Morgan Geyser is pleading guilty in the "Slender Man" stabbing of a classmate, in a deal that will allow her to not be sentenced to prison. Instead, Geyser will be committed in a mental hospital.
The plea agreement was announced on Friday. Under the deal, doctors will evaluate Geyser, then advise a judge on how long they believe the teen should remain in treatment.
Geyser had been set to go on trial next month on attempted homicide charges. She previously pleaded not guilty by reason of mental disease.
Geyser was 12 years old in the spring of 2014 when she and a friend, Anissa Weier, attacked a 12-year-old classmate in the woods in Waukesha, leaving her to die. The victim was able to crawl from the site of the attack and flag down a bicyclist who came to her aid. Weier was on trial earlier this month. A jury determined that she was mentally ill at the time of the stabling. Weier will be sent to a mental hospital.
The stabbing and the court proceedings have received widespread attention, including because the girls were so young and the premeditated attack was so brutal.
Another reason the case has generated so much interest is that it revolves around the girls' belief in the horror character Slender Man, a shadowy, creepy figure that exists mainly online. Geyser and Weier told authorities that they felt like their families were in danger from Slender Man. The girls said they believed if they killed their classmate, they would become servants of Slender Man, and that would keep their families safe.
