'Just Google' me: 'Slender Man' stabbing assailant Morgan Geyser allegedly told cops who caught her
When she was captured on Sunday night, 165 miles from the Wisconsin group home she allegedly fled, "Slender Man" stabbing assailant Morgan Geyser told officers who asked for her identity to "just Google" her, according to Illinois police.
The 23-year-old Geyser, who in 2014 said she stabbed a friend 19 times to appease the fictional character "Slender Man," was located on Sunday after she allegedly cut off her Department of Corrections monitoring bracelet and left the group home where she had been a resident, authorities said.
Geyser was taken into custody at a truck stop in Posen, Illinois, with a 43-year-old person she had traveled across state lines with, Chad Mecca, according to a Posen Police Department statement released on Monday. Police found the pair sleeping on a sidewalk, the statement said.
Both Geyser and Mecca initially gave police false names, according to a criminal complaint filed in Illinois.
"The female repeatedly refused to provide her real name and initially gave a false one," the police said. "After continued attempts to identify her, 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."
Once she provided her real name, officers learned she was wanted for escape in Wisconsin. Both Geyser and her companion were detained without incident, police said.
Mecca was charged with criminal trespassing and obstructing identification, according to police. They have since been released on a citation and notified to appear in court on Jan. 15.
Authorities did not provide information on whether Mecca was involved in Geyser's escape from the group home.
"When asked about her ankle monitor, she [Geyser] stated that she cut it off with scissors and that she and CHAD discussed potentially making their way to Nashville, Tennessee," according to the criminal complaint.
Geyser told authorities she met Mecca a couple of months ago at a church, according to the complaint.
"She then expressed how unfair she was treated at the group home and how she was upset that Chad was not allowed to visit her. Morgan stated that on multiple occasions Chad visited her at the group home by climbing [up to] her window and sneaking in," according to the complaint.
Citing privacy laws, the Wisconsin Department of Health Services declined to comment on Geyser's escape.
Posen Police said Geyser and Mecca took a bus to Posen from Wisconsin. Posen is about 25 minutes south of Chicago.
Waukesha County District Attorney Lesli Boese, whose office prosecuted Geyser in the 2014 stabbing case, expressed her hope that the state Department of Health Services, which has custody of Geyser, will file a petition to revoke the conditional release she was granted in September.
"We fully support that motion," Boese said at a news conference on Monday.
Boese outlined the procedure that would follow a petition to revoke Geyser's conditional release being filed.
"We will go before a judge to make a decision whether or not she will be returned to conditional release or whether she will be returned to institutionalized care, which is where she came from," she said.
Boese noted that her office "vehemently" argued at a January hearing that Geyser should not be granted a conditional release to the group home she allegedly escaped from.
In September, a judge signed off on Geyser's transfer from the Winnebago Mental Health facility to a group home despite concerns raised by prosecutors, who alleged she had "violent" communication with a man outside the facility and had read a book in the facility with "themes of sexual sadism and murder."
"What we know is that there was a period of time between approximately 8 o’clock on Saturday evening to when she was taken into custody in which she was not monitored by any person, she was on the loose and her whereabouts were unknown," Boese said on Monday. "So, we take this very seriously."
Boese said that when a victim advocate from her office informed the family of stabbing victim, Payton Leutner, and her family on Sunday afternoon, the family were unaware of Geyser's alleged escape.
A hearing to extradite Geyser back to Wisconsin from Illinois is expected to occur on Tuesday.
Before being located, Geyser was last seen in Madison, Wisconsin, around 8 p.m. on Saturday with an adult acquaintance, Madison police said in a statement posted on social media, which included a recent surveillance image of Geyser.
"Geyser will be held until transfer to Cook County for an extradition hearing at 26th and California," the department said, referring by address to the Criminal Court Administration Building in Chicago. It was not immediately clear when that hearing would take place.
Prior to her daughter's arrest, Geyser’s mother, Angie Geyser, said in a statement to ABC News on Sunday, "If you see Morgan, please call the police. Morgan, if you can see this, we love you and just want to know you are safe."
Geyser's attorney, Tony Cotton, also released a statement on Sunday to ABC News asking Geyser to turn herself in, saying it was "in her best interest" to do so.
In March, Waukesha County Circuit Court Judge Michael Bohren ordered that Geyser be released from the Winnebago Mental Health Institute and sent to a group home after three psychologists testified she was prepared for supervised release.
As part of her release, Geyser was ordered to wear a monitoring bracelet.
Geyser, according to police, cut off her Department of Corrections monitoring bracelet and left the group home sometime Saturday night.
Geyser and another girl, Anissa Weier, were charged as adults and pleaded guilty to stabbing a classmate, Payton Leutner, 19 times in 2014, when they and the victim were 12 years old. Both Geyser's and Weier's guilty pleas were later vacated when they were found not guilty by reason of mental disease or defect. Both of them were subsequently sent to psychiatric institutions.
"Payton Leutner and her family are aware of the most recent situation regarding Morgan Geyser," a spokesperson for the Leutner family said in a statement to ABC News. "Payton and her family are safe and are working closely with local law enforcement to ensure their continued safety."
"The family would like to thank all of the law enforcement entities involved in the efforts to apprehend Morgan," the statement continued. "The Leutner family also wish to thank the outpouring of support from family, friends, and well-wishers who have contacted them during this difficult time."
In 2014, Geyser and Weier lured their friend, Payton Leutner, then 12, to the woods in Waukesha, Wisconsin, where Geyser stabbed Leutner while Weier watched.
Geyser and Weier left Leutner alone in the woods. Injured and bleeding, Leutner pulled herself to safety and was rushed to the hospital with life-threatening injuries.
Leutner survived the attack that captured headlines worldwide after Geyser and Weier claimed that the stabbing was intended to please "Slender Man," a faceless, fictional internet-based character that garnered a cult-like following.
Geyser pleaded guilty to first-degree attempted intentional homicide and was sent to the Winnebago Mental Health Institute in 2018. Geyser was later found not guilty by reason of mental disease or defect, and was sentenced to up to 40 years in a psychiatric institution.
Weier was also found not guilty by mental disease or defect after pleading guilty to a lesser charge. She was sentenced to up to 25 years in a psychiatric institution. In 2021, at the age of 19, Weier was granted supervised release.
In an interview with ABC's "20/20" in October 2019, Leutner said she had worked hard to heal from the attack and rebuild a normal life. She told ABC News that she was ready to reclaim her story.
"I've come to accept all of the scars that I have," Leutner said in the exclusive interview with ABC's David Muir. "It's just a part of me. I don't think much of them. They will probably go away and fade eventually."
ABC News' Victoria Arancio, Jason Volack, Jolloh Mariama and Ahmad Hemingway contributed to this report.
