Slender Man stabbing: court examines disturbing evidence

Two girls accused of stabbing their 12-year-old friend 19 times after fixation on fictional character

Slender Man fictional internet monster
(Image credit: Slender Man Wikipedia page (labelled for reuse))

Disturbing evidence has been revealed in the case against two young girls accused of stabbing their friend 19 times after developing an obsession with the mythical online character Slender Man.

A hearing was held this week to determine whether the girls, from Waukesha, Wisconsin, now aged 12 and 13, should be tried as adults.They are accused of luring their 12-year-old victim into a wooded area to carry out the attack during a sleepover in May last year. The victim has since recovered enough to return to school.One of the suspects told police at the time that if they had not carried out the attack, her family would have been killed by Slender Man, an imaginary monster first created on a comedy internet forum and often portrayed as a tall, thin figure with a blank face and tentacles protruding from his back.The judge was presented with a notebook, containing 60 pictures of Slender Man, and six dolls with red marks drawn on their bodies, all belonging to the younger suspect.Annotations in the notebook included "You are strange child it will be of my use [sic]" and "He still sees you". There was also a list of supplies, including pepper spray, map of forest, camera, cheesecake, "the will to live", flashlights and "weapons (kitchen knife)".One picture showed a scythe-wielding girl standing over a dead body with a speech bubble that read "I love killing people".The evidence was put forward by the suspect's defence lawyer in a bid to show that she was convinced that Slender Man posed a threat, reports the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.Clinical psychologist Dr Deborah Collins said the suspect had an "enduring belief in the reality of Slender Man", as well as a belief in Vulcan mind control and Harry Potter characters.Collins said the only time the 12-year-old expressed sadness was when she believed her visits from Lord Voldemort would be taken away by medication.

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE
https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/flexiimages/jacafc5zvs1692883516.jpg

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up