'Slender Man' Fan Tried to Kill Mother, Young Brother, Cops Say

A Chasco Middle School student stands accused of trying to burn down her Port Richey home with her mother and 9-year-old brother inside.

The fire broke out around 1:43 a.m. Thursday at 9005 Hermitage Lane. Pasco County Fire Rescue crews spent the morning battling the blaze. And, while the mother and brother woke up to smoke alarms and were able to get out of the home safely, a search for the teen was begun.

The girl was not found in the house, but was later located on Little Road by fire investigators, an email from Pasco County Sheriff’s Office spokeswoman Melanie Snow stated.

“The girl admitted to setting the fire on purpose after an argument with her family the night before,” Snow wrote in the email.
During the course of the investigation, police learned the girl, whose name is not being released by Patch, had a penchant for visiting websites related to the Slender Man.

“At this time we have no evidence to believe she did this because of the violence on these websites, but it is still important to discuss as she visited these sites regularly,” Snow wrote. “Therefore, there is always a concern when kids visit these sites because of the extreme violence associated with them.”

The girl has been charged with arson and two counts of attempted murder.

Earlier this year, a Milwaukee suburb was rocked when two 12-year-old girls allegedly lured a friend into the woods and stabbed her 19 times. The two told authorities they were trying to prove themselves worthy of the “Slender Man,” a fictional character, according to Newsweek.