'Slender Man' Stabbing Attacker Captured In IL After Escaping From Group Home: Police

POSEN, IL — Morgan Geyser, who made headlines nationwide when she and a friend stabbed their 12-year-old classmate nearly to death in 2014 to please fictional horror character "Slender Man," was arrested Sunday night in Illinois after escaping a group home in Wisconsin, according to local police.

Police in south suburban Posen said Geyser was found at a Thornton's Truck stop just before 10 p.m. Sunday. Police said officers responded to the truck stop for a report of "a male and female loitering behind the building."

RELATED: Friend Of Wisconsin 'Slender Man' Stabber Morgan Geyser Arrested For Obstruction After Pair Captured In Illinois

Police found both people sleeping on the sidewalk, where they say Geyser repeatedly refused to give her real name and initially gave officers a fake one. After repeated attempts to identify her, Posen police say she finally said she didn't want to tell officers because she had "done something really bad" and told officers to "just Google" her name.

Geyser and co-defendant Anissa Weier were also 12 years old when they lured classmate Payton Leutner to a Wisconsin park after a sleepover, then stabbed her more than a dozen times.

Now 23, Geyser was granted release from a psychiatric center in January after a judge determined she no longer posed a threat to the community, Patch reported earlier this year.

She was transferred to a group home, where she cut off her Wisconsin Department of Corrections monitoring bracelet and escaped, according to authorities, who said she was last seen around 8 p.m. Saturday with an adult acquaintance. Madison police say they were notified of her disappearance on Sunday morning, and urged anyone who saw her to call 911.

Police in Posen said Geyser had been "assigned to a secure residential facility, from which she recently absconded," and that she and the man she was with were both "safely detained without incident" by officers.

The man, 42-year-old Charles Mecca, was charged with criminal trespassing and obstructing identification and has since been released from custody, Fox Chicago reported. Geyser won't face any charges in Cook County, but will have a hearing at 26th and California on Tuesday morning, the report said.

"We are proud of the professionalism and diligence our officers demonstrated in bringing this situation to a safe conclusion and ensuring that a wanted escapee was located and returned to custody," Posen police said Monday in a statement.

On May 31, 2014, Geyser and Weier attacked Leutner in a wooded area in Waukesha, with Geyser stabbing Leutner 19 times with a kitchen knife while Weier urged her on.

Despite severe injuries, Leutner managed to crawl out of the woods, where she was discovered by a passing bicyclist the next morning. She survived after months of intensive recovery.

Geyser and Weier were both charged as adults in the attack, and were later found not guilty by reason of mental disease or defect. Both were sent to psychiatric facilities — Weier for 25 years, and Geyser for 40 years.

Since 2022, Geyser had repeatedly petitioned for her release, including a request denied by Judge Bohren last April, when he concluded there was still a significant risk she could harm herself or others, Patch previously reported.

Weier was granted conditional release in 2021, according to multiple reports. She had earned her high school diploma and planned to live with her father while seeking a part-time job, the New York Times reported then. Weier was on GPS electronic monitoring and was not permitted to access the internet outside of her father's home, according to People, which reported that the department of corrections monitored her internet use.