Gypsy-Rose Blanchard: Ten years in prison; paroled after eight 1/2 years[4][5] Nicholas Godejohn: Life imprisonment without possibility of parole plus 25 years
Before dawn on June 10, 2015, Clauddine "Dee Dee" Blanchard, a 48-year-old woman, was murdered in her home in Springfield, Missouri. Her daughter, Gypsy Rose Blanchard, and Gypsy's then-boyfriend, Nicholas Godejohn, carried out the killing. The pair had met online in October 2012 and began planning the homicide about a year before the crime. After Gypsy posted a series of explicit messages about the killing on a public Facebook account she shared with her mother, neighbors contacted police, leading to the discovery of Dee Dee's body. The case soon drew national media attention. Early reporting framed the homicide as part of a long‑running fraud scheme, with local outlets noting that Gypsy appeared healthy and could walk despite years of public claims that she was severely ill.
In 2016, Gypsy accepted a plea agreement and was sentenced to ten years in prison for second‑degree murder. In 2018, Godejohn was convicted of first‑degree murder and sentenced to life imprisonment without parole. Gypsy was released on parole in December 2023. The case has since been the subject of numerous documentaries, dramatizations, and media analyses.
Background
Dee Dee Blanchard
Clauddine Pitre was born on May 3, 1967, in Chackbay, Louisiana, to Claude and Emma Pitre.[6][7] She was of primarily French Canadian descent. Known by the nickname "Dee Dee", she grew up with her family in nearby Golden Meadow.[8] Her mother died in 1997.
Early in adulthood, Dee Dee worked as a nurse's aide alongside Kristy Blanchard and Laura Pitre.[9][10] When she was 23, she met 17-year-old Rod Blanchard in a bowling alley bar.[11] The two married on December 27, 1990.[12]
Shortly before the birth of their daughter, Gypsy‑Rose, in July 1991, the couple separated. Rod later said he realized he "got married for the wrong reasons".[9] They chose the name Gypsy‑Rose because Dee Dee liked the name Gypsy, and Rod was a fan of Guns N' Roses.[9] After Rod declined to return to the relationship, Dee Dee took her newborn daughter and moved back in with her family.[9]
According to Rod Blanchard, when Gypsy was three months old, Dee Dee became convinced that the infant had sleep apnea and began taking her to the hospital. Repeated overnight stays with a sleep monitor and other tests found no evidence of the condition.[9][13] Over time, Dee Dee asserted that Gypsy had a wide range of medical issues, which she attributed to an unspecified chromosomal disorder.[9] She later claimed that Gypsy had muscular dystrophy and encouraged her to use a walker.[14]
In her book, Gypsy alleged that when she was five years old, her maternal grandfather made her and Dee Dee bathe with him.[10] She also wrote that when she was seven or eight, she was riding on her grandfather's motorcycle when they were involved in a minor accident in which she suffered an abrasion on her knee.
Gypsy frequently attended Special Olympics events with her parents. She was named the honorary queen of the Krewe of Mid-City, a child-focused Mardi Gras parade in New Orleans.[15] At the event, she described herself as an animal lover with four cats and said her grandfather was her "best friend".[16]
Dee Dee sustained a leg injury that Gypsy later recalled resulted from a car accident, requiring a two‑month hospital stay. During this period, Dee Dee and Gypsy lived with Gypsy's maternal grandfather, Claude, for about ten months. In her 2024 book, Gypsy accused Claude of abusing both her and her mother during this time.[17]
Gypsy appears to have stopped attending school after second grade,[5] possibly even earlier.[19] Dee Dee homeschooled her thereafter, citing Gypsy's alleged illnesses. Gypsy has said she learned to read independently by reading the Harry Potter books.[5]
After Claude remarried,[9] Dee Dee and Gypsy moved in with him and his new wife, Laura. Family members later alleged that Dee Dee poisoned Laura's food with Roundupweed killer, contributing to Laura's chronic illness during this period.[20]
During this time, Dee Dee was arrested for several minor offenses, including writing bad checks.[9] According to relatives, when they confronted her about her treatment of Gypsy and raised concerns about Laura's health, Dee Dee left the household with Gypsy. The family said that Laura's condition improved afterward.
Move to New Orleans
Dee Dee and Gypsy settled in the New Orleans suburb of Slidell, where they lived in public housing. Dee Dee supported herself through child‑support payments from her ex‑husband, Rod, and through public assistance tied to Gypsy's purported medical conditions. She continued taking Gypsy to numerous specialists, primarily at Tulane Medical Center and the Children's Hospital of New Orleans. Some physicians provided treatment based on the conditions Dee Dee reported. After she told doctors that Gypsy experienced seizures every few months, they prescribed anti-seizure medication. During this period, Gypsy underwent surgery, and Dee Dee frequently took her to the emergency room for minor ailments.[9]
According to the Springfield News‑Leader, Dee Dee regularly consulted with Dr. Robert Beckerman, who was said to have treated Gypsy for ten years.[21][22]
After Hurricane Katrina devastated the region in August 2005, Dee Dee and Gypsy left their damaged apartment and relocated to a special‑needs shelter in Covington, where they stayed for three months. Dee Dee told officials that Gypsy's medical records and birth certificate had been lost in the flood. A doctor at the shelter, who was originally from the Ozarks, suggested that they relocate to Missouri. The following month, they were airlifted there as part of the resettlement program for people displaced by the hurricane.[9]
Move to Missouri (2005)
Dee Dee and Gypsy initially lived in a rented home in Aurora, in southwestern Missouri. During this period, Gypsy was honored by the Oley Foundation, an organization that advocates for the rights of feeding‑tube recipients, as its 2007 Child of the Year.[23][24]
Move to Springfield
In 2008, Dee Dee and Gypsy moved east to Springfield. Habitat for Humanity built a small house for them on the city's north side, equipped with a wheelchair ramp and hot tub as part of a larger development project. The story of a single mother caring for a severely disabled daughter who had fled Hurricane Katrina drew considerable local media attention. The community frequently offered assistance to the family, and Dee Dee—now identifying as Clauddinnea Blanchard—continued to go by her longtime nickname.[9] She also set up an outdoor movie screen at their home and charged neighbors $1 or $5 to watch films.[24]
In the summer of 2009, Children's Mercy Hospitals and Clinics published a story highlighting a reunion between Dee Dee, Gypsy, and Dr. Robert Beckerman following an appointment at the Comprehensive Sleep Disorders Center.[25]
The outpouring of support in Missouri included numerous charitable contributions. While living in Louisiana, the pair had primarily relied on occasional stays at Ronald McDonald Houses during medical appointments; in Missouri, they received free flights to Children's Mercy Hospital in Kansas City, trips to Walt Disney World, and backstage passes to Miranda Lambert concerts through the Make-A-Wish Foundation. Rod Blanchard continued to make monthly child‑support payments of $1,200, sent gifts to Gypsy, and occasionally spoke with her by phone. He later recalled that during one call on Gypsy's eighteenth birthday, Dee Dee told him not to mention her daughter's real age because "she thinks she’s 14".[9]
Rod and his second wife hoped to visit Springfield, but Dee Dee repeatedly changed plans. She allegedly told neighbors that Gypsy's father was an abusive drug addict and alcoholic who had never accepted his daughter's health issues and had never provided financial support.[9]
Gypsy (unknown date)
Many people who met Gypsy-Rose were charmed by her. Her 5-foot (150cm) height,[b] nearly toothless mouth, large glasses, and high, childlike voice reinforced the perception that she had the medical problems her mother described. Dee Dee regularly shaved Gypsy's head to mimic the appearance of a chemotherapy patient, allegedly telling her that medication would eventually cause her hair to fall out and that shaving it in advance was easier. Gypsy often wore wigs or hats to cover her baldness. When they left the house, Dee Dee frequently brought an oxygen tank and feeding tube, and Gypsy was fed the children's liquid nutrition supplement PediaSure well into her twenties.[9]
Medical interventions continued. Dee Dee had some of Gypsy's saliva glands treated with Botox and later removed entirely to address her purported drooling. Gypsy later claimed that Dee Dee induced drooling by applying a topical anesthetic to numb her gums before doctor visits.[27] Tubes were implanted in Gypsy's ears to treat her many purported ear infections.[9]
In her memoir, The Prison Confessions of Gypsy‑Rose, Gypsy wrote that she developed an addiction to pain medication beginning at age sixteen.[2]
Suspicions of deceptive behavior
In September 2007,[9] Bernardo Flasterstein, a pediatric neurologist who examined Gypsy in Springfield, became suspicious of her reported muscular dystrophy diagnosis. He ordered MRIs and blood tests, which showed no abnormalities. "I don't see any reason why she doesn't walk," he told Dee Dee on a follow-up visit after observing Gypsy stand and support her own weight.[9] Flasterstein noted that Dee Dee was not a reliable historian. After contacting Gypsy's physicians in New Orleans, he learned that her original muscle biopsy had been negative, contradicting Dee Dee's claims of muscular dystrophy and her assertion that all medical records had been destroyed in flooding. He suspected the possibility of factitious disorder imposed on another (FDIA). Dee Dee later obtained access to Flasterstein's notes and stopped taking Gypsy to see him.[9]
Flasterstein did not report Dee Dee to social services. He later said that other physicians advised him to treat the pair with "golden gloves" and that he doubted authorities would believe him.[9] In late October 2009, an anonymous caller[c] informed police that Dee Dee used multiple names and birthdates for herself and Gypsy, and suggested that Gypsy was healthier than claimed. Officers conducted a wellness check but accepted Dee Dee's explanation that she used false information to avoid an abusive ex‑husband. Without contacting Rod, they concluded that Gypsy appeared genuinely mentally disabled, and the file was closed.[9]
Gypsy's growing independence
Dee Dee appears to have forged at least one copy of Gypsy's birth certificate, altering the birth year to 1995 to support claims that she was still a teenager. Gypsy later said she was unsure of her real age for 14 years.[27] Dee Dee sometimes claimed that the original certificate had been destroyed during post‑Katrina flooding.[28] She kept another copy with the correct birthdate; Gypsy recalled seeing it during a hospital visit and becoming confused, and Dee Dee told her it was a misprint.[29]
In February 2011, at a science‑fiction convention, Gypsy attempted to escape. Her mother found her with a man named Dan, whom she had met online and arranged to meet at the event. Accounts of the incident differ. In one version, attendees who believed Gypsy was 15 and the man was 35 became concerned after finding her in his hotel room. Neighbors later said that Dee Dee produced paperwork with a false birthdate and threatened to contact police, prompting the man to let Gypsy go.[9]
In the other version, Gypsy said she had learned she was actually 19 and planned to run away with Dan to Arkansas. She said she left a note for Dee Dee stating she wanted to be independent and hitchhiked at 2 a.m. to a friend's house, only to discover that Dan was on parole and could not leave the state. Gypsy said Dee Dee found her because she had left her phone behind. According to Gypsy, she returned willingly after Dee Dee promised she could continue the relationship.[2] Gypsy alleged that afterward, Dee Dee smashed her computer and phone with a hammer and threatened to break her fingers if she tried to escape again. Gypsy claimed she was leashed and handcuffed to her bed[9] and that Dee Dee starved her for two weeks.[2] Dee Dee later told her she had filed paperwork declaring Gypsy mentally incompetent, leading Gypsy to believe that police would not believe her if she sought help.[5]
In June 2011, Gypsy attempted another escape by shooting her mother ten times with a BB gun, which she initially believed was a real firearm. Dee Dee told others that the injuries resulted from a robbery attempt at a nearby Walmart.[30] Around this time, Gypsy hid from her mother to use the computer. She later said she shared sexually explicit images of herself online because it made her feel better about her appearance.[31]
In February 2012, police were called after Dee Dee and Gypsy were caught shoplifting $21.53 worth of arts‑and‑crafts items from a Hobby Lobby. The items had been hidden under Gypsy's legs in the wheelchair. Dee Dee told officers they had just returned from Disney World and planned to make a scrapbook, and that the theft was accidental.[32]
Around 2012, Gypsy, who continued using the Internet after Dee Dee went to bed to avoid her supervision, made contact online with Nicholas Godejohn of Big Bend, Wisconsin, whom she said she met on a Christian singles website.[9] Godejohn has a history of mental illness, sometimes reported as dissociative identity disorder, and has autism spectrum disorder.[33]
In 2014, Gypsy—who maintained five Facebook accounts[5]—confided to her 23‑year‑old neighbor, Aleah Woodmansee, that she and Godejohn flirted online and that their exchanges included BDSM elements, which Gypsy said reflected his interests more than hers. Aleah considered herself a "big sister" to Gypsy but later learned they were close in age. Gypsy and Godejohn discussed eloping and chose names for potential children. Aleah tried to dissuade her, believing she was too young and possibly being manipulated by a sexual predator.[9] She viewed Gypsy's plans as "fantasies and dreams" and did not think they would materialize. Despite Dee Dee's alleged attempts to restrict her Internet access—including destroying her phone and laptop and allegedly locking her in a backyard shed[27]—Gypsy maintained contact with Aleah, who saved printouts of her posts, until 2014.[9]
The following year, Gypsy arranged and paid for Godejohn to meet her mother in Springfield. Her plan was for him to "bump into" them at a movie theater while they were in costume,[27] and then gradually form a relationship that Dee Dee would accept. When they met in person for the first time in March 2015, during a showing of Cinderella, Godejohn said Gypsy led him to a bathroom stall where they had sexual intercourse.[33]
Gypsy disputed this account, saying they did not have sex and that Godejohn exposed himself but could not become erect.[34] The two continued communicating online and began developing a plan to kill Dee Dee.[9]
Murder
After receiving money that Gypsy had stolen[35] and mailed to him to purchase a bus ticket,[36] Godejohn returned to Springfield in June 2015, arriving a day after Gypsy and Dee Dee had been at the emergency room to have Gypsy's feeding tube replaced.[37] That same day, after the two returned home from a Dollar General and Dee Dee went to sleep, Godejohn went to the Blanchard house. Gypsy let him inside and gave him duct tape, gloves, and a knife with the understanding that he would use it to kill Dee Dee.[27]
Gypsy later said she hid in the bathroom and covered her ears so she would not hear her mother screaming. Godejohn stabbed Dee Dee 17 times in the back while she slept.[33] Afterward, he claimed that he and Gypsy had sexual intercourse in her bedroom.[27] Gypsy alleged that Godejohn raped her and that the encounter was nonconsensual, saying she cried out for her deceased mother during the assault.[2][3]
The pair took more than $4,400 in cash[38] that Dee Dee kept in the house, largely from Rod Blanchard's child‑support payments. They fled to a motel outside Springfield, where they stayed for several days while planning their next steps;[39] during that time, they were recorded on security cameras at multiple stores. In a later interview, Godejohn said, "I felt horrible about it. When me and her were in the hotel room … she kept on telling me, 'Stop crying, stop crying. There's no reason to cry. It was my idea, it wasn't yours.'" Gypsy said she believed at that point that they had gotten away with the crime.[27]
They mailed the murder weapon to Godejohn's home in Wisconsin to avoid being found with it,[40] then took a bus there.[19]
Investigation and arrests
After concerning Facebook posts appeared on Dee Dee's account and phone calls went unanswered, several friends and neighbors went to the Blanchard home. Although the two often left for medical trips without notice, Dee Dee's modified car was still in the driveway, making that explanation unlikely. Protective film on the windows made it difficult to see inside in the low light. When no one answered the door, the group called 9‑1‑1. Police arrived but had to wait for a search warrant before entering; they allowed a neighbor to climb through a window, where he saw that the house was largely undisturbed and that Gypsy's wheelchairs were still present.[9]
Once the warrant was issued, officers entered the home and found Dee Dee's body. A GoFundMe account was created to help cover funeral expenses and, if necessary, costs related to Gypsy. Acquaintances feared that even if Gypsy had not been harmed, she would be helpless without her wheelchair, medications, and support equipment such as oxygen tanks and her feeding tube.[9]
Woodmansee, who was among those gathered outside the home, told police what she knew about Gypsy's secret boyfriend and showed them the printouts she had saved, which included his name. Using that information, investigators traced an IP address to Wisconsin. The following day, law‑enforcement agencies in Waukesha County raided Godejohn's home in Big Bend. Godejohn and Gypsy surrendered and were taken into custody on charges of murder[9] and felony armed criminal action.[41]
News that Gypsy was alive was met with relief in Springfield, where she and Godejohn were soon extradited and held on $1 million bond. In announcing the development, Greene County Sheriff Jim Arnott cautioned that "things are not always what they appear." Local media soon reported that Gypsy had never been sick and had always been able to walk, but that her mother had allegedly forced her to pretend otherwise. Arnott urged the public not to donate money to the family until investigators determined the extent of the fraud.[41]
An unsealed search warrant showed that Gypsy had at least five Facebook accounts. "Nick told investigators Gypsy had so many different Facebook accounts he could not remember all of them." The accounts—Nicholas Godejohn, Nicholas Bella Rose, Snowgypsy Blanchard, Gypsy's Trip, Praying for DeeDee and Gypsy, Bella Rose, and Gypsy Rose—were requested for search, along with any additional accounts linked to Gypsy's email addresses. "Previous warrants say friends told investigators Gypsy had alternate Facebook accounts under the names Emma Rose and Demona LoveSlave where she reportedly 'liked' pictures of sadomasochism."[42]
Trials
After the disclosure of how Dee Dee allegedly treated Gypsy, public sympathy shifted from Dee Dee as the victim of a violent murder to Gypsy as a long‑term victim of child abuse. Although first-degree murder can carry the death penalty or life without parole under Missouri law, County Prosecutor Dan Patterson announced that he would not seek the death penalty for either Gypsy or Godejohn, calling the case "extraordinary and unusual".[19] After Gypsy's attorney obtained her medical records from Louisiana, he secured a plea agreement for second-degree murder. Her lawyer told BuzzFeed that she had been so undernourished that she gained 14 pounds (6.4 kg) during her first year in the county jail, in contrast to most of his clients who typically lose weight. In July 2016, Gypsy accepted the plea deal and was sentenced to ten years in prison.[9]
Godejohn continued to face the more severe charge because prosecutors argued that he initiated the murder plot, and both he and Gypsy acknowledged that he killed Dee Dee. Prosecutors also pursued a harsher case against him due to his lack of involvement in the alleged abuse. Gypsy's plea agreement did not require her to testify against him.[9] In January 2017, his trial was postponed after prosecutors requested a second psychiatric evaluation; his attorneys argued that he had an IQ of 82 and was on the autism spectrum, suggesting diminished capacity.[43] He initially waived his right a jury trial,[44] but reversed that decision in June 2017.[45]
In December 2017, the judge scheduled Godejohn's trial for November 2018.[46] In opening statements, prosecutors alleged that he had deliberated for more than a year before the killing, while his defense argued that Gypsy had formulated the plan and that their client, who was autistic, acted out of infatuation.[47] The next day, prosecutors presented text messages—some sexually explicit—that Gypsy and Godejohn exchanged in the week before the murder, often using alternate personas, along with the knife used in the killing. In several messages, he asked for details about Dee Dee's bedroom and sleeping habits. Jurors also viewed video of his police interview, in which he admitted to the killing.[48]
Gypsy testified on the third day of the trial. She said that although she suggested to Godejohn that he kill Dee Dee to end her mother's abuse, she also considered becoming pregnant by him in the hope that Dee Dee would accept him if she were carrying his child. She said she stole baby clothes from Walmart to prepare for either plan, but that Godejohn never told her what he thought about the pregnancy idea.[49][50]
After four days of testimony, the case went to the jury. Jurors were instructed that they could find Godejohn guilty of involuntary manslaughter, second‑degree murder, first‑degree murder, or not guilty. After approximately two hours of deliberation, they found him guilty of first‑degree murder and armed criminal action. In February 2019, he was sentenced to life in prison for the murder conviction, the only possible sentence since prosecutors had declined to seek the death penalty. He asked Judge David Jones for leniency on the armed criminal action charge, which carries a minimum sentence of three years, saying he had fallen "blindly in love" with Gypsy. He received a concurrent 25‑year sentence.[51]
Jones also denied a motion for a new trial filed by Godejohn's attorney, Dewayne Perry. Perry argued that the jury should not have heard that Godejohn had considered raping Dee Dee on the night of the murder, and that the state's psychologist should not have been allowed to testify while the defense psychologist was excluded. Jones acknowledged that an appeals court might view the latter issue as significant and potentially reversible.[51] At Godejohn’s appeal hearing, videos were shown that depicted Gypsy emotionally manipulating him and an instructional video demonstrating how to stab Dee Dee; questions were raised about why these had not been used at trial.[52]
In late 2023, public defender Tyler Coyle filed an appeal seeking a new trial for Godejohn. No timeline has been set for when the courts will review the request.[53]
Aftermath and reactions
Community response
Neighbors were shocked to learn that Gypsy's illnesses had been fabricated. Woodmansee—whose information about Gypsy's relationship with Godejohn helped police locate the pair the day after Dee Dee's body was discovered—said she cried in disbelief upon hearing that Gypsy had never been sick or disabled. Her mother recalled how readily everyone accepted Dee Dee's claims without asking for proof, and wondered whether Dee Dee and Gypsy had secretly laughed at their neighbors' naïveté. Kim Blanchard (no relation), who had called sheriff's deputies to the house the previous night, said, "What have I been believing? How could I have been so stupid?"[9] More than 60 people attended a candlelight vigil for Dee Dee in downtown Springfield the night after her body was found.[41]
At a news conference, Sheriff Jim Arnott said of the case: "[Springfield is] a giving community, we surround people with love and finances that we believe that needs it. However, a lot of times we are deceived, and I think this is now so true, in this case at hand."[41] Only one of the charities that had assisted the Blanchards commented publicly after the revelations.[9] A spokesman for Habitat for Humanity, whose volunteers built the Blanchards' home, said, "We are just really, deeply saddened by the whole situation."[41]
Family
Dee Dee's family in Louisiana, who said they had confronted her years earlier about her treatment of Gypsy, did not mourn her. Her father, stepmother, and the nephew who first revealed Gypsy's true health status when she began using a wheelchair all later said that Dee Dee "deserved her fate" and that Gypsy had already been punished enough. None offered to pay for her funeral, and Dee Dee's father and stepmother claimed to have flushed her ashes down the toilet.[33][5] In 2024, Gypsy said the ashes were still with her mother's family and asked that Dee Dee be buried with her own mother, as Dee Dee had always requested.[54]
Rod Blanchard, Gypsy's father, was more forgiving. "I think Dee Dee's problem was she started a web of lies, and there was no escaping after," he told BuzzFeed. "[I]t was like a tornado got started." He said he was happy the first time he saw video of Gypsy walking on her own.[9]
Gypsy-Rose after serving her sentence
I feel like I'm more free in prison than with living with my mom. Because now I'm allowed to just live like a normal woman.[27]
Gypsy served her sentence at Missouri's Chillicothe Correctional Center,[26] and did not speak to the media until after accepting her plea. She told BuzzFeed reporter Michelle Dean that she had researched Munchausen syndrome by proxy—now known as factitious disorder imposed on another—on prison computers and believed her mother exhibited every symptom. "I think she would have been the perfect mom for someone that actually was sick," she said. She believed Dee Dee's claim that she had cancer, even though she knew she could walk and eat solid food, which led her to consent to regular head‑shaving. She said she always hoped doctors would see through the deception and was frustrated that only Dr. Flasterstein did.[9]
When asked what made her want to escape, Gypsy cited the 2011 science‑fiction convention incident, which made her question why she was not allowed to have friends like others her age. She has said she hopes to help other victims of abuse.[9]
On September 29, 2023, the Missouri Department of Corrections confirmed that Gypsy had been granted parole. She was released on December 28, 2023,[55] in accordance with state law.[56]
On June 27, 2022, she married Ryan Scott Anderson,[57][58][59] though the couple separated three months after her release from prison in March 2024.[60]
Blanchard and Ken Urker had originally met in 2017, when he began corresponding with her while she was incarcerated; they became engaged during a 2018 prison visit but ended the relationship the following year.[61] In April 2024, Blanchard resumed a relationship with Urker,[62] and in 2025 the couple welcomed their first child.[63]
Medical community
Flasterstein, the pediatric neurologist who had concluded that Gypsy could walk independently and noted in her chart that he suspected Munchausen by proxy, later said it was only the second such potential case he had encountered. He learned of Dee Dee's murder in 2015, when a former nurse emailed him a news report about it. "Poor Gypsy," he said. "She suffered all those years, and for no reason." He told Dean that he wished he could have done more.[9]
In an interview with Vulture about Erin Lee Carr's HBO documentary Mommy Dead and Dearest, FDIA expert Marc Feldman criticized Carr for portraying Flasterstein as the story’s hero. "[H]e had a gross misunderstanding of his obligations as a physician, as well as the legal requirements to report suspected abuse or neglect," Feldman said. The film accepts Flasterstein's assertion that he was required to notifyChild Protective Services only in cases of suspected neglect, but Feldman argued that once Flasterstein listed Munchausen by proxy among his possible diagnoses, he was legally obligated to file a report. "This conundrum arises in case after case, where innumerable doctors have evaluated the patient, perhaps had questions they kept to themselves, and just proceeded to treat or make referrals and ditch the case that way."[64]
Although a formal diagnosis of FDIA for Dee Dee is impossible, Feldman told the Springfield News‑Leader after Gypsy's guilty plea that he could confidently conclude Dee Dee had the disorder based on the available evidence. "Gypsy was infantilized and kept away from her peers," he said. "She was little more than a tool for Dee Dee to navigate through the world the way she wanted to." He described the case as "unprecedented" in his 24 years of researching FDIA, noting that he had never before encountered an instance in which an abused child killed the abusive parent.[65]
In popular culture
Films
HBO released the documentary Mommy Dead and Dearest (2017), directed by Erin Lee Carr, which examines the murder and includes interrogation footage as well as exclusive interviews with Godejohn and Gypsy.[66][67]
Television
On August 13, 2017, the Sony Entertainment Television series CID aired an episode titled "Death on Social Media", based on the case and relocated to India. According to Sony, the characters Aria and Aanchal were based on Gypsy and her mother, Dee Dee Blanchard, respectively.[68]
On November 21, 2017, the CBS talk show Dr. Phil, aired the episode "Mother Knows Best: A Story of Munchausen by Proxy and Murder", featuring interviews with Gypsy, her father Rod Blanchard, and her stepmother.[69][70]
That same day; the ABC network news magazine series 20/20 episode "The Story of Gypsy Blanchard". It consisted of Gypsy's first network interview from prison as well as an interview with Godejohn.[72][73][74]
On January 29, 2018, the Investigation Discovery channel series James Patterson's Murder is Forever episode "Mother of All Murders" aired.[75][76]
On November 6, 2018, Investigation Discovery aired a two-hour documentary titled Gypsy's Revenge. Gypsy was interviewed while incarcerated. During the interview, she describes her relationship with Dee Dee. Rod, various relatives, friends, public officials and Godejohn are all interviewed.[77]
On January 26, 2019, Love You to Death aired on Lifetime, dramatizing the case as "inspired by true events". Marcia Gay Harden starred as Dee Dee, Emily Skeggs as Gypsy, Brennan Keel Cook starred as Nick, and Tate Donovan starred as Rod. Skeggs had to wear a bald cap for most of the scenes where her character was hairless.[78] "[W]hen I think about it, every teenager wants to murder their parents at some point," Harden told TV Insider.[79]
On March 20, 2019, the streaming service Hulu announced the true crime series The Act. The eight-episode miniseries is based on Michelle Dean's 2016 BuzzFeed article.[80] Dean was an executive producer and writer for the first season. Joey King played Gypsy and received an Emmy nomination for her performance; she shaved her head for the role.[81]Patricia Arquette played Dee Dee and won an Emmy for her performance.[82][83] Kristy Blanchard, Gypsy's stepmother, claims that Michell Dean told her telephonically that Blanchard would get 50% of the money made from the show.[84] Despite this, Gypsy, appearing upset about the show, threatened to sue over not giving consent to use her name and life story, but took no legal action, and it is reported that Gypsy said that out of anger.[84]
On July 13, 2019, Oxygen network aired the Snapped: Killer Couples episode "Gypsy Rose & Nick: A Love to Kill For". It examines the relationship of Gypsy and Godejohn and features an interview with Godejohn from prison.[85]
In the Netflixweb television seriesThe Politician, the characters Infinity Jackson, Ricardo, and Dusty Jackson are respectively based on Gypsy Blanchard, Nicholas Godejohn and Dee Dee Blanchard.[86]
On January 5, 2024, about a week after Blanchard’s prison release, Lifetime released a six-part docu-series titled The Prison Confessions of Gypsy Rose Blanchard.[87]
See also
Wendi Michelle Scott, a Maryland woman with Munchausen by proxy who injected her four-year-old daughter with magnesium in 2007 and was sentenced to prison in 2008
Garnett Spears, a New York boy whose mother also had Munchausen by proxy, leading her to fatally poison him with table salt in 2014
Shauna Taylor, a Florida woman with Munchausen by proxy who deliberately destroyed her child's liver with over-the-counter drugs in 2013
Notes
↑Gypsy-Rose alleged that Godejohn raped her following the attack.[2][3]
↑"Archived copy". Archived from the original on February 25, 2021. Retrieved March 25, 2019.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
↑The Prison Confessions of Gypsy Rose Blanchard (January 5, 2024). Born a Prisoner. Archived from the original on June 1, 2024. Retrieved June 1, 2024– via YouTube.
↑"20/20 | Season 40, Episode 15 The Story of Gypsy Blanchard". San Francisco, California: CBS Interactive Inc. Archived from the original on December 4, 2018. Retrieved December 4, 2018. ... keeping her daughter wheelchair-bound and claiming her daughter had multiple medical problems she never had.
↑Rigsby, G.G. (November 27, 2018). "Filming of Hulu true crime series may prompt ordinance". Savannah Morning News. Savannah, Georgia: GateHouse Media. Archived from the original on December 3, 2018. Retrieved December 4, 2018. The show being filmed for Hulu will start out with eight episodes based on writer Michelle Dean's 2016 Buzzfeed article "Dee Dee Wanted Her Daughter to Be Sick, Gypsy Wanted Her Mom to Be Murdered."
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