Madison police released this image of Morgan Geyser, which was captured on security video in November 2025. The department was notified of her disappearance from a group home on Sunday morning, Nov. 23, and immediately alerted the public. Geyser was arrested late on Nov. 23 in Illinois.

Morgan Geyser, who was charged with attempted homicide at age 12 after saying she stabbed a friend to appease the fictional Slender Man, was taken into custody in Illinois a day after escaping a group home, according to police in Wisconsin.

Geyser, now 23, went missing from her group home Nov. 22 after she cut off her Department of Corrections monitoring bracelet. She had last been seen in Madison around 8 p.m. with an adult acquaintance, according to the Madison Police Department.

It remains unclear why 12 hours passed between when she was last seen and when police and the public were notified.

She was taken into custody in Illinois around 10:34 p.m. Nov. 23, police said.

She had been granted conditional release earlier this year after a judge he saw no risk to the public or to her.

Geyser and co-defendant Anissa Weier were charged with the attempted homicide of their friend Payton Leutner, whom Geyser stabbed 19 times near Davids Park in Waukesha in May 2014. All three girls were 12 years old at the time.

Geyser and Weier said they believed they were doing the bidding of the fictional online character Slender Man. They were found not guilty by reason of mental defect or disease in 2017 and sentenced to mental confinement, Weier for 25 years, and Geyser for 40 years.

Anna Kleiber can be reached at akleiber@gannett.com.

This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Slender Man stabbing defendant found in Illinois after escaping group home

Reporting by Anna Kleiber, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel / Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

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