Parents of Waukesha stabbing victim say daughter's 'sparkle' will return

Todd Ponath
Well wishes and flowers have been placed at the site where a 12-year-old girl was found stabbed by her classmates on Big Bend Road in Waukesha.
Published on: 6/9/2014

The parents of the 12-year-old Waukesha girl who was allegedly left for dead by her two friends on May 31 have asked that their daughter's identity remain private, but they did shed some light on who she is, from a social standpoint.

The family posted a descriptive letter on the tree at the site where the victim was found in a wooded area along Big Bend Road, south of Rivera Drive, by a bicyclist after the alleged premeditated plot by Morgan E. Geyser and Anissa E. Weier, two of her Horning Middle School classmates.

The letter speaks of her "sparkle" and how she is anxious to get on with her life.

It will be a while before the girl can enjoy the things she loves to do most, but she has taken one step forward. She was released from the hospital on Friday, June 6, after being stabbed 19 times and coming within a millimeter of losing her life.

Who she is

The letter lets people know what the sixth-grader likes, at school and at home.

It reveals that the girl loves pop singer Katy Perry. She enjoys fashion and learning a different language. And she takes great pleasure in volunteering at the local animal shelter.

"She enjoys listening to music and torments her parents, just as any other pre-teen, with loud acoustical versions of her favorite Taylor Swift and Katy Perry songs," the letter says.

French is the girl's favorite class and her parents say "she practices it at home and teases her little brother by saying words he cannot understand."

"Our strong, brave girl loves school and her teachers," the letter continued. "She is looking forward to summer, but has voiced that she will miss attending classes even more."

The letter said the girl has a close relationship with her entire family and is especially fond of cats.

According to her family, the girl had plans to spend much of her summer at the Humane Animal Welfare Society shelter in Waukesha. It would have been fitting given that last fall she organized a food drive to benefit the animals at HAWS.

The girl has two cats that her parents said are "her pride and joy at home."

Gently revisiting incident

The victim's parents said they have kept the discussions about the stabbing with their daughter short.

The victim was allegedly lured into the woods by Geyser and Weier after a sleepover the night before at Geyser's residence and was stabbed repeatedly and left behind.

The suspects reportedly told police that they left on foot, bound for the Nicolet National Forest in northern Wisconsin to find the mansion of Slender Man, an Internet character they believed to be real. The suspects told police that in order to be a proxy of Slender Man, they needed to kill someone.

The victim managed to crawl out of the woods. Her parents asked her how she found the strength to do that.

She told them: "I wanted to live."

Getting her life back

She made steady improvements in the hospital after suffering injuries to her liver, pancreas and stomach. In fact, she was up and walking about five days after the incident without machines or tubes and sitting up to watch TV.

As she continues to make progress and get back to her life, her parents said she can put her focus once again on her interests.

This includes fashion.

"She is a budding fashionista and enjoys reading magazines about the latest styles," her parents wrote in the letter.

They also know that while their little girl is suffering right now, she's going to survive.

"She has a love for life and the dramatic sparkle of any typical 12-year-old girl in her eye," her parents wrote in the letter. "Although the sparkle has dimmed for now, we know it will be back again brighter than ever because of the amazing support she has worldwide."