(NewsNation) — Police in Illinois captured Morgan Geyser, convicted of stabbing her classmate 19 times in 2014, a day after she escaped from a group home in Wisconsin.
The Madison Police Department said in a Facebook post that Morgan Geyser cut off her Department of Corrections monitoring bracelet and left her group home Saturday night. The department said she was last seen with another adult around 8 p.m. local time.
Authorities said they were notified of Geyser’s disappearance Sunday morning, and she was taken into custody around 10:30 p.m. local time that night in Posen, Illinois, just over 20 miles south of Chicago.
Geyser and another woman, Anissa Weier, were 12 years old when they lured classmate Payton Leutner to the wooded area of a park in Waukesha, Wisconsin in 2014. Police said Geyser stabbed Leutner 19 times while Weier encouraged her to do so.
Both girls later told investigators they believed the stabbing would earn them the right to become the servants of Slender Man, a supernatural internet, movie and video game character. Geyser and Weier also said they committed the attack to protect their families from the character.
The pair were found not guilty due to mental disease or defect and committed to mental institutions, according to reports. Weier was granted a conditional release from a psychiatric facility to live with her father in 2021.
According to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, Geyser was sent to a group home earlier this fall, where she was continuing treatment for a psychotic spectrum disorder.
Police told NewsNation that Leutner had been notified of Geyser’s escape. A family spokesperson said, “Payton and her family are safe and are working closely with local law enforcement to ensure their continued safety.”