Teen pleads guilty to lesser charge in Slender Man attack
MILWAUKEE — One of two Wisconsin girls charged with repeatedly stabbing a classmate to impress the fictitious horror character Slender Man pleaded guilty Monday, but she still faces a trial in the case next month focused on her mental health.
Anissa Weier, 15, pleaded guilty to attempted second-degree homicide as a party to a crime, with use of a deadly weapon. She initially faced a charge of attempted first-degree intentional homicide in the 2014 attack on Payton Leutner in park in Waukesha, a city west of Milwaukee.
Weier spoke at length during the hearing, telling Waukesha County Circuit Judge Michael O. Bohren that she understood her plea and its ramifications. She also explained her motivation for participating in her classmate’s stabbing.
“I believed that if I didn’t go through with it, Slender Man would come and attack and kill myself, my friends and my family. Those I cared about the most,” she said.