MILWAUKEE // Two 13-year-old girls have pleaded not guilty to attempted homicide charges after being accused of repeatedly stabbing a classmate as a sacrifice to an online horror character.
The suburban Milwaukee girls are being tried as adults and face decades in prison if convicted in the 2014 attack. A judge entered their pleas on Friday.
Investigators say the two plotted to lure Payton Leutner into some woods after a sleepover. They say the girls intended to kill Payton to win the favour of Slender Man, who is described as unnaturally tall and thin with no visible facial features.
Slender Man stories have proliferated online in recent years.
The girls are not being identified because their case could land on appeal in juvenile court, where proceedings are closed.
* Associated Press
