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Stabbing Suspect Believed Slender Man Would ‘Kill My Whole Family in 3 Seconds’

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Two girls accused of stabbing a classmate 19 times – as an homage to an online fictional character known as Slender Man – returned to Waukesha County Court on Monday where a judge will decide whether there’s enough evidence to go to trial.

Anissa Weier, 13, and Morgan Geyser, 12, were charged as adults for intentional homicide. In a pre-trial hearing, Geyser’s attorney argued that the girl’s obsession with Slender Man warrants a lesser charge, which would allow for her case to be tried in juvenile court.

On Monday the court was shown a police interrogation video in which Weier said she believed she had to kill someone or else Slender Man would “kill my whole family in three seconds,” reports ABC News.

At the hearing, a detective told the court that the victim said Geyser apologized before stabbing her, according to a Tweet from Bruce Vielmetti, a reporter at the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.

On May 30, Payton Leutner, whose identity was revealed on ABC’s 20/20, attended a slumber party with Weier and Geyser. The following day, the trio walked to a park where she was stabbed. Leutner managed to crawl her way to a bike path where a passerby called 911.

For months, attorneys for both girls argued they were incompetent to stand trial but Circuit Judge Michael Bohren denied their request after hearing from the state’s doctor. The hearing is expected to conclude Tuesday.

This article originally appeared on PEOPLE.com

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