Interviews with key people connected to the 2014 case in which two 12-year-olds stabbed their friend 19 times and left her for dead, in an effort to appease the mysterious fictional character known as Slender Man. Originally aired: 02/09/18 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Chapter 1: What happened during the 2014 Slender Man stabbing case?
It was a Friday night in a small American town in Waukesha, Wisconsin, and it was a scene playing out like so many across the country. A small group of parents had said yes to a sleepover, a birthday party. Three 12-year-old girls were dropped off here at Skateland to begin the night. But what would happen over the next 24 hours would haunt three families to this very day.
One of those 12-year-old girls, Peyton Lightner, was stabbed 19 times and left for dead in the woods. And the entire scene was planned out by the other two girls.
What were you trying to do with her when you stabbed her?
Chapter 2: Who are the victims and perpetrators in the Slender Man attack?
Kill her. I might as well just say it. We were trying to kill her.
Chapter 3: How did the fictional character Slender Man influence the attack?
Because it turns out there was someone else looming large at that birthday get-together. A fictional character named Slenderman, who they learned of on the internet. And those two 12-year-old girls said they were doing this for him.
When Morgan said to you that if we don't do this for Slender, our families and loved ones are going to be killed, do you honestly believe that?
Well, yeah, because He can be anywhere from 6 feet to 14 feet tall. He constantly wears a suit. He doesn't have a face. His skin is white. He can exploit these tendrils from his back and strangle his victims.
For more than three years now, 2020 has been documenting the three families nearly destroyed by the horror that played out during that sleepover. And tonight, right here, what we never knew before. Asking the questions, how does this happen? How do 12-year-old girls fall for a fictional character? What would drive them to try to kill one of their own friends?
And what should happen to those two girls now? Hey, Morgan. Just 24 hours ago, a judge making the final decision.
Okay, thank you. Please be seated.
after what you're about to see play out right here tonight.
Breaking news, a 12-year-old girl is stabbed. The girl was lured to the area by two of her classmates who allegedly stabbed her 19 times.
The girls had hoped the attack would earn them a home in Slender Man's mansion. Slender Man is a fictional horror character.
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Chapter 4: What was the immediate aftermath and police response to the attack?
While we were actually, believe it or not, pretty strict parents and didn't let Morgan go out on her own very often.
But you thought because she had her two friends, it would be safe.
Mm-hmm.
The first sign anything is wrong, a police officer showing up at Angie's door.
My heart dropped down into my stomach. Not only were there police in my living room, but they were wearing riot gear.
Across town, officers are also arriving at Peyton's house.
Around the side of the house, up over the deck, came a uniformed officer. The first thing that goes through my mind is something has happened to somebody that I love. And they asked me, where's Morgan?
I said, she's at the park with her friends.
Angie Geiser says the police tell her that Morgan is missing. They think she may be hiding her daughter.
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Chapter 5: How did Peyton Lightner survive her injuries?
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It is Saturday morning in Waukesha, Wisconsin, just outside Milwaukee, and a horrific scene is playing out. A birthday sleepover with three 12-year-olds the night before, and now two of those girls are missing. The third, Peyton Lightner, has somehow crawled out of the woods, covered in stab wounds. 19 of them.
Major search by ground.
These are the woods where the stabbing actually. Police are still on the scene here. Morgan Geiser and Anissa Weier were missing. And Anissa's mother was recruiting anyone she could to join the search.
We had people all over Waukesha looking for her.
Christy had her daughter's cell phone. She scours it, searching for any clues. Instead, discovering something else.
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Chapter 6: What did the interrogations reveal about the attackers' motives?
Had it not, she would have had a major heart attack from the amount of bleeding and probably died within a minute or two.
But they would save her life as the hunt for the two other girls intensified. Nearly five hours after Peyton crawled out of the woods, her two friends are suddenly found on the side of Interstate 94, walking out of Waukesha. They have found those two girls, I'm told, around 12 years old. A knife with a five-inch blade was found in one of the girls' bags, Lieutenant Tom Moorman confronting them.
I asked her to show me her hands. I noticed there was some staining on her sweatshirt.
Morgan's parents raced to the police station, but they have not been told the severity of Peyton's injuries.
I remember talking on the way how we were going to punish Morgan for this. I mean, we just had no idea how serious it was.
Anissa Weier's parents arrive at the police station too.
They are told to wait.
I stood right dead center of that lobby. and full view of two cameras waiting to see my daughter.
And listen to what their daughter, Anissa, says to the investigator.
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Chapter 7: What were the backgrounds and family perspectives of the girls involved?
Both girls in separate rooms beginning to explain their plot to kill, referring to Peyton by her nickname, Bella.
Why do you think you're here today? Because when you said I ran off after hurting Bella.
Morgan tells the detective the plan to kill Peyton had been in the works for months.
You guys have been playing this a while?
She was my best friend since fourth grade.
Who was?
Peyton.
So why did you pick Peyton?
I didn't pick her.
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Chapter 8: How did Morgan and Anissa plan and carry out the attack?
Slender Man is the story of a character who suddenly appears. He changes and evolves all the time, with help from fans all over the world adding to the story, giving a fictional character new life every day. You have said that Slender Man is the boogeyman.
of this digital generation. He is the thing that we fear that we don't actually encounter, right? So we check under our beds for the Slender Man, but he's, you know, not actually there.
Morgan and Anissa not only believed in Slender Man, they wanted to prove to the world he was real.
Morgan said, hey, Anissa, we should be proxies. And I was like, okay, how would we do that?
She indicated that in order to become a proxy of Slenderman, you needed to kill somebody to prove yourself worthy to him.
I was excited because I wanted proof that he existed.
As Slender Man's grip on these girls begins to reveal itself, back at the hospital, Peyton Leitner is unable to talk. At first, writing to communicate. One of her first questions is this.
Did they get them? We told her they were found and the police have them. As a dad in that moment, how hard was that? Harder than I would have ever been able to imagine. This is my little girl who's laying there and the only thing that I could tell her at the time to make her feel better was that the police have them and she was safe with us.
When we come back, the girls now describe their original plan, why it changed, and who actually held the knife in the woods.
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