Slenderman stabbing victim, now 15, is a 'strong young woman who excels at school'

Nearly three years after Payton Leutner was stabbed 19 times by two classmates when she was 12, the Wisconsin teen is thriving as a high school freshman by taking Advanced Placement classes .

“Today, Payton is a strong young woman who is excelling in school and doing many of the things a teenager would do with family and friends,” family spokesman Steve Lyons said.

On Tuesday, the same day Payton turned 15, a Waukesha County judge set a trial date in his case for Oct. 2 and ruled that suspect Morgan Geyser's confession would be admissible. The judge also ruled that there would be no change of venue, according to the Milwaukee. Sentinel Journal.

Lyons says Payton and his family are “pleased” with the judge's decisions.

“We are confident that Payton and his family will receive justice for this horrific, premeditated crime,” said Lyons, who works for the Husch Blackwell law firm in Madison, Wisconsin.

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On May 31, 2014, police say Payton, then 12, was lured by his friends Anissa Weier and Morgan to the woods near their home and attacked as part of a murder plot. The girls, also 12 at the time, left Payton to die, but she managed to crawl to a bike path where a passerby found her and called 911, according to investigators.

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Anissa and Morgan later told police they carried out the assault in the name of “Slenderman”, a fictional online character popular in horror stories. The case became the subject of the HBO documentary Beware of the Slenderman.

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The suspects are charged as adults and have been in custody since the attack on charges of attempted first-degree intentional homicide. They both pleaded not guilty by reason of mental illness or defect. A judge is expected to announce Anissa's trial date at her next hearing on February 20.