Criminology - Gypsy Rose Blanchard

Episode Date: January 7, 2024

Gypsy Rose Blanchard's illnesses began when she was an infant. Her mother, DeeDee Blanchard, took her to the hospital often for a variety of symptoms. DeeDee told her daughter that she suffered from various diseases. All of this turned out to be a lie. Join Mike and Morf as they discuss Gypsy Rose Blanchard. As Gypsy got older she wanted to date and live her life. DeeDee didn't want this because she needed to keep Gypsy isolated. When Gypsy met a man named Nicholas Godejohn, they eventually settled on the idea that DeeDee needed to die. You can help support the show at patreon.com/criminology An Emash Digital production Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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So everyone and welcome to episode 289 of the criminology podcast. I'm Mike Ferguson. And this is Mike Morford. Mr. Morford, man, how are you doing in 2024? I'm doing good so far. It's been a good year or a short one so far, but I'm energized and rested and ready to roll. How about you? Yeah, yeah, me too.

We had a week off and got to recharge the batteries a little bit. You know, the family went on, um, a cruise right before Christmas. We got back like two days before Christmas and it was nice. We hadn't been on a cruise in like eight or 10 years. And I forgot how nice they, they are. Oh yeah. I can't go wrong going on a nice cruise. And we just did the, you know, holiday things with Christmas and family over and New

years get together and, you know, it was a lot of it. It was just a good time relaxing and resting up. And now I'm ready to go for 2024. Yeah, yeah, me too. Hope everyone had a great holiday season. Let's go ahead and give our Patreon shoutouts. We had Shannon Armstrong, Michaela McRosty,

Reed Bodek, Henriette Cole, and Joe Cosby. So a lot of great new support. We really appreciate it. Yeah, thanks to everyone that takes the time to support the show. It means a lot to us. And for anyone else that would like to,

you can head over to Patreon. dot com slash criminology. So we just talked about it being a new year. And with that, can you believe that we're just over four months away from CrimeCon Nashville? Yeah, it's really coming quick. It's CrimeCon Nashville will take place May 31st to June 2nd, 204 at the beautiful Gaylord Opry land.

And for the true crime fans out there, this isn't something you want to pass up. No, it really is your chance to rub elbows with all your favorite people in the true crime World in. You can come and say hi to Morph and I own podcast row. Of course, we'll have our annual criminology T-Cat meetup. It should be a blast. Yeah, time is running out. So book your trip now. And when you check out at crimecon.com. Use our promo code criminology. That will save you 10% on your standard badges. All right. So now that we have all of that out of the way, let's jump into our first case of 2024. And this is a big one that a lot of people are currently talking about due to recent development. Even though this is sort of an older closed case, it has exploded in the news

recently. You may have heard the name Gypsy Rose Blanchard over the holidays a lot because she was just released from prison after serving just eight years for the second degree murder of her mother. Her accomplice, the one to actually carry out the active murder, is still in prison, serving life without the possibility of parole. And a lot of people may. be familiar with this story. There's been a number of shows from who lose the act, HBO's mommy's dead and dearest, or the investigation discovery series, Gypsy's Revenge. If you're not that familiar with the case, just sit back because this is one of those cases that will make your headspin. Gypsy's story really starts from her birth. Her parents, Rod and Didi, began dating

when he was a junior in high school, and she was well past drinking age. In 1990, when D.D. learned she was pregnant, they got married. When Gypsy was born on July 27, 1991, Rod had just turned 18, and Dedy was 24. By then, the two were already separated. Rod had realized that he only married Didi to try and be a good guy and a good father, but it wasn't truly the right thing for him. He told BuzzFeed News, I woke up on my birthday, on my 18th birthday, and realized I wasn't where I was supposed to be. I wasn't in love with her, really. When Gypsy was still an infant, the first of her serious illnesses appeared. Dee-D., a nurse's aide, claimed that the three-month-old was showing signs of sleep apnea.

She started taking Gypsy to the hospital, claiming she would stop breathing when she was asleep. Despite multiple sleep studies and tests, nothing was found. By 1994, Rod and Didi were officially divorced. In September 2005, D.D. and Gypsy moved from Slidell, Louisiana to a rented home in Aurora, Missouri, while they awaited the completion of a brand new custom-built home, courtesy of habitat for humanity. The home was built for them due to D.D.'s claim that they were displaced because Hurricane Katrina had destroyed their apartment. The flood had also destroyed all of Gypsy's medical records. Their new home on West Volunteer Way was a beautiful house, complete with a large wheelchair ramp for Gypsy who could not walk.

It even had a jacuzzi to help relax her aching muscles. When they moved into the home, Gypsy sometimes needed an oxygen tube to breathe and required a feeding tube for nutrition. The only thing she took in by mouth was pediolite. This new home was supposed to offer gypsy some stability. She had been sick since birth, due to what Harper's Bazaar described as unspecified chromosomal defects. Alleged muscular dystrophy had caused such weakness that Gypsy couldn't walk, and that resulted in her using a wheelchair, though a muscle biopsy found no sign of the condition. Neither did brain scans or spine scans.

By claiming that all their records and belongings were ruined in the storm, just like many other people lived in Louisiana when Hurricane Katrina hit, D.D. was able to hide evidence that gypsy was actually healthy. Instead of putting her through more invasive and painful test, medical personnel just believed her doting mother. But the list of gypsy's alleged health issues didn't stop there. According to D.D., Gypsy also suffered from severe allergies and epileptic seizures every few months. The medication she took for seizures caused her teeth to rot and fall out.

Others had to be removed due to how damage they were. Then due to treatments for leukemia that Gypsy supposedly had, she was bald. She wore very thick glasses due to poor eyesight. Multiple surgeries on her eye muscles had still left her with weak vision. Tubes had been surgically placed in her ears due to frequent infections. Make a wish granted Gypsy's wish of a trip to Disney World. She was also able to meet Blake Shelton, Miranda Lambert, Elijah Wood, and Sean Aston. Due to her supposed disorders, defects and medications, D.D. told people that

Gypsy had the mind of a seven-year-old, which allowed D.D. to do the talking when it came to gypsy's health conditions. So Morph, let's just stop there for a moment and talk about Gypsy. I mean, this is a list of ailments that, you know, obviously you wouldn't wish upon anyone. She's having so many different health issues, according to Dedi, that she needs a specialized homes. She's getting trips from the Make-A-Wish Foundation. Yeah, I think any of these things, these conditions, these illnesses on their own would be bad enough, but she's supposed to Pizzley had all of these things going on at the same time. And, you know, we're going to find out that a lot of this is just made up stuff. But it's kind of surprising to me that the medical experts

along the way didn't pry more when they didn't find indications that she really had these things. It seems like it would have been a red flag for them to catch what was going on here. But for some reason, she was able to keep going with these claims. Well, and I think you're touching on a subject that many people have brought up. And we'll get into it as we go further into the episode. But why didn't certain people catch it? And when you hear gypsy talk, which you can in some of the documentaries and things, she really does sound like a very, very small child,

much younger than what her actual age was in, in some of these video. In 2009, authorities visited the Blanchard home after an anonymous call regarding Gypsy's welfare. The informant claim that Gypsy was actually healthy and may be in danger due to the abuse by D.D. According to BuzzFeed News, officers investigating the claim closed the report, noting Gypsy, quote, does suffer from some type of mental handicap. But other run-ins with the law would follow.

In February 2011, Gypsy went to the hotel room of a man. He wasn't a total stranger. They had met in person at a science fiction convention that Gypsy had gone to with her mom, and the two kept in touch online after. Dee Dee found the two in their hotel room and told the 35-year-old man he was in a world of trouble, presenting documents that proved that Gypsy was only 15. But as we mentioned at the top of this episode, Gypsy was born in 1991, so she was in reality just four months away from her 20th birthday.

This man didn't know Gypsy's true age, and obviously scared by the prospect of bringing a 15-year-old back to his hotel room. The man let D.D. take Gypsy home without an argument. Now, more if there's quite an age difference there, but in, you know, reality, he wasn't doing anything illegal. But you can imagine how scared this guy would have been. And I think some people maybe thought that he had a chance to take Gypsy out of the situation with her mom. but I think to your point, not really knowing that she was an adult, he wasn't arguing with,

with Dedy. He was just like, okay, take her home. I don't want any trouble. Oh, not when he's being told that she's 15 years old. I'm assuming he wanted to extricate himself from that situation as quickly as possible.

The hotel incident caused some friction between mother and daughter. Privately, Gypsy was scolded for going to the hotel. and what really was an escape attempt, really. According to Harper's bizarre, Dedey warned Gypsy. If you ever try to do that again, I'm going to smash your fingers with a hammer. Once they got home, D.D. chain Gypsy to the bed and showed her just what it looked like when something got smashed with a hammer, destroying Gypsy's cell phone and laptop,

her only connections to the outside world. For two weeks, Gypsy was not allowed to get up for. that bed she was chained to. So, I mean, this is really when a different type of abuse began for Gypsy at the hands of her mother, Dedy, to make Gypsy pretend that she was a sickly child. And to make her live as such was already awful. But now she was essentially holding her hostage with chains and threatening violence. So obviously, Morph, this had been going on for many years. It started when Gypsy was young. But my thought is as she got older, and by this point in the story, she's an adult. It would have gotten tougher and tougher for Didi to try to control her,

to try to convince her that, you know, she had all these different type of ailments. We mentioned it, right? Her only connection to the outside world was kind of through her. her computer. So she was talking to a lot of people online, things like that. At a certain point, she has to think, I don't want to do this anymore. I want to experience the world. I want to meet people. Yeah, you have to wonder if D.D.'s sudden change to threatening violence and chaining her up was a way to try and keep that control over her. And because she felt she was getting to a point where she was going to start thinking for herself and maybe leaving that situation. So it seems like Didi really ramped up the the pressure to keep her under her control.

And so then I think the next thing that you have to ask is what was Didi getting out of this whole thing? You know, I think a lot of it was sympathy throughout the years from different people. You know, oh, look at my daughter. She's going through all of the. things and obviously people around her would be very sympathetic. There's also what we mentioned, right? The house, the trips to Disney World, things like that. Was it that she just didn't want all of that to go away? Yeah, there doesn't have to be just a financial benefit from all of it or getting free stuff. You know, it could be, as you mentioned, the attention, something that

Maybe D.D. craved and she found a way to get it by using her daughter this way. And, you know, who knows when people do this kind of thing, what they get from it. But it's clear that D.D. kept going with it and didn't want to let let it stop. But I think you're on the right track. The sympathy, the attention. That was probably the main thing. By 2012, Gypsy was very lonely and looking to escape her mother. She'd be able to, began to use Dee Dee's computer at night after she had gone to bed. Gypsy made herself a profile on a Christian dating website, hoping to meet someone good who could come save her

and could get her out of the terrible situation she was in. One of the men Gypsy met, Nicholas GoTojohn, lived in Big Ben, Wisconsin. He was very taken with Gypsy. He printed out copies of the messages she sent him. They talked often, whenever Didi was asleep, and the two formed a bond. in 2013 Nicholas Goddejan ran into some legal trouble when he was caught masturbating

and watching pornography on his laptop in a McDonald's. This incident was said to have taken place over nine hours. Now, I don't know if this was a continuous nine hours if he had just been at the location for a long time before he started acting inappropriately

or if he had been asked to leave several times over the course of those nine hours before someone finally decided to call the police. I can't imagine he was watching pornography and masturbating for nine straight hours. But either way, it was disturbing. But it didn't stop Gypsy from continuing on with the secret relationship with him. In fact, Gypsy kept Nicholas Go to John a Secret until 2014 when she told a neighbor, Alia would Manzi all about him and their plans to elope. Alia, who thought Gypsy was still a minor at the time,

was a bit shocked due to Gypsy's revelation that their relationship involved a bit of BDSM. Aaliyah warned her that talking to go to John wasn't a great idea, but didn't push the issue because she thought that a lot of these plans Gypsy mentioned were probably just a fantasy. when Didi found out that Alia had been talking to Gypsy about relationships and sex. She was furious. Alia told BuzzFeed News that Didi confronted her saying, I'm not going to tell your mom about the things you said, but I don't want you talking to Gypsy like that.

Dedy also punished Gypsy, taking away her computer and phone. The fall of 2014 was the last time Alia spoke with Gypsy. And this is another thing that I think you see from D.D. that would have been very important to her in what she was trying to do. You have to keep as many outside influences away from Gypsy as you can. You can't allow her to have a bunch of friends. You can't allow her to be talking to too many people because it could ruin what you're trying to do. It seems like it would make it harder to keep up the charade when you've got people poking and prodding and asking questions and talking about different subjects. And I had also think that Didi probably wanted to be around when people were talking to Jopsy so she could sort of manipulate the conversation in spirit and direction that she wanted it to go in. In 2015, Gypsy and Nicholas Go to John, who was then 26, tried to set up a fake first meeting with Didi. Go-To-John traveled from Wisconsin to Springfield, Missouri to try and just run into Gypsy at a screening of Cinderella. Gypsy and Nicholas felt that if it looked like they had met in person out of the blue, then Didi would approve of them dating.

This didn't happen, and Didi was extremely put off by Nicholas Go-To-John. During the movie, Gypsy excused herself and went to the bathroom. Nicholas met her there, and the two were able to have sex. They hoped that Gypsy would get pregnant from this first time, so that as the father of Gypsy's baby, D.D. wouldn't be able to keep them apart. But Gypsy didn't get pregnant, and they started working on another plan, and this plan would turn deadly. In the suburbs of D.C., a woman fails to show up for work and is found brutally murdered. I wonder which emergency.

We just walked in the door, and there's blood in the foyer. For the next two decades, the case remained unsolved until new technology allowed investigators to do but had once been impossible. A new series from ABC. audio in 2020. Blood and water. Listen now, wherever you get your podcasts.

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with enough twists to leave even Sir Arthur Conan Doyle guessing what happens next. Sherlock Holmes at the Shaw. For best seats of best prices, go to Shawfest.com. In June 2015, Gypsy and Nicholas

finally decided on what they would do. They felt that the only way for Gypsy to escape from D.D. would be if Dede was dead. On the 9th of that month, Nicholas arrived in Missouri, checked into a hotel, and waited for Gypsy to text him.

Once Didi was a slid. sleep, Gypsy sent Nicholas a text and he traveled to their home, where Gypsy quietly let him inside. She also handed him a knife that she had stolen from Walmart and a pair of latex gloves and pointed him to Didi's room before she walked into the bathroom to hide, while her boyfriend headed into Didi's room to do the unthinkable. Though she covered her ears, Gypsy still heard the attack. Didi was startled by the intruder, first yelling out. wondering who was in her bedroom. As Nicholas Goetajon moved in and began to stab her,

Didi called out her daughter's name. It was almost enough for Gypsy to change her mind. Gypsy would later tell Harper's bizarre of the moment. At that point, I wanted to go help her so bad, but I was so afraid to get up, explaining, it's like my body wouldn't move. Almost as soon as it had begun, the attack was over. Then everything just went quiet.

Nicholas GoTo John came out of Dee's room and entered the bathroom. He had cut himself while stabbing Dedi and his finger was bleeding. He and Gypsy tended to his wound and tried to clean up the scene before going into Gypsy's room and having sex. Gypsy gathered some belongings, including between $4,000 and $5,000 in cash from her mother's room. Then she left the home for good, actually walking on her room. Her wheelchair was left behind in the back.

The pair called a yellow cab and went back to the Springfield Days Inn, where Nicholas had booked a room. Though Nicholas had booked a return ticket for himself on a Greyhound bus, the bus was full, and there was no room for Gypsy to accompany him delaying their getaway. They stayed at the days in until June 14th, when they were both able to get on the bus back to Big Ben, Wisconsin. Before leaving Missouri, they mailed the night. knife used to kill Dede back to Nicholas's home. So they could not get caught with it while they'd travel.

So more if the deed is done, Dede is dead. But I kind of want to go back and analyze the planning. You know, obviously this had been building for a long time with Dedy wanting to get away. I think it was accelerated once she met. Nicholas go to John, but I think the thought was there and had been there for a while. And then this kind of revelation by the pair that they eventually, you know, settled on the idea that the only way for Gypsy to get away, for them to be together was for D.D. to be dead. And so they put that plan in motion.

Yeah. And it's, I always wonder when we talk. about cases where somebody has a choice of killing someone or just leaving the situation, why they just choose to stay and kill someone as opposed to just walking away. And, you know, we mentioned several times that it seems like Gypsy felt she was controlled by D-D. She didn't know how to leave maybe on her own. So that's easy to say, why wouldn't somebody just walk out on that situation? But I guess you're, unless you're in her shoes,

you don't know what it's like to be controlled like that. So, you know, but I always, it always comes up in these cases where there's a question of why a person just doesn't walk out on a situation and later decides to turn to a violent conclusion. No, I think that question is very natural. I mean, she is an adult gypsy. So, you know, in a lot of people's minds, okay, get with Nicholas, run away together, do whatever, you want to do.

Legally, she could have done that. But to your point, more mentally, was she able to just break away like that? She had been controlled essentially her entire life. And this was a level of control

that was really kind of all inclusive. I mean, every facet of her life was controlled. From how she talked to whether or not she walked. I mean, it's part of the fascination with this case. Yeah, I think it's a little bit of a contradiction, too, because Gypsy later said, you know, in that moment when Nicholas was stabbing her mom, she almost wanted to stop it.

She regretted it. But then after her mom's dead, they go into her room to have sex, which is just to me, if you're all broken up about what just happened and you regretted it, how do you, go from that point to going in the room and having sex just very very strange to me and we also don't know exactly where you know her mind is at at this point you know how good is her mental health after going through what she'd gone through for so many years and i'm and i'm sure we'll talk about that more as we go along and i just wanted to touch on too that a little bit about the planning it seems like on one hand they said okay we don't want to get caught on the bus ride back having this knife so let's get rid of it but you know that that seems smart if you're trying to avoid getting

cut but on the other hand mailing it back doesn't seem like the smartest of things to do it seems like you could just throw out in a river someplace and be done with it instead of holding onto it so not quite sure about the thinking regarding that well so let's be honest right a high level of planning or a lot of planning doesn't always equate to good planning. You can come up with a lot of plans, but they're not always going to be good. And I agree with you, you know, mailing the knife to his house seems so strange. At 1232 p.m. on June 14th, 2015, a Facebook post made by the account shared by Gypsy and D.D. set off the first alarm bells.

The post read, That bitch is dead. It was extremely out of character for the religious, good-hearted, selfless mother that people knew, or at least thought they knew Didi to be. But with Facebook,

there's always the possibility of someone getting hacked. A few people reached out to try and tell them to change your password and removed the post, but no one heard back from either Gypsy or Didi.

Soon, people noticed that Didi's van, which she used to transport Gypsy and her wheelchair chair and was still parked in the driveway and hadn't moved. Another Facebook post appeared and in the minds of those who knew them, it clearly couldn't have been from D.D. or Gypsy. It read, I fucking slash that fat pig and raped her sweet innocent daughter. Her scream was so fucking loud. L.O.L. It was all in capital letters.

Men to grab attention. The comments of this account were quick. full of friends and neighbors, trying to figure out what had happened to the two, not knowing that D.D. was dead. They also didn't know that it was indeed Gypsy that was the one actually posting on Facebook. She felt that by making those posts, someone would go to Dede's home sooner rather than later to check on her. Gypsy later told Harper's Bazaar of making the Facebook posts, I couldn't stand the thought. of her just there because what happens if it would have taken months to find her. So I wanted her found so she could have a proper burial.

So here again, more of, you know, I think what we're seeing is a little bit of a dichotomy where Gypsy wants away from her mother to the point that she's willing to hatch a murder plot, but then at certain points, it's almost as if she feels bad for her in a way. Like she wants to run to help her. Now, she wants to make sure that someone finds her so that she can get a proper burial. Now, keep in mind, this is still her mother. I think it's clear that she cared for her mom in some way, despite all the abuse she had suffered, but it is a real contradiction in, you know, going to.

from killing her to then worrying about her not being found for a while. And I also, it makes me think, what was Gypsy's plan? Was she just going to hopefully avoid ever being identified and found? What was it going to be her story when the police eventually tracked her down? Was she going to say some guy broke in and killed my mom and rape me? I mean, it really leads me to wonder how far ahead this was thought out. And if it was thought out at all, what Chipsy's long-term plan was.

Yeah, I don't know how much planning went in or how solid the planning was, right? Because it's one thing to figure out a way to murder someone. And they did that successfully. But it's a completely different thing, you know, to think farther down the road about, okay, how are we going to get away with this? what's going to happen when they come looking for me because you know they're going to. Apparently, Gypsy's Facebook post plan worked because our friend decided to climb in through a window in Dede's home to investigate.

There were no lights on inside the empty house, but it was very cold. The air conditioner was set on high. The only sign of anything wrong was Gypsy's wheelchair was there. Dedy and Gypsy would have never left home without it. Authorities had to wait to obtain a search warrant to enter the home. but they didn't have to wait very long. At 10.45 p.m. on June 14th, they discovered D.D.'s. Bloody body based down in her bed. Neighbors were stunned and couldn't think of any motive for the awful crime.

One neighbor named Kevin Corbus here told the Springfield News leader, she was the nicest late in the world. I can't believe how anybody could even have a bad word to say about her. Another neighbor, David Aiken, added, she was always coming up and asking us if we needed something from Walmart or wherever they were going. They're kind of like family to us. And a third neighbor named Angelique Overstrette said, she would bring us Christmas cards and cookies. She was just real giving. I don't understand why anyone would want to hurt her. And you know, this is something that we talk about in a lot of cases.

You know, obviously after something happens, neighbors are interviewed and even some of the most heinous serial killers. Neighbors have nothing but good things to say about them. And here we have D.D. who obviously was very nice to the people around her, to her neighbors, because they had nothing but amazing things to say about her. Yeah, it certainly wasn't the kind of neighbor where you just wait to them,

say hi in your driveway or something like that. It seemed like she got in. involved in talking to people and offering to do things for them. So she really presented herself in a way that made them think highly of her. Well, I can tell you, I've lived in this same house for over 20 years. And not one time has any of my neighbors come up and said, hey, we're going to Walmart. Do you need anything? That has never happened.

But it makes me wonder, was Dee Dee Dee, this really nice person who just did this terrible thing to her daughter? Or was she kind of putting on an act for these people as well? Because would she wanted to have gone out of her way to make these people think that she's a great mother? Because she's doing all of these other things, you know, to gypsy. So she doesn't want anyone to be suspicious. Yeah. And if she's willing to lie and make up things about her own daughter and present things,

in a way to the outside world that aren't true, then I think you have to question the way she was to everyone, including the neighbors. It was clear that to those who knew D.D., her murder shocked them. Even the Springfield branch of Habitat for Humanity, released a statement about D.D.'s murder saying, this news is devastating to Habitat for Humanity of Springfield, Missouri,

are community and families. Over 60 people attended a vigil for D-D while Gypsy was still missing. Gypsy's wheelchair and medications being left behind worried everyone. Soon neighbor Alia Woodmansey informed investigators of Gypsy's online relationship with Nicholas Godijohn. She also told them about Gypsy secret Facebook account using the name Emma Rose. So this gave investigators something. to go on. It was feared that Gypsy, who everyone thought couldn't walk, had been kidnapped, and was trapped at the mercy of her capture. Detectives immediately looked at the electronic devices

to see who Gypsy had been talking with and were able to track down Nicholas GoTo John's IP address, registered to the home in Big Bend. On June 15th, authorities from Waukesha County, Wisconsin surrounded the Go-To-John home. Gypsy and Nicholas were taken into custody without incident. During a press conference early on June 16th, authorities revealed that Gypsy had been found safe. But Green County Sheriff Jim are not warned, things are not always as they appear. He revealed that Gypsy was not disabled, that she could walk, but he didn't tell the public yet that she was part of the plan to kill her mother, only saying, we're not ruling anything out. It was also revealed that investigators weren't yet sure of how old Gypsy even was, just that they knew it was at least 19, but could be as old as 23.

And every piece of this news was a shock to those who knew Gypsy. Anticipating the public's confusion, Sheriff Arnott said, it's a very twisted story, trying to sort out what is true and what's not. And as far as motives and how all of that links back, we just know there is a lot of deception. It was a feeling he was used to in the case. The sheriff later told the Springfield News leader of the bizarreness of this case. It's kind of what movies are made of, that very twisted information, that you don't see it coming around the corner. When the information came in, you were like, how is that possible? On June 17th, both Nicholas and Gypsy were each charged with murder and felony armed criminal action and held on $1 million bail.

It was a shock to those who knew Gypsy and D.D. Neighbor Liam Woodmansey, who still supported Gypsy despite the shock and confusion, later told the newsleader, it bounces back and forth between reality and being really surreal because it is just so appalling, the whole thing. It just felt like a bad dream. I have always felt it was important to support. her no matter what's going on and try to be someone she can count on. So I've been at every pretrial hearing. Gypsy's attorneys had trouble accessing her medical records due to DDD's fraud,

forgeries, and power of attorney. So it was a real challenge for them. On July 6, 2015, just over a year after the murder, Gypsy Blanchard pleaded guilty to one charge of second-degree murder. She received a sentence of 10 years in prison, the minimum sentence for murder in the second degree. And this is something people still disagree on to this day. Many people feel that a murder is a murder and that especially at 23 years old,

Gypsy had options. She knew right from wrong. Others feel that mental health treatment was more appropriate due to the many years of Fresh air, longer days, a chance to reset. This season led therapy. part of your spring cleaning. Clearing mental clutter, shaking off stuckness, and building something better. Grow therapy helps you get there. Whether it's your first time in therapy or your 15th, grow makes it easier to find a therapist who fits you, not the other way around. They connect you

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slash book now. Growtherapy.com slash book now. Availability and coverage vary by state and insurance plan. Child abuse. She suffered at the hands of her mom and that she felt she had no other alternative to escape her. Green County prosecutor Dan Patterson understood the complexity of the case. He told the newsleader, when you look at this case, it's a murder and it's a first degree murder. But it's also one of the most extraordinary and unusual cases we have seen, explaining why he allowed such a plead you. Gypsy's attorney, Mike Stanfield, explained to the newsleader that Gypsy was desperate. He said, essentially Gypsy's mother was holding her prisoner.

If he had needed to go to trial, he would have had a lifetime of evidence against D.D. to focus on. He said, you're talking about a fraud that started when Gypsy Blanchard was probably four or so, somewhere in that age range. It was part of her entire life growing up. The situation was also complicated because Gypsy believed, what she had been told about her father. Dedi had told people around them that he was a deadbeat,

addicted to drugs, and didn't want anything to do with Gypsy. He had paid child support for most of Gypsy's life, but Dedy decided to keep that a secret from everyone, including Gypsy. And I think more of you can see why different people could have different opinions on this case. It is a polarizing one.

Some people think, you know, she should have gotten a much harsher sentence. Some people are taking into account, you know, all of this stuff that happened to her, her entire life, feeling trapped, like she had no way out. And there's no doubt what D.D. did to Gypsy was horrible. She lied about pretty much everything over her, you know, entire life. Told her she was sick. told her that you know her dad was a deadbeat left him meanwhile he's paying child support yeah to me i go back to the whole you know looking at it from from my perspective i think if this was me i would just walk out the door and say i'm never going to talk to you again i want i want nothing to do with you because

of this but again not being in gypsy shoes we don't know how much control she felt her mom over her. Maybe she thought this was her only way to get out of this. So, you know, it's easy to look at it from a distance and say, well, I would have done this. I would have done that. But unless you're in gypsy shoes, it's hard to say what you would really do in that situation. And I also think this is a tough case to, you know, come up with the appropriate sentence. Obviously, the prosecutor settled on a plea deal. And I think, based on what he said, he took all of this stuff into account. And maybe he thought if this had gone to a jury, they might sympathize with her and then

she might get off all together. So maybe he thought this was the best compromise that she would still be held accountable and do some time. And that's why he ultimately went with that conclusion, with that decision. Nicholas, go to John's trial, brought more of the abuse that Gypsy suffered to light. Gypsy testified. at Go to John's trial. When she testified, Gypsy had long, healthy-looking hair. In reality, she had never lost any of her hair. Due to cancer treatments, the leukemia was a lie.

It had been D-D shaving Gypsy's head. Gypsy told BuzzFeed news, she'd shave my hair off and she'd say, it's going to fall out anyway due to the cancer. So let's keep it nice and neat. Gypsy actually believed she had to be. cancer. The anti-seizure medicine that had cost Gypsy her teeth had also been unnecessary. She was not epileptic. A lack of saliva didn't help her dental situation. Some of Gypsy's salivary glands were removed after Dee-D used origel to numb her mouth, making her drool. The surgery

had been the second line of treatment after D.D. claimed Botox didn't help. Gypsy's father, Blanchard supported her despite what she did. Rod blamed Dedey mostly, saying to Fox News, she was just a bad mother. You can call Munchausen by proxy or whatever, but you can't keep somebody like that all their lives. Many wondered where Rod had been all of Gypsy's life. And Rod explained to Fox News that D.D. spent a lot of time making sure that there was distance between us. He said a lot of times I would call Gypsy, and she wouldn't be available to talk to me. But the next day she was. I kind of felt she was preparing her. Dedey coached Rod about what to say too, going as far to forbid him to tell Gypsy her real age. He said, I would call her on her birthday, but Dedy would tell

me, don't tell her it's her 18th birthday. I don't want to tell her how old she is. And Rod always complied, though he felt it was an odd request. Rod recalled Dedy saying, she thinks she's 14. It seems as if Rod was just another person who D.D. manipulated due to her legal power over Gypsy. Rod said to Fox News, it got hard. It really did. But I didn't want to push it too far. D.D. had full custody and could cut me off completely from any kind of relationship we already had. There was a fine line. I had to walk with her. It bothered me, but I was always hoping that Gypsy would get old enough that one day we could bond. Rod became very involved in Gypsy's life after her arrest and felt that their relationship had grown.

He told Fox News, it's a hundred times better. Honestly, we email each other. She can call me anytime, and she does. I'm keeping tabs on all of her accomplishments in school. She's getting her GED. It's wonderful. I can't wait for her to get out so we can build on that foundation that we started here. Gypsy's cousin, Bobby Petrie, who confirmed that D.D. forced Gypsy to pretend to be sick and paralyzed, felt that maybe D.D. could have been stopped. He told the newsleader, maybe I could have done more to get Gypsy out of there, but I had no idea how to do it. He hadn't seen either Gypsy or Dedy for about 15 years. To keep Gypsy isolated, Dedy would move around. This kept everyone, including CPS, off of their backs. She also pulled Gypsy out of school after second grade, claiming the homeschooler, but she really never did. Even Gypsy isn't sure what she would have done differently, if given the chance. She told People magazine, I don't know if I would go back to when I was a child and tell my aunts and uncles that I'm not sick,

and mommy makes me sick. Or if I would travel back to just the point of that conversation with Nick and tell him, You know what? I'm going to tell the police everything. I kind of struggle with that. Gypsy said of Dedi, I think she would have been the perfect mom for someone that actually was sick, but I'm not sick. There's that big, big difference.

Gypsy's neighbor, Leah, told BuzzFeed News, I just wish she would have come to me. One doctor, pediatric neurologist, Bernardo Flasterstein, who treated Gypsy also wishes he had done more. He told BuzzFeed News, poor gypsy. She suffered all those years, and for no reason.

And I have a feeling, morph, that there are a lot of doctors who probably had that, same thought after all of this came out because I think Gypsy had seen a lot of doctors over the years, many of whom, you know, ran tests and couldn't confirm the things that D.D. was saying, but, you know, didn't really do anything. I don't know what they could have done, but I'm sure there was some guilt there on, on the part of some of them at least. Yeah, I think any time there's a case like this,

where there could have been warning signs, everybody involved is going to go back and look at their involvement and say, did I miss something? Is there anything else I could have done? And you know, maybe have some regrets over that. Yeah,

I think that's, that's perfectly natural. In November 2018, Nicholas GoTo John was found guilty of the first degree murder of D.D. Blanchard on February 22nd, 2019, he was sentenced to life in prison

without the possibility of parole. The first 25 years of that sentence will fulfill the sentence he received for felony armed criminal action. As for Gypsy, during her first year in prison, she gained 14 pounds. Though most inmates lose weight because the prison food is inedible. Gypsy was able to actually eat real food for the first time in years. In February 2018, Gypsy stepmother, Christy Blanchard told the newsletter that Gypsy was thriving behind bars. In March 2019, Christy told the newsletter that her stepdaughter was still doing really well.

You know, she's got another job. She's doing photography again. She wakes up, goes to school. She goes to take pictures, back to school again, back to work again. She's just looking forward. And it's not often more that you hear about somebody actually doing better in prison than the way that they were doing on the outside.

But I just think it shows you how messed up Gypsy's life was at the hands of her mother. Yeah, if prison is an improvement in her life and being able to do stuff and learn things and experience different things, you know, what does that say? And I look at it too is it's part of a rehabilitation. because when she comes out of prison, maybe all the stuff she's doing behind bars is going to help her have a better future. In December 2020, Nicholas Go to John's lawyers filed for post-conviction relief, asking a judge to set aside his conviction. While Nicholas was trying to get out of prison, Gypsy had found love while behind bars. On July 21, 2022, Gypsy married Ryan Anderson, a pen pal who had been writing to her and visiting her prison.

Ryan, a teacher from Louisiana, initially attracted Gypsy in May 2020 because she wanted to meet people from her home state. Apparently, he only wrote to her as part of a bet with a coworker of his, but ended up being very happy with his decision. And now we come to late December 2003. Gypsy Blanchard was granted early parole after serving eight of the ten years she received as a sentence around two in the morning. On December 28th, 32-year-old Gypsy was released from the Chilicothe Correctional Center in Livingston, Missouri. She was seen later that day in public, buying a pair of basic black sneakers with her husband, Brian Anderson. Soon after this, there were photos released of Gypsy with her half-sister, her stepmom, and her dad in a room set up with balloons and a welcome home sign. despite the tragedy that happened in 2015, it looks like the time has come that Gypsy is old enough to bond with Rod like he had always hoped.

Gypsy and her husband Ryan will have a second wedding. She told People Magazine this time with a dress and the cake and everything. We deserve that. Gypsy wasn't released in time for Christmas, but she made the most of New Year's Eve, making sure to kiss Ryan at midnight wearing the wedding ring she waited so long to be able to put on. And I don't know about you, but I could have sworn that I've seen a hundred people on my

friends list putting photos of gypsy doing a selfie, I guess, after she was released, people just left and right posting this, this photo of her, uh, since her release. So it's, it's clearly something a lot of people were interested in, at least on Facebook. Yeah, I don't do social media, so I haven't seen it, but, uh, you could see why people would be interested in following her. There was a ton of interest in this case. We mentioned the number of shows and documentaries that have been made. So her getting out, it's a big deal to people.

They're going to want to follow her and see what she does. And I'm calling now. I think she's going to have a reality show. It would not surprise me in the least. Gypsy has an upcoming book, called Released Conversations on the Eve of Freedom, in which she tells People magazine, is not a rehashing of everything that happened. Instead, she explains, it's more of my reflection of everything that I've learned and experienced in the last eight and a half years.

Recently, a three-part, six-hour docu-series aired, called The Prison Confessions of Gypsy Rose Blanchard. I'm sure for a lot of people, after this documentary airs, there will be new opinions and some changed old ones. Right now, though, people online are sharply divided. There's the debate about whether Gypsy should have been sentenced to prison at all. But now that she's free and Nicholas Goetijohn is still going to be in prison until he dies, many wonder if it's fair. Yeah, like we said earlier, I mean, you're always going to have people who differ in their opinion of whether or not they believe someone's sentence was fair, just all of that.

At the end of the day, Gypsy served 85% of her sentence, so she was eligible for parole. But many wonder, what does Nicholas go to John ultimately desert? Did Gypsy manipulate him into committing a terrible crime and then throw him under the bus? Did he feel that he was genuinely saving Gypsy from a hellish situation with her mom, Dedy? At Nicholas's trial, Gypsy admitted that, the idea to kill Dedi was hers, that she stole the knife used to kill her, mailed Nicholas cash so he could travel to Missouri and let him into the home. There are also texts from Nicholas that say things like, honey, you forget, I am ruthless. And my hatred of her will

force her to die. And it's my evil side doing it. He won't mess up because he enjoys killing. There are also text messages between the two where Nicholas threatens self-harm and even suicide. If Gypsy doesn't get on Facebook quickly enough to talk to him. He also corrects Gypsy when she refers to money, she is going to steal from Dede as her money, saying, I think you mean our money. Of course, there are some people who blame both Gypsy and Nicholas equally. So again, there are just a lot of money. of differing opinions. I do want to talk about some of these messages from Nicholas Go

to John. I mean, there's some really dark stuff there. It doesn't seem like there's too much in the way of, you know, regret or we made a mistake or I don't think I want to do this. I'm not, I'm not seeing any of that. I mean, he's talking about his evil side, enjoys killing. I mean, There's some strange stuff there. The punishment given a gypsy allowed her to get an education. She worked and had eight years to live healthy and free of any of D.D.'s influence. Now that she's out of prison, it seems to have a good support system around her. Maybe she has a real chance to thrive.

She wants to help raise awareness about Munchausen by proxy and do some good in the world. Hopefully, Gypsy's experience will be one of proof of rehabilitation, especially in cases like this, that it works. but there's also a chance that, as many speculate online, gypsy will have trouble navigating the world without lying or manipulating since it was all she knew for so long. I'd like to stay optimistic here and hope the public attention on this case leads to good things for victims and survivors of medical child abuse

and munchausen by proxy, which is now called factitious disorder imposed on another. Time will tell. Yeah, I do think time will tell. And I think people will follow Gypsy in some former fashion, see what she does. You know, I thought you brought up a really good point there, Morp. All Gypsy knew in her life was manipulation. She was manipulated. There was a lot of lying that went on.

So can she move forward without, you know, doing some of that herself? because she did learn a lot of it from her mother. And I don't think there's any doubt that at least to a degree, she manipulated Nicholas Goetijon. And it seems like that's something she learned from Deity. So when you have a habit of living life a certain way and saying certain things and relying on falsehoods to tell a story, it's all learned behavior and hopefully she has unlearn that or will unlearn that.

And with a good support system around her, maybe she can go on to have a productive life. Yeah. Yeah. We will have to see. But I mean, to me, this case, there's so many strange things about it. You know, the length of time that D.D. was able to get away with, you know, snowing doctors. and manipulating people and manipulating Gypsy into thinking that, you know, she had leukemia. She had all these different ailments.

She couldn't even eat her own food. On the one hand, you feel extremely sorry for her for Gypsy and what she went through. And then there's the other side of it where she planned the murder of her mother. and you have to reconcile those two things. And like we've said a number of times, people are going to differ in their opinions of whether she, you know, got enough time. She did too much time. She should have gotten more focus on the mental health side.

You can debate all of that. But now that she's out of prison, she served her time. I think you have to say that you hope she goes. on to have a good, healthy, productive life. Yeah, based on everything we know from the research in this case, it seems like she's done a lot of positive things while being in prison and better herself, better at her situation so that when she comes out, now she has this family around her, it seems like she's at least on the right track and hopefully

she stays on that track. Well, we talk about so many people that I never. ever want to see, get out. And I didn't really feel that way about Gypsy. Eight and a half years is, is no joke. Now, I don't know how tough the time was, but regardless of that, that was the sentence imposed. She did that sentence and now she has to, you know, go on with her life.

But that's it for our episode on Gypsy Rose Blanchard. If you love the show and you haven't done so yet, take a minute, go out, give us a five-star review, tell your friends about the criminology podcast. That word of mouth really helps us out. If you want to find us on social media, we're on X with the handle at Criminology Pod. You can also find us on Facebook at facebook.com slash criminology podcast. And you can join our Facebook discussion group, Criminology Podcast discussion in fans. So that is it for our first episode of 2024. I think it's going to be a good year more. And we'll be back with everyone next Saturday night with a brand new episode.

So for Mike and Morph. We'll talk to you next week. Take care, everyone.