On May 31, 2014, 12-year-old Payton Leutner crawled out of the woods to a path where a bicyclist found her bleeding from 19 stab wounds. Leutner, who survived the attack, told authorities she was stabbed by two of her 12-year-old friends, Anissa Weier and Morgan Geyser.
The two Waukesha, Wisconsin middle school students told investigators that they plotted for months to kill their friend to appease the fictional Internet character Slender Man, a paranormal figure who stalks and kidnaps children.