Anissa Weier will no longer have to wear GPS, judge rules in Slender Man case hearing

Jim Riccioli, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
Updated ·3 min read
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Anissa Weier passes a note to her attorney, Joseph Smith, during closing arguments in her case before Waukesha County Circuit Judge Michael Bohren on Sept. 15, 2017. A jury found her not guilty by reason of mental disease or defect. Weier, who was released from Winnebago Mental Health Institute in 2021, to live with her father while still under state supervision, will no longer have to wear a GPS device under terms of her conditional release.

WAUKESHA - Anissa Weier, the now 21-year-old woman who nine years ago was involved in a brutal attack on a friend in what became internationally known as the Slender Man case, can again roam freely without a GPS bracelet.

Waukesha County Circuit Judge Michael O. Bohren concurred with Weier's defense attorney and a Wisconsin Department of Corrections official that she should not have to wear the location-tracking device as she remains under state supervision and receives mental health care while living with her father in Waukesha County under conditional release.

However, Weier must seek approval before traveling outside the county, according to the order issued Monday following the latest in a series of periodical review hearings since she was found not guilty by reason of mental disease or defect in 2017.

Weier and her friend Morgan Geyser — who was also found not guilty with an insanity defense on charges of first-degree attempted intentional homicide — nearly stabbed to death a middle school classmate, Payton Leutner, in 2014 in a Waukesha park. The two, both 12 at the time when they stabbed Leutner 19 times with a 5-inch blade, claimed they were influenced by the fictional internet horror character Slender Man, who they believed would harm them or their families if they didn't kill.

Geyser, who medical records revealed during the investigation suffers from schizophrenia, convinced Weier to act, according to the criminal complaint and court documents. Both ultimately were found to be not fully responsible for their actions as a result of their mental condition, resulting in a medically oriented incarceration and treatment.

Against resistance from Waukesha County prosecutor Ted Szczupakiewicz, Bohren ultimately sided with Weier's attorney, Maura Ann McMahon, and a state corrections conditional release agent Shannon Stydahar-Schulz, who in a July letter said the removal of the GPS device was warranted given Weier's conduct while in her father's care.

"Since her release to Conditional Release supervision on 09/13/21, Ms. Weier has been fully compliant with the Rules and conditions of her release," Stydahar-Schulz wrote. "Ms. Weier continues to maintain stable, supportive residence with her family, is employed on a part-time basis, is involved with her church."

Stydahar-Schulz added that Weier has also been "proactively compliant" in her mental health care, a factor which was of an "upmost significance" in deciding her GPS status.

Weier still must abide by certain conditions within the county, including steering clear of a 3-mile area listed as an index-offense location and staying overnight only in her father's home.

Geyser is still serving a 40-year sentence in Winnebago Mental Health Institute in Oshkosh, and is not affected by Weier's GPS status change.

Weier's discharge date, May 31, 2039, under state supervision remains unchanged.

Contact Jim Riccioli at (262) 446-6635 or  james.riccioli@jrn.com. Follow him on Twitter at @jariccioli.

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This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Slender Man assailant Anissa Weier freed from wearing GPS device