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is advised. Hello

1:01

everyone and welcome to episode 289 of

1:03

the Criminology podcast. I'm

1:12

Mike Ferguson. And this is Mike

1:14

Morford. Mr. Morford, man, how are

1:16

you doing in 2024? I'm

1:20

doing good so far. It's been a good

1:22

year, a short one so far, but I'm energized

1:25

and rested and ready to roll.

1:28

How about you? Yeah, yeah, me too.

1:30

A week off and got to recharge

1:32

the batteries a little bit. The

1:35

family went on a cruise

1:38

right before Christmas. We got

1:40

back like two days before Christmas and it was

1:43

nice. We hadn't been on a cruise in like

1:45

eight or 10 years and I forgot how nice

1:47

they are. Oh yeah, I can't go

1:50

wrong going on a nice cruise

1:52

and we just did the holiday

1:54

things with Christmas and family over and

1:56

New Year's get together and you

1:58

know, it was just a good time. relaxing and resting

2:00

up and now I'm ready to go for 2024.

2:04

Yeah, yeah, me too. Hope everyone had a

2:07

great holiday season. Let's

2:09

go ahead and give our Patreon

2:11

shoutouts. We had Shannon Armstrong, Mikaela

2:14

McRostie, Reed Bodek, Henriette

2:17

Cole, and Joe Cosby.

2:19

So, a lot of great new support.

2:21

We really appreciate it. Yeah, thanks to

2:23

everyone that takes the time to support the show.

2:25

It means a lot to us. And for anyone

2:28

else that would like to, you can head over

2:30

to patreon.com/criminology. So, we just talked

2:32

about it being a new year and

2:34

with that, can you believe that we're

2:36

just over four months away from CrimeCon

2:38

Nashville? Yeah, it's really coming quick.

2:41

CrimeCon Nashville will take place May 31st to

2:44

June 2nd, 2024 at the beautiful Gaylord

2:48

Opryland. And for the true crime fans

2:50

out there, this isn't something you want

2:52

to pass up. No, it

2:54

really is your chance to rub elbows with

2:56

all your favorite people in the true crime

2:58

world. And you can come and say hi

3:01

to more if an eye on podcast row.

3:03

Of course, we'll have our annual Criminology TCAT

3:05

meetup. It should be a blast. Yeah,

3:07

time is running out, so book your trip now.

3:10

And when you check out at crimecon.com, use our

3:13

promo code criminology. That will save you 10% on

3:15

your standard badges. Alright,

3:17

so now that we have all of that out of

3:19

the way, let's jump into our first case of 2024.

3:21

And this is

3:24

a big one that a lot of people

3:26

are currently talking about due to

3:28

recent development. Even though this

3:30

is sort of an older closed

3:32

case, it has exploded in the

3:34

news recently. You may have

3:37

heard the name Gypsy Rose Blanchard over

3:39

the holidays a lot because she was

3:41

just released from prison after

3:43

serving just eight years for the

3:45

second degree murder of her mother.

3:48

Her accomplice, the one to actually

3:50

carry out the act of murder, is

3:52

still in prison, serving life without

3:55

the possibility of parole. And

3:57

a lot of people may be familiar with

3:59

this story. There's been a number

4:02

of shows from Hulu's

4:04

The Act, HBO's Mommy's

4:06

Dead and Dearest, or

4:09

the investigation discovery series

4:11

Gypsy's Revenge. If you're

4:13

not that familiar with the case, just sit

4:15

back because this is one of those cases

4:18

that will make your head spin. Gypsy's

4:20

story really starts from her birth. Her

4:23

parents, Rod and Dee Dee, began

4:25

dating when he was a junior in high school and

4:27

she was well past drinking age. In

4:30

1990, when Dee Dee learned she was pregnant, they

4:32

got married. When Gypsy was born on July 27,

4:34

1991, Rod had just turned 18 and Dee Dee was 24. By

4:41

then the two were already separated. Rod

4:43

had realized that he only married Dee Dee to try and

4:45

be a good guy and a good father, but

4:48

it wasn't truly the right thing for him. He

4:50

told Buzzfeed News, I woke

4:52

up on my birthday, on my 18th birthday,

4:55

and realized I wasn't where I was supposed to be.

4:57

I wasn't in love with her really. When

5:00

Gypsy was still an infant, the first of

5:02

her serious illnesses appeared. Dee

5:04

Dee, a nurse's aide, claimed that the

5:06

three month old was showing signs of sleep

5:08

apnea. She started taking Gypsy to

5:10

the hospital, claiming she would stop breathing

5:13

when she was asleep. Despite multiple

5:15

sleep studies and tests, nothing was found.

5:18

By 1994, Rod and Dee Dee were

5:20

officially divorced. In September

5:22

2005, Dee Dee

5:24

and Gypsy moved from Slidell,

5:26

Louisiana to a rented home

5:28

in Aurora, Missouri, while they

5:30

awaited the completion of a

5:33

brand new custom-built home, courtesy

5:35

of Habitat for Humanity. The home

5:37

was built for them due to

5:40

Dee Dee's claim that they were

5:42

displaced because Hurricane Katrina

5:44

had destroyed their apartment. The

5:47

flood had also destroyed all of

5:49

Gypsy's medical records. Their new

5:52

home on West Volunteer Way was

5:54

a beautiful house, complete with a

5:56

large wheelchair ramp for Gypsy who

5:58

could not live. walk, it

6:01

even had a jacuzzi to help relax

6:03

her aching muscles. When they moved

6:05

into the home, Gypsy sometimes needed

6:08

an oxygen tube to breathe,

6:10

and required a feeding tube for

6:13

nutrition. The only thing she

6:15

took in by mouth was Pedialyte. This

6:18

new home was supposed to offer Gypsy some

6:20

stability. She had been sick since

6:22

birth due to what

6:24

Harper's Bazaar described as unspecified

6:26

chromosomal defects. Alleged muscular

6:29

dystrophy had caused such weakness that

6:31

Gypsy couldn't walk, and that resulted

6:33

in her using a wheelchair, though a

6:35

muscle biopsy found no sign of the condition. Neither

6:38

did brain scans or spine scans. By

6:41

claiming that all of their records and belongings were

6:43

ruined in the storm, just like many

6:45

other people who lived in Louisiana when Hurricane Katrina

6:47

hit, Dee Dee was able to

6:49

hide evidence that Gypsy was actually healthy. Instead

6:52

of putting her through a more invasive and painful

6:54

test, medical personnel just believed

6:56

her doting mother. But

6:59

the list of Gypsy's alleged

7:01

health issues didn't stop there.

7:03

According to Dee Dee, Gypsy

7:05

also suffered from severe allergies

7:07

and epileptic seizures every few

7:10

months. The medication she

7:12

took for seizures caused her teeth

7:14

to rot and fall out. Others

7:16

had to be removed due to how damaged

7:19

they were. Then due

7:21

to treatments for leukemia that

7:23

Gypsy supposedly had, she

7:25

was bald. She wore very thick

7:28

glasses due to poor eyesight. Multiple

7:30

surgeries on her eye muscles had

7:32

still left her with weak vision.

7:35

Tubes had been surgically placed in

7:37

her ears due to frequent infections.

7:40

Make a wish granted Gypsy's wish

7:42

of a trip to Disney World. She

7:45

was also able to

7:47

meet Blake Shelton, Miranda Lambert,

7:49

Elijah Wood, and Sean

7:51

Astin. Due to

7:54

her supposed disorders, defects,

7:56

and medications, Dee Dee

7:58

told people that Gypsy had the

8:00

mind of a seven year old, which

8:03

allowed Dee Dee to do the

8:05

talking when it came

8:07

to Gypsy's health conditions. So

8:10

more of let's just stop there for a moment and

8:13

talk about Gypsy. I

8:15

mean, this is a list

8:18

of ailments that,

8:21

you know, obviously you wouldn't wish upon

8:23

anyone. She's having so

8:25

many different health issues

8:27

according to Dee Dee that

8:30

she needs a specialized home. She's

8:33

getting trips from the Make-A-Wish Foundation.

8:35

Yeah, I think any of these things,

8:38

these conditions, these illnesses on their

8:40

own would be bad enough

8:42

but she supposedly had all of these

8:45

things going on at the same time and, you

8:48

know, we're going to find out that a

8:50

lot of this is just made up stuff. But

8:53

it's kind of surprising to me that the

8:55

medical experts along the way didn't

8:58

pry more when they didn't find indications

9:00

that she really had these things. It seems like it

9:03

would have been a red flag for them to

9:05

catch what was going on here. But for some

9:07

reason, she was able to keep

9:09

going with these claims. Well,

9:11

and I think you're touching on a

9:13

subject that many people have brought up.

9:16

And we'll get into it as we go

9:18

further into the episode. But why

9:21

didn't certain people catch

9:23

it? And when

9:25

you hear Gypsy talk,

9:28

which you can in some of

9:30

the documentaries and things, she

9:33

really does sound like a

9:36

very, very small child,

9:39

much younger than what

9:41

her actual age was in some

9:44

of these videos. In

9:46

2009, authorities visited the Blanchard home

9:48

after an anonymous call regarding Gypsy's

9:50

welfare. The informant claimed that

9:52

Gypsy was actually healthy and may

9:55

be in danger due to the abuse by Didi. According

9:57

to Buzzfeed News, officers Investigators

10:00

investigating the claim closed the report, noting

10:03

Gypsy, quote, does suffer from some

10:05

type of mental handicap, but

10:07

other run-ins with the law would follow. In

10:09

February 2011, Gypsy went

10:12

to the hotel room of a man. He

10:14

wasn't a total stranger. They

10:16

had met in person at a science fiction convention

10:18

that Gypsy had gone to with her mom and

10:21

the two kept in touch online after. Deedee

10:23

found the two in their hotel room and told

10:25

the 35-year-old man he was in a world of

10:27

trouble, presenting documents that proved that

10:29

Gypsy was only 15. But

10:32

as we mentioned at the top of this episode, Gypsy

10:34

was born in 1991, so she was in reality just

10:37

four months away from her 20th birthday. This

10:40

man didn't know Gypsy's true age and

10:43

obviously scared by the prospect of bringing a

10:45

15-year-old back to his hotel room. The

10:47

man let Deedee take Gypsy home without an

10:49

argument. Now, Morr, if there's

10:51

quite an age difference there, but

10:54

in reality, he

10:56

wasn't doing anything illegal, but

10:59

you can imagine how scared this guy would

11:02

have been. And I think some people

11:04

maybe thought that he

11:06

had a chance to take Gypsy out

11:08

of the situation with her

11:10

mom, but I think to your

11:13

point, not really knowing that

11:15

she was an adult, he wasn't arguing with

11:17

Deedee. He was just like, okay, take her

11:19

home. I don't want any trouble. Oh,

11:22

not when he's being told that she's 15 years

11:25

old. I'm assuming he wanted

11:27

to extricate himself from that

11:29

situation as quickly as possible.

11:32

The hotel incident caused some friction

11:34

between mother and daughter. Privately,

11:37

Gypsy was scolded for going to

11:39

the hotel and what really was

11:41

an escape attempt, really.

11:44

According to Harper's Bazaar, Deedee warned Gypsy,

11:47

if you ever try to do that

11:49

again, I'm going to smash your fingers

11:51

with a hammer. Once they got

11:53

home, Deedee chained Gypsy to the

11:56

bed and showed her just what

11:58

it looked like when something got got

12:00

smashed with a hammer, destroying gypsy

12:02

cell phone and laptop, her only

12:04

connections to the outside world. For

12:07

two weeks, Gypsy was not allowed to get

12:09

up from that bed she was chained to.

12:11

So I mean, this

12:14

is really when a different type

12:16

of abuse began for Gypsy at

12:18

the hands of her mother, Dee Dee, to

12:21

make Gypsy pretend that she was

12:23

a sickly child and to

12:26

make her live as such was

12:28

already awful, but now she was

12:30

essentially holding her hostage with chains

12:33

and threatening violence. So

12:35

obviously, Morphes had been going on

12:37

for many years. It

12:40

started when Gypsy was young,

12:42

but my thought is as she got

12:44

older, and by this point in

12:47

the story, she's an adult, it

12:50

would have gotten tougher and tougher

12:52

for Dee Dee to try

12:56

to control her, to try to

12:58

convince her that she

13:00

had all these different type of

13:02

ailments. We mentioned it, right?

13:04

Her only connection to the

13:06

outside world was kind of through

13:08

her computer. So she was

13:11

talking to a lot of people online,

13:13

things like that. At

13:15

a certain point, she has

13:17

to think, I don't want to do

13:19

this anymore. I want to

13:21

experience the world. I want to meet

13:23

people. Yeah, you have to wonder if

13:26

Dee Dee's sudden change to threatening

13:29

violence and chaining her up was

13:31

a way to try and keep that

13:33

control over her, because she felt she was getting

13:35

to a point where she was going to start

13:38

thinking for herself and maybe

13:40

leaving that situation. So it seems like

13:42

Dee Dee really ramped up the

13:45

pressure to keep her under her

13:47

control. I think

13:50

the next thing that you have

13:52

to ask is, what was

13:54

Dee Dee getting out of this

13:56

whole thing? sympathy

14:01

throughout the years from different

14:03

people all look at

14:05

my daughter she's she's going through all

14:07

of these things and obviously

14:09

people around her would be

14:11

very sympathetic. Is also

14:14

what we mentioned right the house

14:16

the trips to disney world things

14:18

like that. Was it

14:20

that she just didn't want all of

14:22

that to go away. Yeah there

14:24

doesn't have to be just a financial

14:27

benefit from all of it or getting

14:29

free stuff you know it could be

14:31

as you mentioned the attention something. That

14:34

maybe the the craved and

14:36

she found a way to get it by using

14:38

her daughter this way and you

14:41

know who knows when

14:43

people do this kind of thing what they get

14:45

from it but it's clear that the. Kept

14:48

going with it and didn't let let

14:51

it stop but i think

14:53

you're on the right track the

14:55

sympathy the attention that was probably

14:57

the main thing. I two

14:59

thousand twelve gypsy was very lonely and

15:01

looking to escape her mother she

15:04

began to use the computer at night after she had

15:06

gone to bed. He made herself

15:08

a profile on a christian dating website hoping

15:10

to meet someone good who could come save her

15:13

and could get her out of the terrible situation she

15:15

was in one of the men gypsy met

15:18

nicolas go to john lived in big

15:20

ben wisconsin. He was very taken

15:22

with gypsy he printed out copies of

15:24

the message she sent him they talked

15:26

often whenever he was asleep and

15:30

the two formed a bond. In

15:32

two thousand thirteen nicolas go

15:34

to john ran into some

15:36

legal trouble when he was

15:38

caught masturbating and watching pornography

15:40

on his laptop in a

15:42

mcdonalds. This incident was said

15:44

to have taken place over nine

15:46

hours now i don't

15:48

know if this was a continuous

15:51

nine hours if he had

15:53

just been at the location for a long time

15:55

before he started acting in

15:58

appropriately or if. He

16:00

had been asked to leave several

16:02

times over the course of those

16:04

nine hours before someone finally decided

16:06

to call the police. I

16:08

can't imagine he was watching

16:11

pornography and masturbating for nine

16:14

straight hours. But

16:16

either way, it was disturbing. But

16:18

it didn't stop Gypsy from

16:20

continuing on with the secret

16:22

relationship with him. In fact,

16:24

Gypsy kept Nicholas Godojon a

16:26

secret until 2014 when

16:29

she told a neighbor, Aaliyah Woodmansey,

16:32

all about him and their plans

16:34

to elope. Aaliyah, who thought

16:37

Gypsy was still a minor at

16:39

the time, was a bit

16:41

shocked due to Gypsy's revelation

16:43

that their relationship involved a

16:46

bit of BDSM. Aaliyah

16:48

warned her that talking to Godojon

16:50

wasn't a great idea, but didn't

16:52

push the issue because she thought

16:55

that a lot of these plans

16:57

Gypsy mentioned were probably just a

16:59

fantasy. When Didi found

17:01

out that Aaliyah had been talking

17:03

to Gypsy about relationships and sex,

17:06

she was furious. Aaliyah

17:08

told BuzzFeed News that Didi

17:10

confronted her, saying, I'm

17:12

not going to tell your mom about the things

17:15

you said, but I don't want you

17:17

talking to Gypsy like that. He

17:19

also punished Gypsy, taking away

17:21

her computer and phone. The

17:24

fall of 2014 was the

17:26

last time Aaliyah spoke with

17:29

Gypsy. And this is

17:31

another thing that I think you

17:33

see from Didi that would have

17:36

been very important to her in

17:39

what she was trying to do. You

17:41

have to keep as many

17:43

outside influences away from Gypsy

17:46

as you can. You

17:48

can't allow her to have a bunch of

17:50

friends. You can't allow her to be talking

17:52

to too many people because

17:54

it could ruin what

17:58

you're trying to do. It

18:00

seems like it would make it harder to keep

18:02

up the charade when you've got people

18:04

poking and prodding and asking

18:06

questions and talking about different

18:08

subjects. And I also think

18:10

that Dee Dee probably wanted

18:13

to be around when people were talking

18:15

to Gypsy so she could sort of

18:17

manipulate the conversation in a

18:19

direction that she wanted it to be on. In

18:22

2015, Gypsy and

18:24

Nicholas Godajon, who was then 26, tried

18:27

to set up a fake first meeting with Dee Dee. Godajon

18:30

traveled from Wisconsin to Springfield, Missouri to

18:32

try and just run into

18:34

Gypsy at a screening of Cinderella. Gypsy

18:37

and Nicholas felt that if it looked like they had met in

18:39

person out of the blue, then Dee Dee

18:41

would approve of them dating. This didn't happen,

18:44

and Dee Dee was extremely put off by Nicholas Godajon. During

18:47

the movie, Gypsy excused herself and

18:49

went to the bathroom. Nicholas met

18:51

her there, and the two were able to have sex. They

18:54

hoped that Gypsy would get pregnant from this first

18:56

time, so that as the father of

18:58

Gypsy's baby, Dee Dee wouldn't be able to keep

19:00

them apart. But Gypsy didn't get

19:02

pregnant, and they started working on another

19:04

plan, and this plan would turn deadly. No

19:16

matter the project, we'll get you

19:18

the right metal, shape, and grade.

19:20

Cut to any size, ready real

19:22

fast. And yeah, yeah,

19:24

we'll deliver, leaving plenty of

19:27

time for the important things, like

19:29

opening a nice, cold can of

19:32

aluminum. Metal supermarkets. Order

19:35

online at www.metalsupermarkets.com In

19:38

June 2015, Gypsy

19:41

and Nicholas finally decided on what

19:43

they would do. They felt

19:45

that the only way for

19:47

Gypsy to escape from Dee Dee would

19:49

be if Dee Dee was dead. On

19:52

the ninth of that month, Nicholas

19:54

arrived in Missouri, checked into a

19:56

hotel, and waited for Gypsy

19:59

to text him. Once Dede

20:01

was asleep, Gypsy sent Nicholas

20:03

a text and he traveled to their home,

20:05

where Gypsy quietly let him

20:08

inside. She also handed him

20:10

a knife that she had stolen from

20:12

Walmart and a pair of latex gloves

20:14

and pointed him to Dede's room before

20:17

she walked into the bathroom to

20:19

hide, while her boyfriend headed

20:21

into Dede's room to do the unthinkable.

20:24

Though she covered her ears, Gypsy still

20:27

heard the attack. Dede

20:29

was startled by the intruder, first yelling

20:31

out, wondering who was in her bedroom.

20:33

As Nicholas Go to John moved in and began to

20:36

stab her, Dede called out her daughter's

20:38

name. It was almost enough for

20:40

Gypsy to change her mind. Gypsy would

20:42

later tell Harper's bizzare of the moment. At

20:45

that point, I wanted to go help her so bad,

20:47

but I was so afraid to get up, explaining,

20:50

it's like my body wouldn't move. Almost

20:52

as soon as it had begun, the attack was over. Then

20:55

everything just went quiet. Nicholas

20:57

Go to John came out of Dede's

21:00

room and entered the bathroom. He

21:02

had cut himself while stabbing Dede

21:04

and his finger was bleeding. He

21:07

and Gypsy tended to his womb and

21:10

tried to clean up the scene before

21:12

going into Gypsy's room and

21:14

having sex. Gypsy

21:17

gathered some belongings, including

21:19

between $4,000 and $5,000 in cash from her mother's

21:23

room. She

21:26

left the home for good, actually walking on

21:28

her own. Her wheelchair was

21:30

left behind in the bathroom. The

21:32

pair called a yellow cab and went

21:34

back to the Springfield Days Inn, where

21:36

Nicholas had booked a room. Though

21:39

Nicholas had booked a return ticket

21:41

for himself on a Greyhound bus,

21:44

the bus was full and there was

21:46

no room for Gypsy to accompany him, delaying

21:49

their getaway. They stayed at the Days Inn

21:51

until June 14th. Then

21:54

they were both able to get on

21:56

the bus back to Big Ben, Wisconsin,

21:59

before leaving Missouri. They mailed

22:01

the knife used to kill Dee Dee

22:03

back to Nicholas's home So

22:05

they could not get caught with

22:08

it while they travel some more

22:10

if the deed is done Dee

22:12

Dee is dead, but I

22:14

kind of want to go back and and analyze

22:17

the The planning,

22:20

you know, obviously this had been building

22:23

for a long time with

22:25

Dee Dee Wanting to get away. I

22:28

think it was accelerated Once

22:31

she met Nicholas go to John

22:34

But I think the thought was there and

22:36

had been there for a while and

22:39

then this kind of revelation by

22:41

the pair that they eventually you

22:44

know settled on the idea that the

22:47

only way for Gypsy

22:49

to get away for them to

22:51

be together was for Dee

22:54

Dee to be dead and

22:57

so they put that plan in motion Yeah,

22:59

it's I always wonder when we

23:02

talk about cases where somebody has a choice

23:04

of Killing someone or

23:06

just leaving the situation why

23:08

they just choose to stay and and

23:11

and kill someone as opposed to just

23:13

walking away and You

23:15

know, we mentioned several times that it

23:18

seems like gypsy felt she was controlled by Dee Dee

23:21

She didn't know how to leave maybe on her own

23:23

So that's it's easy to say

23:25

why wouldn't somebody just walk out on that

23:27

situation But I guess you're unless

23:29

unless you're in her shoes. You

23:31

don't know what it's like to be controlled like that. So

23:35

You know that but I always it always comes up in

23:37

these cases where there's a question of

23:40

why a person just doesn't walk out On a

23:42

situation and later decides to turn to

23:44

a violent conclusion No,

23:46

I think that question is very natural

23:48

I mean she is an adult Gypsy

23:52

so, you know in a lot

23:54

of people's minds, okay get

23:57

with Nicholas Run away

23:59

together do whatever you want to do legally, she could

24:01

have done that. But

24:05

to your point more mentally,

24:07

was she able to just break

24:10

away like that? She

24:12

had been controlled essentially

24:14

her entire life. And

24:16

this was a level of control that

24:19

was really kind of all inclusive.

24:21

I mean, every facet of her

24:24

life was controlled from

24:26

how she talked to whether

24:28

or not she walked. I

24:31

mean, it's part of the

24:33

fascination with this case. Yeah,

24:35

I think it's a little bit of a contradiction too, because

24:38

Gypsy later said, you know,

24:41

in that moment when Nicholas

24:43

was stabbing her mom, she

24:46

almost wanted to stop it, she regretted

24:48

it. But then after

24:50

her mom's dead, they go

24:52

into her room to have sex,

24:54

which is just to me, if you're

24:56

all broken up about what just happened and you regretted

24:58

it, how do you go from that

25:01

point to going in the room and having sex,

25:03

just very, very strange to

25:05

me. And we also don't

25:07

know exactly where, you know, her

25:09

mind is at, at this

25:11

point. You know, how good

25:13

is her mental health after

25:16

going through what she'd gone through

25:18

for so many years? And I'm

25:20

sure we'll talk about that more

25:22

as we go along. And I just wanted to

25:24

touch on too, a little bit about

25:27

the planning. It seems like on

25:29

one hand they said, okay, we don't wanna get

25:31

caught on the bus ride back having

25:33

this knife, so let's

25:36

get rid of it. But, you know,

25:38

that seems smart if you're trying

25:40

to avoid getting caught. But on the other hand, mailing

25:43

it back doesn't seem like the smartest of things to

25:45

do. It seems like you could just throw it on

25:47

a river someplace and be done

25:49

with it instead of holding onto it.

25:51

So not quite sure about the thinking

25:53

regarding that. Well, so

25:55

let's be honest, right? A high level of

25:58

planning or a lot of planning. Doesn't

26:00

always equate to good

26:03

planning you can come up with a

26:05

lot of plans But they're

26:07

not always gonna be good

26:10

and and I agree with you You

26:12

know mailing the knife to

26:14

his house seems so strange at

26:17

1232 p.m. On June 14 2015 a Facebook

26:21

post made by the account shared by gyps

26:23

in DD set off the first alarm

26:26

bells the post read that

26:28

bitch is dead It was extremely out

26:30

of character for the religious good-hearted Selfless

26:33

mother that people knew or at least

26:35

thought they knew DD to be but

26:37

with Facebook There's always the possibility of

26:39

someone getting hacked a few people

26:42

reached out to try and tell them to change

26:44

your password and remove the post But

26:46

no one heard back from either gypsy or

26:48

DD Soon people noticed

26:51

that DD's van which she used to transport

26:53

gypsy in her wheelchair and was still

26:55

parked in the driveway and hadn't moved Another

26:58

Facebook post appeared and in

27:01

the minds of those who knew them It

27:04

clearly couldn't have been from DD

27:06

or gypsy it read I fucking

27:09

slashed that fat pig and

27:11

raped her sweet innocent daughter

27:13

her scream was so fucking

27:15

loud Lol it was

27:18

all in capital letters meant to

27:20

grab attention The

27:22

comments of this account were

27:24

quickly full of friends and neighbors Trying

27:27

to figure out what had happened to the

27:29

two not knowing that DD

27:31

was dead They also didn't

27:33

know that it was indeed gypsy. That

27:36

was the one actually posting

27:38

on Facebook She felt

27:40

that by making those posts Someone

27:43

would go to DD's home sooner

27:45

rather than later to check on her

27:48

Gypsy later told Harper's bazaar

27:50

of making the Facebook post

27:53

I Couldn't stand the thought of her

27:55

just there because what happens if it

27:57

would have taken months to find her?

28:00

So. I wanted her found so she could

28:02

have a proper. Burial. So.

28:05

Here again. moreover in I think

28:07

what we're seeing is. A. Little

28:09

bit of a dichotomy were.

28:12

Gypsy. Once. Away

28:14

from her mother, To the

28:16

point did that she's willing to

28:18

hatch. You're a murder plot. But.

28:21

Then at certain. Points.

28:23

It's almost as if she feels. Bad.

28:26

For her. And away. But. She

28:28

wants to run to help her. Now

28:30

she wants to make sure that someone

28:33

fine sir, So. That she can

28:35

get a proper. Burial. Now.

28:37

Keep in mind this is still her mother.

28:40

Ethic. It's clear that she cared for

28:42

her mom in some way despite all

28:44

the abuse she had suffered, but it

28:46

is a real. Contradiction.

28:48

In. Gone from killing her

28:51

to than worrying about from. Not.

28:53

Been found for love. And I

28:55

also. It. Makes. Me

28:57

think. What? Was Gypsies plan?

28:59

Was she just gonna hopefully him of

29:01

with ever being identified and found. What?

29:04

Was going to be her story when the

29:06

police eventually tracked her down. Was.

29:08

She going to say some guy broke

29:10

in and tell my mom and rate

29:12

damn in it is. Really? Leads

29:14

me to to wonder how far ahead this

29:17

was thought out and if. If. It

29:19

was thought up at all which is too long term.

29:21

plan was. The I don't know

29:23

how much. Planning. When.

29:26

And or how solid the planning

29:28

was right? because. It's

29:30

one thing. To. Figure out

29:32

a way to. Murder

29:35

Someone. And they did

29:37

that successfully. But. It is.

29:39

It's a completely different thing

29:41

you to think farther down

29:43

the road about. Okay, how

29:45

are we gonna get away with this?

29:47

What's gonna happen when. They. Come

29:50

looking for me because you know they're

29:52

going to. Apparently gypsies

29:54

facebook posts plan worked. Because

29:56

or friend decided to climb in through a

29:58

window. indeed home to

30:00

investigate. There were no lights on inside

30:03

the empty house, but it was very cold. The

30:05

air conditioner was set on high. The

30:08

only sign of anything wrong was Gypsy's wheelchair

30:10

was there. Dee Dee and Gypsy would

30:12

have never left home without it. Authorities had

30:14

to wait to obtain a search warrant to enter

30:16

the home, but they didn't have to wait very

30:18

long. At 10.45

30:20

pm on June 14th, they discovered

30:22

Dee Dee's bloody body, face down in

30:24

her bed. Neighbors were stunned and

30:26

couldn't think of any motive for the awful crime.

30:29

One neighbor named Kevin Corbusier told

30:32

the Springfield News Leader she

30:34

was the nicest lady in the world. I can't

30:36

believe how anybody could even have a bad word

30:38

to say about her. Another neighbor,

30:41

David Aiken, added, she was

30:43

always coming up and asking us if we

30:45

needed something from Walmart or wherever they were

30:47

going. They're kind of like family to us.

30:50

And a third neighbor named Angelique Overstritt

30:52

said she would bring us Christmas

30:54

cards and cookies. She was just real

30:56

giving. I don't understand why anyone would

30:59

want to hurt her. And you

31:01

know, this is something that we talk about in a

31:03

lot of cases. Obviously

31:05

after something happens,

31:08

neighbors are interviewed and

31:11

even some of the most heinous

31:14

serial killers. Neighbors have

31:16

nothing but good things to

31:18

say about them. And here we have

31:20

Dee Dee who obviously

31:23

was very nice to

31:25

the people around her, to

31:27

her neighbors, because they had

31:29

nothing but amazing things

31:31

to say about her. Yeah,

31:34

it certainly wasn't the kind of

31:36

neighbor where you just wait till they say hi

31:38

in your driveway or something like

31:40

that. It seemed like she got involved in talking

31:42

to people and offering to do things for them.

31:44

So she really presented herself in

31:47

a way that made them think highly

31:49

of her. Well, I can tell

31:51

you I've lived in this same house for

31:53

over 20 years and not one time has

31:55

Any of my neighbors come up and said,

31:57

hey, we're going to Walmart. Do You need

31:59

anything? That has Never happen.

32:02

But. It makes me wonder was

32:04

deemed. This. Really nice

32:07

person. Who. Just.

32:09

Did this terrible thing to her

32:12

daughter? Or. Was. See.

32:14

Kind. Of putting on an act for these

32:16

people as well. Because. Would.

32:19

She wanted to have gone out of

32:21

her way. To. Make these people

32:24

saying that she's a great mother.

32:26

Because. She's doing all these other

32:28

things. You. Know to gypsy. So.

32:31

She doesn't want anyone to be

32:33

suspicious. And. It's she's

32:35

willing to lie. And

32:37

make up things about her own

32:40

daughter. And present things in

32:42

a way to the outside world.

32:44

There. Are true and. I. Suggest

32:46

a question. The. Way she was

32:49

to everyone including the neighbors. It

32:51

was clear that to those

32:53

who knew Dd, her murder

32:55

shocked him. Even the Springfield

32:58

Branch of Habitat for Humanity

33:00

released a statement about Dds

33:02

murder saying this news is

33:04

devastating to Habitat. For. Humanity

33:07

of Springfield, Missouri. Our community

33:09

and family. Over

33:11

sixty people attended a vigil

33:13

for Dd while Gypsy was

33:15

still missing gypsies will chair

33:17

and medications being left behind.

33:20

Worried. Every one. Soon. Neighbor

33:22

Aliyah would Manzi informed him

33:25

that scares of gypsies online

33:27

relationship with Nicholas go to

33:30

jail. She. Also told them

33:32

about gypsy secret facebook accounts.

33:35

using. The name emirates.

33:37

So. This gave investigators something

33:40

to go. It was

33:42

feared the gypsy lever one thought couldn't

33:44

walk had been kidnapped as trapped at

33:46

the mercy of are tapped. Detectors.

33:48

Immediately looked at the electronic devices to see

33:51

who gypsy had been talking with. And.

33:53

Rebel to track down Nicholas go to

33:55

John's Ip address. Registered to the

33:57

home and big bent. On June

33:59

Fifteen, Authorities from Waukesha

34:01

County, Wisconsin surrounded the go to

34:03

John home. Gypsy and Nicholas

34:06

for taken into custody without incident. During.

34:09

A press conference early on

34:11

June sixteen authorities revealed that

34:13

Gypsy had been found safe.

34:16

But. Green County Sheriff Jim are not

34:18

worn. Things. Are not always

34:20

as they appear. He. Revealed the

34:22

gypsy was not disable that

34:25

she could walk. But. He

34:27

didn't tell the public yeah that she was

34:29

part of the plan. To kill her

34:31

mother. Only. Saying we're not

34:34

ruling anything out. It

34:36

was also revealed that investigators

34:38

weren't yet sure of how old

34:40

Gypsy even was. Just said

34:42

they knew. It. Was at least

34:44

nineteen, but could be as old as

34:47

twenty three. And every piece

34:49

of this news. Was. A shock.

34:51

To those who knew, gypsy. Anticipating

34:54

the public's confusion. Sheriff are

34:56

not said it's a very

34:58

twisted store. Trying to sort

35:01

out what is true and what's not

35:03

in as far as motives and how.

35:05

All. Of that links back. We.

35:07

Just know there is a lot

35:10

of deception. It. Was a feeling

35:12

he was used to in the case. The

35:14

sheriff later told the Springfield News

35:16

Leader. Of the bizarre ness

35:18

of this case is kind of what

35:20

movies are made up. That. Very

35:23

twisted information that you don't

35:25

see it coming around the

35:27

corner. When. The information key

35:29

man? You realize. How is

35:31

that possible? On. June seventeenth: Both

35:34

Nicholas and Gypsy were each charged

35:36

with murder and felony armed criminal

35:38

action. And. Held on one million

35:40

dollars bail. It. Was a shock to those

35:42

who knew just Cndd. Neighbor. Liam

35:45

would manzi. Still, Supported

35:47

zip he despite the shark infusion,

35:49

Later. Told the news leader. It.

35:51

Bounces back and forth between reality

35:54

and being really surreal. Because.

35:56

Is just so appalling. The. Whole thing.

35:59

It. just felt like a bad I have

36:01

always felt it was important to support her no

36:03

matter what's going on and try to

36:05

be someone she can count on. So I

36:07

have been at every pretrial hearing. Gypsy's

36:10

attorneys had trouble accessing her medical records

36:13

due to DDS fraud, forgeries, and

36:15

power of attorney. So it was

36:17

a real challenge for them. On July 6, 2015,

36:21

just over a year after the murder, Gypsy

36:24

Blanchard pleaded guilty to one charge

36:26

of second degree murder. She received

36:28

a sentence of 10 years in

36:31

prison, the minimum sentence for

36:33

murder in the second degree, and

36:35

this is something people still

36:38

disagree on to this day. Many

36:40

people feel that a murder is a

36:42

murder and that especially

36:45

at 23 years old, Gypsy had

36:48

options. She knew right from

36:50

wrong. Others feel that

36:52

mental health treatment was more appropriate

36:54

due to the many years of

36:58

court abuse. She suffered at the

37:00

hands of her mom and that she

37:02

felt she had no other alternative to

37:05

escape her. Greene County

37:07

Prosecutor Dan Patterson understood

37:09

the complexity of the case. He told

37:11

the newsletter, when you look at this

37:14

case, it's a murder and

37:16

it's a first-degree murder, but

37:19

it's also one of the most

37:21

extraordinary and unusual cases we have

37:23

seen, explaining why he

37:25

allowed such a plea deal. Gypsy's

37:29

attorney Mike Stanfield explained to the

37:31

news leader that Gypsy was desperate.

37:34

He said, essentially Gypsy's mother was

37:36

holding her prisoner. If he

37:38

had needed to go to trial, he would have

37:40

had a lifetime of evidence against DeeDee to focus

37:42

on. He said, you're talking about

37:44

a fraud that started when Gypsy Blanchard

37:46

was probably four or so, somewhere

37:48

in that age range. It was part

37:51

of her entire life growing up. The

37:53

situation was also complicated because

37:55

Gypsy believed what she had been

37:57

told about her father. DeeDee had told people

37:59

around them. them that he was a deadbeat, addicted

38:02

to drugs, and didn't want anything to

38:04

do with Gypsy. He had paid child

38:06

support for most of Gypsy's life, but

38:08

Didi decided to keep that a secret

38:10

from everyone, including Gypsy. And

38:13

I think more of you can see

38:15

why different people

38:17

could have different opinions

38:20

on this case. It is

38:22

a polarizing one. Some

38:25

people think, you know, she should have

38:27

gotten a much harsher sense. Some

38:29

people are taking into account, you

38:32

know, all of this stuff

38:34

that happened to her her entire life,

38:36

feeling trapped, like she had no way

38:38

out. And there's no

38:40

doubt what Didi did to Gypsy was

38:43

horrible. She lied about

38:46

pretty much everything over

38:49

her, you know, entire life. Told

38:51

her she was sick. Told her that,

38:53

you know, her dad was a

38:55

deadbeat, left him. Meanwhile, he's

38:58

paying child support. Yeah, to

39:00

me, I go back to the whole, you know,

39:03

looking at it from my perspective,

39:06

I think if this was me, I would

39:08

just walk out the door and say, I'm never

39:10

going to talk to you again. I want

39:12

nothing to do with you because of this. But

39:14

again, not being in Gypsy's shoes,

39:17

we don't know how much

39:20

control she felt her

39:22

mom had over her. Maybe

39:24

she thought this was her only way to get out

39:26

of this. So you know, it's easy to just look

39:28

at it from a distance and say, well,

39:30

I would have done this, I would have done that. But

39:33

unless you're in Gypsy's shoes, it's hard to see

39:35

what you would really do in that situation. And

39:38

I also think this is a tough case to

39:41

come up with the appropriate

39:43

sentence. Obviously, the prosecutor

39:48

settled on a plea deal. And

39:51

I think based on what he

39:53

said, he took all this stuff

39:55

into account. And maybe he thought

39:57

if this had gone to a jury, they might

39:59

have. sympathize with her and then

40:01

she might get off altogether. So maybe

40:04

he thought this was the best compromise

40:06

that she would still be

40:08

held accountable and do some

40:10

time and that's why he ultimately went

40:13

with that conclusion, with that decision. Nicholas,

40:15

Go to John's trial brought more

40:18

of the abuse that Gypsy suffered

40:20

to light. Gypsy testified at Go

40:22

to John's trial. When she

40:25

testified, Gypsy had long

40:27

healthy looking hair. In

40:29

reality, she had never lost any

40:31

of her hair. Due to cancer

40:33

treatments, the leukemia was a

40:36

lie. It had been Dee

40:38

Dee shaving Gypsy's head. Gypsy

40:40

told Buzzfeed News she'd

40:42

shave my hair off and she'd say

40:45

it's gonna fall out anyway due to

40:47

the cancer. So let's keep it nice

40:49

and neat. Gypsy actually believed

40:51

she had cancer. The

40:53

anti-seizure medicine that had cost Gypsy

40:56

her teeth had also

40:58

been unnecessary. She was

41:00

not epileptic. A lack

41:03

of saliva didn't help her

41:05

dental situation. Some of

41:07

Gypsy's salivary glands were removed

41:09

after Dee Dee used Orygeo

41:11

to numb her mouth, making

41:14

her drool. The surgery had been the

41:16

second line of treatment after

41:18

Dee Dee claimed Botox didn't

41:20

help. Gypsy's father Rod

41:22

Blanchard supported her despite what

41:24

she did. Rod blamed Dee

41:26

Dee mostly saying to Fox News she

41:29

was just a bad mother. You can call munch-housing

41:32

by proxy or whatever but

41:34

you can't keep somebody like that all their

41:36

lives. Many wondered where Rod had been all

41:38

of Gypsy's life and Rod explained to

41:41

Fox News that Dee Dee spent a

41:43

lot of time making sure that there was distance

41:45

between us. He said a lot of

41:47

times I would call Gypsy and she wouldn't be available

41:49

to talk to me but the next day she

41:51

was. I kind of felt she

41:53

was preparing her. Dee Dee coached Rod

41:55

about what to say too, going as

41:57

far to forbid him to tell Gypsy her real life.

42:00

age. He said, I would

42:02

call her on her birthday, but Dee Dee would

42:04

tell me, don't tell her it's her 18th

42:06

birthday. I don't want to tell her how old she

42:08

is. And Rod always complied,

42:11

though he felt it was an odd request. Rod

42:14

recalled Dee Dee saying she thinks she's 14. It

42:17

seems as if Rod was just another

42:19

person who Dee Dee

42:21

manipulated due to her legal

42:24

power over Gypsy. Rod

42:26

said to Fox News, it got

42:28

hard. It really did. But I didn't want to

42:30

push it too far. Dee Dee

42:32

had full custody and could

42:34

cut me off completely from any kind

42:36

of relationship we already had. There

42:39

was a fine line. I had to walk

42:41

with her. It bothered me, but I was

42:43

always hoping that Gypsy would get old

42:45

enough that one day we could bond. Rod

42:48

became very involved in Gypsy's life

42:50

after her arrest and felt

42:53

that their relationship had grown. He told

42:55

Fox News, it's a hundred

42:57

times better. Honestly. She can

42:59

email each other. She can call me anytime.

43:01

And she does. I'm keeping tabs

43:04

on all of her accomplishments in school.

43:06

She's getting her GED. It's

43:08

wonderful. I can't wait for her to

43:11

get out so we can build on

43:13

that foundation that we started here.

43:16

Gypsy's cousin, Bobby Petrie, who

43:18

confirmed that Dee Dee forced Gypsy to pretend to

43:20

be sick and paralyzed, felt that maybe

43:23

Dee Dee could have been stopped. He

43:25

told the newsletter, maybe I could have

43:27

done more to get Gypsy out of there. But

43:29

I had no idea how to do it. He

43:31

hadn't seen either Gypsy or Dee Dee for about 15

43:33

years. To keep Gypsy

43:35

isolated, Dee Dee would move around. This

43:38

kept everyone, including CPS, off of

43:40

their backs. She also pulled Gypsy

43:43

out of school after second grade, claiming

43:45

the homeschooler, but she really never did.

43:48

Even Gypsy isn't sure what she would have done

43:50

differently if given the chance. She

43:53

told People magazine, I don't know

43:55

if I would go back to when I was a

43:57

child and tell my aunts and uncles that I'm not

43:59

sick. and mommy makes me sick. Or

44:01

if I would travel back to just the point

44:03

of that conversation with Nick and tell him, you

44:06

know what, I'm going to tell the police

44:08

everything. I kind of struggle with that. Gypsy

44:11

said of Dee Dee, I think she

44:13

would have been the perfect mom for someone that actually

44:15

was sick, but I'm not sick. There's

44:17

that big, big difference. Gypsy's

44:20

neighbor, Aaliyah, told Buzzfeed News, I

44:22

just wish she would have come to me. One

44:24

doctor, pediatric neurologist,

44:27

Bernardo Flasterstein, who

44:29

treated Gypsy also wishes he had done more. He

44:32

told Buzzfeed News, poor Gypsy,

44:35

she suffered all those years and for no

44:37

reason. And I have

44:39

a feeling more that there

44:41

are a lot of doctors who

44:44

probably had that same thought

44:47

after all of this came out because

44:49

I think Gypsy had seen a

44:51

lot of doctors over the years, many

44:54

of whom ran tests and

44:58

couldn't confirm the things that Dee

45:01

Dee was saying, but didn't

45:03

really do anything. I don't know what they could

45:06

have done, but I'm sure there was some guilt

45:08

there on the part of

45:10

some of them at least. Yeah,

45:12

I think anytime there's a case like this where

45:15

there could have been warning signs, everybody involved is

45:17

going to go back and look

45:19

at their involvement and say, did

45:21

I miss something? Is there anything else I could

45:23

have done and maybe have some

45:26

regrets over that. Yeah, I think that's

45:29

perfectly natural. In November, 2018,

45:32

Nicholas Godajon was found guilty of the

45:35

first degree murder of Dee Dee Blanchard

45:37

on February 22nd, 2019. He

45:41

was sentenced to life in prison without

45:43

the possibility of parole. The

45:45

first 25 years of that sentence will

45:48

fulfill the sentence he received for

45:51

felony armed criminal action. As

45:53

for Gypsy, during her first year

45:55

in prison, she gained 14 pounds,

45:58

though most inmates... It's lose weight

46:00

because the prison food is inedible.

46:04

Gypsy was able to actually eat real

46:06

food for the first time in years.

46:08

In February 2018, Gypsy's

46:11

stepmother, Kristi Blanchard, told the

46:13

news leader that Gypsy was

46:15

thriving behind bars. In

46:18

March 2019, Kristi told

46:20

the news leader that her stepdaughter

46:22

was still doing really well. You

46:25

know, she's got another job. She's doing

46:28

photography again. She wakes up,

46:30

goes to school. She goes

46:32

to take pictures, back to school again,

46:34

back to work again. She's

46:36

just looking forward. And

46:38

it's not often more that you

46:41

hear about somebody actually doing better

46:43

in prison than the

46:48

way that they were doing on the

46:50

outside. But I just think

46:52

it shows you how messed

46:54

up Gypsy's life was

46:57

at the hands of her mother. Yeah,

47:00

prison is an improvement

47:02

in her life and being

47:04

able to do stuff and learn things and

47:06

experience different things. What does

47:08

that say? And I look at it

47:10

too, it's part of a

47:12

rehabilitation because when she comes out of

47:14

prison, maybe all the stuff she's doing

47:16

behind bars is going to help her have

47:18

a better future. In December 2020,

47:21

Nicholas Goedijon's lawyers

47:23

filed for post-conviction relief, asking

47:26

a judge to set aside his conviction. While

47:28

Nicholas was trying to get out of prison, Gypsy

47:31

had found love well behind bars. On

47:33

July 21st, 2022, Gypsy married

47:36

Ryan Anderson, a pen pal who

47:38

had been writing to her and visiting her prison. Ryan,

47:41

a teacher from Louisiana, initially attracted

47:43

Gypsy in May 2020 because she

47:45

wanted to meet people

47:47

from her home state. Apparently, he

47:49

only wrote to her as part of a bet with

47:51

a coworker of his, but ended up

47:54

being very happy with the decision. And

47:56

now we come to late December 2023. Gypsy

48:00

Blanchard was granted early parole after

48:02

serving eight of the ten years

48:04

she received as a sense around

48:07

two in the morning on december

48:09

twenty eight thirty two year

48:11

old gypsy was released from the chill

48:14

coffee correctional center in livington

48:16

missouri she was seen

48:18

later that day in public buying a

48:20

pair of basic black sneakers with her

48:23

husband ryan anderson soon after

48:25

this, there were photos

48:27

released of gypsy with her half

48:29

sister stepmom and her dad in

48:31

a room set up with balloons

48:34

and welcome home sign, despite

48:36

the tragedy that happened in two

48:38

thousand fifteen it looks

48:41

like the time is come that gypsy

48:43

is old enough to bond with rod

48:45

like he had always hoped, gypsy

48:48

and her husband ryan will have a

48:50

second wedding she told people

48:52

magazine this time with a dress

48:54

and the cake and everything we

48:57

deserve that gypsy wasn't released in

48:59

time for christmas but she made the

49:01

most of new year's making

49:03

sure to kiss ryan at midnight, wearing

49:06

the wedding ring she waited so long to

49:08

be able to put on and

49:10

i don't know about you but i could've sworn

49:12

that i've seen a hundred people on my friends

49:14

list putting photos of, gypsy

49:17

doing a selfie i guess after she was

49:19

released people just left and right

49:21

posting this photo of her since

49:24

her release so it's it's it's clearly something

49:26

a lot of people are interested in at

49:28

least on facebook, yeah i don't

49:30

do social media so i haven't seen it but

49:33

you can see why people would

49:36

be interested in following her, there

49:39

was a ton of interest in this

49:42

case we mentioned the number

49:44

of shows and documentaries that

49:47

have been made, so

49:49

her getting out it's a big

49:51

deal to people there they're gonna wanna

49:53

follow her and see what she does. And

49:56

i'm calling i think she's gonna have a reality show

49:58

it would not surprise. me in the least. Gypsy

50:01

has an upcoming book called Released

50:04

Conversations on the Eve of Freedom in

50:07

which she tells People magazine is

50:09

not a rehashing of everything that happened. Instead

50:12

she explains it's more of

50:14

my reflection of everything that I've learned and

50:16

experienced in the last eight and a half

50:18

years. Recently a

50:20

three-part six-hour docuseries aired

50:23

called The Prison Confessions of Gypsy Rose

50:25

Blanchard. I'm sure for a lot of

50:27

people after this documentary airs there

50:30

will be new opinions and some changed old

50:32

ones. Right now though people

50:34

online are sharply divided. There's

50:37

the debate about whether Gypsy should have been sentenced

50:39

to prison at all but now that

50:41

she's free and Nicholas Godajohn is still going

50:43

to be in prison until he dies. Many

50:46

wonder if it's fair. Yeah like

50:48

we said earlier I mean you're always

50:50

going to have people who differ in

50:52

their opinion of whether

50:54

or not they believe someone's sentence was

50:57

fair just all of that. You know

50:59

at the end of the day Gypsy

51:02

served 85% of her

51:04

sentence so she was eligible

51:06

for parole but many

51:08

wonder what does Nicholas Godajohn

51:11

ultimately deserve. Did Gypsy

51:13

manipulate him into committing a

51:15

terrible crime and then throw

51:17

him under the bus? Did

51:20

he feel that he was genuinely

51:22

saving Gypsy from a hellish situation

51:24

with her mom Didi? At Nicholas's

51:27

trial Gypsy admitted that

51:29

the idea to kill Didi was

51:31

hers. That she stole the knife

51:34

used to kill her, mailed

51:36

Nicholas cash so he could travel

51:38

to Missouri and let him into

51:40

the home. There are also texts

51:42

from Nicholas that say things

51:44

like, honey you forget I

51:46

am ruthless and my hatred

51:49

of her will force her to die and

51:51

it's my evil side doing it. He

51:54

won't mess up because he enjoys

51:57

killing. There are also text

51:59

messages between the two where

52:01

Nicholas threatens self-harm and even

52:04

suicide. If Gypsy doesn't get

52:06

on Facebook quickly enough to talk to

52:08

him. He also corrects Gypsy

52:10

when she refers to money she is

52:12

going to steal from Dee Dee as

52:15

her money saying, I think you

52:18

mean our money. Of course, there

52:20

are some people who blame

52:22

both Gypsy and Nicholas equally.

52:24

So again, there are just

52:26

a lot of differing opinions.

52:30

I do want to talk about some of these

52:32

messages from Nicholas

52:35

Gautajohn. I mean, there's some really

52:38

dark stuff there. It doesn't

52:40

seem like there's too much in the way of

52:43

regret or we made a mistake

52:45

or... I don't think I want to

52:47

do this. I'm not seeing

52:50

any of that. He's

52:52

talking about his evil side,

52:54

enjoys killing. I mean,

52:57

there's some strange stuff there. The

52:59

punishment given to Gypsy allowed her to get

53:01

an education. She worked and had

53:04

eight years to live healthy and free of any

53:06

of Dee Dee's influence. Now that

53:08

she's out of prison and seems to have a good

53:10

support system around her, maybe she has

53:12

a real chance to thrive. She

53:14

wants to help raise awareness about munchausen

53:16

by proxy and do some good in the world.

53:19

Hopefully Gypsy's experience will be one of

53:22

proof of rehabilitation, especially in

53:24

cases like this, that it works. But

53:26

there's also a chance that, as many

53:29

speculate online, Gypsy will have

53:31

trouble navigating the world without lying

53:33

or manipulating since it was all she

53:35

knew for so long. I'd like to

53:37

stay optimistic here and hope the public attention on

53:39

this case leads to good

53:41

things for victims and survivors of

53:44

medical child abuse and munchausen by

53:46

proxy, which is now called factitious

53:48

disorder imposed on another. Time

53:51

will tell. Yeah, I do think time

53:53

will tell. And I think people will follow

53:56

Gypsy in some form

53:59

or fashion. see what

54:01

she does, you know, I thought

54:03

you brought up a really good point there

54:05

more all gypsy knew in

54:07

her life was manipulation.

54:11

She was manipulated. There was

54:13

a lot of lying that went

54:16

on. So can

54:18

she move forward

54:20

without doing some

54:22

of that herself because

54:24

she did learn a

54:26

lot of it from her mother. And I

54:29

don't think there's any doubt that

54:32

at least to a degree, she

54:35

manipulated Nicholas go

54:37

to job. And it

54:39

seems like that's something she learned

54:41

from Dee Dee. So when

54:44

you have a habit of living

54:46

life a certain way and saying certain

54:49

things and relying on falsehoods

54:51

to tell a story, it's all learned behavior.

54:55

And hopefully she has unlearn that

54:57

or will unlearn that and

55:00

with a good support system around her,

55:03

maybe she can go on to have a productive life.

55:06

Yeah, yeah, we will have

55:08

to see. But I mean, to

55:10

me, this case, there's so

55:12

many strange things about it.

55:15

You know, the length of time that

55:17

Dee Dee was able to get away with,

55:20

you know, snowing doctors

55:22

and manipulating

55:25

people and manipulating gypsy

55:27

into thinking that, you know,

55:30

she had leukemia. She

55:32

had all these different ailments. She

55:34

couldn't even eat her own food.

55:38

On the one hand, you feel

55:40

extremely sorry for her for

55:42

gypsy and what she went through.

55:44

And then there's the other

55:46

side of it where she

55:49

planned the murder of her mother. And

55:51

you have to reconcile those

55:53

two things. And like we've said

55:55

a number of times, people are going

55:57

to differ in their opinions of whether.

56:00

she, you know, got enough

56:02

time, she did too much time,

56:05

she should have gotten

56:07

more focus on the mental health

56:09

side. You can debate

56:11

all of that, but now

56:13

that she's out of prison, she

56:15

served her time. I think you

56:18

have to say that you hope

56:20

she goes on to have

56:22

a good, healthy, productive

56:25

life. Yeah, based on everything we

56:27

know from the research in this

56:29

case, it seems like she's done

56:32

a lot of positive things while

56:34

being in prison and bettered

56:36

herself, bettered her situation so that when she

56:38

comes out, now she has this family around

56:40

her, it seems like she's

56:42

at least on the right track and hopefully

56:45

she stays on that track. Well, we

56:47

talk about so many people that

56:50

I never want to see get out,

56:52

and I didn't really feel that way about Gypsy.

56:56

Eight and a half years is no

56:58

joke. Now, I don't know how tough

57:00

the time was, but regardless

57:02

of that, that was the

57:04

sentence imposed. She did that sentence

57:07

and now she has to, you know, go on

57:09

with her life. But that's it

57:12

for our episode on Gypsy Rose Blanchard.

57:14

If you love the show and you

57:16

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57:18

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57:23

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57:32

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57:37

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57:39

Criminology Podcast Discussions and Fans. So

57:42

that is it for our first episode of 2024.

57:44

I think it's going to be a good year,

57:46

Morf, and

57:50

we'll be back with everyone next

57:52

Saturday night with a brand new

57:55

episode. So for Mike and

57:57

Morf, we'll talk to you next week. Take

57:59

care. everyone. you