Slenderman Trial: Anissa Weier Sentence Is 25 Years

WAUKESHA COUNTY, WI — During a sentencing hearing in Waukesha County Thursday, a judge ordered Anissa Weier to serve up to 25 years in a mental institution with the possible release after three years.

After a week-long trial in September, a jury determined that Weier, 16, was suffering from a mental illness when she stabbed 12-year-old Payton Leutner in May of 2014 to satisfy the fictional character Slenderman.

As a result of Thursday’s sentencing, Weier will be committed to the Winnebago Mental Health Institute. In September, Waukesha County Circuit Judge Michael Bohren said she would have the ability to petition for her release after three years based on her plea agreement. If her release is granted, she would serve the remainder of her sentence on extended supervision.

The judge Thursday credited Weier with three-and-half years of time served. As a result, she would be 37 years old before her sentence has been served.

According to court records, Weier's defense argued that she receive institutional care until she turned 25 years old — a total of nine years. The prosecution argued for 25 years.

During the trial, a psychologist testified that Weier developed shared delusional disorder, a condition in which two people share the same delusional system and support each other in their belief. In the Slenderman case, the defense argued that Weier and Geyser developed a strong emotional bond that led to their shared belief that the paranormal character Slenderman existed in the real world.

Mental Illness or Defect

The panel of jurors assigned to the case were charged with the task of determining whether Weier was suffering from a mental illness at the time of the May 2014 attack that resulted in the stabbing of Leutner.

Weier and Morgan Geyser were originally charged with attempted first-degree intentional homicide as a party to the crime. Weier pled guilty to attempted second-degree intentional homicide as a party to the crime in August.

Weier also pleaded not guilty due to mental illness or defect, which led to this week's trial.

Geyser's trial is scheduled for Oct. 9. She has also pleaded not guilty due to mental illness or defect.

12 Year Olds Plotted Murder

The girls were identified in open court and the criminal complaint as Morgan E. Geyser and Anissa E. Weier, who were 12 years old at the time of the incident.

According to police, Geyser and Weier both plotted for months to kill Payton Leutner, luring her to a weekend birthday-party sleepover and then a wooded park where one they stabbed her repeatedly, according to authorities.

One child held Leutner to the ground while the other plunged the knife into her chest, arms and legs a total of 19 times, according to police. After the incident, Leutner, also 12, was barely alive when she crawled to a nearby road in Waukesha, Wisconsin, where a passing bicyclist found her the next morning.

Leutner underwent surgery at Waukesha Memorial Hospital before she made a faster-than-expected recovery and was back in school a few months later.

Fascinated With Slenderman

The girls were particularly fascinated with the story of Slenderman, a killer of children. According to the criminal complaint, the girls planned to kill their friend so they could be "proxies of Slenderman."

Sacrificing their friend ensured them special positions as “proxies” for Slender Man, a killer of children, police said, and the girls planned the attack for months. They planned to walk hundreds of miles north in the forest to meet Slender Man — a tall, thin, blank-faced figure in a black suit alternatively viewed as a force of evil or an avenging angel.

Earlier, the 2nd District Appeals court affirmed a lower court's determination that it was reasonable to try both girls as adults. Citing the ruling last year, the appeals court said if the girls were found guilty in the juvenile system they would be released at age 18 with no supervision or mental health treatment.

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In this Sept. 13, 2017 file photo, Anissa Weier, listens as former teachers testify during her trial in Waukesha County Court, in Waukesha, Wis. One of the two Wisconsin girls accused of stabbing a classmate, Payton Leuter, in 2014 to gain the favor of a horror character named Slender Man will soon learn how long she will spend in a mental health facility. A judge in Waukesha County Circuit Court on Thursday, Dec. 21, 2017, is expected to send 16-year-old Weier to a facility for at least three years after she was previously found not guilty by reason of mental disease or defect. (Rick Wood/Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel via AP, Pool, File)