Gypsy Rose Blanchard Granted Early Release on Parole: Convicted for Murdering Mother with Munchausen Syndrome by Proxy
Gypsy Rose Blanchard has been released on parole after serving 10 years in prison for her mother’s murder.
The 32-year-old pleaded guilty to the second-degree murder of Clauddine “Dee Dee” Blanchard in 2016, with the case drawing national attention.
Clauddine convinced her daughter she was terminally ill, with Blanchard’s lawyers saying she had been ‘abused’ by her mother as part of an elaborate fraud scheme.
The Missouri Department of Corrections has confirmed she will be released on December 28 – after serving just seven years.
She was given a ten-year prison sentence for planning to kill her mother, while her accomplice Nicholas Godejohn was given a life sentence.
Gypsy Rose Blanchard, 32, pleaded guilty to the murder of Clauddine “Dee Dee” Blanchard in 2016, with the case gaining national attention
Clauddine, who suffered from Munchausen by proxy syndrome, had led everyone to believe that her daughter was a terminally ill teenager with the mind of a seven-year-old.
Godejohn was convicted of first-degree murder for stabbing Clauddine, with a judge refusing to vacate the conviction earlier this year.
He had appealed for a new trial because he had “poor representation” for his 2018 conviction.
Blanchard will be released after serving 85 percent of her sentence, as required by state law, and will receive credit for time spent in prison before her plea.
She found love in prison and got engaged in 2019 to a pen pal who started writing to her after her story was the subject of an HBO documentary – Mommy Dead and Dearest – that aired in 2017.
Joey King also starred in Blanchard in a Hulu miniseries called The Act, which aired in 2019.
Photos of Blanchard posing with her fiancé, Ken, and family were obtained by E! News in 2019
In one photo, Blanchard is seen holding hands with Ken, next to her father, Rod Blanchard, and her stepmother Kristy.
Clauddine was found stabbed to death in her bed at her home in Springfield, Missouri, in June 2015.
She was given a ten-year prison sentence for planning to kill her mother, while her accomplice Nicholas Godejohn (right) received a life sentence.
Clauddine even had her daughter shave her head to make it look like she was losing her hair due to chemotherapy. The gypsy is pictured above wearing a wig
Blanchard (left) met Nicholas Godejohn (right) on ChristianDatingForFree.com and began a two-year online relationship
Gypsy Rose Blanchard’s pen pal, Ken (right, with Gypsy), is pictured for the first time since the couple announced their engagement in April
She suffered from Munchausen by proxy syndrome and convinced everyone that Blanchard was terminally ill.
As part of the scheme, she said the then-teenager had the mind of a seven-year-old who suffered from muscular dystrophy, leukemia and other ailments.
Blanchard shocked the world after she walked into her first court hearing unassisted.
Everyone who knew her believed she was wheelchair-bound, while her mother convinced health professionals of her ailments.
Clauddine moved to Springfield when Blanchard was a child and claimed they fled Hurricane Katrina.
The two lived in a house built by Habitat for Humanity, and Clauddine was a full-time caregiver for Blanchard, claiming the girl suffered from conditions including chromosomal defects, epilepsy, sleep apnea, leukemia and severe asthma.
She even had her daughter shave her head to make it look like she was losing her hair from chemotherapy.
Her ruse even fooled doctors, who handed out prescriptions and performed surgeries on Blanchard.
The mother also accepted financial donations and the two went on charity-funded trips to Disney World. She had denied her daughter access to school after kindergarten.
Blanchard shocked the world after she walked into her first court hearing unassisted
Blanchard’s story currently inspired Hulu’s latest television series, The Act, in which she is played by Joey King (above)
Blanchard — whose story is the subject of Hulu’s The Act — is currently serving a 10-year prison sentence after admitting to plotting her mother’s murder
Clauddine was found stabbed to death in her bed at her home in Springfield, Missouri, in June 2015.
Blanchard eventually met Nicholas Godejohn on ChristianDatingForFree.com and began a two-year online relationship.
When she told her boyfriend about her mother’s behavior, they hatched a plot to kill Clauddine so they could be together.
Godejohn slipped into the house and allegedly stabbed Clauddine while Blanchard hid in the bathroom. The couple then removed “several thousand dollars” from a safe in the house and spent some time in Springfield after her death.
Surveillance footage at local businesses showed Gypsies wearing various disguises and walking alone before taking a bus 600 miles to Wisconsin.
A shocking Facebook status from Clauddine and Gypsy’s shared account on June 14, 2015 read: ‘That B**** is dead’, prompting alarmed neighbors to call the police.
A second, more disturbing post read: ‘I cut that **** and raped her sweet, innocent daughter. ..HER SCREAM WAS SOOO LOUD LOL.”
The Facebook messages were traced to Godejohn’s home in Big Bend, Wisconsin, and the two were arrested on June 16, 2015.