Slenderman Victim Payton Leutner To Speak Out For First Time

WAUKESHA, WI — Payton Leutner, the 12-year-old girl who was stabbed by Morgan Geyser and Anissa Weier five years ago to satisfy the fictional character Slenderman, will speak publicly for the first time regarding the assault and its aftermath.

ABC television anchor David Muir will interview Leutner, who is now 17 years old and in high school. On a two-hour special edition of the ABC television show "20/20," Leutner is expected to speak about the day she was stabbed 19 times and left in the woods.

The segment, titled "The Wicked" will air on 20/20 at 8 p.m. Friday on ABC.

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

One of the girls held Leutner on the ground while the other plunged the knife into her chest, arms and legs 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

Authorities said Leutner's attackers were particularly fascinated with the story of Slenderman, a killer of children. According to court documents, the girls planned for months to kill their friend so they could be "proxies of Slenderman." 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.

Interviews Planned

The show will feature new interviews with Leutner's parents, Joe and Stacie Leutner, plus interviews with Waukesha Police Detectives Tom Casey and Michelle Trussoni, who questioned Weier and Geyser during the investigation.

Other interviews featured in the episode:

• Shelly Fisher, who interviewed Leutner at the hospital
• Dan Klein, who was the first officer on the scene the day of the attack
• Waukesha County Assistant District Attorney Kevin Osborne, who prosecuted the case against Weier and Geyser
• Morgan Geyser's attorney Anthony Cotton
• Milwaukee Journal Sentinel Reporter Bruce Vielmetti, who covered the case
• Doctors who evaluated both suspects

The segment will also feature police interview footage of Weier and Geyser.

More from Patch:

• 'Every Parent's Nightmare' Petition Aims To Stop Slender Man Film
• Slenderman Confession Should Not Have Been Allowed, Attorney Says
• How Jake Patterson Insanity Plea Would Differ From Slenderman
• Morgan Geyser Appeals Slenderman Stabbing Sentence
• Morgan Geyser Sentenced to 40 Years In Slender Man Case