Gypsy Rose Blanchard was granted parole after serving eight out of ten years for her role in the murder of her mother, Clauddinnea “Dee Dee” Blanchard. She was released on December 28th, 2023, at 3:30 am.
Throughout Gypsy Rose’s childhood, her mother, Dee Dee, claimed that Gypsy Rose had multiple life-threatening diseases such as leukemia and muscular dystrophy. She was forced to use a wheelchair, a feeding tube, and an oxygen tube, even though she did not need any of them. Dee Dee was able to trick doctors into giving Gypsy treatment that she didn’t need by claiming that her medical records were lost in Hurricane Katrina. Dee Dee’s behavior was a result of the mental disorder Munchausen by proxy syndrome. Munchausen by proxy syndrome is a form of abuse in which a guardian exaggerates or induces illness in a child for attention and sympathy. Dee Dee wanted to be a caretaker, so she pretended that her daughter was ill.
Medical tests often showed inconclusive or contradictory results regarding Gypsy’s diagnoses, but Dee Dee would stop seeing any doctors who asked questions. Dee Dee had some nurse’s training, so she could accurately describe symptoms, and she sometimes gave Gypsy medication to mimic medical conditions. For example, Dee Dee convinced doctors that Gypsy needed her salivary glands removed by using a topical anesthetic, which caused Gypsy to drool excessively.
Gypsy claimed that her mother wouldn’t allow her to speak during doctor visits and told her that if she ever tried to escape, police wouldn’t believe her story. Gypsy managed to escape once, at age 19, attempting to meet up with a 35-year-old man. Dee Dee caught her, forced her home, and chained her to her bed for two weeks. As Gypsy grew older, Dee Dee began to lie about her age, altering her birth certificate to make her daughter seem younger.
In 2012, Gypsy found a way to gain access to the internet. She joined a Christian dating website, where she met Nicholas Godejohn. The two did not meet in person until three years later, in 2015. They had conspired to kill Dee Dee, and Gypsy said that she would provide a knife, gloves, and duct tape.
On June 9th, 2015, Gypsy invited Nicholas into her home. She provided him with the materials she promised and hid in the bathroom. Nicholas found Dee Dee sleeping and proceeded to stab her 17 times. The two ran away to Nicholas’s home in Wisconsin.
Gypsy made a post on Facebook using the account she shared with her mother. The post read, “That b**** is dead!” Gypsy later explained that she made this post because she wanted Dee Dee’s body to be found. This post drew the attention of police, and Dee Dee’s body was discovered.
Police found the couple in Nicholas’s home, which they raided on June 15, 2015. Nicholas surrendered and was taken into custody, and Gypsy was found unharmed and later placed under arrest as well. She initially denied involvement but later confessed after Nicholas told police they had planned the crime together. On July 5th, 2016, Gypsy Rose Blanchard pleaded guilty to the second-degree murder of Clauddinnea Blanchard. She was sentenced to ten years in prison.
On December 28th, 2023, Gypsy was released after serving eight years. She is now married to school teacher Ryan Anderson. The two are planning on moving in together. On January 5th, 2024, she released a TV series on Hulu called The Prison Confessions of Gypsy Rose Blanchard.
