A woman who stabbed her friend to appease a fictional internet character named “Slender Man” more than a decade ago was recaptured south of Chicago on Sunday, a day after cutting off her GPS monitoring bracelet and leaving her group more than 150 miles away in Madison, Wis., authorities say.

Morgan Geyser, 23, was taken into custody by police in Posen, Ill., with an unidentified adult male on Sunday night.

“There is no longer a need to search for Morgan Geyser at this time,” Madison police said in a statement late Sunday.

Geyser is being held while awaiting an extradition hearing in Cook County, Ill., scheduled for Tuesday.

What happened?

According to police, Geyser cut off her Department of Corrections monitoring bracelet and left the group home in Madison on Saturday night. She was last seen around 8 p.m. on Saturday with an adult acquaintance, police said.

After she was reported missing, Geyser’s family urged her to turn herself in.

“If you see Morgan, please call the police,” her mother, Angie Geyser, said in a statement prior to her arrest. “Morgan, if you can see this, we love you and just want to know you are safe.”

“We worked too hard to secure her freedom for her to continue on this path,” Geyser’s attorney, Tony Cotton, said in a video statement following her disappearance.

On Sunday night, police in Posen were dispatched to a truck stop on a report of a man and a woman loitering. When officers arrived, they found Geyser and the 42-year-old male sleeping on the sidewalk behind the building.

​“The female repeatedly refused to provide her real name and initially gave a false one,” Posen police said in a statement. "After continued attempts to identify her, she finally stated that she didn’t want to tell officers who she was because she had 'done something really bad,' and suggested that officers could 'just Google' her name."

According to police, Geyser and the man had traveled by bus from Wisconsin to the Chicago area. They were taken into custody without incident.

The man, whose name was not released, was charged with criminal trespassing and obstructing identification, police said. He has since been released.

The ‘Slender Man’ case

In 2014, Geyser and Anissa Weier lured their classmate, Payton Leutner, into the woods. Geyser stabbed Leutner 19 times as Weier cheered her on. Leutner survived. All three girls were 12 years old.

Geyser and Weier admitted to the attack, saying they were inspired by “Slender Man,” a faceless, fictional internet character with a cult following.

They were charged as adults and pleaded guilty, but those pleas were later vacated when they were found not guilty by reason of mental disease or defect. Both were sent to psychiatric facilities instead of jail.

In 2021, Weier was granted supervised release to live with her father.

In March, Geyser was transferred from the Winnebago Mental Health Institute to a group home, where she was subject to GPS monitoring.

According to ABC News, Geyser was granted conditional release despite concerns raised by prosecutors, who alleged she had “violent” communication with a man outside the facility.

What Geyser’s victim said about her escape

"Payton Leutner and her family are aware of the most recent situation regarding Morgan Geyser," a spokesperson for the Leutner family said in a statement Sunday before Geyser was found. "Payton and her family are safe and are working closely with local law enforcement to ensure their continued safety."