Two Wisconsin girls charged with attempted murder of now 13-year-old classmate Payton Leutner last Memorial Day weekend have come clean about their need to satisfy the demands of the fictional character known as Slender Man who preys on children.
Slender Man originated as an Internet meme, the main function of which was to instill fear in society, but the use of the unusually tall character - who is often depicted as having tentacle arms, blank face and wearing a suit - in various narratives has allowed some to breathe him into life.
This was the case with Morgan Geyser and Anissa Weier, the two girls accused of stabbing Leutner 19 times and leaving her to die in a park in Waukesha, about 20 miles west of Milwaukee. Leutner crawled to a nearby highway where a biker saw her and called an ambulance.
In a haunting new police interrogation video, the girls admitted that they lured Leutner to follow them into the woods by saying they were all going bird watching.
After they stabbed their "friend," they attempted to comfort her.
"We told her we were going to get help, but we really weren't. We were going to run and let her pass away. So, we ran," one girl explained in the video.
In the 9-hour surveillance video, the girls referenced Slender Man and the need to please him, according to USA Today.
Weier discovered Slender Man on a website called Creepypasta Wiki, which allowed for the fantasy horror creature to make his way into reality and spawned the awful premeditated attack.
"It's a website full of stories that are meant to purposely scare you," Weier said. "He has these proxies, or servants some call them."
"He watches you," one girl told police. "I've never seen him. He's everywhere."
Geyser also claims in the video that she and the victim were longtime friends, but killing her was "necessary," WISN reported.
The two were heard voicing inconsistencies in the audio recording, and they often blamed one another when asked who initiated the plan to harm Leutner.
Investigators found disturbing and violent images and objects in one of the girl's rooms. Dismembered Barbie dolls and creepy images of Slender Man were recovered and shown in court this week, ABC News reported.
They told authorities they were on their way to a national forest in northern Wisconsin with hopes to find Slender Man and his mansion, according to USA Today.
Five hours after Leutner was taken to the hospital, the girls were arrested. If convicted as adults, they may serve up to 65 years in prison. The judge will decide on March 13 whether or not the trial will be moved to adult court. The girls' attorneys are fighting to have the case played out in a juvenile court, where the maximum penalty consists of being held in a secure facility until the age of 25.
The victim has recovered from the stab wounds that came millimeters from killing her instantly, but she is still suffering from the emotional damage that this traumatic event has caused.
