The friend arrested alongside “Slender Man” stabber Morgan Geyser after her escape from custody is a transgender bestie who says the much-younger escapee “ran because of me.”

Chad “Charly” Mecca, 43, was found with the 23-year-old escapee at a truck stop in Posen, just outside Chicago, on Sunday night, some 24 hours after the disturbed stabber fled her care home more than 150 miles away in Wisconsin.

The trans pal — seen in a mug shot with disheveled blue hair and wearing a low-cut pink top — took responsibility for the escapee in an interview with a local TV station, WKOW.

“She ran because of me,” said Mecca, who was issued a citation for criminal trespassing and obstructing identification.

Mecca claimed that Geyser fled her group home because she was being banned from seeing her transgender bestie.

“She sobbed, she’s like, ‘They’ll take away our visitation. Charly, please … you’re my best friend,'” Mecca said of a phone call as she fled.

“She already made it clear if I didn’t go, whether or not she was still going, and she was not going back to jail. And I know what that means,” Mecca said.

“The end of the day, I followed what I thought was right. I stand by it,” added Mecca, whom police referred to as “he,” but identified as transgender and was called “she” by Geyser, according to WISN.

The pair, who met a couple of months ago at a church in Madison, Wisconsin, were potentially heading to Nashville, Tenn., according to a police report. 

They took public transportation to Chicago before walking 20 miles south to Posen, where they were arrested after police were called on reports of people loitering behind the truck stop.

Geyser was only 12 when, in 2014, she and another girl, Anissa Weier, lured classmate Payton Leutner into the woods and stabbed her 19 times.

Leutner was able to crawl to a nearby cycle lane, where she was found by passersby, and ultimately survived.

Geyser was found not guilty by reason of mental disease or defect, and was sent to a mental hospital, before being released to a group home in Madison in March this year.

She removed her ankle tag and escaped the home on Saturday evening, but was captured just over 24 hours later.

When police found her, Geyser initially provided a false name, later telling cops she hadn’t wanted to reveal her true identity.

She had “done something really bad,” Geyser said, telling officers to “Google” her, according to police.

Mecca is next due in court on Jan. 15.