Slender Man stabbing

On May 31, 2014, in Waukesha, Wisconsin, United States, two 12-year-old girls, Anissa Weier and Morgan Geyser, lured their friend Payton Leutner into a forest and stabbed her 19 times in an attempt to appease the fictional character Slender Man. Leutner crawled to a road where she was found, and recovered after six days in the hospital. Weier and Geyser were found not guilty by mental disease or defect and committed to mental health institutions for sentences of 25 years to life and 40 years to life, respectively. After seven years, Weier was granted early release and will be under supervision until age 37. Slender Man is a fictional entity created on the Something Awful online forums for a 2009 Photoshop paranormal image contest. The Slender Man myths were later expanded by other people, who created fan fiction and artistic depictions of the entity. Slender Man is a tall, thin character, with a featureless white face and head. He is depicted as wearing a black suit, and is sometimes shown with tentacles growing out of his back. According to the Slender Man myths, the entity can cause amnesia, bouts of coughing, and paranoid behavior in individuals. He is often depicted hiding in forests. The stabbing took place in David's Park, a wooded area near Waukesha, Wisconsin, during a game of hide-and-seek on May 31, 2014. The perpetrators, Anissa Weier (born November 10, 2001) and Morgan Geyser (born May 16, 2002), pinned down Payton Isabella Leutner (also known as Bella, a nickname used at the time of the crime) and stabbed her nineteen times in the arms, legs, and torso with a blade. Two wounds were to major organs; one missed a major artery of her heart by less than a millimeter, and another went through her diaphragm, cutting into her liver and stomach. Weier and Geyser told Leutner to lie down while they would find help, but they did not get any upon leaving. Afterwards, Leutner dragged herself to a nearby road where she was found by a cyclist. The cyclist called 911 when he saw her.