'Slender Man' Trial: What's Next for Geyser and Weier
Leutner
In August  her co-defendant  Anissa Weier  pleaded guilty to attempted second-degree homicide. A jury sided with her arguments and found her not responsible for her actions because she was mentally ill  and she was sentenced to three years in a state mental hospital. Last week  after Geyser's plea hearing   the Leutner family  released a statement: "Though  we  do not believe that an institution is where these attempted murderers belong  the current legal system does not favor victims in this situation." They added: "With this closure  our daughter is a heroic survivor â and no longer a victim."
Geyser and Weier  now 15  were just 12 when they were charged as adults after telling authorities that they tried killing their friend Payton "Bella" Leutner  then 12  in order to become "proxies " or servants  to Slender Man  so that the Jack Skellington-esque Internet meme would not kill them or their families.
It was three years ago last May  the day after Geyser hosted a birthday party  when the girls played hide-and-seek in a forested area near Interstate 94. In Geyser's retelling of accounts to Judge Bohren: "Anissa said that she couldn't do it and that I had to " according to CBS. Geyser "tackled" and stabbed  Leutner  19 times with a kitchen knife  before "Anissa told [Leutner] to lie down so she wouldn't lose blood so quickly  and told her to be quiet  and we left." Geyser and Weier began walking their planned 300-mile trek to Slender Man's mansion in Nicolet National Forest. But  Leutner  eventually crawled out of the forest  where a bicyclist found her and called 911. She survived surgery at a nearby hospital.
At this time of the attack  HBO and Brodsky were brainstorming ideas on the Internet's effects on pre-adolescent brains. As it unraveled  producers emailed an article from The New York Times on the Slender Man to Brodsky  who then found herself in Waukesha County  attending the first court appearances and meeting with both the Geyser and Weier families (the Leutner family declined to participate in interviews for the documentary). Today  when Rolling Stone asks how her impressions of the overall case or girls have changed since then  Brodsky answers  "What I came to discover in the course of making the film  I think the jury in Anissa's case came to discover: These girls were losing their minds in the narrative that was Slender Man. You can't say Slender Man made them crazy  but most kids don't watch Slender Man and go out and kill somebody. You have to look at this through the prism of their mental illness." Brodsky says the girls were involved in "a folie a deux  a delusion shared by two personalities" that allowed them to fall deep into the psychological grip of Slender Man.
In August  her co-defendant  Anissa Weier  pleaded guilty to attempted second-degree homicide. A jury sided with her arguments and found her not responsible for her actions because she was mentally ill  and she was sentenced to three years in a state mental hospital. Last week  after Geyser's plea hearing   the  [TGT]  family  released a statement: "Though  we  do not believe that an institution is where these attempted murderers belong  the current legal system does not favor victims in this situation." They added: "With this closure  our daughter is a heroic survivor â and no longer a victim."
Geyser and Weier  now 15  were just 12 when they were charged as adults after telling authorities that they tried killing their friend Payton "Bella"  [TGT]   then 12  in order to become "proxies " or servants  to Slender Man  so that the Jack Skellington-esque Internet meme would not kill them or their families.
It was three years ago last May  the day after Geyser hosted a birthday party  when the girls played hide-and-seek in a forested area near Interstate 94. In Geyser's retelling of accounts to Judge Bohren: "Anissa said that she couldn't do it and that I had to " according to CBS. Geyser "tackled" and stabbed   [TGT]   19 times with a kitchen knife  before "Anissa told [ [TGT] ] to lie down so she wouldn't lose blood so quickly  and told her to be quiet  and we left." Geyser and Weier began walking their planned 300-mile trek to Slender Man's mansion in Nicolet National Forest. But   [TGT]   eventually crawled out of the forest  where a bicyclist found her and called 911. She survived surgery at a nearby hospital.
At this time of the attack  HBO and Brodsky were brainstorming ideas on the Internet's effects on pre-adolescent brains. As it unraveled  producers emailed an article from The New York Times on the Slender Man to Brodsky  who then found herself in Waukesha County  attending the first court appearances and meeting with both the Geyser and Weier families (the  [TGT]  family declined to participate in interviews for the documentary). Today  when Rolling Stone asks how her impressions of the overall case or girls have changed since then  Brodsky answers  "What I came to discover in the course of making the film  I think the jury in Anissa's case came to discover: These girls were losing their minds in the narrative that was Slender Man. You can't say Slender Man made them crazy  but most kids don't watch Slender Man and go out and kill somebody. You have to look at this through the prism of their mental illness." Brodsky says the girls were involved in "a folie a deux  a delusion shared by two personalities" that allowed them to fall deep into the psychological grip of Slender Man.