Morgan Geyser left group home, DOC staffer fired after investigation

WAUKESHA, Wis. - The Wisconsin Department of Corrections said one employee was fired after Morgan Geyser, who was convicted in the 2014 Slender Man stabbing, left a group home and was arrested in Illinois last year.

Staffer fired

What we know:

Three DOC employees, who were involved in the response to the incident, were placed on administrative leave after it happened. Those three employees were the subjects of personnel investigations.

FREE DOWNLOAD: Get breaking news alerts in the FOX LOCAL Mobile app for iOS or Android

On Tuesday, a spokesperson said two of the three served unpaid suspensions – one lasting five days, and the other lasting three days – and returned to work. The third employee was terminated.

What we don't know:

The DOC did not provide specifics about its personnel investigations, but previously said leaders would look into the timeline of events, response times and adherence to department policies or procedures. 

Geyser arrested, release revoked

The backstory:

Geyser cut off her Wisconsin DOC monitoring bracelet and left a Madison group home on Nov. 22. She was found and taken into custody late the following evening at a truck stop in Posen, Illinois. 

The Posen Police Department said Geyser and a male subject took a Greyhound bus from Wisconsin to Chicago and then walked to Posen. Posen is about 25 miles south of Chicago. 

Officials identified the male subject as 43-year-old Chad Mecca, who was also taken into custody. He was charged with criminal trespassing and providing false information to police and was later released from custody. 

On Nov. 25, the Wisconsin DOC filed a sealed petition that sought to revoke Geyser's conditional release. A Waukesha County judge granted the state's request on Dec. 23, and she was then ordered back to a state psychiatric hospital.

2014 Slender Man stabbing 

Dig deeper:

Geyser and her friend, Anissa Weier, lured Payton Leutner to a Waukesha park after a sleepover in 2014. Geyser stabbed Leutner 19 times while Weier egged her on. 

All three girls were 12 years old at the time. Leutner barely survived. 

Geyser and Weier fled after the attack but were arrested as they were walking on Interstate 94. They told investigators they attacked Leutner to earn the right to be Slender Man’s servants and feared he would hurt their families if they didn’t follow through. They had planned to walk to Slender Man’s mansion in northern Wisconsin after the attack, they said.

SIGN UP TODAY: Get daily headlines, breaking news emails from FOX6 News

Weier pleaded guilty to being a party to attempted second-degree intentional homicide with a dangerous weapon in 2017 claimed she was mentally ill and not responsible for her actions. She was committed to 25 years in a mental hospital but was granted release in 2021 after agreeing to live with her father and to wear a GPS monitor.

Geyser ultimately pleaded guilty to being a party to attempted first-degree intentional homicide in 2017 but claimed she wasn’t responsible because she was mentally ill. The following year, Waukesha County Circuit Judge Michael Bohren had committed her to a psychiatric hospital for 40 years.

Waukesha County Circuit Judge Scott Wagner signed off on the conditional plan to release Geyser from the Winnebago Mental Health Institute, a psychiatric hospital where she had spent seven years.

The case drew widespread attention in part because of the girls’ fascination with the Slender Man character. Slender Man was created online by Eric Knudson in 2009 as a mysterious specter photo-edited into everyday images of children at play. He’s typically depicted as a slim, spidery figure in a black suit with a featureless white face. He has grown into a popular boogeyman and has appeared in video games, online stories and a 2018 movie.