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Teen Convicted In "Slender Man" Stabbing Set To Be Released From Mental Health Institute
On Friday, a Waukesha circuit judge approved the conditional release of Anissa Weier, who has spent the past four years confined to Winnebago Mental Health Institute.
The Wisconsin teenager who nearly stabbed her classmate to death seven years ago after becoming obsessed with the internet meme Slender Man is scheduled to be released today.
On Friday, a Waukesha circuit judge approved the conditional release of Anissa Weier, 19, who has spent the past four years confined to Winnebago Mental Health Institute. Weier was slated to be freed Monday, according to court documents.
As part of her release, Weier is required to stay at her father's single-family home, along with her brother, and father's girlfriend, where she'll have a "strong support system to assist with her community reintegration," according to court documents obtained by Oxygen.com. Weier is not allowed to sleep overnight anywhere else without prior approval from her case manager. Weier's grandparents live in "walking distance," court filings show.
Weier, who has been diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder, must submit to GPS monitoring and receive psychiatric treatment, the court-approved conditional release plan stipulated. The Department of Corrections will monitor her internet usage. Weier is only allowed to access the web on a computer at her father’s house.
Following Friday’s court hearing, Weier was remanded back to the facility until Monday.
On May 31, 2014, Weier, along with her friend Morgan Geyser, lured classmate Payton Leutner into the woods and stabbed her 19 times following a sleepover. Luetner, who was left to die by Weier and Geyser, was later rescued by a cyclist. All three girls were 12 at the time.
Weier and Geyser confessed they'd carried out knife attack as a dedication to Slender Man, an online urban legend who'd they'd become entranced by, according to the case's criminal complaint.
In 2017, Weier pleaded guilty to second-degree attempted murder. She was sentenced to 25 years in a mental facility. Both she and Geyser entered insanity pleas. Geyser was sentenced to 40 years in a psychiatric institution. They were tried as adults.
Earlier this year, Weier petitioned the court to grant her release, stating she was "deeply regretful" — and that she'd exhausted all the mental health resources available to her at Winnebago Mental Health Institute.
“I am NOT saying I am done with my treatment,” Weier wrote In a formal letter to Waukesha County circuit judge Michael Bohren, which Oxygen.com obtained. “I am saying that I have exhausted all the resources available to me at the Winnebago Mental Health Institute. “If I am to become a productive member of society, I need to be a part of society.”
Her father, William Weier, also pledged to support his daughter's release.
“She is my daughter, and I will help support her while she searches for employment or continues her education,” he wrote Bohren in a court exhibit obtained by Oxygen.com.
In July, the court found no clear and convincing evidence that Weier, who'll turn 20 in November, poses a substantial risk to society. According to her conditional release, Weier must participate in 20 hours of structured, social, or vocational activities each week. She previously indicated she intended to work with other at-risk teens and was contemplating pursuing higher education.
“Aside from being committed to being healthy, I am also committed to using this negative situation and publicity for something good,” Weier wrote. “I want to use my experience losing myself in a mental illness as a way to make others who are dealing with mental struggles see they are not alone, this is not the end of who you are, this does not define you, and give a reality check to people who are asking for help.”
It was unclear by Tuesday evening if Weier had been released.
The Wisconsin Department of Health Services, which operates Winnebago Mental Health Institute, declined to confirm Weier's custody status, citing privacy laws. Nicole Slawson, a forensic case manager for Waukesha County’s conditional release program, declined to comment when reached this week, as well.
Joseph Smith Jr. and Maura McMahon, Weier’s attorneys, also weren’t immediately available for comment.
