Gypsy Rose Blanchard: A Tragic Story of Munchausen by Proxy

Dec. 27, 2023, 8:30 p.m. Entertainment

Gypsy Rose Blanchard: A Tragic Story of Munchausen by Proxy

On June 14, 2015, Gypsy Rose Blanchard walked into a Wisconsin courtroom in handcuffs, accused of second-degree murder in the death of her mother, Dee Dee Blanchard. It was a shocking twist of events in a case that had already captured headlines for its combination of elements: a missing person, a murder, and, at the center of it all, a gravely ill little girl who had been kept in a wheelchair and fed through a tube in her stomach by her mother for years.

Dee Dee had told everyone that her daughter, Gypsy, suffered from a litany of health problems: muscular dystrophy, leukemia, cerebral palsy, and asthma. She said that Gypsy was developmentally disabled and could not walk or talk. In reality, Gypsy was healthy and, as it would later be revealed, her mother had been fabricating her illnesses since she was a baby. This deception, known as Munchausen by proxy, is a form of child abuse in which a caregiver creates or exaggerates illnesses in a child in order to garner attention and sympathy.

Gypsy grew up believing she was sick. She was kept in a wheelchair and fed through a tube in her stomach, even though she was perfectly healthy. She was given unnecessary medical procedures, including a feeding tube, a tracheotomy, and numerous surgeries. Dee Dee even went so far as to shave Gypsy’s head when she was a baby to make her look like she was undergoing chemotherapy.

The truth began to unravel in 2014, when Gypsy, then 23 years old, met Nicholas Godejohn online. Godejohn was from Big Bend, Wisconsin, and he and Gypsy began a romantic relationship. Dee Dee did not approve of the relationship and forbade Gypsy from seeing Godejohn. In response, Gypsy and Godejohn hatched a plan to kill Dee Dee.

On June 8, 2015, Godejohn went to the Blanchard home in Springfield, Missouri, and stabbed Dee Dee to death while Gypsy waited in the car. The two then drove to Wisconsin, where they dumped Dee Dee’s body in a storage shed. The following day, Gypsy posted on her Facebook page: “That bitch is dead.”

When Dee Dee’s body was found, Gypsy was initially charged with first-degree murder. However, she later pleaded guilty to second-degree murder and was sentenced to 10 years in prison. Godejohn pleaded guilty to first-degree murder and was sentenced to life in prison.

The story of Gypsy Rose Blanchard is a tragedy on many levels. It is a tragedy for Gypsy, who was cruelly abused by her mother and spent years believing she was ill when she was not. It is a tragedy for Dee Dee, who was a victim of Munchausen by proxy and ultimately paid for her deceit with her life. And it is a tragedy for Godejohn, who was drawn into a murder plot by a woman he loved and will now spend the rest of his life in prison.