- Are you going to put me in prison and I'm gonna rot and die? Please don't cut off my head. (Morgan singing) - [Dispatcher] 911, what's the
address of your emergency? - [Man] (indistinct) caller,
I'm on Big Bend that's a dead end just south of Rivera. I came upon a 12 year old female. She appears to be stabbed. - [Dispatcher] She appears to be what? - [Man] Stabbed. - [Dispatcher] Stabbed? - [Man] Right. - [Dispatcher] Okay. - [Man] Sir, you still there? - [Dispatcher] Yes, hi, sir. So, are you with
this 12 year old female? - [Man] Yeah, she said she's
having trouble breathing. She said she was stabbed multiple times. - [Man] Yeah. - I'm thinking, "Dear God, this is
really happening." [Narrator] Schizophrenia. Oppositional
Defiant disorder. Shared Psychotic Disorder. These are just a few of the diagnoses made by
psychological experts in an attempt to understand why one big delusion caused two 12-year-olds
named Morgan Geyser and Anissa Weier to do something absolutely awful
to their friend, Payton. On the sunny morning of Saturday,
May 31st, 2014, a man riding his bike in Waukesha, Wisconsin,
would stumble upon a horrifying scene. - [Dispatcher] Okay, sir,
are you with her right now? - [Man] Yes. - [Dispatcher] Is she awake? - [Man] She's awake. - [Dispatcher] Is she breathing? - [Man] Yeah, she's breathing. She said she can take shallow breaths. She's alert. - [Dispatcher] Okay, stay with her. We're sending the police department. Don't hang up, okay? - [Man] Okay. - [Dispatcher] Okay, hold
on just a minute, sir, we're sending officers. Is there any assailant around? - [Man] I didn't even
look, I don't see anybody. - [Dispatcher] Is there
any bleeding going on? - [Man] Her clothing has got blood on it. - [Dispatcher] Where are the wounds? Do you see where the wounds are? - [Man] No, I don't know if
I should be rolling her over and checking or not. - [Dispatcher] Okay, just stay
with her and just let me know if she's conscious or alert
or stops breathing, anything. Hold on, I'm gonna talk to the ambulance. Police are also in route. - [Man] I'm bothering you, though? You want shade? Okay. Who did that to you? Or don't you wanna talk? It's better not to talk (indistinct) your energy. Later that day Payton's best
friends would be discovered sitting on the side of the I-94
freeway covered in blood. Today we'll be taking a look
at the harrowing interrogations that followed. You'll hear the girls refer
to Payton as Bella at times. This is a nickname the victim
went by since first grade when there were two Paytons in her class. One thing that stands out
about these interviews is the lack of parental presence. For children this age, it is unusual, although there is no statute requiring it. And the other thing that
makes these clips so different from what we usually cover
is that there was virtually no need for classic
interrogation techniques because the suspects are
extremely forthcoming with talking about exactly what they did to a shocking degree. Morgan sits doubled over
as if trying to minimize her presence. And then one of the strangest
openings to an interrogation I've seen in a while. - [Man] Did you think you guys
were going to just run away? Just up and live in the forest? - I don't know. I told her that we were going to die. - [Man] Why? - Because you can't just live in a forest. - [Narrator] Morgan is generally
passive and cooperative while waiting. - [Casey] Just waiting for
somebody to come back to- we gotta look at a couple of
things on you, okay? - Okay. - [Narrator] But all of
a sudden she pipes up to ask about the status of her victim. - Do you know what happened to Bella? - [Casey] Bella? Is Bella your friend? - Mhm. She's not Anissa, she's
the one who was stabbed. - [Casey] She was stabbed? - I'm not really sure. - Is she dead? - [Casey] I don't know. She was taken to the hospital. What do you mean no? - What? I was just wondering. - [Narrator] Although mostly quiet, Morgan is curious about the
procedures taking place. - All right, let me try to
get underneath your nails here a little bit. - What are you doing? - This is a DNA swab to
(indistinct) to see like maybe we are wrong (indistinct)
you talked a little bit earlier today. - [Narrator] She's noticeably
fidgety and agitated, making odd repeated arm movements,
doing a sort of dancing, shaking motion and performing
a repetitive hand motion, which could be symptoms
of her mental illness. Within several weeks of her arrest, Morgan would be diagnosed with
early onset schizophrenia. After her clothing is taken for evidence an interrogator starts
with opening questions to get her feeling comfortable
and establish a baseline from which he will
determine if future answers are truthful or not. - Everybody has been nice to you? - Mhm. - So have you had a long day so far? Well, I'm a detective here at the
Waukesha Police Department, okay. - Okay. - Something happened today with what looks like two
of your friends. So I gotta talk to you
about that a little bit. - Okay. - So, I got some questions for you today. How old are you? - I'm 12. - 12. So, did you just have a
birthday not so long ago? What did you do for your birthday? - Mommy and I had sushi
and cupcakes with Daddy. - [Narrator] He then starts to
establish a rapport with her by asking casual questions
and relating her birthday to his own daughter. He may also be having issues accepting that a seemingly sweet little girl is sitting in front of him, accused of such a horrible crime. He's likely trying to
assess her mental state. - That's funny, my daughter
just had her 11th birthday. She got sushi for her birthday too. You're a year older than her though, but her birthday was last week too. Pretty close in age. It's funny that you guys both
like sushi. So did you guys get
presents for your birthday? - Mhm. What'd you get? - Tickets to a Star Trek convention. - Where's that at? - I don't know. - Well, is it coming up, or? - It's soon. - Do you like Star Trek? - Yeah. - When's your last day
of school coming up? - I don't know. I'm not excited though
'cause I like school. - Really, that's good. My daughter's like that. - [Narrator] Morgan may
have liked going to school, but in a lot of ways she didn't fit in. And reading through the
legal documents for this case shows that there were
several warning signs she exhibited in the classroom. Teachers say Morgan was
an odd kid and a loner. Frankly, all the other
kids thought she was weird and her instructors assumed
she was trying to act bizarre on purpose to gain attention. As the school year continued however, they began to realize there
may have been something more sinister brewing under the surface. But they would put the
pieces together all too late. It all started with quirky, but
seemingly innocent behavior. One day in the beginning
of the school year, Morgan chased after other
kids and barked at them. An incident that one teacher
only described as strange. She would run away from
other kids and say Snape, the Harry Potter
character was chasing her, but her behavior was about to
go from quirky to disturbing. A group of girls found
Morgan playing with blood in her fingers. They reported the incident
to her math teacher who proceeded to contact her mother. Morgan's mother replied that Morgan had been going on scary websites. One of these websites
was the Creepypasta Wiki, a website consisting of
fictional horror stories and online urban legends. The teacher suggested that
Morgan no longer visit these types of websites, but it doesn't seem her advice was taken. At one point Morgan's extreme behavior led to her suspension from school. She snuck a rubber mallet into her locker. Unfortunately for Morgan
when she opened the locker, it fell onto the ground
in front of her peers who reported it. Morgan told the principal that the mallet was for her protection. When pressed on the issue
by the school counselor, she stated she only said
it was for protection because she didn't know what else to say. Once she was suspended, she crumbled to the ground and cried. The principal then witnessed
Morgan talking to herself and noted that it was odd. Odd enough to report this
to her parents as well. Once Morgan returned to school, other students began
noticing a strange journal she would carry around. And one student noticed she
had written the word die. Again, Morgan found herself
getting into trouble. And this time she was
extremely distressed. She was particularly worried
about getting into trouble at home. When her parents were
contacted, her father stated he was aware of the
journal and it told Morgan not to take it to school. Overall, Morgan was a
troubled and strange child, but she did have one best friend and that was Peyton Leutner. Peyton had been friends with
Morgan since fourth grade where she'd often noticed
her sitting alone. She reached out to Morgan and
despite her unusual habits, the two became best friends. And this act of kindness
would come back to bite her in the worst ways when
Morgan met Anissa Weier. By all appearances Anissa
was relatively normal in comparison to Morgan
and could be described as a teacher's pet. She often reported any
student who wasn't following the directions and had a temper. Still she was generally liked by her peers though she didn't have many close friends outside of her small circle and struggled connecting to others. This would change when she met Morgan early in the school year
and soon after, Peyton. Peyton wasn't particularly fond of Anissa. She described her as rude,
hitting people all the time and using curse words. But she only behaved this way
when she was around Morgan, as though she was trying to impress her. The dynamics and friend groups of three can be tricky to navigate and it is clear that this
case was no different. - So does Anissa like Bella? - Umm.. - I can't really tell who
Anissa likes and doesn't like. - So, you think she dislikes Bella? - Probably, yeah. She'd always call her,
I don't wanna say it. - Tell me. - She always called her a bitch. - Why? - I don't know, because she's being one. I'm just assuming. I don't really know what the definition is. - So, do you like Bella pretty much? Have you ever been mad at her? - She was my only friend
for a long time because-- - Why would you hurt your only friend? - It was necessary. - What do you mean necessary? - I don't know. - Somebody told you that? - Mhm. - Does Anissa have any other friends? - Mhm, I hate her other friends. - Who were the other friends? - There's this girl named Frankie and she seems to hate me. And there's this girl and
I don't know her name. - So, Frankie is the one
that doesn't like you? - Frankie doesn't like me. She said I was creepy. All I do is smile. - [Narrator] As Morgan began
hanging out with Anissa more frequently, Peyton noticed a drastic and disturbing change. And so did Peyton's family. Peyton's mother didn't want
her hanging out with Morgan as she believes she was a bad influence who got into trouble at school. In fact, there was even a strange incident involving Morgan at the Leutner household. At Peyton's sleepover her
parents found Morgan setting papers on fire in their basement. They told Peyton she should
no longer have any contact with Morgan, but she refused. And Morgan's behavior
only continued to escalate when she and Anissa's
Slender Man obsession began. Morgan showed violent
inclinations even in video games, telling Peyton she wanted to
set her Sims house on fire and starve her characters. She snarkily complained to
Peyton before the sleepover. "I don't know why your
mom thinks she controls "the plans of our party," which of course infuriated
Peyton's mother, but she still tried to remain supportive of Peyton's friendships
and allowed her to attend. Unaware of just how unhinged
the 12 year old's two best friends were really becoming. Back in Morgan's interrogation, the officer starts to assess her A&O, alertness and orientation. - So do you know who the president
is right now? - What? - Do you know who the president
of the United States is? - Yes. - Who is that? - Barack Obama. What do you remember seeing
on the news this morning when you woke? - Gross things. - What's gross things? - Kidnapping children and
then doing things to them. - Do you remember which time
or a specific incident? - Not really. I don't really pay much
attention, but it's all gross. - It's all gross? - [Narrator] Her response
that the news is all gross may be a symptom of her mental disorder. And you'll see Morgan's fixation on things she deems gross coming up again later. She's been eerily calm thus far and now the interrogator
seems to get concerned about her mental state. - Do you know where you're at right now? - What? - Do you know where you are right now? - Not really. - Where do you think you are? - At the police station. - [Narrator] Her response
appears to be an example of flat effect where in a
person does not express emotions in the same way normal people might. It explains why she speaks
in a dull, flat voice without much facial fluctuation. Morgan's behavior already
indicates all the classic signs of schizophrenia marked
by periods of psychosis. There could also be bipolar disorder or some other illness coexisting here. An attorney handling her
case would likely seek a court ordered evaluation
long before voir dire, because in the U.S. we
generally don't hold the mentally incompetent
accountable for their crimes. We can't try those people
because they are entitled to assist in their defense. If they are unable to
assist, then such a trial would be unconstitutional. Now let's switch gears and take a look at Anissa's interrogation. You might think that she
would act just as detached as Morgan, but the contrast
between how the two girls behave in this high stress
situation is striking. - All right, I found you some water. - Thank you. Are you doing okay, are
you warm enough in here? It gets kinda chilly
because of the- -all the concrete and the marble and stuff. Would you like a blanket? We can get you a little blanket. - I'm okay, thank you. - Okay. Do you need anything to eat? - I'm good. - You sure? - Mhm. - Okay, maybe as you kind
of relax a little bit, you might find clues
for when you get hungry. So, you drink some water, okay and I'll be right back with you, okay. - [Narrator] Anissa has her arms crossed and already sounds to be upset or crying. - Can I ask a quick question? - Sure. - If.. I just wanted to know how
far I walked. because I'm usually not very
athletic and- just wanna know. I'm trying to think of someplace
close to where I live. Do you know that K-Mart that
closed down in Waukesha? - Off of Sunset? I do. Mhm. - I walked from there- Morgan and I walked from the
condos close to there. The marshy area. (indistinct) Where the sheriffs found us. - Okay. Do you know how far that would be? You know, I'm not real certain. I think... Why don't I just try
to get some specifics as to where, 'cause I honestly don't know where the deputies found you I am being 100% honest with you. This whole time that I'm
gonna be talking today, I'm gonna be very honest
and I am not- I am not playing any tricks or anything. I see that you're upset,
but I will try to find out that information for you. - [Narrator] Asking the female
officer how far she walked is an odd, borderline
inappropriate question. Perhaps this could be an
attempt to disassociate from the situation by changing the topic. - This is about Morgan. She can be a little guilty and- (indistinct) - Oh, okay. - 'Cause like she said
she hears voices too, but I just wanted to tell you. - So we're aware of that. Maybe not (distorted sound). Well thank you for telling me that, okay. Okay, I'll be right back. - [Narrator] She says
that Morgan hears voices. This may be true and would be
an indicator of schizophrenia, which commonly passes
into the prodrome phase during adolescence and is
marked by hallucinations, including voices. It could be that Anissa
wants to exploit this aspect of Morgan's behavior to draw
attention away from herself and bring her conspirator into
question with the officer. But of course we can't be
sure of her intentions. Meanwhile, her interrogator
is very cordial. It's likely that her being a young woman, dealing with a young girl
gives an early advantage when it comes to gaining the
suspect's trust and compliance. - So I need to know the story
as to what happened today 'cause it's been quite a day. You know, anything, either
stuff that happened yesterday. And I kinda know bits and pieces, but I don't know the whole truth. And the only people that
know really what happened were people that were in the
place that when that happened. Your parents know that you're
here talking to me, okay. - Are they scared? - They're so glad that you're safe. We were scared for you guys, okay? - [Narrator] Unlike Morgan who is stoic and largely unbothered when discussing even violent subject matter, Anissa seems to be barely
holding herself together while answering introductory
questions about her life. And immediately after her
rights have been read, she breaks down a bit. - And understanding that you have rights, are you willing to speak with me and tell me what happened today? Is that a yes? - Yeah. The funny thing about this is I
didn't know I was in danger until after- Morgan stabbed Payton,
or Bella, as we call her. - They call her Bella? Do you go to school with Bella? - Yes. - [Narrator] This seems
to be an unusual trigger. And while it may be genuine, it suggests there could
be an act being played. It could be a diversionary
or distraction technique. Granted it could also just be a young girl overwhelmed by the reality
that she's gotten in way over her head. - Can we start from the
beginning so you guys- This was a birthday party, right? - Mhm. - [Narrator] The
interrogator moves herself closer to the suspect and
leans forward, closing distance and uses open body language
so as not to be imposing, offering reassurance and building trust. She also asks a very open-ended question. Tell me what happened to
get Anissa talking freely. - Can you tell me what happened. - So- - There's this website called
the CreepyPasta Wiki. - Okay. And it's full of horror stories that
are meant to purposely scare you through like the literature and all that. And there's one of them called Slender Man. - Sliver? - Slender Man. - Oh, Slender Man, like a skinny guy. - Yeah. - Okay. - And he has these proxies or servants as people would call them. - Okay. (indistinct) And Morgan then said, "Hey,
Anissa, we should be proxies." And I was like, "Okay,
how would we do that?" And that was around end of
December, beginning of January. - Okay. [Narrator] What's interesting is that Anissa
immediately jumped into talking about Slender Man when asked to explain what happened while Morgan doesn't even mention him
until way later in her interrogation. Perhaps this shows us where
the two girls' priorities, understanding, and motives
for the crime differ. And a proxy, again, what is a proxy? - It's like servants or like an apprentice. - Okay and they're the serving whom? - Whichever I... They kind of don't have a choice, Slender is like a really big- He's like the head of it all, supposedly. - Okay, so slender is
the big guy, the top guy and the proxies are his puppets. - Yes, that's how people
call them, puppets. - Okay, okay. Boy, I never even heard of this before, okay. - [Narrator] This interrogator
would later explain that she's never gone
into an interview as blind as she had this one. She'd initially assumed the
ordeal would be some petty fight over a boy, never would she have expected the real motive behind the
crime that Anissa is describing. - All right, so back in
December and January, Morgan told you like, "Hey,
we should be proxies." - Yeah. - And you then said what? - I said, "Okay, how will we do that?" And she said, "We have to kill Bella." - Okay. Okay, did you know why she said that, like why she should kill-- - 'Cause we had to
supposedly prove ourselves worthy to Slender. - [Narrator] Both girls
seem entirely cooperative and willing to spill the beans
with very little prompting. In fact, the lack of
hesitation on Anissa's part suggests that something
is very wrong here. We know she didn't think that
Peyton survived the attack, so we can infer that she would believe she played a part in a murder. However, Anissa might
be under the assumption that if she didn't do the actual stabbing, then at most, she would only be a witness and not in any trouble,
which is incorrect. We can also infer that there
is a mental defect at work here where the victim simply cannot comprehend the nature of seriousness of
the crime on an adult level. This is a common problem
with juvenile law, where children are often
treated as smaller versions of adults. Aside from some limited
U.S. Supreme Court rulings, juvenile law is a matter
left to the states. With Morgan's interview, we're going to see a similar naivete. - So today they asked me to come in
and talk to you a little bit about what's been going on with you. So it seems like you and your friends had something that happened this morning, and I'm not sure how far back that went. So I gotta try to get an understanding of what's all going on here
with your friends, okay. So before I do that, I gotta
read you a couple of questions. - Okay. - Have you ever had your
rights read to you before? - Yes. - What was that for? - Earlier today when I was in
a car with the police officer. - Did you understand your rights? - Yeah. Anissa had already told me them. - Anissa told you? - Uh-huh. - [Narrator] Morgan quickly agrees to talk and signs the form after
being read her Miranda rights without really thinking about it, which is never a good move. - So what's going on with you? Why do you think you're here today? - Because Anissa and I ran off
after hurting Bella. - Tell me what happened with Bella. - What do you mean? - [Voice Over] The interrogator
then similarly sets in with open-ended questions,
prompting her to speak in an unguided fashion. - Tell me what happened when
you first woke up this morning. - Anissa and I woke up at
like 5:30 in the morning and it was before Bella. So we went downstairs and
we took quizzes on Quotev and they were really weird. It was like with like to-- - On what website? - Quotev.com. - Quotev? - Uh-huh, the quiz website. - Is that Q-U... - O-T-E and V. - So you're taking quizzes
and then what happened? - And then Bella woke up
and came downstairs by us and then we took more quizzes
with her this time. - [Narrator] Morgan and Anissa
were obsessed with Quotev and in fact, less than
an hour before Peyton would be found bleeding on a sidewalk, Anissa attempted to ask
Peyton a bizarre question that she claimed was
from the quiz website. What would happen if
someone came up to you and tried to stab you? Peyton, not reading too
much into it at the time simply replied, "Well, I
would probably scream." - Okay, and then what happened? - And then we went upstairs
and played with silly putty. - Who went upstairs? - Bella, Anissa and I. And we played dress up
and I dressed up as (indistinct). And Anissa dressed up as, she
called it a (indistinct). It was short and inappropriate. - Where did you find the clothes? - They were mine that I had
collected over the years from like concerts and
stuff and Halloween. And Bella was a princess. - While Bella was changing
into the pink dress, we kinda whispered and talked about it for like three seconds. - Whispered? - We're going to do it today at the park. That's what Morgan said. - And then Anissa suggested
that we get changed. And then when Bella went to get changed, we sat and waited for her to finish. And then it was Anissa's turn. And- - [Narrator] Morgan folds
her arms between her body and the seat back during
this part of the story, this demonstrates concealing behavior, perhaps because she
omitted the conversation Anissa said they had at this point concerning killing Peyton at the park. - So, I took it, I opened
it and then I put it in the silly putty and then she came back and she thought it was funny. And then she threw the
silly putty at the ceiling. And she was like, "Wait,
wait, wait, it's sticky now." And then it, it's sticky now. And we had to hit it off
of the ceiling, I think. - They were also playing
with like silly putty. We were downstairs again. Morgan was playing Sims
and Bella and I were playing with our silly putty. - Downstairs in the basement or...? - It made funny farting noises. - Okay. - And then I had to get
changed out of my costume Then Anissa had to go to the bathroom,
so she came in the bathroom but I got changed in the shower. And then she insisted
on applying lipstick. - Who did, Anissa? - And I was wearing lipstick
and she was wearing lipstick. - And then what happened? - And then we came back upstairs
and we played with my cat. - Then what? - [Narrator] Morgan pulls
her arms into her shirt all the way, another indicator of furtive or concealing behavior. - And then Anissa told me to grab my
things cause it was time to go to the park. And then we took Bella to the park with us. - [Narrator] As the trio
got ready to head out to David's park, Peyton noticed
something very peculiar. Morgan was packing a large
bag with granola bars, pictures and clothes. And Peyton asked why in the
world they need a supply bag for a trip to the nearby park. Morgan seemed unfazed and
replied that they might need a snack and they were off. Before leaving though, Morgan
grabbed one last thing, a knife and tucked it into her waistband. Anissa described to
Morgan subtly showing her that she had secured the knife
while they were on their way to the park. - So then I look at her like
this and then she's like, and then she nods to me and then
put her jacket back down and I kinda calmly walk towards the park. I was trying to stay calm,
but I was like shaking a little bit like I am now. - Okay, and why did you start shaking? - Because I was nervous. - What were you nervous about most? - Seeing a dead person
'cause the last time I saw a dead person, it was at a funeral and it was my uncle. - [Narrator] She's nervous
in a self-centered way. In other words, only considering what she will personally experience. She has no empathy for what
her victim will experience or endure. This is a common indicator
of sociopathic behavior, though taken alone, it is not
enough to make a diagnosis. - We played around a little bit. Morgan kind of started
freaking out a little bit. So I said, "Bella, I
need to talk to Morgan, "she's freaking out a little bit." - What was she freaking out about? - Killing. She had never done that before. She stabbed apples before
with like chopsticks. But she never actually cut
a flesh wound into somebody. - How was she freaking
out, what was she doing? She said, "I can't do this,
I'm too scared, you have to." - Did Bella hear this? - No, Bella was outside. I told her to go outside and play. - And she was in the bathroom? - And then Morgan started freaking out, so I had to hug her and calm her down. - [Narrator] It's
fascinating how both suspects seem to be going back and
forth between calm acceptance of their intended crime
and panic in the face of the severity of what
they were about to do. - So the three of you went to the park? - Mhm. - And then we played on the
slide for a little bit. and we went in the bathroom. And then we were singing songs. - [Narrator] That's when
things took a bizarre turn. While singing depressing
songs in the bathroom, Morgan began to pace back and forth. - Was there something
about her in the bathroom? Tying in the bathroom or something? - Yeah, there was a drain
for blood to go down and then we were gonna sit her on the toilet, lock the door and then leave for nicolet.. nicolet. so that it would look like
that A, she wasn't dead and 'cause... - Like in the bathroom stall? - Mhm. So we were gonna do it
then in the bathroom stall and sit her on the toilet,
lock the door and crawl out and walk. - [Narrator] Then the
girls tried to tell Peyton to go to sleep. - From what I read on the CreepyPasta Wiki is if you kill people when they're
either asleep or unconcious and also if you do not look them in the eyes. So I asked Bella if she
could put herself to sleep. Is it okay if I have a blanket? - Yeah, (indistinct) let me get you one. - Thank you. - Yes, of course. - [Narrator] This statement
alone shows a lot of planning and devious thought going into the crime. This level of detail will be
used in court against Anissa. - 'Cause like, when you look into a
person’s eyes, you can see yourself, and you don’t want to be killing
yourself, supposedly, so... You don’t look in their eyes, and then... But when they’re sleeping or unconscious,
they can’t scream and wiggle around to make it harder for you. - Okay. - So then Morgan called me over to where
she was standing, which was by the sink. - Okay. - So then she said, "Can you try
to knock her out?" 'Cause I stand up for her every now
and then, 'cause... Morgan’s like prime target for bullies
at school, especially Devon… It's very interesting how she even strives to tie her violence
against innocent Peyton into talking about how she defends Morgan from bullies at school. - Anissa tried to knock Bella out. Bella got all mad and stuff. And I was pacing in circles
singing a song for Anissa. - Why did you guys pick
a bathroom to do it? - I didn't pick it, so I don't know. I guess it is closed off
from the rest of the park. But it would be a very, very easy- I think she has some flaws
in her thinking skills, so.. Obviously, I didn't choose the location. - [Narrator] Eventually Anissa
attempted to trick Peyton into getting inside a bathroom stall. She told her there was
vandalism in the toilet bowl. And though Peyton didn't
really believe her, she still wanted to see it. The three enter the bathroom stall and Morgan quickly latched
the door behind them. "The truth is there's
no vandalism," she said. Morgan then directed
Peyton to sit in the corner of the stall and held her arms
back before saying to Anissa, "I thought we agreed you would do this." At some point during this
tense trip to the bathroom, Anissa did stand over Peyton
before striking her head against the wall in an
attempt to knock her out. - So then I went like
that to her forehead, banged her head up against the concrete. And then she was just like, "Excuse you," then pushed my hand away. So I said, "Sorry, I got bored
looking for something to do, plus, my hands got really finicky. I lied. - So you think that that hurt
her or it didn't seem like-- - It didn't seem like it. - So you hit her slightly in
the forehead and her head in the door.. And you were doing this obviously so
you guys can kill her in there? - Yeah. - Basically yeah, she could fall asleep so you could kill her there. - Yeah. - I don't like screaming (indistinct). - [Narrator] It's clear
at this point that Anissa was more than willing to
forcefully render her friend unconscious just to
make the killing easier. The self centric behavior is fascinating. However, Morgan and Anissa hesitated from whatever they had
planned next and left Peyton for the next stall over to talk. Peyton sat and waited. It's unclear exactly what
happened to change their plan. But Morgan apparently explained
a bit of the Creepypasta lore to Peyton. - I couldn't do it in there. Morgan had to explain Slender
and Proxy and all that to her to Bella while we were
in the bathroom stall. - So, Morgan hands you the knife. - And tells me to keep it concealed. - Where is Bella at that time? - We went into the bigger stall. So, Bella like say the door is here, Bella was standing in the corner like this and then Morgan pulls her forward. And then Morgan crouches behind her and Bella crouches in front of her. And then Morgan held Bella's arms back. - What was she trying to do? - She was like trying to
restrain her from moving. - And what did Bella think of that? - She was.. Her facial expression was enhanced, but she didn't say anything. - [Narrator] Eventually Morgan
stood in front of Peyton, staring at her with her hand
rubbing against the bag. This time Anissa was holding
her hands behind her back. But moments later, they strangely said, "Just go out on the
playground and just play." Peyton had enough of their strange games and went outside as they suggested. However, Morgan and Anissa
stayed in the bathroom. And when they exited five minutes later, they had weird looks on their faces, like they had just done something. - So then after that I say, "Hey guys, why don't we go
take a walk around the block?" That's when I pointed
out to Morgan the bushes, the trees and bushes and all that and say, "You can take her in there and do the deed." - [Narrator] Doing the deed
is another phrase Anissa says to psychologically disconnect herself from the idea of taking
another person's life. - After we go into the woods,
we said we're gonna play hide and seek and Morgan
is going to be seeker. So, we hide, I tell Bella to lay down, face first in the dirt like... on her stomach. - Okay, hang on a second, you said
let's go take a walk around the block and then you
pointed out the woods to... - Morgan.
- Morgan and said... - We could do the deed there. And then she said, "I'm not
laying on my stomach in dirt. It's all squishy and there are twigs and sharp rocks everywhere. - So you're gonna play
hide and seek, right? Play and seek and then she
was supposed to be the seeker. So to keep her eyes from being able to
see where you guys ran, you wanted her to lie down in the dirt? - No, Morgan was the seeker
and Bella and I were hiding. - Okay, so you told her-
a place to hide. - Mhm, then... - And why did you want her
to lay down in the dirt? - So that I could sit on her chest and so that I could pin her
down and get better over with and then we could leave. - You were gonna pin her down? - Mhm, Morgan told me to pin her down. - Okay, and... - So I kinda... - She said no, so I kind
of pushed her forward and sat on her hip. And then she said, "Oww, I
can't breathe, ow, ow, ow." Then I got off 'cause she
was making a lot of noise. - Was she kneeling or something? - Yeah, she was kneeling
and then I pushed her. She was kneeling like this. - Okay, playing. - Playing with flowers and all that. - Okay. - I was standing right
here, I push her over. So like she went- And then I sat right here at
her hip while she's like that. And she started complaining
that she couldn't breathe, so then I got off of her 'cause she was making a lot of noise. - Okay. Okay, then what happened next. - Then I told Morgan that
she's not laying down. And then she said, "Tackle
her and I'll stab her." And then-- - Now, there was a time when
Morgan gave you the knife. - Mhm, and said that she couldn't do it. - When was that during all that? - It was before... - Hide and seek? - It was like after I tackled
Bella and sat on her hip. - Okay. So then, so you tell Morgan
she's not laying down. Is that what had happened? - And then she goes, "Okay, tackle-" "Okay, tackle her," and then I tackle her. I get off and then Morgan
hands me the knife and says, "I can't do it, you know where
all the soft spots are." I only know where soft spots
are because I used to watch- Doomsday Preppers and it
said that a hard blow to the stomach or the
throat with a sucker in between your fingers
can do some serious damage. - What does a sucker mean,
like a knife or something? (knocks on door) - No, a sucker being an
actual lollipop. - Oh. - And then she jumps on Bella and she holds her to the floor. - Who did? Anissa did this? - Mhm. - Where did this happen at? - In some trees. - How did you guys end up by the trees? - Because we were going to
look at plants and stuff. - How far off the road was it? - Not very. And then we stabbed her. - You stopped her? - With a knife. - You stopped her from what? - Huh? - You stopped her from what? - A knife. - How did you stop her? - I said stab. - Oh, stabbed her? - Mhm. - So, this happened in the woods. - It wasn't in the woods,
it was just a little group of trees. - [Narrator] Morgan admits to the stabbing in the same matter of fact tone she described her morning activities. Her demeanor is almost as if
she's talking about something make believe, which points
to her mental illness. Anissa provided a bit more detail about what led up to the stabbing. - And I tell her she has to do it. (indistinct) And she asked when and I
said, "Whenever you want." and she said, "I'm taking-
I'm doing it with- you want me to." - So she gives you the
knife and says you do it. - And then I give it back to her and say, "You do it, just go ballistic." And she said, "Okay, I'll
go ballistic, whenever, when you say you want me to." - [Narrator] Anissa
apparently told Morgan, she was too squeamish to do it herself. She explained that Peyton didn't hear this horrifying conversation because
she was playing with flowers. There's clearly some mental
disease going on here. Normal people don't act
like this as far as we know. And so despite appearing outwardly sane, Anissa also has some
mental disease or defect that will likely factor
into her trial proceedings. - I told her that I didn't care
when she did it. And she said, "whatever." So I started walking away
and then when I was five feet away, I said, "now," and Morgan said, "Don't be afraid,
I'm only a little kitty cat." And jumped on top of Bella
and stabbed her repeatedly. - Okay. - She told me that she got
her in the lung right here six times, and then like
in the leg a few times. - Okay. And then she walked away
covered in blood and then Payton started screaming, "I trusted you, I hate you all." And then I told her to
lay down and be quiet because I didn't want
attention being drawn. So I said, "Lay down and be quiet,
you'll lose blood slower." So then she laid down and Morgan
tried to clean her wounds with a leaf. - Did she try to get up? - Yeah, she tried to get up, she said that she couldn't see, she couldn't walk and
that she couldn't breathe. - (indistinct) Payton saying this? - Yes. - So, after Morgan stabs Payton, did Morgan just get off of her
and start walking away or... - Morgan got off of her
when I turned around and Payton was wobbling
around holding onto trees saying, "I hate you, get help." - Okay. - That's when I told
her to lay down and be quiet, you lose blood slower. - Okay, and really you just wanted her not to draw attention? - Mhm. So then...
- Okay. - When Payton was being stabbed, was she laying on the ground or-- - Morgan pushed her to the ground face first and went ballistic. - So, Payton somehow
gets herself to stand up. - Mhm, but she's wobbling
and then she collapses in a ditch and then she
says, "I can't see." And she starts kinda crying
and whimpering a little bit. And then Morgan tries to
clean a big wound on her leg with a part of a leaf, but
it didn't help that much. - Why was she trying to do that? - Because before this, Payton
was Morgan's best friend. Morgan was Payton's only friend. So it was hard for her to do that. - Okay. - I feel really bad. - Okay, okay. - [Narrator] The interrogator later
looped back to ask why Morgan said the bizarre kitty cat
line before the attack. - I said, "now," and Morgan
says, "Don't be afraid, "I'm only a little kitty cat,"
and then lunged for Payton. Went ballistic. - What do you think she meant by that? don't worry, I'm just a little kitty cat? - She said that she was gonna draw
cat whiskers on her face if she became a Proxy and
that would be her catch phrase, like with Jeff The Killer and with, "Go to sleep." - So did you guys talk
about doing this beforehand? - Anissa told me we had to. - Why? - Because she said that
he'd kill our families. - Who is he? - A man. I didn't know him, but Anissa knew him. - How did she know him? - I don't know. Anissa told me about him. - [Narrator] Morgan's
repetition of the facts remain very simplistic and emotionless as if recalling the gruesome
act doesn't sway her at all. - So when you guys went
back into the woods, did Payton, or Bella, know
anything about this? - No. - Where'd you guys get the knife from? - My kitchen. - Your kitchen? - Anissa did. - So, who left the house with it? - I think Anissa did, it was in the bag. - [Narrator] It's interesting
to note that Morgan says Anissa was carrying the knife in the bag while Anissa previously
claimed that Morgan had it in her waistband. - Anissa packed the knife,
we both packed the bag. We knew about this since December. One day she just told me that we had to. - What do you mean she
told you that you had to? - I mean, she told us we had to kill her. - Who did? - Anissa. - When she says us, what do you mean, us? Who's us? Did she mean the two of
you or somebody else? - There's nobody else. - Did Bella say anything while
you guys were stabbing her? - She said two things,
but it was afterwards. She said, "I trusted you,"
and she said, "I hate you." And she kept whispering, "I can't
see," over and over and over and over again. I can still hear it. - [Narrator] After the merciless stabbing, the girls lied to Peyton that
they were going to get help. - And then she started crying. There was no tears, but
you could hear her cry. And then... - What were you guys doing? Watching her? - We were slowly backing away 'cause we took the
opportunity to run. Like she couldn't see us, so we took the opportunity to run. - Did you tell her
you're gonna go get help? - Mhm. - Did you wanna actually get her help? - No. I kinda wanted to, but I knew
Morgan wouldn't want me to 'cause like we planned this for a while. - [Narrator] Flight
from a scene of a crime is an unsurprisingly often
used indicator of guilt. - So how many times do you
think you stabbed her? - I don't know, it happened very quickly. All I heard was screaming. - How many times did you guess? - I don't know. - So did you run through the
woods or did you run up the road? - We ran up the road and were running and then we hid in very tall grass. Not the tall grass that we were found in and then these police officers showed up. So, of course we hid. - Do you know which way you went then? What else did you see on your-- - Well, Anissa said that we had to go to
Walmart to refill our water bottles, and we did. - Which Walmart? - I don't know. - Is it like a (indistinct) one? - No. - The one over there? - The huge one. - On West Avenue? - Mhm, so we refilled our water bottles and went to the bathroom and
washed the blood off our hands. Will I regret giving you
this information later? - You know, this information will be used to try and get you some help so you don't have to hear those screams and don't have to worry about
hurting anybody anymore. - Okay. - That's my goal here, okay? So we've gotta figure out
how we're gonna do that. - [Narrator] Peyton would
drag herself out of the woods to the sidewalk where she
was found at 9:53 a.m. just 20 minutes after the attack. She had severe lacerations and punctures throughout her entire body
and was in extreme pain. She couldn't talk 'cause it hurt too badly and had to answer most of the questions from law enforcement with
a nod or shake of the head. Her injuries were life-threatening. One stab wound to her
chest missed a major artery near the heart by a measly one millimeter. A doctor later emphasized
that if the knife had gone the width of a human hair further, she would not have survived. There was fluid around her
heart and an injury to her liver and she was rushed off to intensive care. You'll notice that Morgan
is already starting to paint herself as a
follower in this crime, by suggesting that Anissa
told her they had to do this. - So when do you think it
was that you guys started talking about killing Payton? You told me before December? - Uh-huh, I don't know when it was. It wasn't my idea. - It was Anissa's idea? - I think so, yeah. - And so you guys have been
planning this for a while? - Since December. She was my best friend since fourth grade. - Who was? - Payton. - So, why did you pick Payton? - I didn't pick her. - Who picked her? - Whoever Anissa was talking about. She made it seem necessary
and I figured- if it was necessary, then I would. - So the person that talked to Anissa told her to do it. - Yup, but it was more than that. I don't know, she didn't go very in depth. - So what else had you guys
been doing to plan for this? Just talking about it, the two of you? Has anybody else known about it? - No. - So how did you know how to... What were you trying to do
with her when you stabbed her? - Kill her. I might as well just say it,
we were trying to kill her. I don't know why it was necessary
that it was her but it seemed very necessary. - [Narrator] I don't know
why it was necessary, but it seemed necessary. This statement suggests Morgan has little to no volitional control
over her own thoughts. - So, why did you wanna kill Payton? - Huh? - Why did you wanna kill Payton? - It's not that we wanted to. - Before, you said it was necessary? - Mhm. Why was it necessary? - Because... - [Narrator] The interrogator
revisits this point, but Morgan only answers, "because..." I can't figure out what part
of the illness this represents, but it's just bizarre
from a legal perspective. Criminals almost always have
a reason for their crime, some way to justify it
and square it internally. Here, we don't see any of that at all. Yet at certain points in the interview, Morgan does express a
fear that something bad might happen to her family. There is no logic present here. Whatever is going on, we are
seeing the manifestations of a malfunctioning brain. However, when we compare
her story with Anissa's it is clear to see that both girls are making their partner
out to be the leader behind the scheme. This is very important
because although both girls are blatantly admitting to
trying to kill their friend, determining who conceived of the plan versus who just took part
can establish the nature of different charges
against different suspects. - Is she really into the CreepyPasta? Is she like-- - Yeah. - So you said, "Okay,
how do we do that?" And she said, "Well, well we have to kill Bella." Meaning Payton. - Yes. - [Narrator] If you're
on the internet a lot or at least you were in the 2010s, there's a good chance you
already know who Slender Man is. But if not, here's a quick rundown on everything you need to know about the infamous horror figure. The Creepypasta website consisted
of internet urban legends and horror stories intended
to scare those who read them. Essentially these were fake
stories meant to scare kids. But for Morgan and Anissa, these stories would begin to
manifest into something real. Slender Man is a fictional
supernatural character that originated in photoshopped images on the something awful forums, often depicted creepily
standing behind children. He quickly spread as a
meme and gained popularity along with internet lore. He's often described as a
thin tall humanoid creature with a featureless face. There was also a popular
game where the player would have to collect
notes in a dark forest during the middle of the night
while avoiding Slender Man. When I first heard about this case, I actually assumed the
girls chose the woods for their attack to imitate
the game's erie setting. But it appears to just be a coincidence that this ended up being
the scene of the crime since it wasn't their first choice. Regardless, based on the
online fictional stories that spawned from the
meme, Morgan and Anissa believed that Slender
Man abducted children, killed people and lived in
a mansion in the forest. It didn't click that
these stories were fake, they believed they were real. And that's where the trouble all started. They wanted to prove the skeptics wrong. - And so she said, "Well,
we have to kill Bella "to prove ourselves to the Slender?" - Yes. - And what did you think of the
things she was telling you? - I was surprised, but
like also kind of excited because I wanted proof that he existed 'cause there are a bunch
of skeptics out there saying that he didn't exist. And then there's lots of photos
online and sources online saying that they did see him. - Okay. So, a lot of people believe
that Slender actually exists and they wanna talk about
this on the internet. Is that right? - Yeah. - Okay. And so you at first thought... - At first, I was kinda
surprised and didn't wanna do it, but later I didn't want to
leave Morgan all by herself out here because who knows
how many creeps are out here. So I decided to go along and tag along. Plus, I thought I'd be trying
to prove the skeptics wrong. - So did you say that you
actually had to kill somebody to do it? - Yeah. - Like for real? - Yeah. Then there's another
killer called Jeff the killer, on the Creepypasta wiki, but he's actually a real
person, Jeffrey Woods. He supposedly murdered his
whole family somewhere and then.. We found that out and we're just like, "Okay, so we know at least Jeff is real." - Okay. - So we wanted... So we got our hopes up and thought
that everybody else was real. - Okay. Then Jeff is called what online? - Jeff the killer. Then supposedly he went
insane, so he burned off his eyelids and took a butcher knife and cut a big smile on his face. And he has supposedly long black
hair about down to here. And he had blue eyes, that's
what the wiki said, also. - [Narrator] At times
it is unclear if Anissa thought she was involved in a sort of game or a real life or death situation. There is some question
as to Anissa's ability to understand what she had agreed to prior to the attempted murder. And after the fact, her comprehension seems to be in question. Her explanations while
accurate are also couched in very passive terms like tag along. It's likely she is
emotionally distancing herself from the act of attempted murder and minimizing the appearance
of any affirmative actions in furtherance of the crime. As she continues to
describe Jeff the killer and other figures, it becomes obvious from Anissa's tone of voice and sincerity that she has bought into this meme 100% even choosing to compare
herself to his appearance. - And he's known to exist. News reports say that he exists? - Mhm. If you go on Google images
and search Jeffrey Woods news article, a bunch of
news articles will come up and then there will be a picture of, excuse me, a 17 year old boy with- who kind of looks like me, but has... it was a black and white picture. And he has the same hair as me also. - Okay. Did you cut your hair to
make it look like his? - No.
- No. - That was just coincidence. - [Narrator] The interrogator
asks if Anissa cut her hair to look like Jeff the killer. The reason for this is to establish if this was a copycat crime,
trying to be like Jeff Woods. - And so you guys knew
that Jeff the killer as a killer in this triangle exists, so you thought it would
be exciting to find out, "Hey, we can be a proxy
and prove and do this." "Kill Bella, then we
know that Slender exists." - If we saw him, actually. We think we see him sometimes. Like when we were walking
up to where we were going. We saw him, like I saw him
out of corner of my eye on this side. And then Morgan said
she heard a twig crack when we were moving. Did you think that you guys killed Morgan? Or, I mean Bella? - Yeah. (Narrator) She has no shortage
of information to relay about the Creepypasta characters. - Like on a triangle chart,
Slender would be up here. Then there'll be like killers and then proxies. - Okay, so killers outrank the proxies. - Yeah. And then there's another Creepypasta that's supposed to be really powerful. It's like Zalgo or something. It's supposedly a demon with seven mouths that speaks with six different
tongues but the seventh mouth doesn't speak until the world
is about to end or something. That's what the wiki told me. - [Narrator] Leading up to the stabbing. Morgan had even begun
incessantly emailing Peyton Creepypasta characters,
like Jeff the killer, telling her they were
going to come to her window while she slept and kill her. She even began emailing
her newspaper articles in an attempt to convince
Peyton they were real. And fearing she would tell
her mother, Morgan told her, "You tell your mother nothing." Peyton became so disturbed by these emails that she began to sleep
intentionally facing away from her bedroom window
with the blinds closed and window locked even though her room became uncomfortably warm. Despite Morgan's warning, she
told her mother, who researched the characters online
with her to prove to her they pose no threat as they're fake. But Anissa and Morgan on the other hand, continued to believe they were real. With this background knowledge, it's no surprise that
watching Morgan interact with the interrogator
shows us more examples of how little grasp she has on reality. - This is going to get
me arrested, isn't it? - Umm.. - I won't take back any of it. [Narrator] Morgan is already
under arrest, and even allowing for her age,
she should reasonably understand this. - You won't take it back
'cause it's all the truth? And that's what's important
here is to tell the truth. - I know. One time I got suspended because
I accidentally brought a hammer to school. - Why did you bring
the hammer to school? - Because I was cleaning
my room and I shoved it in my backpack, so I
know that it's important to tell the truth. - How long was that? - A while ago, it was this year though. But it was an accident, I
thought you should know. - Like how earlier this year? - At the beginning. - So, were you gonna use a
hammer to hurt somebody or-- - No, no, it was an accident. - An accident? - We've been over it. I went over it with the principal. I figure you have
access to all those files if you need more information So I'm just gonna tell you. - You're a pretty smart girl. - [Narrator] Morgan's
mother has come forward to say that her child has lacked
empathy since a young age. For instance, when the family
showed her the movie Bambi, they were worried she'd be
devastated when the mother died. Instead, Morgan apparently
just said, "Run Bambi, run, "get out of there, save yourself." She wasn't sad about it at all. This example alone might be a one-off, but Morgan's mother claims
she can think of many examples of times Morgan hasn't reacted like you would expect a little girl to. - I read a lot of books about
things like this in the library. - What kind of books do you read? - I read a lot of books.
I read medical dictionaries. I read Harry Potter,
I read Star Trek books, I read just random books
that I get from- this one section about like different things. - So, (indistinct) So Anissa told you that somebody told her that it was necessary to kill- - I was confused a little bit. - What do you mean you were confused? - I didn't really understand
what we were doing, but I just, I was the one- who umm, the final killing. I don't know if she's alive though. She'd been crying. - What do you mean you were confused? - I mean, I didn't know
exactly why we were- I really didn't wanna make Anissa mad. It's hard enough to make friends. I don't wanna lose her
over something like this. And I don't know like what
happened (indistinct). (indistinct) It's our fault and she said before, we take full responsibility. - [Narrator] Having a hard
time making and keeping friends likely also stems from Morgan's
psychological struggles. As the interrogator starts prompting her to repeat her story, we
can see more examples of her lacking social grace. - So, where did you guys
get the the knife from? - My kitchen, I just said that. - Okay, and then who put it in the bag? - I think Anissa told me to. Anissa might have, though.
It's sort of foggy. 'cause I've been trying to block it out. - So you're not sure who put it? - [Narrator] Morgan has
already indicating impatience with the interrogator. Her statement that her
recollection of the knife is foggy because she's trying to block it out is probably another symptom
of her mental illness sliding towards possible psychosis. - Whose purse was it that
you guys had today? - It was my mommy's but she gave it to me I think in like first grade for dress up. - So you guys end up in your house, you guys get the knife from your house and you guys go down to the park. - My parents had nothing
to do with this, I promise. - I believe you, they seem
like really nice people. [Narrator] It’s fascinating how quickly
Morgan jumps in here to defend her parents. It seems like she thought mentioning her mom’s
purse would somehow throw them under suspicion, and even as out of touch with reality as Morgan is, that protective instinct towards her family
was at the forefront of her mind. So you guys went- When you say you guys have been
planning this from December, when did you decide that
you're gonna do this today? - In December, she said. - But how long did you know
that that May 31st, 2014 was--? - We didn't know it was going
to be May 31st, We knew it was going to be
at my birthday sleepover. You have no idea how difficult
it was not to tell anyone. - [Narrator] She starts speaking
very quickly to respond, her tone exuding impatience
with the officer. She doesn't seem to realize that this is inappropriate
behavior for the setting. - I just told them I wanted to be
locked up so that I couldn't hurt her, but- that time has passed
and now I'm in here because we were careless. I knew this would happen. I knew we'd get in trouble. - [Narrator] Morgan is
absolutely unconcerned about the victim at this point and is even trying to
shift blame to Anissa. Overall, she seems very
cold and disconnected. - So, you wanted to get locked up
so you wouldn't get in trouble? - I wanted to... I didn't really genuinely
want to be locked up, but at one point, I sort of did. I changed. - So you guys decided a while
ago that on a sleepover night that this is when you would do it? - In December. Yes. - Why do you think it
was your sleep overnight that you-- - Because we would all be together. It was a flawless plan actually. - [Narrator] Despite Morgan's
claims that Anissa told her they had to do it, Anissa made it out as if she couldn't even watch
while the crime took place. - So Morgan and I were also
debating who does the deed. And at first it was me, but like I said, I was too squeamish and
said, "No, you do it." So Morgan said, "Whatever you want." So like, I finally did have
enough and said, "Now," 'cause I was certainly
a little freaked out. And then Morgan jumped on top of Bella and started stabbing her repeatedly and that's when I turned around 'cause I couldn't stand
to see that. - Okay. - And then.. the whole time, Payton
was screaming and begging, saying stuff like, "I hate you guys." "I'll never forgive you." And, "I trusted you." (indistinct) and umm.. Sorry. - It's okay. - So we told her we were gonna get help, but we really weren't, we were gonna run and let her pass away. - [Narrator] She uses yet
another euphemism, pass away to avoid facing the reality that they essentially left her to die. At this point Anissa has
made a full indication of who committed the crime. Whether truthful or not, Morgan. She has also identified
the means, opportunity and motive of the crime. And therefore a confession
has already been cemented. At the very least, she
could easily be found guilty of conspiracy to commit murder
from this information alone. Further interrogation will
determine additional charges or reframe the crime
and cause a modification of the charges. At one point she shows a
bloodstain on her clothing believed to have gotten there
shortly after the stabbing. You see Anissa claims
that Peyton had gotten up and tried to walk towards
a street, stumbling. Annisa grabbed her arm
and directed her away, not wanting anyone to see her. Back in Morgan's interrogation, she continues to be incredibly blunt. So many of the things she says sounds straight from a horror movie script instead of a thought a 12 year old girl would organically conjure up. Perhaps this is an extension
of her earlier tendencies to seek attention by acting
as out there as possible. - Why did you guys go over by the woods? - Because I knew what we had to do. We brought her there and tricked her. The last thing she said to me was,
"I trusted you." And then... She said, "I hate you." And then we lied to her. Anissa said that she'd go get help. I didn't have anything
to do with the lying. That was all Anissa. She said she was going to go-- - How did you trick her
to get down there? - We said that we were
going to go bird watching. People who trust you become very gullible. And it was very sad. - [Narrator] Again, we see
the mental illness symptoms in the form of social relationship issues and flattened or non-emotional tone when speaking about disturbing subjects. - Not like offensive or sad, but.. it was sad to do this. - So you guys told her you're
going down there to bird watch and then what happened? - And then we said that we were
gonna play hide and seek and then Anissa jumped her
and it was like... It happened really fast and
I keep trying to forget. - [Narrator] I keep trying to forget represents attempting
to detach from reality, which can be associated
with schizophrenia. - So you were playing hide and seek. - Mhm, because normally we
liked playing hide and seek 'cause hide and seek is a fun game. I like hiding. - So then Anissa jumped her? - Mhm. And she said, "Morgan, now." Well actually she said, "Kitty," because our code names for each other
were Scorpion and Kitty. She was scorpion because
she tends to be aggressive, things like that. - So she said, "Kitty, now,"
and what did that mean? - My name was Kitty because... Well, she sort of, I
have four cats at home and she says that I act
like a cat sometimes. - So, when she said, "Kitty, now,"
what did she do? - Then we stabbed her. - Who stabbed her first? - I think Anissa stabbed her
first and then I continued. And then she was like, "Morgan, make sure she doesn't escape!" And then I was like, "Aaahh!" - So you think that it was Anissa first? - Mhm. - You're sure? - Yeah. Not really. Things are confusing, I've
been trying to block out the screams all day. - [Narrator] Things are confusing, I've been trying to block out the screams, shows another symptom here, disorganized thinking, psychosis. - So how many times- So then how did you get
the knife from Anissa? - She sort of just shoved it
into my hand and there it was. And then I didn't know what I
did, it sort of just happened. - [Narrator] These exaggerated
odd physical motions probably also stem from
her mental illness. - It didn't feel like
anything, it was like air. - So, she put the knife in
your hand and what'd you do? - Then I... just... You know what happened, don't you? It was Anissa- - I surely don't. Somebody else is (indistinct). Did you continue to stab her? - Mhm. And then we decided that- And then Anissa said that it
was enough and Bella was like, "I can't see, I can't see." And then I said, "I'm
sorry, this had to happen." She was like, "Why?" And I said that it was just was necessary. I can't- I can't explain why. Please don't cut off my head. - Nobody's gonna cut off your head. Morgan asks to not cut off her head, clearly symptom material here. She may be having a precursor
to a psychotic episode where she will stop
understanding what's real and what is not. - [Narrator] At this point the
interrogator has presumably already reasoned that Morgan is suffering from some mental illness or disease and he will likely not
engage with any odd behavior she may have in order to keep
the questions moving forward and avoid exacerbating the symptoms. It's possible he has training in dealing with those suffering mental illness as his answers to her strange questions seem to be worded very carefully. - Are you going to put me in prison and I'm gonna rot and die? - [Narrator] Morgan's rot and die comment goes to the persecution psychosis
aspect of schizophrenia. - Well, I don't think that
you're going to prison and I don't think you're
gonna rot and die there. We probably gotta have
somebody talk to you and try to figure out what the
best circumstance is for you, make sure that you don't...
(phone rings) Detective Casey. - [Narrator] Notice how
Morgan visibly jumps when hearing the phone ring tone. Increased sensitivity to stimuli
is a part of the disease. Even Morgan's behavior when left alone in the interrogation room is intriguing. She sings the same Owl City
song two different times. One, which seems to be about
mental health struggles. The song features lyrics
like, "I wish I had covered all my tracks completely." And, "Is that the light at
the far end of the tunnel or just the train?" The lyrics towards the end
cover similar subject matter. (Morgan singing) The song talks about
how help is on the way. So, perhaps this is Morgan's
way of trying to self comfort. She also whispers to herself, fiddles with and appears to keep dosing
herself with her inhaler, traces shapes on the
wall with her fingers, hides inside of her shirt
and even pokes a hole in one of her booty socks. The whispering could potentially
be her hearing voices in her head and trying to speak with them. But of course we can't say for sure. When she's brought food,
she takes out a few fries, pushes the rest away and
then eats off the table. This may be representative
of some sort of dissonant social cognition deficit. Later on, she dumps
everything on the table and eats while pacing around the room, which is likely a sign
of physical agitation or motor restlessness, which can be signs of either schizophrenia or bipolar disorder. Morgan also gets up, goes under the table and then walks around the room, touching things in some
sort of pattern behavior. It's yet another classic
sign of schizophrenia, though the underlying cause
could have multiple origins. At one point, she even
indicates indecision on whether she would
like to see her parents. - I'm not sure if it's possible or not, but did you wanna see your mom
and dad a little bit here or? It's really... - Maybe. - You wanna think about
it for a little bit? - [Narrator] It's certainly
not the answer you'd expect from a little girl from the upper Midwest and could potentially
indicate home problems. Although this isn't clear, especially when we take lines
like this into consideration. - So when you guys take off the purse, and what was inside the purse? - I don't remember what was all inside the purse. We put pictures of our
family inside the purse 'cause Anissa said we might never
ever get to come back. - [Narrator] Next, Morgan
and Anissa will talk about what they did in
the hours after the crime. - Did you do anything to try to help her? - No. There was nothing I could have done. - Did you think she was dead? - Oh no. - What- (indistinct). - She told me not to touch her. So I stopped touching her. I did try to help, though. I tried to at least clean up her wounds so that she might've been able to escape. [Narrator] There are countless possibilities
of ways that the girls could have gotten help, so Morgan’s response that there was nothing she
could have done except try to clean Payton’s wounds is the result of either willful ignorance,
or a very bizarre thought process. - How did you try to
clean up her wounds? - With a large leaf, but she said, "No, just don't touch me." I'm sorry, that must have
sounded offensive. The girls accounts of their
escape and not getting help goes to consciousness of
guilt and can be used in court to show that they knew right from wrong and understood their actions, which could potentially be used to limit or negate an insanity plea. - No, I just remember that
we went forward and forward and forward and then we
passed a bunch of buildings. We went to downtown
Waukesha, we went everywhere. And actually we were
singing the whole time. We just kept singing songs to each other. We were surprisingly calm actually. It was like we hadn't just killed someone or thought that we killed
someone or stabbed someone. - [Narrator] This was
the point where Morgan alluded specifically to
Slender Man for the first time in her interview. and we went into a few
ditches with forest and trees. And I remember we tried
to find Slender Man - Tried to find who? - Slender. - Who's Slender Man? - He's umm... He's this tall faceless
man who preys on children. (indistinct) right in the forest and
we couldn't help ourselves. - So he's a tall, faceless man? - Mhm. - Why were you trying to find him? - What? - Why were you trying to find him? - Because Anissa said he could help us. I sort of thought that he might kill us if we didn't find him though because has a tendency to do that. - Have you ever met him? - No. We've never seen him. - Who told you about him? - He's everywhere. - How did you know him? A court appointed forensic psychologist later
shared her thoughts on the girls’ delusions, pointing out, "Once you find this character on the internet,
you can read all these stories that look real." "They look like newspaper articles. It’s hard
for a lot of people to differentiate," "-let alone a 12 year old.” - Because I've read so
many things about him. - Where did you read stuff about him? - It's called Creepypasta. Anissa thinks he's real and
she also thinks Jeff the killer is real because there's
somebody in Milwaukee who saw the smiley face killer
and she thinks that Jeff the killer is him. It was weird, I felt no remorse. I thought I would. Cause I still have this idea in my
head that it was necessary. - So, really, you didn't
feel any remorse? - Mhm. I actually felt nothing. - [Narrator] Her expression
of feeling nothing shows emotionally flat
or detached behaviors and perceptions, which can also be
symptoms of schizophrenia. - Anissa had me sing for her. Cause she said she was scared. and she wondered what we
had gotten ourselves into... this time. - [Narrator] She explains why they risk going into the Walmart despite
their bloody appearance. - We considered the fact that we
might be questioned why we were covered in blood but then we decided
it's Walmart, so... - That's normal? - Uh-huh. There are pictures of people
who are like pretty much naked at Walmart. So nobody looks twice. - [Narrator] Annisa explained a bit more about their expectations
involving Slender Man through this conversation
she and Morgan had while on the run. - So I asked for some water
and then we sat down. talked, uhh, how far away we have to go. - Why do you have to go far away? What was the (indistinct)? - Supposedly Morgan found out that Slender was in the middle of... Slender has this big mansion that all the Creepypastas
supposedly live in. And it's supposedly in the
middle of Nicolet National Park or forest or whatever at
the (indistinct) Wisconsin. So we were going to walk the whole way there and realized it was really, really far. A quick internet search reveals that there are many
people who have written and read fictional stories about living in the Slender Mansion
with the Creepy Pastas. The common fantasy seems to lie in being accepted
as a part of the “family” of misfits so to speak, and so for Morgan and Anissa, who were having trouble
fitting in at school and finding others who shared their interests, this kind of life was probably very enticing. - Cause she wanted to walk to Slender? - Mhm. She knew that if we ask
someone for directions or anything, the police
would probably be called because what isn't strange
about a blonde girl with creepy eyes walking around
with blood covered jackets. Then a girl next to her went like this wearing winter boots. - [Narrator] As she continues
to explain their journey, we see more examples of
her not fully appreciating the gravity of the act
they had just taken part in. - We were walking and then finally I said, "Morgan, I'm thirsty, can
I please sit and have a drink?" (indistinct) And she said, "Sure." So we... Then we talked for like three minutes. I tried to eat like two different
granola bars or something. One was an organic peanut
butter one that I didn't like very much. I only took like two nibbles and
said it tasted disgusting. I only took one bite of that
and then I spit it out 'cause I didn't feel so good. Yet in the midst of being worried
about the taste of granola bars, Anissa does show small flashes of guilt, like the mental processing of what they’d
done was slowly creeping up on her. (indistinct) I couldn't eat anything. Cause I was still thinking of Bella
laying in the forest area where we left her dying. Sorry. - It's okay. - So... So finally Morgan said we
should probably keep walking before the police get on our tail. So we were walking and then I
had a total nervous breakdown and blamed Morgan for everything. I said, "You stabbed her,
you wanted to do this." (indistinct) Morgan's not one to cry very often. And then finally she just
let go and started crying and then I just needed to
vent 'cause I was scared. What’s intriguing here is seeing
how the girls’ self-preservation instincts far overruled any concern they might
have had for Payton’s wellbeing. nissa is about to name two
reasons why she was scared, but neither have anything to do with
what state Payton might be in. I was scared. I was scared A, for myself
and B, for my family 'cause I'm sure we left
Payton in the woods close to the Murphy area,
that one (indistinct). She said, "Oh, and there was
one thing I forgot to tell you. "I kind of sort of made
a deal with Slender "saying that if I didn't... "Saying that if we didn't kill Bella, "that he would kill our
families and everything we love "and I don't want that to happen, "So that's why I did this." [Narrator] What Anissa just said
would later become very important. Prosecutors would latch onto this statement
that suggests Anissa only had the fear of her family being hurt after the stabbing to argue that this scenario was never
kill-or-be-killed in her mind. A deputy district attorney
would assert that in truth, Anissa went along with the murder plot
because she was desperate to keep Morgan’s friendship, and said it was therefore a choice she
needed to be held criminally responsible for. - I got really scared then and
started like speed walking and trying to get myself out of there. I even started singing to myself to calm myself down. One thing that never seems to have
crossed Morgan or Anissa’s minds as they got further and further
from the scene of their crime, was any conflicted feeling over the possibility
that they could go back and help their victim. And then- I then stopped crying. I laid down in like, there
was a bunch of rocks close to the road. It's called a shoulder or something. So I was laying down
there and Morgan thought I was giving up and letting
a hawk and everything come after me. - [Narrator] Annisa says she
told Morgan to stop crying, that she was laying down there to cool off as she was too hot. But then she decided she didn't
want to risk getting malaria from the mosquitoes there
and so they kept walking. - When I was still laying
on the ground, I actually said I 've had enough of this, I wanna call my mom, I wanna go home. And Morgan said, "If you do
that, you'll spend your life "in prison, either that
or be executed." - Why did she say that? - 'Cause she told me that the consequences for murder were being
murdered yourself at least. - When did she tell you that? - After I said I wanted to call my mom. - So what did you think was going to
happen after you stabbed Payton? - I don't really know. I figured that I'd get in
trouble eventually though because... Mommy always says that whatever you
do catches up to you eventually. And it did. Morgan continues to demonstrate a complete
lack of emotional connection to this crime. - Did you guys think about
what would happen to you? - I did. Anissa didn't seem to think
anything would happen. One time she said, "Can we go home yet?" I said, "No, we're gonna
get arrested if we go home." And then she said, "Oh yeah,
I forgot, thanks, Morgan." And then I said, "Okay." [Narrator] Although we can’t be sure
if Morgan’s story here really happened, since she’s inherently an unreliable source, Anissa asking if they could go home already
would only build on the idea that this plot may have felt almost
‘make-believe’ in her mind. She likely got swept up in the fantasy of running away
to live with the characters she’d been reading so much about, but in the back of her mind, she may have
still held onto the wishful thinking that she’d be able to go home and eat dinner
with her family like nothing happened. Finally Anissa described the moments that led up to them getting caught. - She started looking through her pictures and had another breakdown. And then... And then after 30 minutes of
me trying to calm her down and her crying, we... we finally started walking again and then we kept walking
straight for a while. Then we saw a Steinhafels and (indistinct). - [Narrator] They went
into the furniture store to refill their water bottles and grab some extra fruit
snacks for the road. They then went outside and sat by a tree. - Morgan started talking about
whether or not we should take our consequences or keep going. So then I laid down on the grass and that's when one of the deputies said, "Put your hands in the
air where I can see them." And then they got us. - Okay. But he started talking to me. I said, "I'm scared, I was told-" "I was told that if I didn't do something, my family would be in danger." And then he said, "You're safe
now, don't be scared." Then he put me in the back of the car and then I watched Morgan. I don't know what they said to her
cause I couldn't hear anything. And then after 30 minutes,
they brought us here. - Okay, okay. - [Narrator] Four hours and 30 minutes after Peyton was found at
approximately 2:30 p.m. Morgan and Anissa were
apprehended on the intersection of highway 164 and interstate 94. A good Samaritan driving by
had seen a post on Facebook, spreading the word to look out
for the two girls on the run. They recognized them
immediately before calling 911, tracking their movements
and relaying the information to authorities. When the girls settled
down to take a break, the police arrived and
intercepted them soon after. The officer drew his sidearm at the girls and ordered them to put
their hands in the air, to which they complied. The girls were soaked in blood, but things were about to
get even more disturbing. Morgan's reaction to the
officers was utterly bizarre and it was clear that she was
either detached from reality or putting on some sort of act. As more officers arrived on the scene, Morgan asked, "Did I
kill her, is she dead?" Police found the backpack
Morgan had packed that morning and began to dig through
finding food, water bottles, the five inch kitchen knife and Morgan and Anissa's family photos. As the officers were
observing the bloodstains on Morgan's clothing, they asked her where
the blood had come from. She replied that she was
forced to kill her best friend. While the authorities waited
for custody to be transferred to Waukesha Police Department, an officer asked Morgan
what she was thinking. Morgan explained that she
was thinking about Spock, the Star Trek character
and his girlfriend. The officer was obviously caught off guard and asked her to explain further. And she elaborated that Spock
and his girlfriend were gross as Spock could not feel emotion and he apparently should
not be kissing a woman. Once apprehended, Morgan
began to softly sing to herself. When she was placed into
the rear of the squad car, she stated, "What, are you gonna
f*** execute me for killing her? - What do you think should
happen to somebody that... stabs somebody else? - I expected that I'd either get put in some sort of weird place or I expected I should get put in prison or an insane asylum, I
didn't know which to expect. I don't think I'm insane now. [Narrator] One type of delusion
is a grandiose one, in which a person develops an over-inflated
sense of power or knowledge and may believe they have a great talent. you’ll see this manifested in
Morgan’s next statement. - You ever thought about hurting yourself? - I've learned to make myself numb
to pain on command. - What does that mean? - Vulcan mind tricks. - So have you ever tried
to hurt yourself? - [Narrator] The interrogator
asks about self-harm, clearly looking to elicit
additional symptoms of her mental disease. - Not really, sometimes I do. - What do you mean? - Most of the time it's not
even on purpose. - What do you mean by hurt yourself? - I just fall down the stairs a lot and sometimes I just do this and then I accidentally do this instead
of this or something. [Narrator] Schizophrenia is
debilitating in many ways, and psychomotor problems can also be a
symptom, including clumsiness and unusual mannerisms, which could be the underlying cause of the
ways Morgan says she accidentally hurts herself. - So, have you guys thought about
hurting anybody else or just Bella? - Sometimes Anissa
slaps people in the face for no reason, like me. - How about stabbing people? Have you ever thought of
stabbing anybody else? - Only jokingly. Not seriously thought about it. - So, not really or not seriously. - Not really. I wanted to hurt people before,
but they're not nice to me. So they deserve it. - But Bella was nice to you,
why did you wanna hurt her? - Because I think it was necessary. - Why was it necessary? - I don't know. - [Narrator] Her thinking is disorganized on the topic of why it was
necessary to kill Peyton, once more demonstrating the symptom of disorganized or disconnected thoughts. In their interrogations,
the girls were asked about the specifics of how long they'd been planning this murder, which will of course go to
determining premeditation. Morgan's interrogator
would later emphasize, "It wasn't until we started
talking with the girls "that we really knew it
was two 12 year old girls "that have planned for six
months to kill their friend." - So you've known, you're
very close with Morgan You've known her since October,
and you've been involved in reading the Creepypasta
since November or something. And in December or January, Morgan who also was into Creepypasta. Did you introduce her to it or did she already know about it? - She said that she has seen Slender also in old pictures that she had. So I told her about them. And then she said, "Oh my God, I
think I saw Slender when I was like five." 'Cause she supposedly used to live in a really heavily wooded area. And Slender likes to stay in woods. - Wooded areas, okay. [Narrator] A shared psychotic disorder,
also known as folie à deux, or madness of two, occurs when a person starts to take on
the delusions of someone with a psychotic disorder such as schizophrenia. It’s a rare phenomenon, but this
unlucky friendship created a cycle wherein the girls would only feed into,
validate, and strengthen one another’s false beliefs
and determination. - So, in December or January,
Morgan approaches you and says, she tells you that you should be
proxies of Slender, or puppets. And you say, "Okay,
well how do we do that?" And she says, well, we have
to kill Bella, or Payton.. - Mhm. "And this will prove
ourselves to Slender." - And prove ourselves worthy. - Prove yourselves worthy to Slender? - Mhm. [Narrator] It’s truly fascinating how different
both girls’ understanding of their plan was. Anissa is saying that Morgan told her explicitly
that they had to kill Payton to become proxies, while Morgan still can’t even put a finger
on why Anissa supposedly said it was necessary. It seems that ‘groupthink’, or the desire for cohesion and
consensus outweighing the desire to make the right decision, may have played a big role here. If either girl started coming to their senses
or having doubts about whether or not they should go through with trying
to murder their friend, they may have kept it bottled up in order
to be a ‘good friend’ and not upset their partner. There may also be pluralistic
ignorance at play here, in which each girl believed that the other held more
extreme beliefs than themselves about the matter. This could have caused both girls
to go along with the scheme, thinking that their partner was
completely gung ho about it, while both secretly held reservations and
privately disagreed with many aspects of the plan. However, the more we hear from Anissa and
Morgan, the harder it becomes to tell who, if anyone, was the true leader of this operation. - And what would that do for you? Is that to get Slender to like you? Or to feel important? - Technically, if you're
a proxy, you have to learn... supposedly you live in Slender mansion and take orders directly from him. - So that would be neat to you? You would enjoy that or you think
it'd be kinda cool? at that time. - At the time it was really cool. Plus again, I wanted to prove
all the skeptics wrong. - [Narrator] Morgan and Anissa
were completely swept up into a fantasy world. And with the lines between
reality and fantasy beginning to blur, things were becoming incredibly dangerous. In the months before their plan, Morgan and Anissa's internet
activity took a dark turn. Morgan began searching phrases such as how to cover up a murder. What makes your conscience feel
guilty about killing someone or homicides? What kind of insane am I? And what happens if I get
caught murdering someone, among other searches,
such as Slender Man cute. Can you get arrested for
killing someone in self-defense. Proxy, the Slender Man wiki, and how to cover up a murder/YouTube. Morgan would actually go on to curiously
ask her interrogator about self-defense as well. - Isn't it legal to stab someone
if they try to stab you first? If it's self-defense? - In some situations, but do you think
that that's what happened here? - Oh, no. I'm just wondering. [Narrator] On May 10th, Morgan
had emailed Anissa, delete everything I've ever sent you, and then clear your deleted email. You will not be emailed
further on this subject. Explain more at school. - And when was it planned that
you were gonna kill Bella? Was your plan right away when you guys
were planning the birthday party? - No, Morgan said around
the end of December, beginning of January, again the, "Hey, I know
how we can become proxies, "we have to kill Bella." So I said- And then after, I was wondering when, so I asked her when and she was like, "Oh, every year my mom
said that on my birthday, I could have two friends over." and it's definitely gonna be a sleepover. - Do you always have a sleepover? - I did last year, too. It was more fun last
year though, obviously. - [Narrator] Anissa claims
that the two only met the previous October,
meaning their friendship would have only been
growing for about two months before they began to
plan a murder together. - Was there anything said about
trying to become a proxy or being a proxy at that time? - We kinda talked about
it discreetly on the bus every now and then. - And what did you talk about? - Ways to defend
ourselves from wild animals and all that, like badgers, and... Just random things we might
need to know, it was-- - Like if you live in the woods? - Mhm. - Okay. - Okay. Did you ever talk about
killing Bella in the bus at the birthday party? - Not very often. We did sometimes but we
made sure we whispered. - And when you whispered, why was that? - So that nobody else would hear. Granted, the bus is really loud,
but people are eavesdroppers. - If somebody heard,
what were you concerned that somebody heard? - That we would be in prison
for the rest of our life for doing this. - Did you know it's wrong? (indistinct) - Yeah. - [Narrator] The interrogator
is looking for ways to corroborate the story such
as interviewing other students who regularly took the bus. This is a standard police
investigation method. Anissa's admission that they whispered in order to avoid getting
in serious trouble, indicates awareness and understanding of the wrongness of their
plan at that point in time. Legally, insanity may come and
go and courts will consider sanity both at the time of the crime, as well as before and after. - When does it ultimately come to the decision that it's gonna happen
at the birthday party? - That was made in
February when Morgan said, "I confirmed with my mom,
I'm having a birthday party." We used code words- like
for knife, we used cracker. For the killing, we would
use words like "it"... "the deed"... For the place we were
trying to go, Nicolet, we would use like
"camping trip" and all that. (indistinct) camping trip. - [Narrator] These code words
show significant planning and surreptitious behavior, which goes towards establishing
knowledge of guilt. The girls might have used code words
and whispered, but in reality, they were not the only people
who knew of their plan. Following the crime, investigators
spoke with local students and school staff And that's where they uncovered
some truly shocking information. A few weeks before the stabbing occurred one concerned girl had come
forward to let an adult know that Anissa was claiming she had found
a way to become a Proxy for Slenderman and needed to kill someone as part of that plan. It was believed that the guidance counselors
of Morgan and Anissa's middle school were also aware of this. Officers tracked down the counselor
who the student was reported to have confided in about her worries
with Anissa. However, the woman claimed she
couldn't recall ever being approached about such a matter. However, a social worker who
was employed at Morgan and Anissa's middle school at the time of the incident did reveal that a student had later come
to her expressing feelings of guilt. Why? Because she said Anissa had asked her to be part of the stabbing before it occurred. She felt ashamed that she had this knowledge
and hadn't done something about it. One girl who was actually a junior in high school
told authorities Anissa was her best friend. And that the two would enjoy talking
about creepy and dark things. This friend also remembers Anissa saying
she had discovered that killing a friend would allow her to become
Slenderman's Proxy. But at the time, the girl says she
just dismissed it as a goofy thing. One classmate would later testify in court
that Anissa had hinted about killing a friend but then assured her,
“Don’t worry, it’s not you.” It's disturbing and unfortunate just
how many people knew about Morgan and Anissa's dark plan but didn't take their word seriously enough until it was far too late. Here, the girls describe
what their original plan was. - So originally I thought it was... We go to bed around 8:00, Morgan set the alarm on her
Kindle to like 2:00 a.m. And puts the headphones on and
then the alarm wakes her up, she wakes me up and then... We kill Bella, put her under some covers, make it look like she was
sleeping and then we run. - Then just leave her at Morgan's house? - Mhm. - That was the original plan? - Yeah, until it changed. We were still planning on
waking up really early, but Morgan was being really nice that
day and she let me sleep in like actually two hours and 45 minutes. - On that day, meaning today?
Or what day? - At the sleepover last night. - So, she was being
nice, what do you mean? Sometimes she can be kind of mean, but that's only when she's threatened. But I thought we were
going see her in the next day, but we were in reality
going to Skateland that night. - So that messed up the timeline? - For me, it did. - Did you originally make
that first plan, is that why? - She made the first plan, I
just kinda went along with it and tweaked some things. - What was your plan
originally when you guys were gonna kill Bella? - Kill her while she was sleeping so we didn't have to look in her eyes. - How would you do it (indistinct)? - I don't know, it didn't
work out very well, obviously. - What do you mean? - Meaning we couldn't have... Well, actually Anissa was very
prepared to go with it but... - So, who was prepared
to go with it, Anissa? - Anissa was very prepared
to do it that night, but then... - Was that last night? - Yeah. I found many flaws in her plan, such as the fact of exhaustion. I know how she is with her sleep. It would never have worked. It didn't work this time obviously and we're never gonna try again. Cause I hope I never have to see Anissa again. [Narrator] Many of the things Morgan chooses
to say about Anissa suggests a feeling that Anissa is ‘beneath’ her in some way. And here with her harsh statement that
she hopes she never has to see Anissa again just hours after planning to
run away with her forever, we can see just how fast she
was able to turn against her friends, further illustrating her difficulty with
maintaining healthy social relationships. - So what were you guys
originally gonna do? You mean when she was sleeping,
how were you gonna do that? - Do it the same way we did now except we'd probably duct
tape her mouth shut or something. I don't know. Whichever way would be the most logical if there's any logic in killing people, which I don't think there is, actually. - So, you guys would duct tape-
do you guys have duct tape? - Actually it worked out quite well. Bella got me duct tape for my birthday (indistinct) and I was like, "Anissa, it won't work like that." Because she doesn't
understand what it does to you psychologically when
you don't get any sleep and what the guilt can do to you that you nevertheless
have constantly underlying if you kill someone, those mixed together would cause a mental breakdown. [Narrator] Even when considering the
lifelong guilt attached with murder, Morgan remains cold, calculating,
and logistical in her evaluation. - I never really did think
that that plan would work because it is the dead of night and how on earth are we
supposed to do anything such as hide the body. So I didn't think it would work. I thought she-- - So originally the plan was
to duct tape and stab her, but you didn't think it
was a good idea? - Mhm, I thought that we'd
just make a lot of noise Blah blah blah... because you can still scream
if your mouth is not shut. (indistinct) I'd definitely still
scream because one time in like first grade, I talked
with my mouth closed a lot. I didn't want it to be today though because it'd be nice to
have a normal sleepover. - [Narrator] For Peyton,
everything did seem normal at first and that just
makes the whole thing even more disturbing. She says as the trio skated
together at the roller rink and ate frozen yogurt,
she never had any idea of the insidious plan they were hiding. The only thing that was odd in hindsight was that she noticed Morgan
wanted to go to bed early, whereas at all of their past sleepovers, she would always want
to stay up all night. But of course, such a
small deviation in behavior could never have tipped Peyton off to what was really going on. - I honestly don't know why we did this. - [Narrator] When Morgan says,
I don't know why we did this. This might actually be
a truthful statement. If the crime was conceived
during episodes of psychosis. The real Morgan may not have
any knowledge or understanding of what the psychosis Morgan
was thinking or saying or doing during those episodes. Morgan describes that she
actually didn't set the alarm, which was supposed to wake
her up through headphones and instigate their plan to attack in the middle of the night. - I took (indistinct). I wanted to give her at
least one more morning. - So, you were supposed to
set an alarm for 2:30 a.m.? - Uh-huh, I didn't. - You said Anissa was
mad when she woke up? - Not really, cause she was sleepy and stuff. She wasn't happy either - So, how would you describe her? - "Oh, Morgan, again?" - Disappointed? - Mhm. - Do you think disappointed
is a good word to use? - Yes. - [Narrator] What's strange
about this is you'll recall that Anissa framed it very differently. She thought Morgan was
being nice that morning by allowing her to sleep in, which is obviously very
different from Morgan's claim that Anissa was frustrated
and disappointed with the failed plan. - And I didn't think it would work. I didn't think any of this
would work from the start. Things like this never work out, from what I've read and heard and... - You wanted to give Bella one more day? - I wanted to see if they
could put it off forever. But it didn't seem to work out like that, so... - [Narrator] Interestingly,
Anissa also claimed that she wanted to put
the crime off for a while. - Morgan said, "We
have to kill Bella today." And I was like, "But can't we stay another
night and do it tonight?" 'Cause I was scared and kinda hopeful. - Scared and kinda hopeful,
what do you mean by that? - Like I was scared
'cause A, I would never see my family again and B, I was kinda hopeful to prove that I wasn't crazy. That I wasn't seeing things
because even I saw Slender a few times. I think that was probably my
mind playing tricks on me. - Was this before the
party that you saw Slender? You've seen him before? - Twice. Once... well they were both on the bus, we ride the same bus to and from school. So we were talking on the
bus, and I look out the window and I see this... supposed thing standing like this with tentacles looking
exactly like a tree. They were gone like that. - [Narrator] Claiming that
she saw slender man before is a major reality disconnect. - And I told Morgan and
so I actually thought that he was real 'cause I saw him. After Morgan finishes
explaining their plan A, the interrogator goes
back to get more details about the act they actually
ended up carrying out. But Morgan seems once again, impatient with the repeated query. - What did you do next? - I already told you. - What was that? - Stab, stab, stab, stab, stab. - Did you try to stab her before that? - No. - Did you guys go to the park? - Yes. - What happened at the park? - In the park, we played
and she went on the swing, and I was in the bathroom. - What happened in the bathroom? - I was singing. - [Narrator] Socially,
this type of response may be typical for a
frustrated and immature person. But as Morgan has already given
this answer multiple times under similar circumstances, it is unclear why she
chooses now to get snappy. - So then after the bathroom,
did you (indistinct)? - I already told you. - Where was that? - Over by the trees at the dead end. - And what'd you do there? - Stabby, stab, stab, stab, stab. Hide and seek. - What's that? - I already told you. - [Narrator] Her repeated
utterances of just simply stab, stab, stab, stab might be
indicative of thought blocking. Morgan is being asked to repeat her story, which is a common interrogation tactic. But to her, it is an annoyance as if she has better things to be doing. - And then Anissa did the jumpy
thing and said, "Now, Morgan." - What do you mean, the jumpy thing? - She jumped on Bella. - And then what happened? - What? - What happened then? - And then we stabbed her. - [Narrator] She even goes so far as to ask this bold question. - And then I went and looked for them. - And then what happened? - Then I found them. - And what happened then? - Tried to play again. And then Anissa jumped on Bella again, like I just said. - And then what happened? - Are you trying to do
this over and over again to see if I tell the story differently? - I'm just trying to make
sure that I get it right, that I don't make any mistakes. So then she jumped on her and where did you get the knife from? - The bag, oh my- - So, you got the knife from the bag? - Mhm. - And then what? [Narrator] Morgan has also been
diagnosed with oppositional defiant disorder, which entails a frequent and
persistent pattern of anger, irritability, arguing, defiance, or vindictiveness towards peers, parents, teachers, and
other authority figures. - And then she got stabbed. - Who stabbed her? - Both of us. - Who stabbed her first? - How am I supposed to remember that? - Well, it's just pretty important, so... You just gotta try and concentrate. Anissa or me, one of the two, of course, But I don't know. - [Narrator] What this
illustrates is a typical symptom of schizophrenia called a
deficit and social cognition. There is a lack of appropriate processing in social interactions and relationships. Morgan certainly has many
moments of getting frustrated with the interrogator. - Did you have the
knife first or did she-- - I have a right not to
go into detail about it if I don't want to. - Mmkay. Before you said you didn't remember, you remember, you just
don't wanna tell me? - I don't really remember. It happened really, really fast. - How many times do you think it was? - I don't know. I didn't know I was supposed to count. - How many do you think,
one or two or five-- - I don't know. - 10, 50, 100, I don't know. - I think she'd be dead if it was 100. - [Narrator] However, there
are also moments like this where we can see just a bit of
Morgan appearing to struggle with the morality of what she's done. - I'm sorry for putting you
through all this trouble, sir. - No, no, you're (distorted sound). I think that you need some
help, somebody to talk to and try to work on some of these things that you got going on. - What do you mean? - Well, thinking about,
what did you call this guy? Mr. Slim? - Slender Man? - Slender Man. I mean those thoughts
probably aren't real. And to think about stabbing
one of your very good friends probably isn't the best
thoughts to be having. [Narrator] To get a better idea of just
how extreme Morgan's disease is, schizophrenia symptoms usually begin
in late adolescence or early adulthood, making an onset younger than
the age of 18 uncommon and a diagnosis before 13 extraordinarily rare. Estimates claim that at the very most, only one in every 100 adult schizophrenia
patients developed it while still a child. - Probably not. - So, you know that
that's wrong to do, right? Yes, no, maybe? - Lots of people have seen Slender Man. - But how about stabbing your friend, do you think that's right or wrong? - Probably wrong. If it were right, I wouldn't be here. - That's right. You can't go around stabbing people. So that's why I think that
maybe you gotta talk to somebody to get some of these things resolved so you don't go around doing this anymore. - [Narrator] But the
question is deep down, did the girls truly
believe that Slender Man was going to target them
if they didn't do this. At a few moments in the interrogations, we can garner a little
insight into their head space. - When Morgan said to you
that if we don't do this for Slender, our families
and our loved ones are gonna be killed, did
you honestly believe that? - Well, yeah, 'cause he could be anywhere from six feet to 14 feet tall. He's like I said, a tall
guy who constantly wears a suit with a red tie. He doesn't have a face, his skin is white and at his own will, he can like exploit these
tendrils from his back and like strangle his victims. From what the Creepypasta wiki said, he targets children most. And so I was really scared
knowing that Slender could easily kill my whole
family in three seconds. - So how did you learn about
Slender and Creepypasta? - I first heard about it on YouTube. I was watching a Minecraft
mod showcase by- Sky- SkyDoesMinecraft or something. And it said it was the Creepypasta mod. So I'm just like, "Hey, what's a Creepypasta?" I watched the whole video and I was like, "Oh, that's interesting." A few months later, I
asked my friend Kelly, the one who I got the
skull bracelet from. I asked her who that Jack
or Jeff the killer was from the Creepypasta. And then she told me about eyeless Jack and laughing Jack. Laughing Jack is supposed
to be like a clown that also targets children
and then eyeless Jack, he wears a blue mask, no mouth... with two big black holes for eyes that are oozing this weird black ooze. And then supposedly he eats human kidneys. - Wow. - [Narrator] The interrogator plays along with the bizarre fantasy,
giving understanding Oh's here and there. Although we can't be sure
if Anissa truly believes this story or is trying to
appear disconnected with reality as a part of her defense. She does retain contact and
consistent body language that she's had this whole time, which suggests she's telling the truth, at least as she perceives it. - Whenever I'm really
bored, I go on my iPad and I look up, go to Creepypasta wiki and then there's a button you
can click for a random pasta, I read whichever random one comes up. - And on reading these, you truly believe that Slender exists, that
there's Slender out there. - Not anymore, cause... We asked for his help when Morgan
and I had a nervous breakdown and he didn't do anything,
nothing happened. - Before this today, leading
up to any minute after-- - While we were walking and
having a nervous breakdown while I was laying on
the side of the road. Morgan said, "Slender if you're
listening, please help us." "Anissa's having
a nervous breakdown," and then she started kind of crying. - But you truly believed before-- - Yeah, before I believed, but now I know that it's just teenagers who
really like scaring people and making them believe false things. - [Narrator] It's interesting
to note how Annisa claims to now realize she was being fooled about the existence of Slender Man. If she had believed in the lore so deeply that she was willing to partake
in the murder of her friend, would she really be able to
change all her preconceptions about the matter in the
span of just this day? Was this traumatic experience
enough to snap her out of it? The only other options would
seem to be that she either never really believed
in it in the first place or she secretly still believes in it now. - Who's this creepy guy
that you were talking about? - Which one? - Is it slim or slender? - Slender Man. - Slender Man, who's that? - He is very tall. - Have you ever met him? - Not exactly. - Tell me about him. - He watches you. - How does he watch you? - He can read minds and he
has teleportation skills. [Narrator] Morgan's mother
would later reveal the Morgan had been experiencing
visual hallucinations since three years old one being a tall, slender,
shadowy figure. She believes this early influence was what
ultimately solidified Morgan's later belief in the existence of
Slender Man. - Do you see him in your dreams
or where do you see him at? - Oh, I see him in my dreams. You start to get
something that people call slender sickness. If he's like following you or if you meet
him (indistinct) radiation that he emits Which is also why cameras
don't work around him. Why do you need to know
about Slender Man? - Because I think Slender
Man might have something to do with what's going on here today. - Oh. - Did you feel bad as you
stabbed one of your best friends? - I thought about it, but then I decided that remorse will get me nowhere. It's easier to live without regrets, if you can just decide
that you don't wanna feel. So don't you? - Don't I what? - Just... Wouldn't you rather not feel
things, if you don't- If it's a negative emotion, what's
the point of feeling it? - So you don't have to
do it again or stay away from it to make different choices. - Oh, right. I can't do it again, of course not. - If something is bad, then
you don't do it anymore. - Mhm. - So when she said that
we have to kill Bella to prove ourselves worthy to
Slender, you were surprised, but excited at the same time
to prove that he existed to prove all the skeptics wrong. And you feel as though
in order to do this, you physically had to kill somebody? - Yes. - [Narrator] The interrogator
confirms that Anissa actually believed they
had to kill someone. This is an intent question
as to whether or not the suspect believed they
merely had to pretend to do something negating intent
or actually had concluded they needed to do it and
had resolved to go through with the act, intent
more likely confirmed. Many of these queries are trying to establish if Anissa
formed the necessary mens rea (or state of mind) to be part of a murder plot. Mens Rea refers to criminal intent
and can be translated to “guilty mind”. We’re looking at if the defendant committed
the offense with a culpable state of mind. - That's what Creepypastas are about, even seemingly nice
Creepypastas like (indistinct) keeps me calm are about killing. - And do you know what
happens when you kill somebody like are you physically,
what happens to a person, not legally, but- What would that do to you? Like, do you understand what
it means to kill somebody? - [Narrator] The interrogator
asks if Anissa knows what it means to kill someone,
probing that her mental state and ability to comprehend
the gravity of the crime. - When you look at it from... you know? - I believe in ending a life. - [Narrator] At this point,
Anissa has stopped crying and lost the outward
appearance of emotional upset. Perhaps she is just becoming
numb or alternatively, it could be a representation
of a pathology of narcissism or sociopathy. - And no regrets. - And that's something you
probably recognize today? - Mhm. - Okay. - I mean, I've seen stories
on the news about shootings in Milwaukee and all that,
but I never fully understood what it meant to kill somebody until now. - Until you saw it happening? - Mhm. - [Narrator] Saying that
she never understood what it meant to kill
until she saw it happening really sounds like a
juvenile mind at play here. But sociopathy along with
other mental diseases can manifest at a very early age. - Do you think that you could
be able to physically do that now? - No. - And why is that? - Because I'm too nice of a person. I'm too nice and too squeamish. - Squeamish? - I can stand blood if it's just my own, but if I have to physically
make someone else bleed for my own personal gain, I won't do it. It doesn't sit right with me. - Yeah, up until this happened. - Yeah. - Okay. - [Narrator] Anissa thinks
she is too nice of a person to kill someone. This is a fascinating disassociation from the recent attempted killing. Her mental state at this
point seems to be bouncing between clarity and understanding all the way to nonsensical
denials of reality, which is not uncommon with juveniles. - I didn't want to do this. - Why did you do it then? - Because I was afraid of
what would happen if I didn't. - [Narrator] Psychosis with persecution seems to be presenting itself here. Delusions of persecution make someone
convinced that someone is mistreating, conspiring against, or planning to
harm them or their loved ones. These obsessions can grow to disrupt a
person’s ability to live a normal everyday life, as it clearly has with Morgan. These false beliefs can range from highly
improbable, such as fear of neighbors spying on you, to completely irrational, such as believing in
something paranormal like Slenderman. Since hallucinations are closely
tied with these delusions, it’s no surprise that Morgan’s supposed
‘sightings’ of the creepy man only stoked her fear more. And as we saw earlier with Morgan’s comments
about being left to “rot and die” in jail, and not wanting her head cut off, her delusions of persecution extend to
real world authority figures as well. - So you said that you were afraid? - Mhm. What were you afraid of? - Pretty much anything. - [Narrator] Being afraid
of pretty much anything is a classic persecution symptom associated with schizophrenia. - Because Anissa had already just- I was hoping that by playing hide and
seek, she could forget- - That who would forget? - Anissa. It was just like, "Now, Kitty-" And then like, "Oh my goodness, no..." And I don't know what really happened because Bella was freaked out and then Anissa would've freaked
out at me and then we were (indistinct). I didn't want to get hurt. - You didn't want to get hurt? Did you think about how Bella
would feel if she got hurt? - I avoided that, but
Anissa said something about us having to. - [Narrator] Avoiding
thoughts about how the victim would feel is a common
disassociation presentation among the mentally ill. As both girls and
derogations wind to a close, there are a few more interesting
elements to touch on. In Anissa's case, one of
the most intriguing moments happens right towards the end. - Can I ask a question? - Yes. - Where is Bella's body now? - Bella's at the hospital. - Okay. I thought it was still out
there at the crime scene. - Did you think that she died? - Yeah. - She is alive. - Okay. - [Narrator] This curiosity
is so interesting. And when Anissa learns
that Peyton is still alive, her sigh of what seems to be relief may be a notion of remorse. Although it is hard to tell
from this single indicator. - How does that make you feel? - It makes me feel kind of happy I'm kinda worried that... I'm just scared, all around. - What are you worried about? - I know she'll never talk to me again and that she hates my guts. - Yeah. Well, that's pretty serious what happened. She was very, very close to dying today. - Okay. - Very close. The doctors were able to save her. - Okay. - How does that make you feel? - Good. - It makes you feel good that she's alive? - Mhm. - [Narrator] She may be starting to grasp the severity of her circumstances now, but it's hard to gauge
when taking her immature and possibly mentally
ill mind into account. - Will I be able to go back to school? - What day is it today, Saturday? - Yeah. - You know, I don't know
if you're gonna be able to go back to school on Monday,
but at some point in time, you'll be able to go back to school. - Okay. How many stab wounds did they find? - 19. - Okay, Morgan counted 17. - Was she talking out loud
while she was doing it? - No, she was counting
in her head, I think. Are our clothes being cut apart? - No. They're being dried to
ensure that part is dry. It can also be a biohazard. - Oh, okay. I just realized something... If I don't go to school on Monday, that will
be the first day I miss of school. - You're kidding, you've never
missed a day of school? - Never. Last time I remember
missing a day of school was because of my great grandfather's funeral. - Wow. - And that was in third grade. - [Narrator] Anissa is still
worried about kid stuff despite a very adult crime on her hands. It's safe to say she has no
idea how much serious trouble she is in at this point. - Am I ever gonna get my clothes back? - I don't know if you're
gonna get those clothes back. I don't know if you
want those clothes back. Do you want those clothes back? I mean you can probably
have them back at some point in time. Yeah, they probably have
blood on it and stuff, I don't know, but... - It also makes
me feel a lot better knowing that she's alive. - Good. - Does it worry you that
you won't see Slender? or do you think he does not exist? - He does not exist, he
is a work of fiction. I believe that people who
say that they've seen him in person have read Creepypastas and then recall memories of a strange tree they thought it was slender 'cause I know that was
one of the cases on the bus, I look back at the tree, and it was strange. Does Morgan know that Bella is alive? - I don't know, I don't know
if detective Casey told her. Were you hoping that she was gonna die when you guys ran off, were
you hoping she was gonna die so you could see Slender. Is that the whole-- - Part of me kind of wanted
this to fail, because I'm... I hear about manslaughter
and all that on TV and it doesn't bother me much, but when I see it, it traumatized me. But the other part of
me wanted her to die. But part of me wanted
to, the bad part of me wanted her to die,
but the good part of me wanted her to live. - [Narrator] Conflicted
feeling between one's good side and bad side could be a precursor
of schizophrenic behavior, but it's only a subtle potential
indicator at this point. - It was scary for her,
where she was stabbed was near the heart. They did have to go in
and open up her chest. And sew part of her heart to repair it. And then after that, they
had to open up her stomach because her pancreas was cut, a part of her liver was
cut and so was her stomach. - Yeah, Morgan said got her in the stomach. - So those were very serious injuries. And she was... She was very near to death. So what you guys were
trying to accomplish today was very close to happening. But the doctors were able to fix her. - What about the big gash on her leg? - I'm sure they are going to
be able to sew that up. There's no major artery in the leg right there. As you get closer to your pelvic bone. But yeah, this is pretty serious and I know that you were
worried about execution and stuff like that. We don't have the death
penalty in Wisconsin. You're 12 years old and
I'm not exactly sure what's gonna happen here. Something horrific happened today and I know you realize that now. - I regret it. - But we've gotta accept
some responsibility here. And by giving me that statement, you're accepting some responsibility. You're very honest with me
and you cooperated with me. And that means a lot. That means a lot to Payton, okay. - [Narrator] From Anissa's calm demeanor, it's apparent that reality
hasn't settled in yet. Even when the interrogator
finally reads her story back to her and asks if
anything is incorrect or if she missed anything,
Anissa feels it is important to add more information about
another Creepypasta character. - Could you add Slender Man
and Zalgo on the (indistinct)? - Zalgo? - Yes. - How do you spell Zalgo? - Z-A-L-G-O. - Zalgo also has proxies? - Yes. - Does Zalgo like Slender Man? - He's supposed to be this
demon with seven mouths. - Oh, that's the demon. So what I just read to you was the
statement that is written here... - [Narrator] Morgan is
compliant as her interview ends and she's handcuffed. In the aftermath of this
crime officers found a message written on the notepad of Anissa's phone. It was from May 28th and read, "My final wish to those who care. "Do not grieve my absence,
but remember me for who I was. "I love and cherish you all
and wouldn't do you harm. "I want everything I
own to go to my parents "and best wishes to all
that know me personally, "do not miss me." Recovering notebooks from
Anissa and Morgan's lockers at school revealed drawings
that appear to show bloody figures, characters holding knives and Slender Man sketches. Emails between two addresses
called HermioneG516 and alexandriaweier were also recovered, exchanging furtive messages, like, "Make sure not to leave any traces "because when said events happen, "the school will search your email." And, "I told myself not to
feel emotions and it worked." One which appeared to be from Anissa read, "But clever girls dressed
to kill are bittersweet. "I think that may be us." Peyton was interviewed after recovering. And although she gave
authorities many details on what had happened to her. When asked what Morgan did to
her specifically, she replied, "I can't say it, it's too sad." She revealed that Morgan
whispered, "I'm so sorry" to her before starting. She claims Morgan told
her it was the only way to save Peyton's life because
one of the Creepypasta characters was stalking her. Peyton told Morgan she doubted it, but Morgan said, "We're not joking." To this day, Peyton is
left with emotional scars that will affect her for
the rest of her life. For months after the attack,
she slept with scissors under her pillow for protection and she keeps her bedroom
windows closed and locked refusing to open the
curtains just in case. She was excited to return to
school that same September, eager to get back into a normal routine after working to recover
from the traumatic event. Her community rallied
together wearing purple to honor her favorite color and
raising thousands of dollars to help cover her medical expenses. Morgan and Anissa were
charged in adult court with first degree, attempted
intentional homicide. Morgan pleaded guilty and was convicted. But as part of an agreement
was found not guilty by reason of mental disease or defect. Anissa pleaded guilty to a
lesser charge of being a party to attempted second degree
intentional homicide, but she was eventually found
by a jury to be not guilty by a mental disease or defect. Psychologists agree that
Morgan and Anissa's friendship created a perfect storm
of shared delusion. It was revealed that
Morgan's father had suffered from a similar mental
illness as his daughter when he was an adolescent
and was hospitalized at least four times, showing
that Morgan's early onset schizophrenia may have
had a genetic basis. Doctors testified in
2014 that she believed she had Vulcan mind control abilities, could speak to Voldemort, that unicorns and Pegasuses were real and that she could communicate
with not only Slender Man, but also the teenage mutant ninja turtles. In the recent years, her
mental health has reportedly seen significant improvements. Still at one point, a state
psychologist told the judge that she would not support Morgan being granted a conditional release as she had been hearing
the voice of Maggie, a hallucinatory voice she has
been hearing for years again. Anissa was diagnosed with
post-traumatic stress disorder, major depression and personality disorder. Her defense argued that
she was under the command and control of a delusional
disorder linked to schizotypy, a diminished ability to
separate reality from fantasy. Although no apology will
ever be able to erase what Peyton endured,
it's interesting to note that both girls have
expressed that they are sorry for what they did. Anissa was sentenced to 25 years and Morgan, the maximum of 40 in a mental health institution. However, in the summer of 2021, there has been a recent
update to this case. A judge agreed to a petition
for conditional release from Anissa, which argued that
the 19 year old young woman is no longer a threat
to herself or society. Based on hospital staff's
reports that Anissa didn't exhibit psychotic behaviors, it's been ordered that
state officials produce her release plan and she
was scheduled a hearing on September 10th. In a letter to the court, she asserted that she has
exhausted the resources available to her at the
mental health institution and needs to rejoin
society in order to become a productive member of it. And when the anticipated day of
the hearing finally arrived, a Wisconsin judge ruled that Anissa
would indeed be granted her release from the psychiatric hospital
on September 13th. The full report on her conditions of release
has not been released to the public, but the judge has stated that Anissa
had a clean mental health history and that there is no clear evidence that she poses
a substantial risk of harm to others or herself. Anissa herself informed the court that she plans
to live with her father and look for part-time work. She will remain under constant GPS
monitoring until otherwise determined. She also hopes to pursue higher education. She’s expressed, “I want to reiterate that I am not
saying I am done growing, changing, evolving, or adapting." "I just can't do it here anymore." Reports indicate that she will be
under strict regulations, such as not being allowed to use
the internet except at home, and any time she does use it,
her activity will be monitored by the state Department
of Corrections. She won’t be able to consume
alcohol or drugs, enter a bar, possess a weapon, or have any contact with Payton or her family. Peyton has expressed that
she doesn't have fear of what might happen upon
her attackers' releases. She's assured that if
they try anything funny, they'll go right back. She's even said that she
feels grateful in a way for what happened to her
because it has inspired her to pursue a career in the medical field. Coming out of such a horrible situation, she's expressed, "Parents
need to talk to their kids directly," saying, "This is
not real, this is fake," when it comes to online
figures like Slender Man. And the kids stuck in bad friendships, she has advised them
to listen to their gut and get out before something bad happens. Even if they feel guilted
into staying friends with that person.
Love ewu
Man this one is tough for me. I have a severely autistic relative around their ages who's having serious behavior problems right now. It's hard not to see shades of her in these girls.
Mental illness is friggin brutal, man 😔
Did this video cause anyone else to change their mind about certain aspects of this case?
For me, I remember watching a 20/20 special on this case and hearing Anissa's mom say she didn't know the state of Wisconsin allowed children to be interviewed by police without their parents, obviously suggesting they should not have been. Then the detective says something like, "I read them their rights, and I believed they understood their rights." For that same reasoning, I have never really disagreed with the detectives' decision to conduct lengthy interviews with these girls without their parents or a lawyer. The committed an adult crime, and the police needed to get to the truth, after all.
But this is the first time I've been able to see such a huge chunk of the interrogation footage and I have to say, it seems really, really wrong and unjust when you watch it play out. I think assuming kids who commit serious crimes have the mental capacity to sign away their rights is just a way to set them up to fail. When you watch, it's clear how little they understand the severity of the situation and have absolutely no concept of how their words will be used against them. It just doesn't seem right at all. I'm not saying they're not guilty as sin or that they didn't deserve to be held accountable (they tried to murder someone!), but they're delusional 12-year-olds. Yes, you as the detective are sitting there listening to them go on, in earnest, about their batshit crazy plans to murder their friend and become proxies for Slenderman and live in his mansion forever, but they totally understand Constitutional law. They're completely delusional and naive, but they were conveniently 100% competent when they waived their right to an attorney. I just don't think you can have it both ways.