Morgan Geyser is no longer trying to get released from her commitment to a mental hospital in the Slender Man case

WAUKESHA - Morgan Geyser, one of two women who pleaded not guilty by reason of mental defect in what became known as the Slender Man stabbing attack on a friend, has withdrawn her petition for conditional release from a mental hospital.

The decision was contained in a letter from Geyser's attorney to Waukesha County Circuit Court, where it was reviewed and approved by Judge Michael Bohren on Tuesday.

Geyser, now 20, had filed the petition in June in the hope of serving the remainder of her 40-year commitment term and treatment in a community setting, an action that would have required the support of three medical professionals approved by the court.

While details of the reports remain confidential, the one submitted by Dr. Deborah Collins, president of Behavioral Consultants Inc. and director of the Wisconsin Forensic Unit, to the court on Aug. 4 was apparently enough to prompt Geyser, through her attorney, to back away from her request.

Geyser had hoped to follow a similar path that successfully resulted in the conditional release of Anissa Weier, her co-defendant, in 2021.

Together, when they were 12, they plotted the stabbing death of their sixth grade friend and classmate Payton Leutner in May 2014, infamously to appease or impress Slender Man, a fictional internet character. Despite 19 stab wounds, Leutner survived after a bicyclist spotted her in the woods near a park on the city of Waukesha's southern edge.

Geyser has remained at the Winnebago Mental Health Institute since she was found not guilty by reason of mental disease or defect in 2018. 

More:Timeline: How the Waukesha Slender Man stabbing case played out over the years

During competency reviews early in the case, she was found to be an undiagnosed schizophrenic at the time of the attack. As she awaited trial on first-degree intentional homicide charges, she received psychiatric treatment and has continued that treatment under the commitment order issued by Bohren in 2018.

Her attorney, Anthony Cotton, was not immediately available to discuss Geyser's decision.

Contact Jim Riccioli at (262) 446-6635 or james.riccioli@jrn.com. Follow him on Twitter at @jariccioli.