From the early days of her recovery, Payton, of the Waukesha, Wis., has shown remarkable resilience. When her mother, Stacie Leutner, asked how she managed to crawl out of the trees and onto a paved path where a cyclist found her and called 911 that horrific May 31 morning, she simply replied, “Because I wanted to live,” Stacie told ABC News’ “20/20”.
The then-12-year-old — who just celebrated her birthday on Friday — had been blindsided by the shocking attack. It took place the morning after a sleepover at pal Morgan Geyser’s, along with Morgan’s friend Anissa Weier, both 12 at the time. The duo allegedly lured Payton into the woods by telling her they were going to play hide-and-seek, then they tried to murder her, viciously stabbing her with a five-inch-long kitchen knife and wounding her arms, legs, diaphragm, liver, stomach, and chest. “If the knife had gone the width of a human hair further [to penetrate her heart], she wouldn’t have lived,” Payton’s surgeon John Keleman told “20/20.”
The girls, both in custody and charged with first-degree attempted homicide, had reportedly planned the attack for months in a disturbing attempt to gain favor with — and reprieve for their families from — the fictional horror story kidnapper “Slender Man,” whom Payton says the two believed was real. Geyser, since diagnosed as schizophrenic, appeared in court Tuesday with Weier for preliminary hearings regarding their case. A judge has yet to determine whether or not to green light them for trial next month. The girls have been charged as adults, but Fox6Now reports that Geyser’s attorney is attempting to have them tried in juvenile court instead.
“I think the hardest part for me is that Payton put this trust in this girl,” Stacie, who also has a younger son, Caden, told “20/20.” “And Morgan knew that she was going to do this to Payton that night. She knew, and to betray somebody like that and to hurt somebody like that… Both of my kids have been robbed of their innocence. No child should ever have to go through something like this.”
But Payton did, and now those closest to her say that she’s come out the other side stronger for it. “I’m astonished at the way that she’s been able to recover,” her father, Joe Leutner, added in the same interview.
Still, it’s been a draining process, Lyons tells Yahoo Parenting. Payton spent her summer in and out of surgeries, doctor appointments, and therapy sessions before reporting back to school to begin junior high in September. “She is an amazing young lady,” says Lyons. “She has an incredibly brave heart. She and the entire family are an inspiration. Despite all the things they’ve gone through, their attitude is still just to think that tomorrow will be a better day.”
In fact, the family considers itself lucky. “At the end of the day, their little girl wakes up in her bed with her dog and two cats and her gecko and they’re all together,” says Lyons. “Payton’s doing great, too, in school, which she loves. This is just one chapter in a very long book for them.”
The resilience Payton has displayed thus far tells family physician and parenting expert Deborah Gilboa, MD, that the teen’s future is bright indeed. “What she endured is not something she’ll have to recover from every day for the rest of her life,” Gilboa tells Yahoo Parenting. “It will inform her perspective,” she says, but not define her. “In some ways, this horrible thing that happened will strengthen the resilience she’s already shown and make her life so much better,” she says. “She can use this terrible experience to have a great life.”
Joe has already declared his little girl is built for big things. He told “20/20” that his daughter, for whom they’ve established Go Fund Me and Hearts for Healing fundraisers to cover future treatments, is “meant to do something really special.”
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