True Crime Vault: The Wicked

20/20

ABC News

True Crime

3.8 • 7.3K Ratings

🗓️ 7 October 2025

⏱️ 84 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Payton Leutner speaks out after two friends stabbed her and left her for dead in the woods of Wisconsin to prove themselves to a fictitious character known as "Slender Man." This broadcast originally aired October 25, 2019. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	Say hello to the next generation of Zendesk AI agents, built to deliver resolutions for everyone.
0:05.3	Loved by over 10,000 companies, Zendesk AI agents easily deploy in minutes to resolve 30% of interactions instantly.
0:11.9	That's the Zendesk AI effect. Find out more at Zendesk.com.
0:16.9	This is the 2020 True Crime Vault.
0:22.6	So many people have followed this story for so long, including us,
0:26.6	and this is the first time that Peyton Lightner is talking.
0:29.6	Do you remember leaving the park to go to the woods?
0:32.6	This is the most unbelievable story I've ever heard.
0:36.6	Who the heck is Slender Man?
0:39.3	Why?
0:40.3	My...
0:41.3	Three 12-year-old girls had a sleepover.
0:42.3	The suspects lowered the victim into the woods,
0:45.3	and all three of the girls are 12 years old.
0:48.3	We have no idea that she believed Slender Man was real.
0:51.3	What did she do next?
0:52.3	Stop, stop, stop, stop, stop. Was there any part of it where you thought I might not survive this?
0:58.0	What were you trying to do with her when you stabbed her?
1:00.0	Kill her.
1:02.0	I might as well just say it.
1:03.0	We were trying to kill her.
1:05.0	If she saw this interview, what would you want to say to her?
	...

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