Rick Wood/Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel via AP, Pool
- Anissa Weier watched as her friend stabbed another teen 19 times to prove "Slenderman" was real, according to prosecutors.
- Weier was charged but found not guilty due to her mental condition.
- She was sentenced to 25 years at a mental facility, and is now arguing she is ready to re-enter society.
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Anissa Weier, a 19-year old who was involved in a brutal stabbing incident in the name of the fictional character "Slenderman," is asking to be released from a mental health facility, where she has been since 2017, according to ABC News.
In 2014, Weier and her friend Morgan Geyser convinced Payton Leutner to come to the woods with them in Waukesha, Wisconsin, where Geyser stabbed Leutner 19 times as Weier watched on, prosecutors said.
The three women were 12 years old at the time, and Leutner sustained life-threatening injuries but survived the attack. Geyser stabbed Leutner because she and Weier wanted to satisfy "Slenderman," the fictional bogeyman, and to prove that he was real, according to prosecutors.
At a court hearing on Wednesday, Judge Michael Bohren reviewed Weier's request for a conditional release from the mental health facility. She was sentenced to 25 years at the facility.
Bohren looked over Weier's medical reports as well as a letter the teen submitted arguing for her conditional release and re-entry into society.
"I have exhausted all the resources available to me at the Winnebago Mental Health Institute. If I am to become a productive member of society, I need to be a part of society," Weier wrote.
Weier added that she has accepted responsibility for her actions as well as, "living with a mental illness, by communicating with total transparency to my treatment team members, participating wholeheartedly in all aspects of my treatment, and maintaining 100% medication adherence."
"I am sorry and deeply regretful for the agony, pain, and fear I have caused," Weier wrote. "I vowed after my crime that I would never become a weapon again, and I intend to keep that vow," she said.
As Bohren weighs on a decision, Weier was checked back into the Winnebago Mental health institute, and she is due in court next on June 11.
According to ABC, Leutner's family was present at the court hearing but did not offer comment.
At the time of the incident, Weier and Geyser were charged with first-degree attempted intentional homicide in adult court, and after pleading guilty to a lesser charge, Weier was found to be not guilty by mental disease.
Geyser was sentenced to up to 40 years in a mental health facility, and the two admitted that they carried out the attack to please "Slenderman," a fictional horror character who haunts children.