<div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>A US woman who at age 12 stabbed her sixth-grade classmate nearly to death to please online horror character Slender Man will be released from a psychiatric hospital, a judge ordered Thursday after a trio of experts testified that she has made considerable progress battling mental illness.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Morgan Geyser has spent nearly seven years at the Winnebago Mental Health Institute. She has petitioned Waukesha County Circuit Judge Michael Bohren, who committed her, for release four times since June 2022. </span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>She withdrew her first two petitions. Bohren denied her third request this past April, finding she still presented a threat to the public.</span></div></div><div><div id="adspot-mobile-medium"></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><strong><span>LIVE UPDATES: </span></strong><a href="https://www.9news.com.au/world/la-fires-live-updates-latest-news-as-malibu-and-hollywood-burn/0512218f-c03f-4be7-8ebf-7761b30ac4de"><strong><span>Man dies trying to save home from fire, sister says</span></strong></a><strong></strong></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Geyser, now 22 years old, filed her latest petition in October. Bohren decided to grant her release after a day-long hearing Thursday, finding that she had maximized her treatment options at the facility and is no longer a safety risk. </span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>He ordered the state Department of Health Services to set up a plan to house her in a group home and supervise her for his consideration at a hearing within 60 days.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>The judge said that her crime was a “brutal, terrible offence” but Geyser has since grown up and to be truly rehabilitated she must exist as part of society.</span></div></div><div><div class="OUTBRAIN" data-reactroot="" data-src="//www.9news.com.au/world/judge-releases-woman-who-stabbed-a-classmate-to-please-slender-man-from-a-psychiatric-hospital/9c841f8c-3419-4780-8782-58f540be468d" data-widget-id="AR_5"></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>“She's done what she's supposed to do,” Bohren said. </span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>“She appears to have a good attitude.”</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><strong><span>READ MORE: </span></strong><a href="https://www.9news.com.au/world/swiss-national-accused-of-spying-died-by-suicide-in-iranian-prison-irans-judiciary-says/31d325bd-f00e-4b4b-918d-d459142d3b74"><strong><span>Suspected spy 'dies by suicide' in Iranian prison</span></strong></a><strong></strong></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Geyser and Anissa Weier were 12 years old in 2014 when they lured their classmate, Payton Leutner, to a Waukesha park after a sleepover. </span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Geyser stabbed Leutner 19 times while Weier egged her on. Leutner barely survived.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>The girls later told investigators that they attacked Leutner to earn the right to be Slender Man's servants and they feared he would harm their families if they didn't follow through.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Geyser pleaded guilty to attempted first-degree intentional homicide and was sent to the psychiatric institute due to mental illness in 2018.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Weier pleaded guilty to attempted second-degree intentional homicide. She was also sent to the psychiatric centre but was granted release in 2021 to live with her father and was ordered to wear a GPS monitor.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><strong><span>READ MORE: </span></strong><a href="https://www.9news.com.au/world/celebrities-among-those-who-lost-homes-as-devastating-los-angeles-fires/22adfbef-cdb2-4cbb-be91-503d22da1933"><strong><span>How celebrities and the entertainment industry have been hit by the LA fires</span></strong></a><strong></strong></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Three psychologists who have been working with Geyser since she was committed to the institute testified at Thursday's hearing that she's made impressive progress in just the last six months and should be released.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Dr. Brooke Lundbohm testified that Winnebago staff weaned Geyser off her anti-psychotic medications by early 2023 and she's suffered no symptoms since then.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Dr. Deborah Collins said Geyser is always at risk of reoffending simply because she almost killed someone but she has worked on her coping skills, improved her emotional control and retreats into fantasy less frequently. </span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Collins added that Geyser told her that she hates what she did to Leutner and can't forgive herself.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><strong><span>READ MORE: </span></strong><a href="https://www.9news.com.au/world/los-angeles-fires-in-pictures-wildfires-race-across-southern-california/81b15bf5-586a-42ca-95c9-dc1882febeae"><strong><span>Satellite image shows true devastation of fires</span></strong></a><strong></strong></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Dr. Ken Robbins told the judge that she could become dangerous if she remained confined at Winnebago and lost hope.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>“The longer she's there, at this point, the harder it's going to be to re-integrate,” Robbins said.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Waukesha County Assistant District Attorney Ted Szczupakiewicz argued that Geyser couldn’t be trusted, noting that she claimed during evaluations last year that she faked her delusions about Slender Man and actually attacked Leutner as a way of escaping her abusive father. </span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>He hinted that was a ploy to make the release more likely.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>The judge shrugged that off, saying it's not unusual for mental illness diagnoses to evolve.</span></div></div>