Three Wisconsin Department of Corrections staff members are on administrative leave as the department investigates the escape last month of a woman convicted of a stabbing when she was in middle school.
Morgan Geyser removed her ankle monitoring bracelet the night of Nov. 22 and fled from the group home. She was arrested at a truck stop in a Chicago suburb one day later and was later extradited back to Wisconsin.
Geyser was in sixth grade in 2014 when she stabbed her classmate in order to please the fictional horror character known as Slender Man. She was committed to a state mental health facility after she pleaded guilty to attempted first-degree intentional homicide. She then had been living at a group home after she was granted conditional release over the summer.
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A timeline of events from the Madison Police Department said someone from the group home reported Geyser as a missing person to the police department nearly 12 hours after she was last seen at the home.
“This was the first time the Madison Police Department was made aware that Geyser was missing,” the timeline said.
A Nov. 25 letter from the chairs of the Wisconsin Joint Legislative Audit Committee to Wisconsin Department of Corrections Secretary Jared Hoy sought more information regarding the agency’s response to the incident.
The letter said the reports of the timeline raised “serious questions” about the ability of the DOC’s Community Corrections Program to handle its responsibilities. In an interview with WPR, committee co-chair state Sen. Eric Wimberger, R-Oconto, said it was concerning to him that there “wasn’t a very immediate response” from the DOC after it was learned that Geyser had tampered with her bracelet.
In his response to the lawmakers, Hoy confirmed the agency began a “detailed after-action review” after the incident. He also said three staff members who were involved in the response to the incident are on administrative leave due to a personnel investigation.
“The results of that investigation will determine any further disciplinary actions that are necessary and, if so, how severe,” Hoy wrote in a letter to the lawmakers.
Madison police said Geyser was last seen at the group home at around 8:15 p.m. on Nov. 22. Hoy’s letter said the DOC’s electronic monitoring center received a “tamper alarm” for Geyser’s bracelet at 9:38 p.m.
Response times to alerts depend on a “number of factors,” according to Hoy. That includes the number of alarms, staffing level and the number of experienced staff at the center, Hoy wrote in the letter.
Hoy said the center received 397 tamper alarms from 9:00 p.m. to midnight on Nov. 22. Staff at the center began looking into Geyser’s alarm at 11:10 p.m. They called the group home around 20 minutes later.
“Residence staff confirmed the individual (Geyser) was no longer present and a GPS device had been cut and left at the residence,” Hoy wrote in the letter.
Staff at the center issued an “apprehension request” for Geyser at 12:05 a.m. Nov. 23, according to Hoy.
“Apprehension requests are often the first notification to law enforcement to alert that a person under supervision is wanted,” Hoy wrote in the letter.
“Officers see these requests during routine checks such as traffic stops or other encounters,” he added. “It is treated as a notice to detain an individual and return them to custody.”
Hoy’s letter said staff at the center also called the Dane County Sheriff Department at 7:44 a.m. Nov. 23.
Department updates procedures
As part of the preliminary review of the incident, Hoy said the department has changed the procedure for when someone tampers with an ankle monitoring bracelet. That includes issuing an apprehension request and a teletype message immediately after confirmation of a tamper.
“These updates streamline processes and shift the timing of critical steps and notifications that need to occur by monitoring center staff when they receive an alert, greatly eliminating operator discretion and opportunity for error,” Hoy wrote in the letter.
In response to Hoy’s letter, Wimberger said he’d like to see more changes from the department.
“If we move more toward electronic monitoring, more things like this will happen,” Wimberger said.
During a press conference hours after it was announced that Geyser was back in custody, Waukesha County District Attorney Lesli Boese also said she was concerned the victim’s family was not notified of the incident “in a more prompt manner.”
On Wednesday, a Waukesha County spokesperson said Geyser is no longer in custody at the Waukesha County Jail. Her “placement and transport” is under seal, according to the spokesperson.
The state has filed a petition to revoke her conditional release, according to Geyser’s attorney Anthony Cotton. Geyser’s next court date could be sometime this winter, Cotton said.
Geyser had been at the Winnebago Mental Health Institute since 2018. She filed a petition of release in 2024. A final plan and placement for her release to a group home was signed on Sept. 17.
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