Daily Mirror

Fantasy bogeyman ‘drove girls to knife attack’

- BY VICTORIA MURPHY

ACCUSED Weier and Geyser TWO girls accused of stabbing a classmate 19 times believed if they had not, a fantasy horror character called Slender Man would have kill their families, a US court heard.

Anissa Weier and Morgan Geyser were both 12 when they allegedly stabbed Payton Leutner 19 times and left her for dead in a park.

Payton, also 12, survived after a knife passed less than a millimetre from a major artery. She crawled to a road and was found by a cyclist.

Forensic psychologi­st Gregory Van Rybroek, told Weier’s trial in Wisconsin the delusion was so strong about the fictional character that she “couldn’t stop herself at the moment it mattered most”.

Weier and Geyser claim they were mentally ill at the time of the attack in a park in the city of Waukesha in May 2014. Weier, now 15, and Morgan Geyser told police they wanted to become servants of Slender Man and had to kill Payton.

Prosecutor­s argue Weier knew what she was doing was wrong, but went along with the attack to keep her friendship with Geyser. The trial continues.

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