Anissa Weier, one of two teenage girls charged with the 2014 stabbing of a classmate, Payton Leutner, on behalf of the “Slenderman,” a mythological monster created on an internet forum, has pleaded guilty to attempted second-degree homicide as a party to a crime, with use of a deadly weapon. The Associated Press reports that previously, Weier, who is now 15, had faced a charge of first-degree intentional homicide.
In 2014, Weier and Morgan Geyser, then age 12, were arrested after allegedly stabbing Leutner 19 times after a slumber party; one of the girls told police they were trying to become “proxies” of Slenderman. Miraculously, Leutner survived. In 2016, a Wisconsin appeals court ruled that both girls would stand both trial as adults.
Geyser, who has been diagnosed with early-onset schizophrenia, will face trial in October. The AP reports that following Weier’s guilty plea, her trial next month will look at whether Weier is not guilty due to mental illness—if so, she’ll spend three years in a mental hospital. If she’s found legally responsible, she faces up to 10 years in prison. Both trials will have sequestered juries due to the “significant level of public interest and discussion” surrounding the case.
