Wisconsin teen in Slenderman stabbing case pleads guilty

(Reuters) - One of two Wisconsin girls who said they stabbed a classmate to satisfy the fictitious horror character Slenderman pleaded guilty to attempted homicide on Thursday and was committed to a state mental hospital, her lawyer said.

Waukesha County Circuit Court Judge Michael Bohren found Morgan Geyser, 15, not responsible due to mental illness, said Anthony Cotton, a lawyer for Geyser.

Geyser agreed on Friday to plead guilty to avoid prison time, court documents showed. Geyser will not be held criminally liable and will instead remain at the state mental hospital where she has received treatment for about two years, according to another attorney for Geyser.

"We're thankful that the district attorney's office evaluated the case and agreed to a resolution that's fair for everyone involved," Cotton said in a Thursday phone interview.

The Waukesha County Circuit Courts jury on Sept. 15 found the other suspect, Anissa Weier, 15, was mentally ill during the May 2014 stabbing and was not responsible for her actions. Weier was sent to a state mental hospital, where she can seek a conditional release in July 2020, local media reported.

Geyser and Weier were charged with attempted first-degree homicide for the attack after a sleepover with their classmate in Waukesha, a Milwaukee suburb. All three girls were 12 at the time.

Weier and Geyser lured the victim into the woods and stabbed her 19 times with a kitchen knife to impress Slenderman, a tall, thin, creepy fictional bogeyman they insisted was real, a criminal complaint said.

The character originated in 2009 as a meme, or a virally transmitted cultural symbol, in an online forum.

The victim survived the attack.

(Reporting by Suzannah Gonzales; editing by Diane Craft)