Gypsy Rose Blanchard takes the stand during the trial of her ex-boyfriend Nicholas Godejohn on November 15, 2018 in Springfield, Missouri. (Nathan Papes/The Springfield News-Leader via AP, File)
Gypsy Rose BlanchardThe Missouri woman who convinced an online friend to kill her mother after years of forcing her to pretend she had leukemia, muscular dystrophy and other serious illnesses was released on parole Thursday.
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The case sparked national tabloid interest after reports surfaced that Gypsy Blanchard's mother, Clauddine “Dee Dee” Blanchard, who was murdered in 2015, had effectively held her daughter captive, forcing her to use a wheelchair and a feeding tube.
It turned out that Gypsy Blanchard, now 32, was perfectly healthy and had no developmental delays, as her friends had always believed. Her mother had Munchausen syndrome by proxy, a mental disorder in which parents or caregivers seek sympathy through their children's exaggerated or made-up illnesses.said his trial attorney, Michael Stanfield.
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“People were constantly telling Dee Dee what a wonderful mother she was, and Dee Dee got so much attention,” she said.
Gypsy Rose Blanchard during one of her hospital stays.
Through the ruse, mother and daughter met country star Miranda Lambert and received donations from Habitat for Humanity, a trip to Disney World and even a house near Springfield.
Stanfield said that Gypsy Blanchard's mother was able to deceive doctors by telling them that her daughter's medical records were lost in Hurricane Katrina. If they asked too many questions, he would simply find a new doctor and shave the girl's head to support his story. Among the unnecessary procedures Gypsy Blanchard underwent was the removal of her salivary glands. His mother convinced doctors that it was necessary to use a local anesthetic to induce drooling.
Gypsy Blanchard, who had little education and little contact with anyone except her mother, was also deceived, especially when she was younger, Stanfield said.
“Doctors seem to confirm everything they tell you. The outside world tells you that your mother is a wonderful, loving and attentive person. “What other idea can you have?” said Stanfield.
Gypsy Rose Blanchard speaks with her attorney Mike Stanfield, right, and Clate Baker before her court date July 5, 2016, in Springfield. (Andrew Jansen/The Springfield News-Leader via AP, File)
But then the abuse became more physical, Stanfield said. Gypsy testified that her mother beat her and chained her to a bed. Little by little, Gypsy also began to understand that she was not as sick as her mother said.
“I wanted to free myself from his control over me.”Gypsy testified in the 2018 trial of her ex-boyfriend Nicholas Godejohn of Big Bend, Wisconsin, who is serving a life sentence for murder. She continued, adding, “I convinced him.”
By the time he took the stand at trial, prosecutors had already made him a deal for the abuse he suffered. In exchange for pleading guilty to second-degree murder in 2016, she was sentenced to 10 years in prison. The first-degree murder charge he originally faced would have carried a life sentence.
“Nick was so in love with her and so obsessed with her that he would do anything,” Godejohn's trial attorney Dewayne Perry argued in court, saying his client had autism and had been manipulated.
Gypsy Blanchard and Nicholas Godejohn
But prosecutors argued that he was motivated by sex and a desire to be with Gypsy Blanchard, whom he met on a Christian dating website.
According to the probable cause statement Gypsy Blanchard got the knife and hid in a bathroom while Godejohn repeatedly stabbed her mother. The two eventually took a bus to Wisconsin, where they were arrested. Since then, she has been incarcerated at a state women's prison in Chillicothe.
“Things are not always as they seem,” Greene County Sheriff Jim Arnott said as the strange revelations came to light.
Even Gypsy's age was a lie. Her mother had said she was younger to make it easier to continue the fraud, and she got away with it because Gypsy was very small: only 1.50 meters (4 feet 11 inches) tall.
Her mother had Munchausen syndrome by proxy, a mental disorder in which parents or caregivers seek sympathy through their children's exaggerated or made-up illnesses.
Authorities were initially so confused that the original court documents listed three different ages for her, with the youngest being 19. She was 23.
Greene County Prosecutor Dan Patterson described it as “one of the most extraordinary and unusual cases we have ever seen.”
Stanfield recalled that when he first met Gypsy, she gasped as she walked the 75 yards (69 meters) from the elevator to the room where he spoke to her. He described her as malnourished and physically frail.
“I can honestly say that I have rarely seen a client look much better after serving a lengthy prison sentence,” Stanfield said. “Prison is generally not a place where you can become happy and healthy. And I say that because to me it's kind of proof to the rest of the world how bad what Gypsy went through really was.
Gypsy Rose Blanchard with her mother Dee Dee.
Gypsy Blanchard later said that it was only when she was arrested that she realized how healthy she was. But it took some time. She eventually married Ryan Scott Anderson, now 37, of Saint Charles, Louisiana, while in prison.
The strange case was the subject of the 2017 HBO documentary “Mommy Dead and Dearest,” the 2019 Hulu miniseries “The Act,” and an upcoming Lifetime documentary “The Prison Confession of Gypsy Rose Blanchard.” Daytime television psychologist “Dr. Phil,” McGraw interviewed her from prison. The novel “Darling Rose Gold” is based on this story, and Blanchard’s own story “Released: Conversations on the Eve of Freedom” will be published next month.
Amid the media storm, Corrections Department spokeswoman Karen Pojmann said no in-person coverage of his release would be permitted Thursday “in the interest of protecting security and privacy.”
(with information from AP)