Slenderman Attacker Recaptured, But How Was A Vicious Attempted Murderer In A Low Security Group Home?

Summary

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Podcast Summary:

Podcast: Amy Robach & T.J. Holmes Present
Episode: Slenderman Attacker Recaptured, But How Was A Vicious Attempted Murderer In A Low Security Group Home?
Air Date: November 24, 2025
Hosts: Amy Robach & T.J. Holmes

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Episode Overview

This episode dives into the shocking recent escape and swift recapture of Morgan Geyser, one of the two girls convicted in the infamous 2014 "Slenderman stabbing." Amy and T.J. examine why Geyser was in a relatively low-security group home despite her attempt to kill a classmate at age 12; debate the fault lines between rehabilitation and public safety; explore the disturbing origins of the crime; and discuss the complex aftershocks for victims and the justice system.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. The Escape: What Happened?

• On the weekend before this episode aired, Morgan Geyser (now 23) fled her group home in Wisconsin by cutting off her ankle monitor and leaving with a 42-year-old man.
• Geyser was swiftly recaptured at a truck stop in Illinois, over 100 miles away, but the case raises profound questions about supervision, risk, and justice.

“She quite simply just cut off an ankle monitor and walked out.”
— TJ Holmes, [03:24]

2. Why Was She in a Group Home?

• Geyser, sentenced to up to 40 years in a psychiatric institution for the attack, was moved to a group home this past March after three psychologists testified she was ready for supervised release.
• Prosecutors had objected, citing evidence that Geyser was having "violent communication" with an outsider and reading literature involving sexual sadism and murder.
• The case highlights the tension between psychiatric evaluations and prosecutors’ public safety arguments.

“This was not a maximum security facility. She was moved into a group home to facilitate ultimate release. That was shocking to me…”
— Amy Robach, [04:00]

• T.J. questions the adequacy and diversity of psychological assessment:

"Where was the fourth, fifth, and sixth psychologists? I'm sure you could find somebody else who would say differently."
— TJ Holmes, [06:38]

3. Who Was the Man With Her?

• Geyser was found with a 42-year-old man, whose identity police have refused to release.
• He was charged with criminal trespass and obstructing identification, but authorities have kept further details secret, puzzling the hosts and raising questions about his role.

“Wait, a refusal to identify him doesn't make—what's the logic there?”
— TJ Holmes, [08:04]

4. Failings in Oversight & Privileges

• Amy and T.J. note that even after prosecutors warned the court of Geyser’s outside communications, and apparent lack of readiness, the judge proceeded with supervised release.
• The victim’s family, especially given Geyser’s demonstrated susceptibility to external influence (including internet-fueled violence), suffered significant anxiety during the escape.

“Can you imagine being the victim in this case, Peyton Lightner and her family?...That had to be a very scary 24 hours.”
— Amy Robach, [10:25]

5. Retribution vs. Rehabilitation

• The podcast explores whether the system’s emphasis on treating mental illness can trump punishment for particularly grotesque crimes, especially those committed by juveniles.
• Both hosts debate if genuine rehabilitation has actually occurred, or if Geyser's early quasi-release was a dangerous mistake.

“I thought in this country, it was retribution before rehabilitation. I thought that we were first holding people accountable for the crimes they commit.”
— Amy Robach, [12:32]

• Contrasted with:

“Our system, if we are to trust it, made a determination that something is wrong with these two 12-year-olds that went beyond them having full responsibility for their actions because of some mental defect. Let's get that worked out.”
— TJ Holmes, [13:31]

6. Victim and Family Reactions

• The Lightner family worked with police to ensure their safety during the escape.
• Expressed gratitude to law enforcement upon Geyser’s recapture and the support from the community.

“The family would like to thank all of the law enforcement entities involved in the efforts to apprehend Morgan.”
— Amy Robach, [14:35]

7. Recap of 2014 Crime & Slenderman Phenomenon

• Robach and Holmes revisit the crime: at age 12, Geyser and friend Anissa Weier lured Peyton Lightner to the woods and stabbed her 19 times in an attempt to impress the fictional internet character, Slenderman.
• Lightner crawled to safety and survived. The shocking case gripped the nation.
• The hosts discuss how internet urban legends influenced the girls’ actions, and the chilling question of how far influence and impressionability can go in adolescence.

“The lengths they went through to do this for a fictional character.”
— TJ Holmes, [22:21]

• Slenderman mythos: Described as a tall, faceless figure in a suit, targeting children and young adults—spawning online stories, a web series ("Marble Hornets"), and a wave of viral horror.

“There was a web series, Marble Hornets. Have you heard of that?...It established the idea that there were humans who could fall under Slender Man's influence.”
— Amy Robach, [24:04]

8. The Fate of Anissa Weier

• The co-perpetrator was sentenced up to 25 years in a psychiatric institute but was released under supervision in 2021 at age 19.

“She got off sooner and quicker. And we haven't heard from her at all. And look, I don't know if that punishment fits that crime either.”
— Amy Robach, [25:28]

9. Open Questions & Public Outrage

• The episode closes with uncertainty: Will there be more information about the man found with Geyser? Is the public protected, or has the system failed?
• Both hosts agree: this case will continue to attract scrutiny, especially from local journalists and those concerned with justice reforms.

“I think that most folks aren't going to let this go, at least journalists and certainly in the local area. ...what is now going to happen to Morgan Geiser?”
— Amy Robach, [26:24]

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• “She was on her way out and she decided. Decided. Yeah. To willfully cut off her electronic monitoring device and take off with a 42 year old man.”
  — Amy Robach, [08:50]
• “The escape plan was just a pair of scissors. That's probably shouldn't be.”
  — TJ Holmes, [14:07]

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Timestamps for Important Segments

• The Escape & Immediate Reaction: [03:24] – [04:42]
• Group Home Release & Psychiatric Testimonies: [04:42] – [06:49]
• Prosecutors’ Warnings Ignored: [06:07] – [08:50]
• Identity of the 42-Year-Old Man: [08:04] – [08:25]
• Impact on the Victim and Her Family: [10:25] – [11:55], [14:35]
• Retribution vs. Rehabilitation Debate: [12:32] – [14:06]
• Recap of the 2014 Crime & Slenderman: [21:53] – [25:09]
• Anissa Weier’s Fate: [25:28]
• Open Questions and Conclusion: [26:16] – [26:56]

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Overall Tone

The conversation is urgent, slightly incredulous, and deeply concerned, blending journalistic rigor with personal reflection as both hosts grapple with the limitations of forensic psychiatry, justice, and child psychology in such a haunting case.

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For Further Updates:
Amy Robach and T.J. Holmes promise to monitor developments in Geyser’s legal status and the mysterious details about her associate as the story evolves.

Transcript

[Amy Robach]

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[TJ Holmes]

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[Kalpen (Kal Penn)]

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[TJ Holmes]

Hey there folks. It is Monday, November 24th and one of the girls convicted in that shocking Slender man attack a decade ago just fled this weekend. She was recaptured a short time later, but that's not the point. And with that, welcome to this episode of Amy and TJ Robes. Prosecutors didn't want her to be in a position to be able to flee where she was supposed to be in the first place. This is going to raise some questions now because I how did she get away? Well, she quite simply just cut off an ankle monitor and walked out.

[Amy Robach]

Right. This was not a maximum security facility. She was moved into a group home to facilitate ultimate release. That was shocking to me because we are talking about now 23 year old Morgan Geiser. But she was 12 years old at the time of a very violent and extremely heinous crime where she left a friend and a classmate to die after stabbing her viciously 19 times while another 12 year old watched and egged her on. This made international headlines and it is shocking to me that she has the level of freedom she even had to be able to flee when she did.

[TJ Holmes]

Well, we have to trust the professionals who've been monitoring her for the past decade. The reason, again, if this was just that, that is shocking. If it was just 12 year olds involved and what you described. But then the added part of this robed and again it ended up being a movie was why they said they did it. It was just bizarre that 12 year old girls got so caught up in something that they're going to the forest looking for a fictional character.

[Amy Robach]

Yes. Trying to actually impress a fictional character named Slender Man. And we'll get into all of that because I actually, even though at the time obviously this was a big story that we all covered, you forget what actually it entailed. And I, my jaw dropped to find that she was already in a group home. And you mentioned the prosecutors. This all happened in March So she was sentenced to up to 40 years in a psychiatric institution. That seems appropriate given her age and given the level of violence in her crime. But this past March, a judge said that Geyser could be released from this mental health facility to a group home because three psychologists testified on her behalf that she was prepared for supervised released. She was supposed to wear this monitoring bracelet. This was supposed to be her kind of in between time when you go to a group home before you're ultimately released to freedom.

[TJ Holmes]

She failed the test, but.

[Amy Robach]

But yes, she did. But prosecutors, they actually tried to stop this in March because they said that they had evidence that she was having a. They called it a violent communication with a man outside of this mental health facility. And they say that within the facility she was reading a book with themes of sexual sadism and murder. So they felt like she wasn't ready to go to a group home.

[TJ Holmes]

Then why would a judge think otherwise?

[Amy Robach]

Because three psychologists said she was.

[TJ Holmes]

Where was the fourth, fifth, and sixth psychologists? I'm sure you could find somebody else who would say differently. But if did they work? I didn't see this. Those three, were they ones that had worked with her for years at this facility?

[Amy Robach]

I believe that was the case.

[TJ Holmes]

I mean, he's supposed to listen, right? Isn't he supposed to listen to them? I mean, he's making his. The best judgment he can, but he has to depend on some experts. That's what I'm trying to. I'm trying to figure this out. They saw something in her over the past decade that thought she was ready to take the next step. She did. She hadn't been in here long and she walked out of the place. And don't get me wrong, she didn't just walk out and go to McDonald's when she wasn't supposed to. This took effort, intent, and cut off her monitoring device.

[Amy Robach]

Yes. And okay, so prosecutors in the spring were warning about this man who she was having communications with, violent communications with. Well, turns out, we don't know if it's the same man, but she was found last night at a truck stop in Illinois. This is, you know, more than 100 miles away from the group home she was supposed to be in in Wisconsin. She was found just outside of Chicago with a 42 year old man who police interestingly, are saying they will not provide his name. They will not provide a booking, photo or any details of his involvement. But we know he was charged with criminal trespassing and obstructing identification.

[TJ Holmes]

Wait, a refusal to identify him doesn't make. What's the logic there?

[Amy Robach]

We don't know. In all of the, in all of the media reports, obviously reporters, journalists are trying to figure out who this guy is, this 42 year old man and police said we're not going to tell you.

[TJ Holmes]

Why?

[Amy Robach]

I don't know.

[TJ Holmes]

No, I'm sorry, I didn't see like why. Because of this, because of some privacy, because of something sensitive. What could possibly be holding on to.

[Amy Robach]

Perhaps they feel like he could be. Maybe the investigation to the investigation into what was going on between him and Amanda Geiser. I mean this Morgan Geyser, this might actually have a. I mean you would think it would have an impact on whether or not she gets to now stay in this group home. If she has to go back to the mental health facility, if she has to go to prison.

[TJ Holmes]

But is this not an automatic. She's out of the. You lose your group home prison.

[Amy Robach]

I would think that would be the case. She is being charged. We don't know exactly what it is yet. But look, this is. You could see her attorney, her parents, they were pleading with her like we fought so hard to secure your freedom and look what you've just gone and done. So yeah, she was on her way out and she decided. Decided. Yeah. To willfully cut off her electronic monitoring device and take off with a 42 year old man. And how she. I guess, I guess when you're in a group home, I don't know what the rules are, how strict they are, who you can communicate with, where you can go, how long you can be out. But certainly she willfully went against the.

[TJ Holmes]

Rules and this was only happening. Was she only talking to this guy while at the, the group home? No, she got privileges in the psychiatric ward to talk to who she wants to.

[Amy Robach]

So all we can go by is the prosecutors said when they had that hearing in the spring whether or not she would be transferred to this group home and they said that they had proof that she had violent communications with a man outside the facility. So that's interesting to me. When you're in a mental facility being held there for a, an attempted murder, I'm surprised that you're allowed to have outside communication with random people.

[TJ Holmes]

I mean maybe she, maybe she was violating privileges, maybe she was doing this and she wasn't supposed to be doing this. But I figured that.

[Amy Robach]

But it didn't hurt her in terms of her next step towards freedom, which is interesting to me. And especially this is a young woman.

[TJ Holmes]

Wait, they didn't find out about it and they knew about it before she was released.

[Amy Robach]

Correct. Okay.

[TJ Holmes]

That's right. The prosecutor is making that argument correct.

[Amy Robach]

And so my point, too here is you've got a young woman who has clearly proven that she is easily influenced by the Internet, because that is how this whole thing started. And can you imagine being the victim in this case, Peyton Lightner and her family? She survived this vicious attack on her own by crawling out of the woods. We can get into this crime because I. I had forgotten all of the details. But now you're hearing this old ex friend who tried to kill you and left you for dead just escaped the group home she was in. That had to be a very scary 24 hours.

[TJ Holmes]

Yeah. Where is she going? Where is she headed? She want to finish the job? I mean, you have to be thinking about that. I don't. I mean, I haven't kept up with this young lady and what she's been doing in the mental institute for the past 10 years. The progress she's made. I haven't. I don't know. How do you.

[Amy Robach]

How do you go? Because, yes, it's actually been less than 10 years. She was at this mental health facility. How do you go from being convicted to 40 years up to 40 years at a mental health facility and released into a group home in less than 10? That also has to be alarming. I'm imagining being the parents of Peyton Lightner, and a family spokesperson actually spoke out while she was on the lam and then had a statement when she was recaptured. But it speaks to where they were. I was thinking, wow, it seems crazy to all of us. It has to seem like an abomination of justice to them.

[TJ Holmes]

Well, the point of the system, right, is supposed to be rehabilitation. And when somebody's mental has been deemed to have some mental defect, or they put her there and not in prison. They put her there and not in a child or a juvenile facility. They put her there, and instead of. They made some determination that something is not right with her mentally. This is where she needs to be for us to give her care. Is the point of the care not to heal, not to get you to a better place? Or you think, well, we just spend your time here until we let you go out into the world while you're still got mental issues. So isn't the point supposed to be rehabilitation? Is it supposed to be to get her better?

[Amy Robach]

I thought in this country, it was retribution before rehabilitation. I thought that we were first holding people accountable for the crimes they commit. And when you commit an adult crime like that, there needs to be some form of punishment. And yes, of course, we would all want folks to be rehabilitated. We would all want folks to be able to improve and then become actually contributing members of society. But are some people, you don't know who is capable of that and who is not? And it's important to note Morgan Geyser and the other sixth grade classmate, Anissa Weyer, who was egging her on, was watching while the stabbing was going on. They were initially charged as adults. Do you remember that? They were initially charged as adults. And they pleaded guilty to stabbing Lightner. And then their guilty pleas were vacated because they were found not guilty by reason of mental disease or defect. And that's when both of them were sent to mental health facilities instead of to prison.

[TJ Holmes]

So that's the point there. It's not always. Yes, rehabilitation has to start first. Right. You can't have folks retribution, as you said, if you're deemed not mentally there when you committed the crime. Those rules and those laws are there for a reason. Our system, if we are to trust it, made a determination that something is wrong with these two 12 year olds that went beyond them having full responsibility for their actions because of some mental defect. Let's get that worked out.

[Ryan Seacrest]

Okay?

[TJ Holmes]

I mean, I have to trust that that's the way the system is supposed to work. Thank goodness nobody got injured or hurt or killed in this particular one. But there's so much. How many others like this are there? How many other times has someone done this? And this just happens to be high profile. Maybe this is an indication of how jacked up our system is that something like this can happen. When you have someone who tried, who stabbed somebody 19 times, and the escape plan was just a pair of scissors. That's probably shouldn't be.

[Amy Robach]

That's disturbing. And the Lightner family after she was apprehended? Well, first of all, while she was on the. On the run, she was saying they were working closely with police to make sure that they were safe. So they obviously were given some sort of protection while Geyser was on the lam. And then they said the family would like to thank all of the law enforcement entities involved in the efforts to apprehend Morgan. The Lightner family also wishes to thank the outpouring of support from family, friends and well wishers who have contacted them during this difficult time. That was interesting to me.

[TJ Holmes]

Yeah. I don't know how she's. I mean, how is she doing at 23, but you talking scary. I mean, there was a. An attempted murderer on the loose and if you're the family of the person she attempted to murder. Yeah, that's a. I don't know where the family is. It was. This all happened in Wisconsin, the original crime. And this young lady had gone over into Illinois. But what was she doing? Where was she going? What was the point? I haven't seen anything about that yet. What was the motive? It. It could have been. Could it have been innocent? Right. If she's not all there, not right. Maybe she's influenced the guy wants to take her and go get married somewhere or take her to a nice restaurant. Who knows?

[Amy Robach]

I just know.

[TJ Holmes]

But is it always? Do we have to assume nefarious intent? Yeah, because she's attempted murder.

[Amy Robach]

Yes. And I just have to go back to the prosecutor's original concern that she was having violent communications with a man and was reading books with themes of sexual sadism and murder. So that. That is concerning, like no matter what. So when we come back, we're going to talk about the crime. I just a refresher because this is worth remembering just in terms of what the crime actually entailed and who Slenderman actually is and where the other girl in all of this, the other 12 year old, where is she? What happened to her? A GLP1 helped you lose weight, but now you're noticing unwanted facial changes.

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[Amy Robach]

Continuing our conversation on this story that got a lot of folks attention over the weekend to now 23 year old Morgan Geyser, who was a part of that vicious, heinous Slenderman attack on her at the time she was 12, she viciously stabbed her 12 year old friend and classmate 19 times alongside another young 12 year old girl who was standing by and egging them on. She escaped from a group home and I, you could say escaped, but she was on her way to securing her freedom. She was placed from a mental institution where she had been for the past decade and then released to a group home where she eventually was on her way to being released fully into society. But she cut off her ankle bracelet and took off with a 42 year old man. And prosecutors had a lot of concerns about where her head was, where her focus was given, a book she was reading and communication she was having with a man while she was inside the facility. And so here we are, she has been apprehended. But it, it's important to go back and actually remember this crime in 2014. This was sadistic and to see it happen among 12 year olds is just more than appalling.

[TJ Holmes]

It's inexplicable. Where I have a 12 year old, got to this point, two 12 year old girls and it's almost to a point you have to wonder are they okay? Well I say okay, I hate saying what's wrong with them, but something is, is off, something is not right. And that's maybe why they ended up where they ended up in mental facilities. But the details of this, I know girls and young girls and young teenagers, young kids, these are tweens, right? I know they can be easily influenced.

[Amy Robach]

You have a 12 year old, this.

[TJ Holmes]

Is other level stuff. The lengths they went through to do this for a fictional character.

[Amy Robach]

These are sixth graders. And you know what, they were friends too. That's what's so scary. So this was Morgan Geiser who we've been talking about, Anissa Weir and then the victim Peyton Lightner. But they were all at a slumber party and it was I believe Morgan's birthday and so they told her they wanted to play a game of hide and seek in the woods. But they planned this out they said. Initially Geyser said they were gonna stab her while she was sleeping. But they waited until the next morning, went out into the woods and they, I mean, well, not that well. Geyser stabbed her and Weiher watched 19 times, left her for dead, walked back home and went about their business. Meantime, Leitner literally crawled to safety and went to the hospital with life threatening injuries and remarkably she survived. But it's all about.

[TJ Holmes]

That was incredible to me that that young lady, how she had 19 stab wounds. I mean they're not all deep, penetrating, but still. You got stabbed 19 with a kitchen knife. It seemed impossible. When you hear 19, like, how'd she survive that? But she made it up.

[Amy Robach]

And so, yes, they all claimed that they were trying to impress and prove that this Slender man was real. And look, you go online and try to figure out who Slender man is. There are stories that have taken over for quite some time. But right around, I think just 2006, 2007, they started to come up everywhere. And there was a web series, Marble Hornets. Have you heard of that?

[TJ Holmes]

Marble Hornets, Yeah.

[Amy Robach]

So it established the idea that there were humans who could fall under Slender Man's influence. And so they talk about Slender man. If you don't know who he is. He's this tall, thin, fictional character who wears a suit, has tentacle, like arms. He wears. Yeah, a dark suit and a tie. And he targets children and young adults. And this is just supposed to. I don't know if it was meant to scare kids, some sort of urban legend sort of thing, but these kids fell under this belief, and there was some sort of a website where you could prove that he was real. And so by doing this, they were trying to prove that he was real, that he was going to somehow acknowledge this sacrifice they had made in his honor. It was just bizarre.

[TJ Holmes]

Boy, that's why they tell you you got to know what your kids are doing online. Right. That's wild. And it was influenced. Were they impressionable enough? I don't know. But to take these extremes, even if you went out into the forest on your own to look for the guys. One thing. But it's just I never got real answers to this story.

[Amy Robach]

I don't like. Look, you can. I think. Think about Sabine and sweet Sabine. Like, could you. Could she be easily influenced to think something was real that wasn't? Maybe not, but save. And she was. Don't you have to have something in you then to be able to do that to your friend?

[TJ Holmes]

I don't know.

[Amy Robach]

That's the scary thing. That's the scary thing. And I mentioned the other. The other young woman, Anissa Weier, again. She was the one who watched and goaded on Morgan Geyser to continue the stabbing. She was sentenced up to 25 years in a psychiatric institute, but in 2021, she was granted supervised release, so she was 19. So she got off sooner and quicker. And we haven't heard from her at all. And look, I don't know if that punishment fits that crime either. It's just. This is. They did not spend the time that they were sentenced to. I guess it's up to so it's discretionary, but certainly these young women, it's a little scary to think about them being out in the world given what they were convicted of doing.

[TJ Holmes]

But she's back. Took 24 hours. I wonder if we'll get more answers about this and certainly wonder if we will hear who this guy is that she was with.

[Amy Robach]

Yes, I think that most folks aren't going to let this go, at least journalists and certainly in the local area. You think people are going to be in media outlets are going to be asking for answers in terms of who this man is, what his role was, and what is now going to happen to Morgan Geiserville. But we will make sure to keep you updated on all of what's going on in this case in the Slender Man Escape. But thank you so much for listening to us, everybody. I'm Amy Robach alongside TJ Holmes. We'll talk to you soon.

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[Jay Shetty]

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[Amy Robach]

This is an iHeart podcast. Guaranteed human.