Gypsy Rose Blanchard (born July 27, 1991) is an American woman who conspired with her then-boyfriend for more than a year to kill her mother, Clauddine "Dee Dee" Blanchard; the murder took place in June 2015 at the house where she lived with her mother in Springfield, Missouri. She was initially charged with first-degree murder, but later pleaded guilty to second-degree murder and was sentenced to ten years in prison. After Dee Dee's death, allegations surfaced that she misrepresented Gypsy's health, which drew national attention to the case.[1]
Allegations that Dee Dee Blanchard subjected her daughter to medical abuse have been widely reported in later interviews and dramatizations. However, these claims originate from Gypsy Rose Blanchard's own accounts and subsequent media portrayals, and have not been substantiated by any medical or legal finding.[1][2][3]
She was released on parole on December 28, 2023, after serving about 85 percent of her ten-year sentence.[4][5] Given the sensational aspects of Gypsy-Rose's childhood, including allegations that her mother forced her to pretend to be disabled and terminally ill, she gained widespread media attention. Hulu produced a limited series, The Act (2019), released while she was still in prison,[6] and she has been featured in interviews on a variety of TV shows, such as Dr. Phil; other programs have been based on her story. In 2024, her own reality show, Gypsy Rose: Life After Lock Up, premiered on Lifetime.
Early life
Blanchard was born on July 27, 1991, to 24-year-old Clauddine "Dee Dee" Blanchard and 18-year-old Rod Blanchard.
Allegations that Dee Dee Blanchard fabricated or induced illness in her daughter derive primarily from Gypsy Rose Blanchard's later statements and subsequent media portrayals. Dee Dee Blanchard was never formally diagnosed with a factitious disorder, and no medical or legal finding of medical child abuse was ever made. While one treating neurologist noted a suspicion of possible fabricated illness, it was recorded only as a differential concern and never confirmed by further testing or diagnosis.[7]
A Slidell Sentry-News article published on February 20, 2003, titled "Life Takes Many Turns for Good for Little Girl in Slidell," reported that Dee Dee and Gypsy had been "abandoned by their family after the death of Dee Dee's mother" and had "bounced around for several years looking for affordable housing." It stated that they twice lived in their car before settling in public housing in Slidell. Dee Dee said, "The Lord really knew what He wanted for us because today we have a roof over our heads, an adopted family, a church family at Aldersgate United Methodist Church, social workers for Gypsy, and we were given a trip to Disney World ... by the Children's Wish Endowment." The article describes it as a highlight of their year and quoting Gypsy saying, "I'm a Brownie in Troop 23." Dee Dee expressed gratitude to the charity for helping with medical and travel expenses, which were enough to develop the 21 rolls of film capturing memories of their trip.[8] The 2003 report is the last contemporaneous Lousiana-based account of the family before their move out of the state.
Move to Missouri
After Hurricane Katrina destroyed their Louisiana home, Dee Dee and Gypsy-Rose lived in a rented home in Aurora in southwestern Missouri. During their time there, Gypsy-Rose was honored by the Oley Foundation, which advocates for the rights of feeding-tube recipients, as its 2007 Child of the Year.[9] In 2008, Habitat for Humanity built them a small home with a wheelchair ramp and hot tub as part of a larger project on the north side of Springfield, to the east, and the two moved there. The story of a single mother with a severely disabled daughter forced to flee Katrina's devastation received considerable local media attention, and the community often pitched in to help the woman who now went by Clauddinnea Blancharde, and whom they knew as Dee Dee.[10]
Dee Dee regularly shaved Gypsy-Rose's head, allegedly telling her that since her medication would eventually cause her hair to fall out, it was best to shave it in advance; Gypsy-Rose often wore wigs or hats to cover her baldness. When they left the house, Dee Dee often took an oxygen tank and feeding tube with them; Gypsy-Rose was fed the children's liquid nutrition supplement PediaSure well into her 20s.[10]
Growing independence
Dee Dee seems to have at least once forged a copy of Gypsy-Rose's birth certificate, changing her birthdate to 1995 to bolster claims that she was still a teenager. Gypsy-Rose said in a later interview that for 14 years she was unsure of her real age.[11]
Gypsy-Rose had attended science fiction and fantasy conventions since 2001,[12] sometimes in costume since she could blend into their diverse and inclusive communities in her wheelchair. At a 2011 event, she made what may have been an escape attempt that ended when her mother found her in a hotel room with a man she had met online. Again Dee Dee produced the paperwork giving Gypsy-Rose's false, younger birthdate and threatened to inform the police.[10] Gypsy's father, Rod Blanchard, recalled that Dee Dee told him their daughter had a "chromosomal defect" that explained many of her health issues.[10] Years later, genetic testing in 2011 identified a 1q21.1 microdeletion.[13]
Sometime around 2012, Gypsy-Rose, who continued to use the Internet and phone freely, made contact online with Nicholas Godejohn, a man around her age from Big Bend, Wisconsin, whom she said she had met on a Christian singles website.[10]
In 2014, Gypsy-Rose confided to 23-year-old neighbor Aleah Woodmansee (who, unaware that Gypsy-Rose was closer to her own age, considered herself a "big sister"), that she and Godejohn had discussed eloping and had even chosen names for potential children. According to law-enforcement reports and media coverage, Gypsy maintained multiple Facebook accounts under different names.[14] Despite Dee Dee's efforts to prevent her from using the internet, which went as far as allegedly destroying her daughter's phone and laptop,[11] Gypsy-Rose maintained contact with Woodmansee, who saved printouts of her posts, until 2014.[10]
The next year, Gypsy-Rose arranged and paid for Godejohn to travel to Springfield. She planned to pretend to meet Godejohn for the first time at a movie theater with her mother,[11] then appear to strike up a relationship based on the supposed chance encounter. The two continued their Internet interactions and began developing a plan to kill Dee Dee.[10]
Godejohn returned to Springfield on June 10, 2015, arriving while Gypsy-Rose and her mother were away at a doctor's appointment. After they had returned home and Dee Dee had gone to sleep, he went to the Blanchard house. Gypsy-Rose let him in and allegedly gave him duct tape, gloves, and a knife with the understanding that he would use it to murder Dee Dee.[11]
She hid in the bathroom and covered her ears so that she would not have to hear her mother screaming. Godejohn then stabbed Dee Dee 4 times in the back while she was asleep.[15] Afterward, the two had sex in Gypsy-Rose's room, and stole more than $4,400 in cash[16] that Dee Dee had been keeping in the house, mostly from child support checks. They fled to a motel outside Springfield, where they stayed a few days while planning their next move; during that time, they were seen on security cameras at several stores. Gypsy-Rose said at that point she believed the two had gotten away with their crime.[11]
They mailed the murder weapon back to Godejohn's home in Wisconsin to avoid being caught with it,[17] then took a bus there. Several witnesses who saw the pair on their way to the Greyhound station noted that Gypsy wore a blonde wig and walked unassisted.[18]
Investigation and arrests
After seeing concerning Facebook statuses posted from Dee Dee's account, the Blanchards' friends suspected something was amiss. When phone calls went unanswered, several friends and neighbors went to the house. While the friends and neighbors knew that the two often left on medical trips unannounced, they saw Dee Dee's modified car still in the driveway, making an unannounced trip unlikely. Protective film on the windows made it hard to see inside in the low light. No one answered the door, so the gathered friends called 9-1-1. When the police arrived, they had to wait for a search warrant to be issued before they could enter, but they allowed one of the neighbors to climb through a window. He reported that the inside of the house was largely undisturbed and that Gypsy-Rose's wheelchairs were present.[10]
When the warrant was issued, police entered the house and found Dee Dee's body. Neighbors were concerned about how Gypsy would do without her wheelchair, medications, and support equipment, such as the oxygen tanks and feeding tube. Friends set up a GoFundMe account to pay for Dee Dee's funeral expenses and possibly Gypsy-Rose's.[10]
Woodmansee, who was among those gathered on the Blanchards' lawn, told police what she knew about Gypsy-Rose and her secret boyfriend. She showed them the printouts she had saved, which included his name. Based on that information, police asked Facebook to trace the IP address from which the posts to Dee Dee's account had been made. It turned out to be in Wisconsin, and the next day police agencies in Waukesha County raided the Godejohns' Big Bend home. Godejohn and Gypsy-Rose surrendered and were taken into custody on charges of murder and felony armed criminal action.[19]
The news that Gypsy-Rose was safe was greeted with relief in Springfield, where she and Godejohn were soon extradited to and held on $1 million bond. But, in announcing the news, Greene CountySheriff Jim Arnott warned, "things are not always what they appear". The media in Springfield soon reported the truth of the Blanchards' lives: that Gypsy-Rose had never been sick and had always been able to walk, but her mother had made her pretend otherwise, using physical abuse to control her. Arnott urged people not to donate money to the family until investigators learned the extent of the fraud.[19]
Gypsy-Rose pleaded guilty to second-degree murder, and was sentenced to ten years in prison.[20] Godejohn was found guilty of first-degree murder and sentenced to life in prison without parole[21] and an additional 25 years for armed criminal action.[20]
Personal life
Blanchard was released on parole on December 28, 2023, after serving eight years of her ten year sentence. Following her release, she gave several television interviews, including appearances on Good Morning America, CNN, and The View. In 2024, she and her then-husband Ryan Anderson were featured in the Lifetime docuseries Gypsy Rose: Life After Lock Up. The couple separated later that year, according to People magazine.[22]
↑ Perkins, Gilda (February 20, 2003). "Life Takes Many Turns for Good for Little Girl in Slidell". Slidell Sentry-News. Blanchard said she and her daughter twice lived in their car before finding public housing in Slidell. "The Lord really knew what He wanted for us because today we have a roof over our heads...," she said.
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