally ill at the time. She could have received just three years in an institution but Waukesha County Circuit Judge Michael Bohren on Dec. 21 threw the book at her by sentencing her to 25 years in a mental ward, with the starting date retroactive to her crime. Prosecutor Kevin Osborne argued for the stiff sentence because, “Considering the nature and gravity of this offense, being supervised until the age of 37 is not all that long…in terms of the fact that Payton is looking at a lifetime of scars, physical scars and psychological scarring.” The judge completely agreed with him. Anissa’s lawyer had asked that she not be hospitalized beyond her 25th birthday. See pics of Anissa, here.
In a short statement before receiving her sentence Anissa told the court, “I do hold myself accountable for this and that I will do whatever I have to do to make sure I don’t get any sort of delusion or whatever again. I want everybody involved to know I deeply regret everything that happened that day. I know that nothing I say is going to make this right and nothing I say is going to fix what I broke”
Payton’s mom sent the judge an emotional letter detailing how her daughter — who was near death when she managed to crawl out of the woods and was discovered by a passing cyclist — still fears for her life. Stacie Leutner said that the physical and emotional wounds from the attack “has defined our lives.”
She heartbreakingly told of how Payton slept with scissors under her pillow for months after the stabbing, fearing another attack. Her mom said that to this day her daughter still keeps her bedroom windows closed and locked. “Payton has a lifetime of healing ahead of her and she deserves to be allowed to heal in an environment where she feels safe,” her mother wrote.
Morgan, who carried out the stabbing, pleaded guilty to first-degree intentional homicide in Sept. and is facing 40 years in a mental hospital.
HollywoodLifers, is 25 years in a mental institution enough for Anissa?