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The girl and another 12-year-old have been charged as adults with first-degree attempted homicide in a stabbing that nearly killed another child the same age. The two girls told investigators they plotted for months to kill their friend because a character called Slender Man required them to kill someone before they could become his “proxy.”

Anthony Cotton, an attorney for one of the girls charged in the stabbing, said her parents called him while she was being questioned at the police station because officers had rejected their request to see her. Police read the girl her rights but were not required to have a parent or lawyer present if she didn’t ask for them, he said.

Cotton said he would push to get the girl’s case transferred to juvenile court, where more social services and mental health treatment would be available.

“She’s 12 and she has mental health issues,” Cotton said. “There’s no question that she needs to go to the hospital.”

The girls are being held at a juvenile detention centre after a court commissioner set bail at $500,000. Cotton said his client’s family can’t pay that, and a judge already rejected his first motion to move the girl to a hospital. He said he’ll seek a mental health evaluation as a first step toward a second request.

The girls told investigators they read about Slender Man on the horror website creepypasta.wikia.com. It’s not clear whether they got access to the website at home or at school, but a school administrator said employees were reviewing various websites to see if they should be blocked after the stabbing.