When officers in Illinois asked Morgan Geyser to identify herself on Sunday night, she allegedly replied that they could “just Google” her, according to police.
Geyser, now 23, was 12 years old in 2014 when she stabbed a classmate 19 times in Waukesha, Wisconsin, saying she did it to appease the fictional internet character known as “Slender Man.” Authorities said she was found on Sunday after allegedly cutting off her Department of Corrections ankle monitor and leaving the Wisconsin group home where she had been living under supervision.
Police said Geyser was discovered at a truck stop in Posen, Illinois, roughly 165 miles from the group home, alongside 43-year-old Chad Mecca, with whom she had traveled across state lines. According to a statement from the Posen Police Department, officers found the pair sleeping on a sidewalk.
Posen Village Police Department
Both Geyser and Mecca initially gave officers false names, according to a criminal complaint filed in Illinois.
“The female repeatedly refused to provide her real name and initially gave a false one,” police said in the complaint. “After continued attempts to identify her, she finally stated that she didn’t want to tell officers who she was because she had ‘done something really bad,’ and suggested that officers could ‘just Google’ her name.”
Once she disclosed her real name, officers learned Geyser was wanted in Wisconsin on an escape charge. Both she and Mecca were detained without incident, authorities said.
Mecca has been charged with criminal trespassing and obstructing identification, according to police. He has been released on a citation and ordered to appear in court on Jan. 15. Authorities have not said whether Mecca played any role in Geyser’s alleged escape from the group home.
According to the complaint, Geyser told investigators that she cut off her ankle monitor with scissors and that she and Mecca had discussed possibly traveling to Nashville, Tennessee. She also said she met Mecca a few months earlier at a church.
Posen Village Police Department
Geyser allegedly told authorities she felt she was treated unfairly at the group home and was upset that Mecca was not allowed to visit. The complaint states that she said Mecca had, on multiple occasions, climbed up to her window and secretly entered the group home to see her.
The Wisconsin Department of Health Services, which has custody of Geyser, declined to comment on the escape, citing privacy laws.
Police in Posen said the pair took a bus there from Wisconsin. Posen is located about 25 minutes south of Chicago.
Waukesha County District Attorney Lesli Boese, whose office prosecuted Geyser in the 2014 stabbing, said at a Monday news conference that she hopes the state Department of Health Services will move to revoke Geyser’s conditional release, which was granted in September.
“We fully support that motion,” Boese said.
Boese explained that after such a petition is filed, a judge would decide whether Geyser should remain on conditional release or be returned to institutional care.
She also noted that prosecutors had “vehemently” opposed Geyser’s conditional release at a January hearing, arguing against transferring her from the Winnebago Mental Health Institute to the group home. At the time, prosecutors alleged Geyser had engaged in “violent” communications with a man outside the facility and had read a book with “themes of sexual sadism and murder” while in treatment.
“What we know is that there was a period of time between approximately 8 o’clock on Saturday evening to when she was taken into custody in which she was not monitored by any person, she was on the loose and her whereabouts were unknown,” Boese said. “So, we take this very seriously.”
Boese added that when a victim advocate from her office contacted the family of stabbing survivor Payton Leutner on Sunday afternoon, they had not yet been informed of Geyser’s alleged escape.
An extradition hearing to return Geyser to Wisconsin from Illinois is expected to be held on Tuesday.
Before she was located, Madison police said Geyser was last seen in Madison, Wisconsin, around 8 p.m. on Saturday with an adult acquaintance. Police shared a recent surveillance image of her in a statement on social media.
“Geyser will be held until transfer to Cook County for an extradition hearing at 26th and California,” the department said, referring to the Criminal Court Administration Building in Chicago. The exact timing of that hearing was not immediately clear.
Before her arrest, Geyser’s mother, Angie Geyser, released a statement to ABC News on Sunday pleading for her daughter’s safe return: “If you see Morgan, please call the police. Morgan, if you can see this, we love you and just want to know you are safe.”
Geyser’s attorney, Tony Cotton, also urged her in a statement to ABC News to surrender to authorities, saying it was “in her best interest” to do so.
In March, Waukesha County Circuit Court Judge Michael Bohren ordered Geyser’s release from the Winnebago Mental Health Institute to a group home after three psychologists testified that she was ready for supervised release. As part of the conditions, she was required to wear a monitoring bracelet.
According to police, Geyser removed that bracelet and left the group home sometime on Saturday night.
Geyser and her co-defendant, Anissa Weier, were both 12 years old in 2014 when they lured their friend, 12-year-old Payton Leutner, into the woods in Waukesha. There, Geyser stabbed Leutner 19 times while Weier watched. The two then left Leutner in the woods. Bleeding and gravely injured, Leutner managed to pull herself to a nearby path where she was found and rushed to the hospital with life-threatening wounds.
Leutner survived the attack, which drew international attention after Geyser and Weier told investigators the stabbing was meant to please “Slender Man,” a faceless, fictional horror character with a devoted online following.
Geyser pleaded guilty to first-degree attempted intentional homicide and was committed to the Winnebago Mental Health Institute in 2018. She was later found not guilty by reason of mental disease or defect and sentenced to up to 40 years in a psychiatric institution.
Weier was also found not guilty by reason of mental disease or defect after pleading guilty to a lesser charge. She was sentenced to up to 25 years in a psychiatric institution and was granted supervised release in 2021 at age 19.
In an interview with ABC’s “20/20” in October 2019, Leutner said she had worked hard to recover from the attack and rebuild her life. She said she was determined to reclaim her story.
“I’ve come to accept all of the scars that I have,” Leutner told ABC’s David Muir. “It’s just a part of me. I don’t think much of them. They will probably go away and fade eventually.”
