Mommy Dead and Dearest (2017) Movie Script
[Waukesha County Sheriff's Office]
[June 15, 2015 10:40PM
Waukesha, WI]
- Man: Hey, Gypsy, this is Stan.
- Stanley Hancock: Hi, Gypsy.
- I'll let you guys talk.
- Hi, I'm Det. Hancock.
I'm with Greene County
Sheriff's Office.
- How are you today?
- Gypsy: I'm doing good.
Hancock:
Good.
Hancock: You need to be honest with me.
And if you're involved in anything
that I'm about ready to tell you,
then you need to tell me, okay?
- Absolutely.
- Um, your mom's dead, okay?
Now, what I want to ask you--
- Wait, what, what?
- Your mom's passed away, okay?
She's deceased, all right?
Now, what I want to ask you--
did you have involvement in this?
- Okay.
- No, no--
Hang on, listen to me for just
a second, okay?
- Uh-huh.
- What happened with your mom,
that night?
Um...
I don't know what happened
with my mom at all.
- Help me. Please help me.
- Okay, you...
Just listen to me, okay, sweetheart?
You know what happened to
your mom, okay?
And I know that you know.
Gypsy: You think that it's me?
Why would you think that it's me?
I have always loved my mom.
My mom and I are best friends.
Hancock: Listen to me.
Please don't dig yourself in this hole,
and that's what you're doing.
Gypsy: I really love my mom.
- I know you do.
- Please.
I know you-- sweetheart,
I know you love your mom.
I have no doubt that you love your mom.
Hancock: But why did Nick hurt her?
Now's the time to be truthful,
sweetheart.
No more lies.
- Did you kill your mom?
- Gypsy: No. No, sir.
Hancock: Did you help Nicholas kill
your mom?
Man: Ladies and gentlemen,
please welcome a cancer survivor
and passionate young lady,
Gypsy Rose Blanchard
and her mother, Dee Dee Blanchard
from Springfield, Missouri,
to the stage.
[Six years earlier]
I believe
There are angels among us
Sent down to us
From somewhere up above
They come to you and me
In our darkest hours.
Dee Dee: Thank you, my sweetie.
I've always said
you're the reason I was born to
be your mama.
[SPRINGFIELD, MO]
Reporter: Breaking news this morning.
48-year-old Dee Dee Blanchard
was found dead inside her home.
Her 19-year-old daughter Gypsy
is still considered missing.
Jim Arnott: It all started
receiving a call on June 14th
to check the well-being of a family.
[Greene County Sheriff]
Linda Ong: Gypsy and Dee Dee
were Hurricane Katrina survivors.
Everybody believed that they were
coming here
to the Ozarks to make a better life.
[Local news reporter
Springfield, MO]
Arnott: There was a Facebook post
that was quite alarming.
We were actually thinking that it was
somebody that hacked into Facebook
and it wasn't actually a threat.
[WHAT?!!! Did your FB get hacked?
I have never heard you talk like that.]
Elaine Scherer: Gypsy was in a
wheelchair.
She had leukaemia and she was
having seizures
[Community Service Worker Aurora, MO]
and she had to be tube-fed.
Arnott: As the sheriff,
my primary responsibility
at that time was really to ensure
that her well-being was okay.
Whatever they were going through
was incredibly hard for them,
especially with the medical conditions.
[Gypsy's neighbor and friend]
And so, everybody gathered around them
and would try to help them out
as much as possible.
It just proves that happy endings
are not just in fairy tales,
they're real.
The Facebook post was quote...
"The bitch is dead."
And another post stating,
"I fucking slashed that fat pig
and raped her sweet, innocent daughter.
Her scream was so fucking loud, LOL."
[Green County Sheriff's Office]
[June 16, 2015]
Okay, good morning.
I want to specify at the beginning
of this press conference
that this is an ongoing
investigation.
And I want to start off with saying
things are not always as they appear.
The truth is-- okay, I'll admit it.
[Gypsy's boyfriend]
I did actually...
stab her.
- I will admit it.
- I know, okay.
The only reason I did it
is 'cause I did it
for me and her.
- I would've never did it
if it was not for me and her.
- Okay.
I know that he loves me, and...
he would do anything for me
and-- to be with me.
Did Gypsy know that you were going
to kill her mother?
Um... honestly,
she asked me to.
Okay.
[The bitch is dead]
Arnott: Both Facebook postings
were authored by Gypsy.
[I fucken slashed that fat pig
and raped her sweet innocent
daughter...]
[Her scream was soooo fucken loud LOL]
The prosecutor has filed charges
this morning
for first-degree murder.
This is a tragic, tragic event
surrounded by mystery
and public deception.
Gypsy can walk without assistance
or a wheelchair...
and she can do that very well.
Okay.
[Gypsys arraignment
June 16, 2015]
This individual has alleged
to conspire with Nicholas Godejohn
to stab her mother to death
so that they could be together.
- The penalty is life imprisonment
or death. (sobbing)
Reporter: Seeing Gypsy Blanchard
walk on her own two feet
in a Wisconsin courtroom
was a shock to friends and neighbors.
[Gypsy's neighbor]
Is she sick?
I don't know yet.
We're trying to figure that out.
[Can she walk?]
Um, yes.
Oh, son of a bitch.
To see her walk...
was really upsetting.
Obviously, if that's a lie,
then who knows what else was a lie.
We really don't know the true
background of this family,
as we have unearthed the appearance
of a long financial fraud scheme.
Reporter: The family got
medical airlifts,
Disney travel, and free housing
over the years
because of Gypsy's supposed disabilities.
Reporter #2: It was a facade
that translated online,
[The Gypsy Rose trip]
donations pouring in
for Gypsy's reported muscular dystrophy
and leukaemia.
[Click here to support Gypsy's
medical trip by Dee
and Gypsy Rose Blanchard]
Arnott: We have not confirmed
the age of Gypsy.
It appears that there are
several dates of birth
that have been used
over a period of time.
I almost want to say,
"Man, I can't believe she--
I even wanted to associate with--
why did I even help them?"
I just never would see
that that little girl
really wasn't who she was
supposed to be.
[July 24, 2015]
[The prosecution presents its
preliminary evidence against Gypsy.]
Case exhibit 53.
Can I ask you if you'll tell me
what that is?
Dan Patterson: Miss Blanchard is charged
with murder in the first degree.
When you commit a first-degree murder,
[Greene County Prosecutor]
you knowingly cause the death
of another person
after deliberation.
Analysis of cell phones
provided evidence of
numerous text messages
between Gypsy Blanchard
and Nicholas Godejohn.
Patterson: Nicholas Godejohn was someone
that Gypsy Blanchard met online.
They began an online dating relationship.
Patterson: During the attacks,
the two discussed
Nicholas killing Clauddine.
[The shits gonna go down tonight...]
[Babe its my evil side doing it]
[he won't mess up because he enjoys killing]
[...we'll be happy soon.]
[After this night
we will never bring it up]
At the beginning,
it looks like a tabloid case.
It looks like, "Here's some people
in some weird outfits,
and they're pretending
to be disabled and they're
scamming everybody.
And then there's this, like,
sort of horrible murder,
and the Facebook status,
'That bitch is dead.'"
[Freelance Journalist]
Like, all of it is very tabloid.
[The New Yorker, Buzzfeed]
And then, gradually, that story
just sort of fell apart.
Still, it feels to me like it's
developing into something else.
[Lafourche Parish, LA
Gypsy's hometown]
[Gypsy's father
Dee Dee's ex-husband]
I still ask the question,
"How do you kill your own mother?"
I mean, there's got to be a reason.
There's got to be some abuse there.
You don't just...
"I'm gonna kill my mother
because I wanna be with a boyfriend."
Like I told my mom when I called my mom
and talked to her about it.
I said, "Mama, I've been-- you know,
I was mad at you before,
but I've never, ever
in a million years
thought about killing you."
I said, "For me to think
about killing you,
you'd have had to done
some pretty bad stuff to me."
Nobody wants to believe that something
like this can happen.
[Gypsy's lawyer Missouri Public Defender]
I think the initial reaction is--
is that, you know, Gypsy's been lying
to everybody.
But when you look at the backstory,
when you look at how we got here,
this all started long before Gypsy
would've ever had any type
of say in what was happening.
[Gypsy, 3 months old]
Right from birth, three months old.
Dee Dee was telling me
that she had sleep apnea
and she needed a breathing machine
or breathing monitor machine,
which, I mean, I-- to this day,
I don't know if that was real
or not, you know?
It escalated from then.
Problems with her eyes,
her hearing,
her digestive system.
After that, Gypsy couldn't walk anymore.
She had a muscular disorder.
[Gypsy, 10 years old]
And Dee Dee told me
she would need a wheelchair.
You know, I asked her.
I said, "Man, she's got
a lot of issues.
What's going on?"
You know, and, um...
They had done some tests and found out
she had a chromosome disorder
that was causing all of her functions
from developing--
her digestive system
and her muscular system.
Dee Dee told me
she's not going to live
to be, you know, 18 years old.
She may be an old teenager,
that's about it.
You know, I was like, "Really?"
You know, it was shocking,
it was disturbing.
And to see her at 23 years old now,
perfectly healthy--
It pisses me off, you know?
[Gypsy's stepmother]
Kristy: This picture here...
I don't know if this was the surgery
where she thought her stomach lining
wrapped around her oesophagus.
Rod: No, she would've had that earlier.
She had that feeding tube
way before then.
You know?
She was 10 here.
Rod: This was probably close
to the first year or two
when she was in a wheelchair.
Yep.
Breaks my heart...
knowing she got put through all of this
when she didn't need it.
Fourteen years.
To be confined.
The last 14 years in a wheelchair.
I couldn't imagine.
Stanfield: I've never encountered anything
that is even close to what
Gypsy has gone through.
Her mother appeared to have taken
great steps
to keep Gypsy in a very juvenile role,
making her act several years younger
than her actual age.
It appears that Gypsy was not even aware
of what her actual age was.
Rod: I called her for her 18th birthday,
and Dee Dee said,
"Don't tell her she's 18, you know?"
I'm like, "What you mean
don't tell her she's 18?
She knows she's 18.
It's her 18th birthday."
"Yeah, but she don't know she's 18.
She's-- you know."
I thought it was weird, you know?
I-- she--
I mean, I always did know that she--
she told me her mental capacity was,
you know, like, five years behind.
When she was, like, 15, she was like,
"Oh, yeah, her learning is coming along,
but she's like, mentally,
at a 9- or 10-year-old."
Kristy: She looks like
she would be 10 and 11,
and she was probably like, 21, 22.
I wonder what she was thinking.
Hello, everybody! This is Gypsy Rose
reporting from Aurora, Missouri.
I'm about to dive off our porch
[Dee Dee's home movies]
into the pile of snow.
You ready?
That was so grand!
Whoo!
All right!
Yooh!
Yeah!
[A special day]
That's so cool. Let's do it again.
Dean: It's hard to answer
a lot questions
about who Gypsy is, right?
Because she was somebody else
for such a long time.
Dean: And now we know her
as almost a completely different person.
- Erin Lee Carr: I'm Erin, as you remember.
- I remember.
Dean: I would be curious
if anybody Gypsy has talked to
feels they're getting the full story.
This is actually kind of the first time
I've been honest
besides being honest, you know,
with my attorneys.
Even then, I haven't been completely honest
with them, so...
Carr: How would you describe your mom?
Um...
Unique.
Um...
I mean, I used to always think
that maybe she was a little overprotective.
So, if I had to say one word about her,
it would be overprotective.
Dee Dee: How old are you?
[Gypsy, 1 year old]
(Dee Dee's voice offscreen)
You're one.
And where's your cranial?
Very good. And where's your phalanges?
Yes. Very, very good.
I really didn't think
any abuse was going on.
Um... it's like when you're abused,
but you've lived that way
your whole life.
You don't really know
that you're being abused.
You don't know any different.
Looking at the open ocean now.
And it's beautiful!
Gypsy: I knew that I was different
or my life was different
from other kids'.
But people thought of us, as, you know,
the sweetest mother-daughter family ever.
The best two people in the world.
Carr: What illnesses did your mom
say that you had?
Um...
Asthma, epilepsy, hearing impaired,
vision impaired, fed with a feeding tube,
paralyzed from the waist down.
Um...
slow, so retardation.
And-- among other things,
I just can't remember them.
[Gypsy Rose's diagnosis]
[List of conditions Dee Dee gave to doctors]
[G.I. reflux, anemia, hyperventilation,
incontinence, lung disease, heart murmur]
[Dee Dee's medical closet]
Gypsy: I was on breathing medication.
Medication for seizures.
Medication to help go to the bathroom.
Pain medication, anxiety medication.
Just everything.
I would have to put on
the breathing machine every night.
I hated it, though, because it seemed to make
my breathing worse, not better.
And then another machine
was for the feeding tube.
It was controlling what I'd eat.
My medications would be put through there.
I really wouldn't even have to be awake.
So, she could put whatever in my body,
and I wouldn't even know.
[Dee Dee and Gypsy on one of their
medical trips]
Dee Dee: Hey, you make me wanna yawn.
So, where are you going today?
I'm going to Children's Mercy Hospital
to see my dentist.
For my teeth.
And we'll be back.
And we'll be back soon.
Not yet.
[According to medical records,]
[Dee Dee brought Gypsy to
local hospitals]
[over 100 times between 2005 and 2014.]
Gypsy: If we'd be going to the doctor,
she would do all the talking.
I'd always have a stuffed animal
or a Barbie doll.
She'd just tell me just play
with my Barbie doll.
And if the doctor would come
to examine me--
"Just stay in the wheelchair,
be calm, play with your doll,
and don't move your legs."
[Gypsy underwent multiple surgeries
during her hospital visits.]
[They included gastrointestinal operations,]
[eye procedures, and the removal]
[of her salivary glands.]
I was just as much in the dark
as everybody else.
The only thing I knew is that
I could walk.
As for everything else,
you had the leukaemia and the epilepsy.
I was taking medication
that she said was cancer medicine.
She would shave my head and say,
"Well, it's going to fall out anyway,
so let's just keep it nice and neat."
I just went on blind faith
that a mother knows best.
[The medications Dee Dee gave Gypsy
induced many of the symptoms
[of diseases doctors thought
they were treating.]
You're supposed to love
and protect your children.
How could you do this to your child?
Dr. Marc Feldman: Gypsy Rose Blanchard
[Skype interview] was as consistently
and viciously subjected to,
[Clinical Psychologist]
in my opinion, Munchausen by proxy
[Munchausen expert]
as anyone I've come across.
Munchausen by proxy involves a caregiver
[Munchausen by Proxy Syndrome]
who either feigns or actually induces
illness in her children.
And her goal is some kind
of emotional gratification--
looking for sympathy, attention, care,
concern that she feels unable to get
in any other way.
It is a form of child abuse,
first and foremost.
Gypsy: The earliest surgery
that I can remember
probably would be
having my feeding tube put in.
You have to have it constantly changed,
like every six months.
And that would be pretty painful,
because they don't put you
under anaesthesia,
they just take you
in the emergency room,
rip the old one out,
and put a new one in.
I don't know why
these procedures were done
or how her mother was able
to convince the doctors.
"Mind-boggling" is the only way
I can put her ability
to manipulate people.
Basically, each one
of these paperclips
is some medical record
where Dee Dee essentially lied
to the doctor about something.
Mentally, Gypsy is behind.
She's at the level of a seven-year-old
on mother's information.
And this is something that you see
almost across all of the records,
is "Upon mother's information,"
"Upon history by mother."
So she's talking to the doctor here
and she's talking about
how she has mental and
developmental delays, needs assistance.
Apparently, "while holding
her hands over Gypsy's ears,
so as not offend,
history of mental retardation--
seven-year-old level, per mom."
And so, this was the one time where
a doctor actually put in the record
that Dee Dee's got her hands
over Gypsy's ears,
so Gypsy can't even hear what
Mom is telling the doctor.
Then we get into the family history.
The family history changed
depending on what doctor she was at.
You'll notice here, we don't get
a whole lot of...
- She's at the cardiologist.
- Right, she's at the cardiologist,
and so they all died of a heart attack.
Now, this was the first one
that jumped out at me.
She ends up going to the neurologist,
Dr. Flasterstein, and so...
the very first thing right off the bat--
"Mother is not a good historian,"
which is interesting, because he
puts that in bold and underlines it.
Dr. Flasterstein: One of the things
that was a big discrepancy
was that for a person
that has not walked
for nine years, for years,
she should have, technically,
almost no muscles in her
lower extremities.
But she did have muscles
that looked quite normal.
And she was able to support
her body weight.
I remember her standing.
So, I had a big doubt about the
whole thing, from the beginning.
Stanfield: He says, "Since last seen,
I managed to talk to one of her
previous providers.
She specifically remembers
Gypsy Rose and mentioned that
her previous neurologist
clearly reported the fact
that Gypsy does not have
muscular dystrophy.
Analyzing all the facts,
and after talking to her
previous paediatrician,
- there's a strong possibility
of Munchausen by proxy..."
- What?
...with maybe some underlying, unknown
ideology to explain her symptoms."
Once in a while, we report patients
to Social Services.
We do that when we feel
that there's a neglect.
But a neglect is different
from what this mom was doing.
She wasn't really neglecting her,
she was over-treating her.
We have a system,
which is a big integrated system,
that decided to adopt her
and bring her, support her.
So many people looking at her,
knowing the history,
knowing what she was going through,
knowing what she went through,
I would have been rejected on the spot.
So all that I could do
was put that in my notes.
Nobody in the system ever said
anything about it,
and I didn't see it right
to keep going
in convincing other people
that something is not right here.
- Now...
- Un-freakin'-believable.
...here's the interesting thing.
This is the last record
from Mercy, here in Springfield,
until 2015.
So, this is 2007.
Rod: Eight years.
What I couldn't figure out
was how Dee Dee figured out
that Dr. Flasterstein was on to her.
But if you look at a lot of
these social work notes,
Dee Dee's requesting medical records.
She would have gotten a
copy of this letter.
But I still don't understand
why you put your child through this.
I don't know.
I mean, the thing is...
- Good question.
- ...it just keeps going.
And it would have kept going
Cause her mama was an insane,
compulsive liar.
Rod: Dee Dee and I met
at the bowling alley one night.
Met up again a couple of weeks later.
And then we started dating then.
She got pregnant.
She got pregnant and...
being from the South, I guess, it was--
I was raised where if you
got a girl pregnant,
then you got married.
There was no other question
about what you did.
I was 17.
I woke up on my 18th birthday
and I'm like, "What am I doing here?"
She was kind of into some dark--
darkness-- dark things.
Uh...
she started talking a little bit
about witchcrafts
and just different weird,
dark stuff like that.
It was kind of weird.
She had a pet tarantula.
Dee Dee was my aunt.
Um, real... weird girl.
I would think she's bipolar, no doubt.
Multiple personalities, perhaps.
Definitely...
an evil person, I would say, you know?
To shave your kid's head
and say that she's got leukaemia?
You're a sick individual.
MC: At this time, we'd like
to present to you
South Lafourche ROTC Military Queen,
Ms. Clauddinea Pitre.
Her escort-- Sergeant Earl Longden.
Clauddine "Dee Dee" Pitre...
Carr: What was Dee Dee like
as a child?
What, baby?
What was Dee Dee like as a child?
- What was Dee Dee like as a child?
- Dee Dee?
She was okay.
We were pretty close, me and her.
Yeah, I would give her everything
that she wanted anyway.
Whatever she wanted.
Except a dog in the house.
I didn't want that.
Now we wind up-- we got
two dogs in the house.
Ahem, but this-- she was something else.
Laura Pitre: She was a
very filthy person.
If it didn't go her way,
she'd see to it that you would pay.
And did we pay.
Paid a lot.
She opened credit cards in my
dad's name,
my grandpa's name, ran up crazy bills.
Supposedly, America's Most Wanted
was looking for this girl.
Laura:
Slidell-- she was wanted.
Bad checks in New Orleans.
Claude: No matter where she went,
she was doing all kind of stuff.
She was poisoning my stepmother.
Supposedly, she was giving her some...
Roundup in her food and stuff.
She was putting some poison in my food.
The same thing she had put in the plant.
And she wind up-- she stayed nine months
in bed after that.
She couldn't get up.
I didn't think she was going to make it.
There was nothing she couldn't
get away with.
Laura: Her mama was a little bit
like her.
Claude: Yeah, her mama, too.
Her mama was a shoplifter
and all kind of stuff.
I don't know how many times
she had to go to court
for shoplifting and other things.
Laura: She had stolen how much
money from your daddy?
Before he got married, she had stolen
I think it's $3,000 or $4,000
from my daddy.
Bobby: I think ever since
my grandmother died,
Dee Dee kind of went off the deep end.
Kristy: The day that her mom died,
Dee Dee was in the house somewhere,
and Dee Dee was starving her.
Like, she wasn't-- Dee Dee wasn't
giving her anything to eat.
I asked her sister--
you know, I was like,
"I hate to ask this,
but you think Dee Dee had anything to do
with her mom's death?"
And she, you know, said,
"Now I wonder."
That's how evil she was.
To leave your mama dirty
and asking for food
and not want to feed her...
- Yeah.
- ...that's evil.
Carr: Were you sad at all
when you heard she was dead?
Me?
I didn't believe it.
- It didn't--
- It just didn't sink.
It took a few days before... you know?
I didn't believe that she was dead.
I thought it was another
one of her tricks.
I said, "Who did Dee Dee piss off now?
You know, what kind of shit
did Dee Dee get into?"
I wasn't thinking,
"Oh, God, my aunt's dead."
Because I figured that one day
she'd piss off somebody
to that point, you know?
And I actually did think that it would
probably be Gypsy, you know?
And whenever-- we later got the word
that Gypsy was fine and she was
by her boyfriend's house,
we were like, "She killed her mama.
She finally did it.
She couldn't take it anymore."
She finally just said,
"Fuck it all.
I'm killing this bitch."
Carr: Do you think she got
what she deserved?
- According to Gypsy, yes.
- Yes.
Yeah, she got what she deserved.
I know all the brothers
and sisters don't care
about Dee Dee no more.
Gypsy-- she got cremated.
She said, "What you want me
to do with the ashes?"
Everybody said, "I don't want her.
I don't want her."
- Darla said, "Flush 'em."
- I told her, "Flush that
in the toilet."
I didn't want it.
Her sister said,
"Flush that in the toilet."
She said, "We're going to bring that
in Mama's room,
make her a mass and everything."
"You going to pay for it?
I'm not paying for it.
We can't afford it.
Flush it in the toilet."
[Greene County Courthouse
November 9,2015]
Reporter: Prosecutors have decided
not to seek the death penalty
against a Springfield woman
and her boyfriend,
both of whom are accused of murdering
the woman's mother.
Reporter #2: The announcement comes
after several conversations
between the defence and prosecution,
both agreeing this was
the best decision.
Patterson: Being a prosecutor,
the standard is to do what's right
and what's just.
When you look at the mitigators
as well as the background of
these individuals as we know it,
as well as the facts of the case,
this case was not an appropriate
first-degree murder case
in which to seek the death penalty.
This is a case that we
haven't dealt with,
and it's because it's so unusual.
I mean, it really is an unusual case.
What we thought initially may be a victim
turns out to be a suspect,
and in the middle of a story
that is twisted.
We think we know who Gypsy is,
but once this trial starts,
we'll be able to see her life unfold
and find out exactly what she
was all about.
[Home video from one of Dee Dee
and Gypsy's trips to Disney World]
Hi, everybody.
Right now, I'm in Cinderella's castle
eating some real mashed potatoes.
Mm!
That is good.
Dean: Gypsy loved Disney
because they were stories that resolved
in happy ways.
And ultimately, her story was
not resolving in a happy way.
Gypsy: I liked the Disney movie,
"Tangled."
It's about Rapunzel.
She's a princess in this kingdom
and she's kidnapped by Mother Gothel
from her real family.
And Mother Gothel keeps her
in this tower for all of her life
and tells her, "Don't leave this tower."
And so, that is all she knows.
Woodmansee: I think that Gypsy
just wanted her life
to be like any fairy tale princess
and have the perfect ending.
You know, all the bad villains
get what they deserve.
Gypsy: At the end, Mother Gothel died.
She got thrown out a window,
um, because Rapunzel tried to stand up
for herself
and leave her tower.
But in Disney movies,
everything's a fantasy.
It's a fairy tale,
and life is not a fairy tale.
I learned all that the hard way.
Stanfield: I don't think calling
Gypsy's life sheltered
would do it justice.
I've kind of come to describe it
as a fairy tale nightmare.
Her mother controlled almost
every aspect of her life.
Dr. Feldman: The control was total
in the same sense that the control of
a kidnapped victim
sometimes is total.
Her daughter was, in essence, a hostage,
and I think we can understand the crime
that occurred subsequently
in terms of a hostage trying to
gain escape.
Woodmansee: Any time Gypsy and I
were together,
her mom was always present.
She was immediately like a
filter for us, you know.
Like, Gypsy wouldn't talk
about anything personal
while we were together.
That's like, really, the big red flag,
thinking back on it all now.
Dee Dee would always hold
Gypsy's hand, you know?
It was like, I don't know--
it was almost like, you know, just,
"If I squeeze it, you'll know
what to say."
I mean, that was just so strange to me.
Just to feel it now, I think
that was really strange.
Even in videos I've seen since then,
I'm like, "Yep, it's just the
same thing."
It's like she's holding her hand.
I mean, now I'm--
it was maybe a control thing.
Dr. Feldman: The hand-holding
and the tight hugs
is a way of asserting mastery
over another person
and saying, "You're not free.
You are under my control
at all times,
even in relatively benign situations
like our being photographed
getting the Habitat for Humanity home."
You know, those are innocuously
happy occasions,
but they were also occasions
where Dee Dee
reasserted her mastery over Gypsy.
My mom had cake...
Gypsy: If we were in a group of friends,
you know, if I said something
that I wasn't supposed to,
she'd squeeze my hand, and
I'd know, "Zip it."
I was just afraid, just too afraid.
Dr. Feldman: I have a strong feeling
that the extent of the control over her,
heavily psychological as it was,
would've involved physical punishment
as well.
She'd hit me with a coat hanger...
or her-- or her palm.
And I'd have to take so many slaps
for-- depending on what,
how severe it was, I did.
- Carr: Did you ever try to hit back?
- Never.
Never.
It's like if you have a baby
and you, like, get in its face
and the baby starts to struggle
and get away from you.
Now picture that happening
for your whole life, right?
Your mother is just in your face
and will not get away.
That's basically what Gypsy's whole
life was like.
It's snowing.
I'm not joking.
[Dee Dee at home in Missouri]
They said it's snowing,
so I'm staying under my heating blankie.
And I'm not getting out, mm-mm.
She wants to get out.
Ain't gonna happen.
Let her doll take care of her.
Gypsy: Oh!
Her mother was so suffocating,
so powerful, so manipulative
that Gypsy may have felt any
efforts to escape
were bound to fail.
The first time I ran away from home,
I had met a friend.
We both went to this sci-fi
fantasy convention called Visioncon.
I told him vaguely
about what was going on at home.
And he told me, you know,
"You just pack your stuff
and you can come live with me
in Arkansas."
And I said, "Okay."
I stepped out, got a ride from
a stranger,
and went over to his place.
And then within, like, four hours,
my mom found me at his place
because we had mutual friends in common.
So she was threatening
to call the cops on him.
And she took me back home
and smashed my computer with a hammer,
smashed my cell phone
with a hammer and said,
"If you ever try to do that again,
I'm going to smash your fingers
with a hammer."
It was a rough year.
I call that "the bad times."
She had taken this dog leash
and clipped it to a pair of handcuffs,
and clipped the handcuffs to the bed
and kept-- it was like that for
about two weeks.
My mom had actually convinced a lawyer
to draw up some papers
saying that I was incompetent.
So I thought if I had tried
to go to the police,
they'd look at these papers
and say, "She's retarded.
She doesn't know what
she's talking about."
Gypsy has essentially fallen
through every crack there is
in the system.
The Greene County Sheriff's deputies
came out to the house on
an anonymous report
that Gypsy was potentially being abused.
And they came to the house,
they spoke with Dee Dee,
and Dee Dee did exactly
what she does all the time--
she manipulated the police officers,
showed them a few things, and they left.
And at that point,
Gypsy has absolutely nowhere
else to turn.
Literally everyone failed her.
Literally.
The doctors who were positioned
as there to help her didn't help her.
Her father,
who I think was in a
very difficult position,
couldn't help her.
How was she supposed to think
anybody could?
I was just kind of at that point
where you're like,
"I'm angry at the world
and this is unfair."
Why couldn't anybody figure this out
before it got this bad?
- Woman: Gypsy.
- Dee Dee: Over here, baby.
We all kind of did see how Gypsy was
being treated by Dee Dee,
not that it was like horrible,
beating the shit out of her
in the back room with a freaking cable,
you know?
She would just-- she put her
in a wheelchair and told her,
"Your leg's messed up.
You can't walk."
Her sister told me once,
"Rod, you know,
Gypsy can walk."
And I asked Dee Dee about it.
She's like, "Yeah, well,
with her muscular dystrophy
or with her disease,
her muscles hurt sometimes.
So sometimes she can walk
when she's feeling okay,
but it's progressive.
It's going to get worse."
And it wasn't long after that
that they were--
they started moving further and
further away.
And there was nobody there
to question--
question that anymore, you know?
After all of the doors had been closed--
family, friends, the police--
I think that Gypsy felt she had
no other--
no other avenue.
Gypsy: I met Nick through
a Christian dating website.
He was one of the profiles
that I had saw.
Thought he was cute,
so I checked him out, sent him a wink.
He sent me one back.
Once you met on there, what happened?
We got closer on there,
and we connected more and more.
Godejohn: The way that we clicked,
we somehow just knew
we were right for each other.
Four days later, we started
a relationship together.
Dean: Gypsy had no template for romance
that wasn't this sort of heightened
Prince Charming narrative.
And Nick just happened to be there.
His background equipped him
with a bad narrative in different ways.
So, it was like two bad narratives
collided with each other.
What kind of person--
if somebody never met him,
what kind of person is Nick?
He's pretty quiet, kept to himself,
you know.
We always tell him he's got to get out
and mingle, you know.
- Sure.
- But he's like, "I'm afraid
of getting backstabbed,
because everybody backstabs you,"
and all that stuff.
He has autism, you know, Asperger's.
Has he been diagnosed
with autism and Asperger's?
- Yes.
- Okay.
Stephanie: Last doctor he talked to,
they said his mind is probably
always going to be 15, 16,
right around there.
At first, it was all lighthearted,
you know.
"If you got married,
where would you like to have
your honeymoon?"
You know, "Where would you like
to get married?
Where are all the places
you want to travel?"
Different things like that, normal stuff.
And as it progressed, things got weird.
He started talking about
something called BDSM.
Gypsy: And at first, I didn't
know what it was,
so I looked it up.
And once I looked it up, I was like,
"I don't want to do this."
And then he kind of
just talked me into it
and was like, "It'll be fine,"
you know?
"Try this with me."
And so, I agreed to it.
I was taught that a woman's role
is to be submissive
and the man is dominant,
so I didn't think
it was that outlandish.
Then his ex had messaged me.
She told me, you know,
he's a really bad guy.
He thinks he's a vampire
and he's into all this
dominant/submissive stuff.
And I was thinking, it's just an ex.
You know, she's just badmouthing him.
She doesn't know anything.
She's jealous, blah, blah, blah.
She was right.
Godejohn also has a criminal past.
In 2013 he was arrested
after investigators say
he was watching pornography
and fondling himself
in a McDonald's restaurant
for nine hours,
police finding a large knife
during the arrest.
I really don't know what's
wrong with him,
but, I mean, it's not like
I ever had a boyfriend before,
so I really didn't know
what was a normal relationship.
How don't know how much
she told you about me, but...
Have you been diagnosed with that?
I probably should be diagnosed with it
because it-- it happens--
the thing is, I used to take
a medication.
I used to hear voices in my head.
Then it went away.
And then somehow it's a part of myself.
Okay.
Does Gypsy know that?
- Yes. She does know that.
- Okay.
His multiple personalities
would come out,
and he had talked to me one day
and he was just like, "You know,
I would like
my other personalities to
have a girlfriend."
So I made up some
individual personalities
to match his other personalities.
Godejohn: One side of her is named Kitty.
It's like a little girl inside of her.
We had another one called Candy.
She has an evil side of herself as well.
She used to call her Ruby.
Gypsy: It was deaf, dumb, blind love.
And sometimes, it's a big crazy love.
Dean: One of the most interesting
things about this case
is that no matter how much control
you have over an individual,
you can't stop adolescent sexuality
from blossoming.
Her whole life,
this had been a subject that was
forbidden to her,
and, ultimately,
that turned into a really
destructive force.
Gypsy: Probably about a year
into our relationship,
I just couldn't lie to him anymore.
And I just told him everything.
Why did nobody know she could walk?
Her mom wanted everyone to think
that she was, like, 16 the entire time.
So, yeah, she felt kind of trapped
on a wheelchair
when I actually was trying
to encourage her
to be able to walk
more and more and more.
Gypsy: It really didn't come up,
like, "I want you to kill her."
But he had said,
"I'll protect you from anybody."
And I said, "Anybody?"
And he said, "Yeah."
And I said, "Even my mom?"
And he said, "Yeah."
And that's where it kind of developed
from there on.
We'd call it "plan B."
But we always pushed it back.
You know, it was just a thought.
It was never reality.
We'll consider other options.
We had planned a meeting at
a movie theater.
I and my mom was going
to go see "Cinderella,"
the live-action version
of "Cinderella,"
and I was like, "This is a perfect time
for us to meet.
I'll buy your ticket, and you
come to the movie theater.
We'll meet like we're just
meeting as new friends,
and it's going to be perfect."
Godejohn: She wanted to have sex
with me, so I did.
Officer: Okay, she wanted
to have sex with you?
- Yes.
- Wow, did her mom know?
Um, we kept it from her mom.
Okay. Where did you have sex at
in the theater?
- It was in the bathroom.
- Okay.
In the girls' bathroom
or boys' bathroom?
She just took me in the boys' bathroom.
I didn't have any choice.
We went right into the boys' bathroom.
She was okay with it.
Okay, okay.
And then what happened after
you guys had sex in the theater?
We went to our movie and watched it.
They're all looking at you.
Believe me,
they are all looking at you.
I don't know what it was,
but, apparently,
the night got ruined in some way.
I couldn't--
I was trying to understand
what was going on with her mom.
She despised him.
She was like, "He's creepy.
He's weird.
He's coming to see a kids' movie
alone by himself."
And now looking back on it,
yeah, it is weird.
We were the only people at the movies,
and he didn't have a kid with him
or a girlfriend or nothing.
He's just this guy going to see
this chick movie.
Carr: Couldn't you have said
that you have a friend
and you want to introduce them?
I wouldn't have had no way
to meet him, you know?
I can't say I met him online or...
She's-- she was all the time with me,
so there would be no other time
to meet him.
Once all of those plans seemed
to fall apart,
I just got desperate.
Gypsy: He took a Greyhound bus.
I managed to scrape up enough money
to pay for him a ticket.
And the next day, we went to
the grocery store,
came back home.
She went to sleep very, very late,
and I was up texting Nick.
(voice breaking)
We painted each other's nails.
And I acted like everything was fine.
We had just recently got into
an argument,
and we had made up.
And I said I was going to be
a good girl.
And then she went to sleep
because I hurt her feelings or something.
She said, "I'm starting to
feel more relaxed.
Don't hurt me."
The last words she said to me was
"don't hurt me."
I went into the bathroom.
I got kind of in a fetal position
and I covered my ears.
And I heard my mom wake up.
And then she sounded startled.
And there was some noises
that I can't make out,
and I heard her say my name
a couple times.
And she said, "Help me."
And then there was just silence.
Carr: Did she scream?
Yeah.
Dean: This is about as clear
a premeditated murder
as I've ever seen.
It's brutal.
And I think it would be
very hard for anybody
to not have a moment
of being taken aback.
- Did you have sex with Dee Dee?
- No.
You didn't stick your penis
anywhere on her?
- Nope.
- Are you sure?
- Yep.
- Positive?
- I'm 100% positive.
- Okay.
Did you stick your penis in her mouth?
- Nope.
- Okay.
Did your penis touch anywhere on
Dee Dee's body?
- Nope.
- Okay.
Did your mouth touch anywhere on
Dee Dee's body?
- My mouth? No.
- Okay.
- You didn't kiss her or...
- Nope.
- ...lick her or anything like that?
- Nope.
Okay. What do you think about people
that have sex with dead bodies?
I mean, it's quite disturbing, honestly.
Okay, that's-- that would bother you?
Yeah. I don't like necrophilia.
Okay, because I think one of the things
that she might have said
was that you had mentioned
that you'd like to rape her mom.
- Yeah, at one point, I was
thinking about it.
- Okay.
He had wanted to rape my mother.
That's what he wanted to do.
He was like, "I'm going to kill her,
but I'm going to do it my way,
and I'm going to rape her."
So what I did was I made
a deal with him.
I'd let him rape me, and--
and then he wouldn't--
he wouldn't do that to my mom.
- So you guys have sex.
- Yes.
And what kind of sex?
What is sex like to you?
Well, to me, the kind of sex
that it was
was pretty much kind of con-- consensual?
Is that the word I'm looking for?
Officer: Like, are you biting her?
Are you punching her?
Godejohn: No, no, I would never
lay my hands on her.
I didn't even bite her at all, actually.
Not for a long time, that is.
The very first time, she whispered
in my ear
that that was a turn-on of hers,
is biting.
- I bit her twice.
- Okay.
The first time I can't remember.
The second time I remember,
because I bit her a lot harder.
However, she seemed to still enjoy it
even though it was really hard.
Gypsy: Technically, once we got
to that point,
I screamed for him to stop,
and he didn't.
So I don't consider it to be consensual.
Okay, all right.
Is there a reason you
didn't feel pleasure?
I don't know. It's really hard to say.
I did make her have an orgasm once.
- Okay.
- And then after that, I--
she might've blew me a bit.
And then after that, I think we stopped
because we realized
there was a lot of packing
and stuff to do.
Okay, so you guys get everything packed.
She wipes down the fingerprints.
And then what do you guys do?
We get in a taxi and
we get to the hotel.
Hi, honey.
I'm filming.
He's eating a brownie!
Gypsy: But later, he will be eating me!
I loved Nick very much at that time,
and being with him felt exciting
because I was with someone I loved
and someone I thought cared for me.
We took a Greyhound bus
back to Wisconsin.
My mind wasn't thinking back
to what was at my house.
I just kept thinking,
"I'm free, I'm free,"
and that excitement of being
free and walking.
I always reference myself to this
little bluebird
that was trapped in an invisible cage,
and I felt like this bluebird was
set free.
Did you guys talk about your future?
What was your plans for your future?
We wanted to have a family together,
and we wanted to build
a life together and stuff.
We thought we really had
a chance to do it,
so we were happy about that.
Does your mom and stepdad
know what you did?
No, they don't.
And this is the first time
they ever met Gypsy?
Yeah. In person, yes.
Okay, and they agreed
to let her live there?
- Yep.
- Okay.
Officer:
What did you do think about Gypsy?
You know, it was weird
because when I picked them up
from the bus station, I even asked her,
"How's your mom doing?
How is your..."
'Cause I was told she was
in a homeless shelter.
Her mom kicked her out.
So I asked her how her mom was doing.
This might have been the first thing
I asked her.
No big deal, They acted like nothing.
What was your impression?
Did you feel like there was
anything wrong?
- Did you feel like everything was good?
- Everything seemed normal.
The only thing that freaked me out
is she was wearing a wig.
Okay.
Hancock: Did you remember getting
in the mail
an envelope or anything addressed to
Nick or Gypsy or anything like that?
There was one that just came in--
hmm-- Saturday?
I have no idea what was in it.
Hancock: That was my next question.
- Charles: I don't go through mail.
- Okay.
Charles: Maybe I should have.
- That was the night that he had
stabbed her to death.
- What?
They mailed it from their house there
to your house.
- Are you serious?
- Yes, ma'am.
- Oh, my God.
- And that was located in your house.
Stephanie: My God.
Officer: I think there was a little--
around $4,000-5,000 of cash
that they had stolen from her mom.
Stephanie: My God.
Did you see the Facebook post
where it says--
- No.
- Okay, that's right.
On Dee and Gypsy's Facebook post
that they share,
there are some horrible messages
that were posted on there
that said, like--
I believe, like, they slashed her--
like, "I slashed her. I killed her.
And then I raped the girl,
and the girl's dead, too."
Well, those all were
actually posted by Gypsy.
Dr. Feldman: Startlingly with Gypsy,
who went online
to announce, you know,
"That bitch is dead,"
and to go even further
and describe a scenario
where she was raped
is just perverse.
It implies a fair degree
of sociopathy.
Just the way the girl acted--
I mean, how can you
do something to your mother
and lose your mother,
and just act like that?
I was like-- I'm just trying to wrap
my head around it.
I mean, they acted like
two normal people.
- Yeah.
- That's what's really freaky.
Yeah.
How can you do that?
Bobby: Gypsy might have been
the mastermind herself.
I think it's most anybody's instinct to,
"Oh, shit, you murdered your mother,"
you know?
Watch that girl.
Don't turn your back.
You she might stab you.
Dean: I do think Gypsy
is potentially dangerous.
Dee Dee was a master manipulator,
and it's impossible that Gypsy would not
have picked this up and used it.
- Yeah.
- You know?
I know. I mean, that's the way
it works, though,
when you have what he has.
Your mind focuses on one thing.
Do you know what I mean?
Yes, ma'am.
Do you think that if Gypsy hadn't asked
you to kill her mom,
you'd have ever killed her mom?
I know I wouldn't have done it.
Okay. You just did it because
you loved Gypsy
and Gypsy asked you to do it.
Is that what I'm thinking?
- Yes.
- Okay.
For him to ruin his life over that,
I'm sorry, but she's a beast.
Yeah.
She now doesn't have a language
beyond manipulation and retaliation.
I mean, is she taking any sort of--
you know, is she like,
"Well, okay, it was me, too,"
or is she to trying to put it
all on Nick?
She...
takes some responsibility,
but not much.
Not much at all.
- Did you kill your mom?
- No. No, sir.
- Did you help?
- No, sir.
- No one else killed your mom?
- No, sir.
No, sir.
Did you have knowledge that Nicholas
was going to kill your mom
before he did it?
No, sir.
Okay. Sit tight for me, okay?
It's okay.
I wonder if people feel that Gypsy
is telling them the truth now.
Female voice: Hello, you have
a call from...
Gypsy: Gypsy Rose.
She was still in Wisconsin
when she called me.
Kristy on phone: Hey, my sweetie.
Gypsy: Hi! Is this Kristy?
Kristy: Yes, baby.
Gypsy: Hi! Oh, my God.
It's so good to hear your voice.
At that time, she still wasn't trusting,
really, anyone.
She was still not telling
Mike everything.
Gypsy: I'm innocent.
It's a complicated situation,
but what they say on the news
is not true.
Then we went in the courtroom,
and that's when they showed
all the text messaging.
And when they said they were
presenting that,
she turned around and looked at us
with fear in her eyes.
I guess she didn't think
that they were going to pull
all of those messages up.
Carr:
Yeah, I did.
They didn't get caught red-handed,
but they got caught red-handed.
You know, they have a lot of evidence.
They have the murder weapon,
texts, videos.
I mean, no doubt they did it or
planned it and everything,
so it was just a matter
of why they did it,
you know, and is that reasonable?
Carr: Are you happy that your mom
is not here to abuse you anymore?
Yeah.
But at the same time,
I'm not happy that she's dead.
You know, I didn't want that.
I know it sounds strange to
plan something
and go through the steps
to make it happen,
and then-- but at the same time
not want it to happen.
One of the problems with the legal system
is that it demands that people
have this one intention
and this one moment in time
and be certain about it,
and I'm not sure that
that really happens.
And especially in this case,
I'm not sure that it happens.
It's possible that Gypsy had
ultimately ambivalent feelings
about killing her mother.
I wonder what she was thinking
in the other room
listening to her mother
screaming sometimes.
I didn't think anything.
I was scared.
I was shaking.
I just-- I didn't have a thought
in my brain.
It was like it was all not real.
I was on a bunch of medications,
and I know that's no excuse,
but on Xanax, I felt like
I had no emotion
and I wasn't thinking right.
Munchausen by proxy victims
can lose contact
with reality at times,
and that may be part of the defence
in Gypsy's case.
She may have trouble distinguishing
what's real and what isn't.
Is sickness real or is it fake?
Is death real, or is it exaggerated
or fake?
So, I think she had limited capacity
for reality testing,
which just means seeing
what's normal behavior
and what's really strange behavior.
Stanfield: Gypsy grew up in essentially
an alternate reality
to what the rest of us live.
By her mother isolating her
from the outside world,
she doesn't know or understand
what normal really is.
Hi.
Gypsy: In so many ways,
I don't know what's right, what's wrong,
but to say that, yes, I did this.
I'm sorry for it.
I feel bad for it.
It just feels good to be honest.
Gypsy: The only thing that
I could've done differently
that I know better now is reach out
to my dad,
told my dad.
And he could have came and got me,
and I would've went and lived with him.
Rod: There's a McDonald's right here
where I'd visit with Gypsy.
At that time, she was real young.
I remember one visit...
she was so scared of me, man.
She was shaking.
I don't know what Dee Dee
told her about me,
but I probably was the big bad wolf
or something, you know?
Gypsy must have been so confused,
you know?
She was probably telling her
the day before
that, you know, I don't love her
and all this stuff,
and then here she is visiting with me
and telling her,
"Look, that's your daddy.
Give him a hug," you know?
That's old history now, so we're
just going to try to build
a real father-daughter
intimate relationship,
you know, like we should have.
It's hard.
Thinking what she had to go through
and that she didn't have
to go through all that.
- Woman: See this?
- Look at that.
She would probably have been
a perfectly fine kid
had it not been her mom was Dee Dee.
Okay, y'all want to get
the table ready or what?
- Women: Yes.
- We're going to eat off the trays?
Claude: She could've had a normal life.
I hope she gets out, and
I don't know what--
what she's going to do when she gets out.
She was punished enough
to where they should let her go free.
That's the way I feel.
'Cause that child's--
she's been through a lot.
Kristy: Look at her.
- Woman: Is that Gypsy?
- Yeah, when she was normal.
I blame myself now for not doing more.
I mean, it is what it is.
I'm not a "blame yourself" type of guy,
but who else is there to look at,
you know?
Okay.
This is-- sorry.
I didn't realize they were going to
bring you out immediately.
This is the new charge--
class-A felony
of murder in the second degree,
and then acting in concert with another
who knowingly caused the death
of your mother
by stabbing her, okay?
This is in the case of State of Missouri
v. Gypsy Rose Blanchard.
Please raise your right hand.
Do you swear and affirm
that the testimony
you're about to give will be the truth,
the whole truth,
and nothing but the truth?
Yes, sir.
Would you state your name
for the record, please?
- Gypsy Blanchard.
- And how old are you?
I'm going to be 25 years old, but 24.
Okay. And how far did you go in school?
About the second grade.
How do you plead to the class-A felony
of murder in the second degree?
- Guilty.
- The court finds that there is
a factual basis for a plea of guilty.
The court accepts defendant's
plea of guilty
and finds the defendant guilty thereof
beyond a reasonable doubt.
She's to be sentenced to 10 years
in the Missouri Department of Corrections.
She'll have to do 85% of her sentence
before she's eligible for parole.
Let's go off the record.
There you are.
Patterson: This case is unusual
and extraordinary.
Gypsy Blanchard endured
nearly two decades
of systematic, purposeful abuse
at the hands of her mother
for the purpose of fraud.
And so, by amending to murder
in the second degree,
we were able to both hold
Gypsy Blanchard accountable
for the murder,
which was not justified
nor excusable,
but yet account for
those mitigating circumstances.
All of us involved are--
it's a relief.
You know, at the very beginning of this,
there was the question of
the death penalty on the table.
Ultimately, it's the best
outcome for her.
It's the best outcome
for the State of Missouri
and ultimately the right thing
to do for everybody.
That one's in this pocket.
Ooh.
I mean, it's a murder.
There's nothing we can do about that,
so, you know, that has to be dealt with.
But ultimately, when you look at the fact
that at the end of that 8 1/2 years,
when she's already done a year of that,
she'll be 32 years old.
She'll be three years younger
than I am right now.
So, I mean, she will actually be able
to enjoy just the world.
Carr: Do you think 10 years in jail
is better
than 10 years of living
the way that you had to live?
Yes, it is.
I need to start over like I'm newly born.
- Honey?
- Yeah.
- Green?
- Yeah.
White or green?
No, no, no, no, no.
It's my favorite hat.
No, other hat.
Kristy: I'm holding on to that girl.
You know, it's going to be
very emotional.
Yeah, you're a big crybaby.
You're probably gonna cry, too.
And then when you're gonna cry,
I'm going to cry
because you're crying,
because it's hard to see grown men cry.
I don't cry.
Bullshit.
You cry.
- Hello.
- Daddy.
Oh...
I've missed you.
- You're so big.
- I know!
I'm almost as tall as you.
So how's everything going
with you health-wise?
- You good? You feel good?
- It's going good, yeah.
You've been exercising
and everything?
I've been going to the rec yard,
been exercising.
That's good.
My tube site is finally all healed.
It's gone?
That's good.
Looks great.
Looks good.
All healed up, so...
Every once in a while,
I get a little pain,
but I think it's just
phantom pain or something.
Yeah.
So, are you glad that it's--
I'm happy that it's over.
Yeah. We was-- honestly,
we was hoping for less.
I mean, I know it was your decision
and everything.
- That's a gamble you take.
I mean--
- Yeah.
I look at it like
you could've got 30 years.
I look at it that I could've got
life in prison, you know?
I was hitting a really down point,
and it was before--
before the plea agreement,
before I knew anything about it.
I was thinking if I get life in prison
and that is what I get,
I'm committing suicide
right now, you know?
I was seriously considering it.
- Well, baby--
- 'Cause I'm like, it could just be over.
I just want to make sure
you know that
if I had done anything wrong,
I'm sorry, baby.
No, I don't think
you did anything wrong.
I think it's just Mom was very good
at what she was doing,
and I think you just
was completely in the dark.
And I don't-- I want you to know
I don't blame you for any of it,
either of you.
- Thank you.
- I take blame on myself.
And I blame other people,
but I never once blamed y'all.
Don't blame yourself, sweetie.
We blame-- I hold enough
for myself, you know?
Accountability, it's--
but, I mean, we're not
gonna dwell on that.
- No.
- No.
We're gonna go forward,
and when you get out..
- We'll heal together.
- ...you're still gonna be young.
We can have a great relationship.
Look, God pulled you through it.
- Rod: Yeah.
- You know?
The devil don't got you, baby.
God got you.
- Gypsy: Yeah.
- And we got you.
Give me a hug.
Hang in there, baby.
You need anything, call any time, okay?
Oh, she knows.
We'll come see you again
over there, wherever.
Just hang tight. Stay strong.
- We love you.
- I love you, too.
I don't want to go.
I don't want to go.
I don't want to go.
It's okay, baby.
You can do it, okay?
Just stay strong.
You got this far, okay?
The rest is gonna be easier.
- Okay. Okay.
- Okay?
You guys have a safe trip back.
- Don't get in no trouble.
- I won't.
- Be good.
- I'll be a good girl.
- Follow the rules.
- I will.
Bye.
- Set a good example.
- I will.
We were very happy
Well, at least I thought we were
Can't somebody tell me
what's got into her?
A house, a home, a family
And a man
that loves her so
Oh, say, has anybody seen
My sweet Gypsy Rose?
Here's her picture
when she was my sweet Mary Jo
Now she's got rings
on her fingers
And bells on her toes
Say, has anybody seen
my sweet Gypsy Rose?
Oh, I got wind
my Jo's been dancin'
Here in New Orleans
In this smoke-filled honky-tonk
They call the Land of Dreams
Whoa, here she comes a-struttin'
In her birthday clothes
Say, has anybody seen
my sweet Gypsy Rose?
Sweet Gypsy Rose
Sweet Gypsy Rose
So take those rings
off your fingers
And bells off your toes
Say, has anybody seen my
Now you know just what I mean by
Has anybody seen my Gypsy Rose?
[June 15, 2015 10:40PM
Waukesha, WI]
- Man: Hey, Gypsy, this is Stan.
- Stanley Hancock: Hi, Gypsy.
- I'll let you guys talk.
- Hi, I'm Det. Hancock.
I'm with Greene County
Sheriff's Office.
- How are you today?
- Gypsy: I'm doing good.
Hancock:
Good.
Hancock: You need to be honest with me.
And if you're involved in anything
that I'm about ready to tell you,
then you need to tell me, okay?
- Absolutely.
- Um, your mom's dead, okay?
Now, what I want to ask you--
- Wait, what, what?
- Your mom's passed away, okay?
She's deceased, all right?
Now, what I want to ask you--
did you have involvement in this?
- Okay.
- No, no--
Hang on, listen to me for just
a second, okay?
- Uh-huh.
- What happened with your mom,
that night?
Um...
I don't know what happened
with my mom at all.
- Help me. Please help me.
- Okay, you...
Just listen to me, okay, sweetheart?
You know what happened to
your mom, okay?
And I know that you know.
Gypsy: You think that it's me?
Why would you think that it's me?
I have always loved my mom.
My mom and I are best friends.
Hancock: Listen to me.
Please don't dig yourself in this hole,
and that's what you're doing.
Gypsy: I really love my mom.
- I know you do.
- Please.
I know you-- sweetheart,
I know you love your mom.
I have no doubt that you love your mom.
Hancock: But why did Nick hurt her?
Now's the time to be truthful,
sweetheart.
No more lies.
- Did you kill your mom?
- Gypsy: No. No, sir.
Hancock: Did you help Nicholas kill
your mom?
Man: Ladies and gentlemen,
please welcome a cancer survivor
and passionate young lady,
Gypsy Rose Blanchard
and her mother, Dee Dee Blanchard
from Springfield, Missouri,
to the stage.
[Six years earlier]
I believe
There are angels among us
Sent down to us
From somewhere up above
They come to you and me
In our darkest hours.
Dee Dee: Thank you, my sweetie.
I've always said
you're the reason I was born to
be your mama.
[SPRINGFIELD, MO]
Reporter: Breaking news this morning.
48-year-old Dee Dee Blanchard
was found dead inside her home.
Her 19-year-old daughter Gypsy
is still considered missing.
Jim Arnott: It all started
receiving a call on June 14th
to check the well-being of a family.
[Greene County Sheriff]
Linda Ong: Gypsy and Dee Dee
were Hurricane Katrina survivors.
Everybody believed that they were
coming here
to the Ozarks to make a better life.
[Local news reporter
Springfield, MO]
Arnott: There was a Facebook post
that was quite alarming.
We were actually thinking that it was
somebody that hacked into Facebook
and it wasn't actually a threat.
[WHAT?!!! Did your FB get hacked?
I have never heard you talk like that.]
Elaine Scherer: Gypsy was in a
wheelchair.
She had leukaemia and she was
having seizures
[Community Service Worker Aurora, MO]
and she had to be tube-fed.
Arnott: As the sheriff,
my primary responsibility
at that time was really to ensure
that her well-being was okay.
Whatever they were going through
was incredibly hard for them,
especially with the medical conditions.
[Gypsy's neighbor and friend]
And so, everybody gathered around them
and would try to help them out
as much as possible.
It just proves that happy endings
are not just in fairy tales,
they're real.
The Facebook post was quote...
"The bitch is dead."
And another post stating,
"I fucking slashed that fat pig
and raped her sweet, innocent daughter.
Her scream was so fucking loud, LOL."
[Green County Sheriff's Office]
[June 16, 2015]
Okay, good morning.
I want to specify at the beginning
of this press conference
that this is an ongoing
investigation.
And I want to start off with saying
things are not always as they appear.
The truth is-- okay, I'll admit it.
[Gypsy's boyfriend]
I did actually...
stab her.
- I will admit it.
- I know, okay.
The only reason I did it
is 'cause I did it
for me and her.
- I would've never did it
if it was not for me and her.
- Okay.
I know that he loves me, and...
he would do anything for me
and-- to be with me.
Did Gypsy know that you were going
to kill her mother?
Um... honestly,
she asked me to.
Okay.
[The bitch is dead]
Arnott: Both Facebook postings
were authored by Gypsy.
[I fucken slashed that fat pig
and raped her sweet innocent
daughter...]
[Her scream was soooo fucken loud LOL]
The prosecutor has filed charges
this morning
for first-degree murder.
This is a tragic, tragic event
surrounded by mystery
and public deception.
Gypsy can walk without assistance
or a wheelchair...
and she can do that very well.
Okay.
[Gypsys arraignment
June 16, 2015]
This individual has alleged
to conspire with Nicholas Godejohn
to stab her mother to death
so that they could be together.
- The penalty is life imprisonment
or death. (sobbing)
Reporter: Seeing Gypsy Blanchard
walk on her own two feet
in a Wisconsin courtroom
was a shock to friends and neighbors.
[Gypsy's neighbor]
Is she sick?
I don't know yet.
We're trying to figure that out.
[Can she walk?]
Um, yes.
Oh, son of a bitch.
To see her walk...
was really upsetting.
Obviously, if that's a lie,
then who knows what else was a lie.
We really don't know the true
background of this family,
as we have unearthed the appearance
of a long financial fraud scheme.
Reporter: The family got
medical airlifts,
Disney travel, and free housing
over the years
because of Gypsy's supposed disabilities.
Reporter #2: It was a facade
that translated online,
[The Gypsy Rose trip]
donations pouring in
for Gypsy's reported muscular dystrophy
and leukaemia.
[Click here to support Gypsy's
medical trip by Dee
and Gypsy Rose Blanchard]
Arnott: We have not confirmed
the age of Gypsy.
It appears that there are
several dates of birth
that have been used
over a period of time.
I almost want to say,
"Man, I can't believe she--
I even wanted to associate with--
why did I even help them?"
I just never would see
that that little girl
really wasn't who she was
supposed to be.
[July 24, 2015]
[The prosecution presents its
preliminary evidence against Gypsy.]
Case exhibit 53.
Can I ask you if you'll tell me
what that is?
Dan Patterson: Miss Blanchard is charged
with murder in the first degree.
When you commit a first-degree murder,
[Greene County Prosecutor]
you knowingly cause the death
of another person
after deliberation.
Analysis of cell phones
provided evidence of
numerous text messages
between Gypsy Blanchard
and Nicholas Godejohn.
Patterson: Nicholas Godejohn was someone
that Gypsy Blanchard met online.
They began an online dating relationship.
Patterson: During the attacks,
the two discussed
Nicholas killing Clauddine.
[The shits gonna go down tonight...]
[Babe its my evil side doing it]
[he won't mess up because he enjoys killing]
[...we'll be happy soon.]
[After this night
we will never bring it up]
At the beginning,
it looks like a tabloid case.
It looks like, "Here's some people
in some weird outfits,
and they're pretending
to be disabled and they're
scamming everybody.
And then there's this, like,
sort of horrible murder,
and the Facebook status,
'That bitch is dead.'"
[Freelance Journalist]
Like, all of it is very tabloid.
[The New Yorker, Buzzfeed]
And then, gradually, that story
just sort of fell apart.
Still, it feels to me like it's
developing into something else.
[Lafourche Parish, LA
Gypsy's hometown]
[Gypsy's father
Dee Dee's ex-husband]
I still ask the question,
"How do you kill your own mother?"
I mean, there's got to be a reason.
There's got to be some abuse there.
You don't just...
"I'm gonna kill my mother
because I wanna be with a boyfriend."
Like I told my mom when I called my mom
and talked to her about it.
I said, "Mama, I've been-- you know,
I was mad at you before,
but I've never, ever
in a million years
thought about killing you."
I said, "For me to think
about killing you,
you'd have had to done
some pretty bad stuff to me."
Nobody wants to believe that something
like this can happen.
[Gypsy's lawyer Missouri Public Defender]
I think the initial reaction is--
is that, you know, Gypsy's been lying
to everybody.
But when you look at the backstory,
when you look at how we got here,
this all started long before Gypsy
would've ever had any type
of say in what was happening.
[Gypsy, 3 months old]
Right from birth, three months old.
Dee Dee was telling me
that she had sleep apnea
and she needed a breathing machine
or breathing monitor machine,
which, I mean, I-- to this day,
I don't know if that was real
or not, you know?
It escalated from then.
Problems with her eyes,
her hearing,
her digestive system.
After that, Gypsy couldn't walk anymore.
She had a muscular disorder.
[Gypsy, 10 years old]
And Dee Dee told me
she would need a wheelchair.
You know, I asked her.
I said, "Man, she's got
a lot of issues.
What's going on?"
You know, and, um...
They had done some tests and found out
she had a chromosome disorder
that was causing all of her functions
from developing--
her digestive system
and her muscular system.
Dee Dee told me
she's not going to live
to be, you know, 18 years old.
She may be an old teenager,
that's about it.
You know, I was like, "Really?"
You know, it was shocking,
it was disturbing.
And to see her at 23 years old now,
perfectly healthy--
It pisses me off, you know?
[Gypsy's stepmother]
Kristy: This picture here...
I don't know if this was the surgery
where she thought her stomach lining
wrapped around her oesophagus.
Rod: No, she would've had that earlier.
She had that feeding tube
way before then.
You know?
She was 10 here.
Rod: This was probably close
to the first year or two
when she was in a wheelchair.
Yep.
Breaks my heart...
knowing she got put through all of this
when she didn't need it.
Fourteen years.
To be confined.
The last 14 years in a wheelchair.
I couldn't imagine.
Stanfield: I've never encountered anything
that is even close to what
Gypsy has gone through.
Her mother appeared to have taken
great steps
to keep Gypsy in a very juvenile role,
making her act several years younger
than her actual age.
It appears that Gypsy was not even aware
of what her actual age was.
Rod: I called her for her 18th birthday,
and Dee Dee said,
"Don't tell her she's 18, you know?"
I'm like, "What you mean
don't tell her she's 18?
She knows she's 18.
It's her 18th birthday."
"Yeah, but she don't know she's 18.
She's-- you know."
I thought it was weird, you know?
I-- she--
I mean, I always did know that she--
she told me her mental capacity was,
you know, like, five years behind.
When she was, like, 15, she was like,
"Oh, yeah, her learning is coming along,
but she's like, mentally,
at a 9- or 10-year-old."
Kristy: She looks like
she would be 10 and 11,
and she was probably like, 21, 22.
I wonder what she was thinking.
Hello, everybody! This is Gypsy Rose
reporting from Aurora, Missouri.
I'm about to dive off our porch
[Dee Dee's home movies]
into the pile of snow.
You ready?
That was so grand!
Whoo!
All right!
Yooh!
Yeah!
[A special day]
That's so cool. Let's do it again.
Dean: It's hard to answer
a lot questions
about who Gypsy is, right?
Because she was somebody else
for such a long time.
Dean: And now we know her
as almost a completely different person.
- Erin Lee Carr: I'm Erin, as you remember.
- I remember.
Dean: I would be curious
if anybody Gypsy has talked to
feels they're getting the full story.
This is actually kind of the first time
I've been honest
besides being honest, you know,
with my attorneys.
Even then, I haven't been completely honest
with them, so...
Carr: How would you describe your mom?
Um...
Unique.
Um...
I mean, I used to always think
that maybe she was a little overprotective.
So, if I had to say one word about her,
it would be overprotective.
Dee Dee: How old are you?
[Gypsy, 1 year old]
(Dee Dee's voice offscreen)
You're one.
And where's your cranial?
Very good. And where's your phalanges?
Yes. Very, very good.
I really didn't think
any abuse was going on.
Um... it's like when you're abused,
but you've lived that way
your whole life.
You don't really know
that you're being abused.
You don't know any different.
Looking at the open ocean now.
And it's beautiful!
Gypsy: I knew that I was different
or my life was different
from other kids'.
But people thought of us, as, you know,
the sweetest mother-daughter family ever.
The best two people in the world.
Carr: What illnesses did your mom
say that you had?
Um...
Asthma, epilepsy, hearing impaired,
vision impaired, fed with a feeding tube,
paralyzed from the waist down.
Um...
slow, so retardation.
And-- among other things,
I just can't remember them.
[Gypsy Rose's diagnosis]
[List of conditions Dee Dee gave to doctors]
[G.I. reflux, anemia, hyperventilation,
incontinence, lung disease, heart murmur]
[Dee Dee's medical closet]
Gypsy: I was on breathing medication.
Medication for seizures.
Medication to help go to the bathroom.
Pain medication, anxiety medication.
Just everything.
I would have to put on
the breathing machine every night.
I hated it, though, because it seemed to make
my breathing worse, not better.
And then another machine
was for the feeding tube.
It was controlling what I'd eat.
My medications would be put through there.
I really wouldn't even have to be awake.
So, she could put whatever in my body,
and I wouldn't even know.
[Dee Dee and Gypsy on one of their
medical trips]
Dee Dee: Hey, you make me wanna yawn.
So, where are you going today?
I'm going to Children's Mercy Hospital
to see my dentist.
For my teeth.
And we'll be back.
And we'll be back soon.
Not yet.
[According to medical records,]
[Dee Dee brought Gypsy to
local hospitals]
[over 100 times between 2005 and 2014.]
Gypsy: If we'd be going to the doctor,
she would do all the talking.
I'd always have a stuffed animal
or a Barbie doll.
She'd just tell me just play
with my Barbie doll.
And if the doctor would come
to examine me--
"Just stay in the wheelchair,
be calm, play with your doll,
and don't move your legs."
[Gypsy underwent multiple surgeries
during her hospital visits.]
[They included gastrointestinal operations,]
[eye procedures, and the removal]
[of her salivary glands.]
I was just as much in the dark
as everybody else.
The only thing I knew is that
I could walk.
As for everything else,
you had the leukaemia and the epilepsy.
I was taking medication
that she said was cancer medicine.
She would shave my head and say,
"Well, it's going to fall out anyway,
so let's just keep it nice and neat."
I just went on blind faith
that a mother knows best.
[The medications Dee Dee gave Gypsy
induced many of the symptoms
[of diseases doctors thought
they were treating.]
You're supposed to love
and protect your children.
How could you do this to your child?
Dr. Marc Feldman: Gypsy Rose Blanchard
[Skype interview] was as consistently
and viciously subjected to,
[Clinical Psychologist]
in my opinion, Munchausen by proxy
[Munchausen expert]
as anyone I've come across.
Munchausen by proxy involves a caregiver
[Munchausen by Proxy Syndrome]
who either feigns or actually induces
illness in her children.
And her goal is some kind
of emotional gratification--
looking for sympathy, attention, care,
concern that she feels unable to get
in any other way.
It is a form of child abuse,
first and foremost.
Gypsy: The earliest surgery
that I can remember
probably would be
having my feeding tube put in.
You have to have it constantly changed,
like every six months.
And that would be pretty painful,
because they don't put you
under anaesthesia,
they just take you
in the emergency room,
rip the old one out,
and put a new one in.
I don't know why
these procedures were done
or how her mother was able
to convince the doctors.
"Mind-boggling" is the only way
I can put her ability
to manipulate people.
Basically, each one
of these paperclips
is some medical record
where Dee Dee essentially lied
to the doctor about something.
Mentally, Gypsy is behind.
She's at the level of a seven-year-old
on mother's information.
And this is something that you see
almost across all of the records,
is "Upon mother's information,"
"Upon history by mother."
So she's talking to the doctor here
and she's talking about
how she has mental and
developmental delays, needs assistance.
Apparently, "while holding
her hands over Gypsy's ears,
so as not offend,
history of mental retardation--
seven-year-old level, per mom."
And so, this was the one time where
a doctor actually put in the record
that Dee Dee's got her hands
over Gypsy's ears,
so Gypsy can't even hear what
Mom is telling the doctor.
Then we get into the family history.
The family history changed
depending on what doctor she was at.
You'll notice here, we don't get
a whole lot of...
- She's at the cardiologist.
- Right, she's at the cardiologist,
and so they all died of a heart attack.
Now, this was the first one
that jumped out at me.
She ends up going to the neurologist,
Dr. Flasterstein, and so...
the very first thing right off the bat--
"Mother is not a good historian,"
which is interesting, because he
puts that in bold and underlines it.
Dr. Flasterstein: One of the things
that was a big discrepancy
was that for a person
that has not walked
for nine years, for years,
she should have, technically,
almost no muscles in her
lower extremities.
But she did have muscles
that looked quite normal.
And she was able to support
her body weight.
I remember her standing.
So, I had a big doubt about the
whole thing, from the beginning.
Stanfield: He says, "Since last seen,
I managed to talk to one of her
previous providers.
She specifically remembers
Gypsy Rose and mentioned that
her previous neurologist
clearly reported the fact
that Gypsy does not have
muscular dystrophy.
Analyzing all the facts,
and after talking to her
previous paediatrician,
- there's a strong possibility
of Munchausen by proxy..."
- What?
...with maybe some underlying, unknown
ideology to explain her symptoms."
Once in a while, we report patients
to Social Services.
We do that when we feel
that there's a neglect.
But a neglect is different
from what this mom was doing.
She wasn't really neglecting her,
she was over-treating her.
We have a system,
which is a big integrated system,
that decided to adopt her
and bring her, support her.
So many people looking at her,
knowing the history,
knowing what she was going through,
knowing what she went through,
I would have been rejected on the spot.
So all that I could do
was put that in my notes.
Nobody in the system ever said
anything about it,
and I didn't see it right
to keep going
in convincing other people
that something is not right here.
- Now...
- Un-freakin'-believable.
...here's the interesting thing.
This is the last record
from Mercy, here in Springfield,
until 2015.
So, this is 2007.
Rod: Eight years.
What I couldn't figure out
was how Dee Dee figured out
that Dr. Flasterstein was on to her.
But if you look at a lot of
these social work notes,
Dee Dee's requesting medical records.
She would have gotten a
copy of this letter.
But I still don't understand
why you put your child through this.
I don't know.
I mean, the thing is...
- Good question.
- ...it just keeps going.
And it would have kept going
Cause her mama was an insane,
compulsive liar.
Rod: Dee Dee and I met
at the bowling alley one night.
Met up again a couple of weeks later.
And then we started dating then.
She got pregnant.
She got pregnant and...
being from the South, I guess, it was--
I was raised where if you
got a girl pregnant,
then you got married.
There was no other question
about what you did.
I was 17.
I woke up on my 18th birthday
and I'm like, "What am I doing here?"
She was kind of into some dark--
darkness-- dark things.
Uh...
she started talking a little bit
about witchcrafts
and just different weird,
dark stuff like that.
It was kind of weird.
She had a pet tarantula.
Dee Dee was my aunt.
Um, real... weird girl.
I would think she's bipolar, no doubt.
Multiple personalities, perhaps.
Definitely...
an evil person, I would say, you know?
To shave your kid's head
and say that she's got leukaemia?
You're a sick individual.
MC: At this time, we'd like
to present to you
South Lafourche ROTC Military Queen,
Ms. Clauddinea Pitre.
Her escort-- Sergeant Earl Longden.
Clauddine "Dee Dee" Pitre...
Carr: What was Dee Dee like
as a child?
What, baby?
What was Dee Dee like as a child?
- What was Dee Dee like as a child?
- Dee Dee?
She was okay.
We were pretty close, me and her.
Yeah, I would give her everything
that she wanted anyway.
Whatever she wanted.
Except a dog in the house.
I didn't want that.
Now we wind up-- we got
two dogs in the house.
Ahem, but this-- she was something else.
Laura Pitre: She was a
very filthy person.
If it didn't go her way,
she'd see to it that you would pay.
And did we pay.
Paid a lot.
She opened credit cards in my
dad's name,
my grandpa's name, ran up crazy bills.
Supposedly, America's Most Wanted
was looking for this girl.
Laura:
Slidell-- she was wanted.
Bad checks in New Orleans.
Claude: No matter where she went,
she was doing all kind of stuff.
She was poisoning my stepmother.
Supposedly, she was giving her some...
Roundup in her food and stuff.
She was putting some poison in my food.
The same thing she had put in the plant.
And she wind up-- she stayed nine months
in bed after that.
She couldn't get up.
I didn't think she was going to make it.
There was nothing she couldn't
get away with.
Laura: Her mama was a little bit
like her.
Claude: Yeah, her mama, too.
Her mama was a shoplifter
and all kind of stuff.
I don't know how many times
she had to go to court
for shoplifting and other things.
Laura: She had stolen how much
money from your daddy?
Before he got married, she had stolen
I think it's $3,000 or $4,000
from my daddy.
Bobby: I think ever since
my grandmother died,
Dee Dee kind of went off the deep end.
Kristy: The day that her mom died,
Dee Dee was in the house somewhere,
and Dee Dee was starving her.
Like, she wasn't-- Dee Dee wasn't
giving her anything to eat.
I asked her sister--
you know, I was like,
"I hate to ask this,
but you think Dee Dee had anything to do
with her mom's death?"
And she, you know, said,
"Now I wonder."
That's how evil she was.
To leave your mama dirty
and asking for food
and not want to feed her...
- Yeah.
- ...that's evil.
Carr: Were you sad at all
when you heard she was dead?
Me?
I didn't believe it.
- It didn't--
- It just didn't sink.
It took a few days before... you know?
I didn't believe that she was dead.
I thought it was another
one of her tricks.
I said, "Who did Dee Dee piss off now?
You know, what kind of shit
did Dee Dee get into?"
I wasn't thinking,
"Oh, God, my aunt's dead."
Because I figured that one day
she'd piss off somebody
to that point, you know?
And I actually did think that it would
probably be Gypsy, you know?
And whenever-- we later got the word
that Gypsy was fine and she was
by her boyfriend's house,
we were like, "She killed her mama.
She finally did it.
She couldn't take it anymore."
She finally just said,
"Fuck it all.
I'm killing this bitch."
Carr: Do you think she got
what she deserved?
- According to Gypsy, yes.
- Yes.
Yeah, she got what she deserved.
I know all the brothers
and sisters don't care
about Dee Dee no more.
Gypsy-- she got cremated.
She said, "What you want me
to do with the ashes?"
Everybody said, "I don't want her.
I don't want her."
- Darla said, "Flush 'em."
- I told her, "Flush that
in the toilet."
I didn't want it.
Her sister said,
"Flush that in the toilet."
She said, "We're going to bring that
in Mama's room,
make her a mass and everything."
"You going to pay for it?
I'm not paying for it.
We can't afford it.
Flush it in the toilet."
[Greene County Courthouse
November 9,2015]
Reporter: Prosecutors have decided
not to seek the death penalty
against a Springfield woman
and her boyfriend,
both of whom are accused of murdering
the woman's mother.
Reporter #2: The announcement comes
after several conversations
between the defence and prosecution,
both agreeing this was
the best decision.
Patterson: Being a prosecutor,
the standard is to do what's right
and what's just.
When you look at the mitigators
as well as the background of
these individuals as we know it,
as well as the facts of the case,
this case was not an appropriate
first-degree murder case
in which to seek the death penalty.
This is a case that we
haven't dealt with,
and it's because it's so unusual.
I mean, it really is an unusual case.
What we thought initially may be a victim
turns out to be a suspect,
and in the middle of a story
that is twisted.
We think we know who Gypsy is,
but once this trial starts,
we'll be able to see her life unfold
and find out exactly what she
was all about.
[Home video from one of Dee Dee
and Gypsy's trips to Disney World]
Hi, everybody.
Right now, I'm in Cinderella's castle
eating some real mashed potatoes.
Mm!
That is good.
Dean: Gypsy loved Disney
because they were stories that resolved
in happy ways.
And ultimately, her story was
not resolving in a happy way.
Gypsy: I liked the Disney movie,
"Tangled."
It's about Rapunzel.
She's a princess in this kingdom
and she's kidnapped by Mother Gothel
from her real family.
And Mother Gothel keeps her
in this tower for all of her life
and tells her, "Don't leave this tower."
And so, that is all she knows.
Woodmansee: I think that Gypsy
just wanted her life
to be like any fairy tale princess
and have the perfect ending.
You know, all the bad villains
get what they deserve.
Gypsy: At the end, Mother Gothel died.
She got thrown out a window,
um, because Rapunzel tried to stand up
for herself
and leave her tower.
But in Disney movies,
everything's a fantasy.
It's a fairy tale,
and life is not a fairy tale.
I learned all that the hard way.
Stanfield: I don't think calling
Gypsy's life sheltered
would do it justice.
I've kind of come to describe it
as a fairy tale nightmare.
Her mother controlled almost
every aspect of her life.
Dr. Feldman: The control was total
in the same sense that the control of
a kidnapped victim
sometimes is total.
Her daughter was, in essence, a hostage,
and I think we can understand the crime
that occurred subsequently
in terms of a hostage trying to
gain escape.
Woodmansee: Any time Gypsy and I
were together,
her mom was always present.
She was immediately like a
filter for us, you know.
Like, Gypsy wouldn't talk
about anything personal
while we were together.
That's like, really, the big red flag,
thinking back on it all now.
Dee Dee would always hold
Gypsy's hand, you know?
It was like, I don't know--
it was almost like, you know, just,
"If I squeeze it, you'll know
what to say."
I mean, that was just so strange to me.
Just to feel it now, I think
that was really strange.
Even in videos I've seen since then,
I'm like, "Yep, it's just the
same thing."
It's like she's holding her hand.
I mean, now I'm--
it was maybe a control thing.
Dr. Feldman: The hand-holding
and the tight hugs
is a way of asserting mastery
over another person
and saying, "You're not free.
You are under my control
at all times,
even in relatively benign situations
like our being photographed
getting the Habitat for Humanity home."
You know, those are innocuously
happy occasions,
but they were also occasions
where Dee Dee
reasserted her mastery over Gypsy.
My mom had cake...
Gypsy: If we were in a group of friends,
you know, if I said something
that I wasn't supposed to,
she'd squeeze my hand, and
I'd know, "Zip it."
I was just afraid, just too afraid.
Dr. Feldman: I have a strong feeling
that the extent of the control over her,
heavily psychological as it was,
would've involved physical punishment
as well.
She'd hit me with a coat hanger...
or her-- or her palm.
And I'd have to take so many slaps
for-- depending on what,
how severe it was, I did.
- Carr: Did you ever try to hit back?
- Never.
Never.
It's like if you have a baby
and you, like, get in its face
and the baby starts to struggle
and get away from you.
Now picture that happening
for your whole life, right?
Your mother is just in your face
and will not get away.
That's basically what Gypsy's whole
life was like.
It's snowing.
I'm not joking.
[Dee Dee at home in Missouri]
They said it's snowing,
so I'm staying under my heating blankie.
And I'm not getting out, mm-mm.
She wants to get out.
Ain't gonna happen.
Let her doll take care of her.
Gypsy: Oh!
Her mother was so suffocating,
so powerful, so manipulative
that Gypsy may have felt any
efforts to escape
were bound to fail.
The first time I ran away from home,
I had met a friend.
We both went to this sci-fi
fantasy convention called Visioncon.
I told him vaguely
about what was going on at home.
And he told me, you know,
"You just pack your stuff
and you can come live with me
in Arkansas."
And I said, "Okay."
I stepped out, got a ride from
a stranger,
and went over to his place.
And then within, like, four hours,
my mom found me at his place
because we had mutual friends in common.
So she was threatening
to call the cops on him.
And she took me back home
and smashed my computer with a hammer,
smashed my cell phone
with a hammer and said,
"If you ever try to do that again,
I'm going to smash your fingers
with a hammer."
It was a rough year.
I call that "the bad times."
She had taken this dog leash
and clipped it to a pair of handcuffs,
and clipped the handcuffs to the bed
and kept-- it was like that for
about two weeks.
My mom had actually convinced a lawyer
to draw up some papers
saying that I was incompetent.
So I thought if I had tried
to go to the police,
they'd look at these papers
and say, "She's retarded.
She doesn't know what
she's talking about."
Gypsy has essentially fallen
through every crack there is
in the system.
The Greene County Sheriff's deputies
came out to the house on
an anonymous report
that Gypsy was potentially being abused.
And they came to the house,
they spoke with Dee Dee,
and Dee Dee did exactly
what she does all the time--
she manipulated the police officers,
showed them a few things, and they left.
And at that point,
Gypsy has absolutely nowhere
else to turn.
Literally everyone failed her.
Literally.
The doctors who were positioned
as there to help her didn't help her.
Her father,
who I think was in a
very difficult position,
couldn't help her.
How was she supposed to think
anybody could?
I was just kind of at that point
where you're like,
"I'm angry at the world
and this is unfair."
Why couldn't anybody figure this out
before it got this bad?
- Woman: Gypsy.
- Dee Dee: Over here, baby.
We all kind of did see how Gypsy was
being treated by Dee Dee,
not that it was like horrible,
beating the shit out of her
in the back room with a freaking cable,
you know?
She would just-- she put her
in a wheelchair and told her,
"Your leg's messed up.
You can't walk."
Her sister told me once,
"Rod, you know,
Gypsy can walk."
And I asked Dee Dee about it.
She's like, "Yeah, well,
with her muscular dystrophy
or with her disease,
her muscles hurt sometimes.
So sometimes she can walk
when she's feeling okay,
but it's progressive.
It's going to get worse."
And it wasn't long after that
that they were--
they started moving further and
further away.
And there was nobody there
to question--
question that anymore, you know?
After all of the doors had been closed--
family, friends, the police--
I think that Gypsy felt she had
no other--
no other avenue.
Gypsy: I met Nick through
a Christian dating website.
He was one of the profiles
that I had saw.
Thought he was cute,
so I checked him out, sent him a wink.
He sent me one back.
Once you met on there, what happened?
We got closer on there,
and we connected more and more.
Godejohn: The way that we clicked,
we somehow just knew
we were right for each other.
Four days later, we started
a relationship together.
Dean: Gypsy had no template for romance
that wasn't this sort of heightened
Prince Charming narrative.
And Nick just happened to be there.
His background equipped him
with a bad narrative in different ways.
So, it was like two bad narratives
collided with each other.
What kind of person--
if somebody never met him,
what kind of person is Nick?
He's pretty quiet, kept to himself,
you know.
We always tell him he's got to get out
and mingle, you know.
- Sure.
- But he's like, "I'm afraid
of getting backstabbed,
because everybody backstabs you,"
and all that stuff.
He has autism, you know, Asperger's.
Has he been diagnosed
with autism and Asperger's?
- Yes.
- Okay.
Stephanie: Last doctor he talked to,
they said his mind is probably
always going to be 15, 16,
right around there.
At first, it was all lighthearted,
you know.
"If you got married,
where would you like to have
your honeymoon?"
You know, "Where would you like
to get married?
Where are all the places
you want to travel?"
Different things like that, normal stuff.
And as it progressed, things got weird.
He started talking about
something called BDSM.
Gypsy: And at first, I didn't
know what it was,
so I looked it up.
And once I looked it up, I was like,
"I don't want to do this."
And then he kind of
just talked me into it
and was like, "It'll be fine,"
you know?
"Try this with me."
And so, I agreed to it.
I was taught that a woman's role
is to be submissive
and the man is dominant,
so I didn't think
it was that outlandish.
Then his ex had messaged me.
She told me, you know,
he's a really bad guy.
He thinks he's a vampire
and he's into all this
dominant/submissive stuff.
And I was thinking, it's just an ex.
You know, she's just badmouthing him.
She doesn't know anything.
She's jealous, blah, blah, blah.
She was right.
Godejohn also has a criminal past.
In 2013 he was arrested
after investigators say
he was watching pornography
and fondling himself
in a McDonald's restaurant
for nine hours,
police finding a large knife
during the arrest.
I really don't know what's
wrong with him,
but, I mean, it's not like
I ever had a boyfriend before,
so I really didn't know
what was a normal relationship.
How don't know how much
she told you about me, but...
Have you been diagnosed with that?
I probably should be diagnosed with it
because it-- it happens--
the thing is, I used to take
a medication.
I used to hear voices in my head.
Then it went away.
And then somehow it's a part of myself.
Okay.
Does Gypsy know that?
- Yes. She does know that.
- Okay.
His multiple personalities
would come out,
and he had talked to me one day
and he was just like, "You know,
I would like
my other personalities to
have a girlfriend."
So I made up some
individual personalities
to match his other personalities.
Godejohn: One side of her is named Kitty.
It's like a little girl inside of her.
We had another one called Candy.
She has an evil side of herself as well.
She used to call her Ruby.
Gypsy: It was deaf, dumb, blind love.
And sometimes, it's a big crazy love.
Dean: One of the most interesting
things about this case
is that no matter how much control
you have over an individual,
you can't stop adolescent sexuality
from blossoming.
Her whole life,
this had been a subject that was
forbidden to her,
and, ultimately,
that turned into a really
destructive force.
Gypsy: Probably about a year
into our relationship,
I just couldn't lie to him anymore.
And I just told him everything.
Why did nobody know she could walk?
Her mom wanted everyone to think
that she was, like, 16 the entire time.
So, yeah, she felt kind of trapped
on a wheelchair
when I actually was trying
to encourage her
to be able to walk
more and more and more.
Gypsy: It really didn't come up,
like, "I want you to kill her."
But he had said,
"I'll protect you from anybody."
And I said, "Anybody?"
And he said, "Yeah."
And I said, "Even my mom?"
And he said, "Yeah."
And that's where it kind of developed
from there on.
We'd call it "plan B."
But we always pushed it back.
You know, it was just a thought.
It was never reality.
We'll consider other options.
We had planned a meeting at
a movie theater.
I and my mom was going
to go see "Cinderella,"
the live-action version
of "Cinderella,"
and I was like, "This is a perfect time
for us to meet.
I'll buy your ticket, and you
come to the movie theater.
We'll meet like we're just
meeting as new friends,
and it's going to be perfect."
Godejohn: She wanted to have sex
with me, so I did.
Officer: Okay, she wanted
to have sex with you?
- Yes.
- Wow, did her mom know?
Um, we kept it from her mom.
Okay. Where did you have sex at
in the theater?
- It was in the bathroom.
- Okay.
In the girls' bathroom
or boys' bathroom?
She just took me in the boys' bathroom.
I didn't have any choice.
We went right into the boys' bathroom.
She was okay with it.
Okay, okay.
And then what happened after
you guys had sex in the theater?
We went to our movie and watched it.
They're all looking at you.
Believe me,
they are all looking at you.
I don't know what it was,
but, apparently,
the night got ruined in some way.
I couldn't--
I was trying to understand
what was going on with her mom.
She despised him.
She was like, "He's creepy.
He's weird.
He's coming to see a kids' movie
alone by himself."
And now looking back on it,
yeah, it is weird.
We were the only people at the movies,
and he didn't have a kid with him
or a girlfriend or nothing.
He's just this guy going to see
this chick movie.
Carr: Couldn't you have said
that you have a friend
and you want to introduce them?
I wouldn't have had no way
to meet him, you know?
I can't say I met him online or...
She's-- she was all the time with me,
so there would be no other time
to meet him.
Once all of those plans seemed
to fall apart,
I just got desperate.
Gypsy: He took a Greyhound bus.
I managed to scrape up enough money
to pay for him a ticket.
And the next day, we went to
the grocery store,
came back home.
She went to sleep very, very late,
and I was up texting Nick.
(voice breaking)
We painted each other's nails.
And I acted like everything was fine.
We had just recently got into
an argument,
and we had made up.
And I said I was going to be
a good girl.
And then she went to sleep
because I hurt her feelings or something.
She said, "I'm starting to
feel more relaxed.
Don't hurt me."
The last words she said to me was
"don't hurt me."
I went into the bathroom.
I got kind of in a fetal position
and I covered my ears.
And I heard my mom wake up.
And then she sounded startled.
And there was some noises
that I can't make out,
and I heard her say my name
a couple times.
And she said, "Help me."
And then there was just silence.
Carr: Did she scream?
Yeah.
Dean: This is about as clear
a premeditated murder
as I've ever seen.
It's brutal.
And I think it would be
very hard for anybody
to not have a moment
of being taken aback.
- Did you have sex with Dee Dee?
- No.
You didn't stick your penis
anywhere on her?
- Nope.
- Are you sure?
- Yep.
- Positive?
- I'm 100% positive.
- Okay.
Did you stick your penis in her mouth?
- Nope.
- Okay.
Did your penis touch anywhere on
Dee Dee's body?
- Nope.
- Okay.
Did your mouth touch anywhere on
Dee Dee's body?
- My mouth? No.
- Okay.
- You didn't kiss her or...
- Nope.
- ...lick her or anything like that?
- Nope.
Okay. What do you think about people
that have sex with dead bodies?
I mean, it's quite disturbing, honestly.
Okay, that's-- that would bother you?
Yeah. I don't like necrophilia.
Okay, because I think one of the things
that she might have said
was that you had mentioned
that you'd like to rape her mom.
- Yeah, at one point, I was
thinking about it.
- Okay.
He had wanted to rape my mother.
That's what he wanted to do.
He was like, "I'm going to kill her,
but I'm going to do it my way,
and I'm going to rape her."
So what I did was I made
a deal with him.
I'd let him rape me, and--
and then he wouldn't--
he wouldn't do that to my mom.
- So you guys have sex.
- Yes.
And what kind of sex?
What is sex like to you?
Well, to me, the kind of sex
that it was
was pretty much kind of con-- consensual?
Is that the word I'm looking for?
Officer: Like, are you biting her?
Are you punching her?
Godejohn: No, no, I would never
lay my hands on her.
I didn't even bite her at all, actually.
Not for a long time, that is.
The very first time, she whispered
in my ear
that that was a turn-on of hers,
is biting.
- I bit her twice.
- Okay.
The first time I can't remember.
The second time I remember,
because I bit her a lot harder.
However, she seemed to still enjoy it
even though it was really hard.
Gypsy: Technically, once we got
to that point,
I screamed for him to stop,
and he didn't.
So I don't consider it to be consensual.
Okay, all right.
Is there a reason you
didn't feel pleasure?
I don't know. It's really hard to say.
I did make her have an orgasm once.
- Okay.
- And then after that, I--
she might've blew me a bit.
And then after that, I think we stopped
because we realized
there was a lot of packing
and stuff to do.
Okay, so you guys get everything packed.
She wipes down the fingerprints.
And then what do you guys do?
We get in a taxi and
we get to the hotel.
Hi, honey.
I'm filming.
He's eating a brownie!
Gypsy: But later, he will be eating me!
I loved Nick very much at that time,
and being with him felt exciting
because I was with someone I loved
and someone I thought cared for me.
We took a Greyhound bus
back to Wisconsin.
My mind wasn't thinking back
to what was at my house.
I just kept thinking,
"I'm free, I'm free,"
and that excitement of being
free and walking.
I always reference myself to this
little bluebird
that was trapped in an invisible cage,
and I felt like this bluebird was
set free.
Did you guys talk about your future?
What was your plans for your future?
We wanted to have a family together,
and we wanted to build
a life together and stuff.
We thought we really had
a chance to do it,
so we were happy about that.
Does your mom and stepdad
know what you did?
No, they don't.
And this is the first time
they ever met Gypsy?
Yeah. In person, yes.
Okay, and they agreed
to let her live there?
- Yep.
- Okay.
Officer:
What did you do think about Gypsy?
You know, it was weird
because when I picked them up
from the bus station, I even asked her,
"How's your mom doing?
How is your..."
'Cause I was told she was
in a homeless shelter.
Her mom kicked her out.
So I asked her how her mom was doing.
This might have been the first thing
I asked her.
No big deal, They acted like nothing.
What was your impression?
Did you feel like there was
anything wrong?
- Did you feel like everything was good?
- Everything seemed normal.
The only thing that freaked me out
is she was wearing a wig.
Okay.
Hancock: Did you remember getting
in the mail
an envelope or anything addressed to
Nick or Gypsy or anything like that?
There was one that just came in--
hmm-- Saturday?
I have no idea what was in it.
Hancock: That was my next question.
- Charles: I don't go through mail.
- Okay.
Charles: Maybe I should have.
- That was the night that he had
stabbed her to death.
- What?
They mailed it from their house there
to your house.
- Are you serious?
- Yes, ma'am.
- Oh, my God.
- And that was located in your house.
Stephanie: My God.
Officer: I think there was a little--
around $4,000-5,000 of cash
that they had stolen from her mom.
Stephanie: My God.
Did you see the Facebook post
where it says--
- No.
- Okay, that's right.
On Dee and Gypsy's Facebook post
that they share,
there are some horrible messages
that were posted on there
that said, like--
I believe, like, they slashed her--
like, "I slashed her. I killed her.
And then I raped the girl,
and the girl's dead, too."
Well, those all were
actually posted by Gypsy.
Dr. Feldman: Startlingly with Gypsy,
who went online
to announce, you know,
"That bitch is dead,"
and to go even further
and describe a scenario
where she was raped
is just perverse.
It implies a fair degree
of sociopathy.
Just the way the girl acted--
I mean, how can you
do something to your mother
and lose your mother,
and just act like that?
I was like-- I'm just trying to wrap
my head around it.
I mean, they acted like
two normal people.
- Yeah.
- That's what's really freaky.
Yeah.
How can you do that?
Bobby: Gypsy might have been
the mastermind herself.
I think it's most anybody's instinct to,
"Oh, shit, you murdered your mother,"
you know?
Watch that girl.
Don't turn your back.
You she might stab you.
Dean: I do think Gypsy
is potentially dangerous.
Dee Dee was a master manipulator,
and it's impossible that Gypsy would not
have picked this up and used it.
- Yeah.
- You know?
I know. I mean, that's the way
it works, though,
when you have what he has.
Your mind focuses on one thing.
Do you know what I mean?
Yes, ma'am.
Do you think that if Gypsy hadn't asked
you to kill her mom,
you'd have ever killed her mom?
I know I wouldn't have done it.
Okay. You just did it because
you loved Gypsy
and Gypsy asked you to do it.
Is that what I'm thinking?
- Yes.
- Okay.
For him to ruin his life over that,
I'm sorry, but she's a beast.
Yeah.
She now doesn't have a language
beyond manipulation and retaliation.
I mean, is she taking any sort of--
you know, is she like,
"Well, okay, it was me, too,"
or is she to trying to put it
all on Nick?
She...
takes some responsibility,
but not much.
Not much at all.
- Did you kill your mom?
- No. No, sir.
- Did you help?
- No, sir.
- No one else killed your mom?
- No, sir.
No, sir.
Did you have knowledge that Nicholas
was going to kill your mom
before he did it?
No, sir.
Okay. Sit tight for me, okay?
It's okay.
I wonder if people feel that Gypsy
is telling them the truth now.
Female voice: Hello, you have
a call from...
Gypsy: Gypsy Rose.
She was still in Wisconsin
when she called me.
Kristy on phone: Hey, my sweetie.
Gypsy: Hi! Is this Kristy?
Kristy: Yes, baby.
Gypsy: Hi! Oh, my God.
It's so good to hear your voice.
At that time, she still wasn't trusting,
really, anyone.
She was still not telling
Mike everything.
Gypsy: I'm innocent.
It's a complicated situation,
but what they say on the news
is not true.
Then we went in the courtroom,
and that's when they showed
all the text messaging.
And when they said they were
presenting that,
she turned around and looked at us
with fear in her eyes.
I guess she didn't think
that they were going to pull
all of those messages up.
Carr:
Yeah, I did.
They didn't get caught red-handed,
but they got caught red-handed.
You know, they have a lot of evidence.
They have the murder weapon,
texts, videos.
I mean, no doubt they did it or
planned it and everything,
so it was just a matter
of why they did it,
you know, and is that reasonable?
Carr: Are you happy that your mom
is not here to abuse you anymore?
Yeah.
But at the same time,
I'm not happy that she's dead.
You know, I didn't want that.
I know it sounds strange to
plan something
and go through the steps
to make it happen,
and then-- but at the same time
not want it to happen.
One of the problems with the legal system
is that it demands that people
have this one intention
and this one moment in time
and be certain about it,
and I'm not sure that
that really happens.
And especially in this case,
I'm not sure that it happens.
It's possible that Gypsy had
ultimately ambivalent feelings
about killing her mother.
I wonder what she was thinking
in the other room
listening to her mother
screaming sometimes.
I didn't think anything.
I was scared.
I was shaking.
I just-- I didn't have a thought
in my brain.
It was like it was all not real.
I was on a bunch of medications,
and I know that's no excuse,
but on Xanax, I felt like
I had no emotion
and I wasn't thinking right.
Munchausen by proxy victims
can lose contact
with reality at times,
and that may be part of the defence
in Gypsy's case.
She may have trouble distinguishing
what's real and what isn't.
Is sickness real or is it fake?
Is death real, or is it exaggerated
or fake?
So, I think she had limited capacity
for reality testing,
which just means seeing
what's normal behavior
and what's really strange behavior.
Stanfield: Gypsy grew up in essentially
an alternate reality
to what the rest of us live.
By her mother isolating her
from the outside world,
she doesn't know or understand
what normal really is.
Hi.
Gypsy: In so many ways,
I don't know what's right, what's wrong,
but to say that, yes, I did this.
I'm sorry for it.
I feel bad for it.
It just feels good to be honest.
Gypsy: The only thing that
I could've done differently
that I know better now is reach out
to my dad,
told my dad.
And he could have came and got me,
and I would've went and lived with him.
Rod: There's a McDonald's right here
where I'd visit with Gypsy.
At that time, she was real young.
I remember one visit...
she was so scared of me, man.
She was shaking.
I don't know what Dee Dee
told her about me,
but I probably was the big bad wolf
or something, you know?
Gypsy must have been so confused,
you know?
She was probably telling her
the day before
that, you know, I don't love her
and all this stuff,
and then here she is visiting with me
and telling her,
"Look, that's your daddy.
Give him a hug," you know?
That's old history now, so we're
just going to try to build
a real father-daughter
intimate relationship,
you know, like we should have.
It's hard.
Thinking what she had to go through
and that she didn't have
to go through all that.
- Woman: See this?
- Look at that.
She would probably have been
a perfectly fine kid
had it not been her mom was Dee Dee.
Okay, y'all want to get
the table ready or what?
- Women: Yes.
- We're going to eat off the trays?
Claude: She could've had a normal life.
I hope she gets out, and
I don't know what--
what she's going to do when she gets out.
She was punished enough
to where they should let her go free.
That's the way I feel.
'Cause that child's--
she's been through a lot.
Kristy: Look at her.
- Woman: Is that Gypsy?
- Yeah, when she was normal.
I blame myself now for not doing more.
I mean, it is what it is.
I'm not a "blame yourself" type of guy,
but who else is there to look at,
you know?
Okay.
This is-- sorry.
I didn't realize they were going to
bring you out immediately.
This is the new charge--
class-A felony
of murder in the second degree,
and then acting in concert with another
who knowingly caused the death
of your mother
by stabbing her, okay?
This is in the case of State of Missouri
v. Gypsy Rose Blanchard.
Please raise your right hand.
Do you swear and affirm
that the testimony
you're about to give will be the truth,
the whole truth,
and nothing but the truth?
Yes, sir.
Would you state your name
for the record, please?
- Gypsy Blanchard.
- And how old are you?
I'm going to be 25 years old, but 24.
Okay. And how far did you go in school?
About the second grade.
How do you plead to the class-A felony
of murder in the second degree?
- Guilty.
- The court finds that there is
a factual basis for a plea of guilty.
The court accepts defendant's
plea of guilty
and finds the defendant guilty thereof
beyond a reasonable doubt.
She's to be sentenced to 10 years
in the Missouri Department of Corrections.
She'll have to do 85% of her sentence
before she's eligible for parole.
Let's go off the record.
There you are.
Patterson: This case is unusual
and extraordinary.
Gypsy Blanchard endured
nearly two decades
of systematic, purposeful abuse
at the hands of her mother
for the purpose of fraud.
And so, by amending to murder
in the second degree,
we were able to both hold
Gypsy Blanchard accountable
for the murder,
which was not justified
nor excusable,
but yet account for
those mitigating circumstances.
All of us involved are--
it's a relief.
You know, at the very beginning of this,
there was the question of
the death penalty on the table.
Ultimately, it's the best
outcome for her.
It's the best outcome
for the State of Missouri
and ultimately the right thing
to do for everybody.
That one's in this pocket.
Ooh.
I mean, it's a murder.
There's nothing we can do about that,
so, you know, that has to be dealt with.
But ultimately, when you look at the fact
that at the end of that 8 1/2 years,
when she's already done a year of that,
she'll be 32 years old.
She'll be three years younger
than I am right now.
So, I mean, she will actually be able
to enjoy just the world.
Carr: Do you think 10 years in jail
is better
than 10 years of living
the way that you had to live?
Yes, it is.
I need to start over like I'm newly born.
- Honey?
- Yeah.
- Green?
- Yeah.
White or green?
No, no, no, no, no.
It's my favorite hat.
No, other hat.
Kristy: I'm holding on to that girl.
You know, it's going to be
very emotional.
Yeah, you're a big crybaby.
You're probably gonna cry, too.
And then when you're gonna cry,
I'm going to cry
because you're crying,
because it's hard to see grown men cry.
I don't cry.
Bullshit.
You cry.
- Hello.
- Daddy.
Oh...
I've missed you.
- You're so big.
- I know!
I'm almost as tall as you.
So how's everything going
with you health-wise?
- You good? You feel good?
- It's going good, yeah.
You've been exercising
and everything?
I've been going to the rec yard,
been exercising.
That's good.
My tube site is finally all healed.
It's gone?
That's good.
Looks great.
Looks good.
All healed up, so...
Every once in a while,
I get a little pain,
but I think it's just
phantom pain or something.
Yeah.
So, are you glad that it's--
I'm happy that it's over.
Yeah. We was-- honestly,
we was hoping for less.
I mean, I know it was your decision
and everything.
- That's a gamble you take.
I mean--
- Yeah.
I look at it like
you could've got 30 years.
I look at it that I could've got
life in prison, you know?
I was hitting a really down point,
and it was before--
before the plea agreement,
before I knew anything about it.
I was thinking if I get life in prison
and that is what I get,
I'm committing suicide
right now, you know?
I was seriously considering it.
- Well, baby--
- 'Cause I'm like, it could just be over.
I just want to make sure
you know that
if I had done anything wrong,
I'm sorry, baby.
No, I don't think
you did anything wrong.
I think it's just Mom was very good
at what she was doing,
and I think you just
was completely in the dark.
And I don't-- I want you to know
I don't blame you for any of it,
either of you.
- Thank you.
- I take blame on myself.
And I blame other people,
but I never once blamed y'all.
Don't blame yourself, sweetie.
We blame-- I hold enough
for myself, you know?
Accountability, it's--
but, I mean, we're not
gonna dwell on that.
- No.
- No.
We're gonna go forward,
and when you get out..
- We'll heal together.
- ...you're still gonna be young.
We can have a great relationship.
Look, God pulled you through it.
- Rod: Yeah.
- You know?
The devil don't got you, baby.
God got you.
- Gypsy: Yeah.
- And we got you.
Give me a hug.
Hang in there, baby.
You need anything, call any time, okay?
Oh, she knows.
We'll come see you again
over there, wherever.
Just hang tight. Stay strong.
- We love you.
- I love you, too.
I don't want to go.
I don't want to go.
I don't want to go.
It's okay, baby.
You can do it, okay?
Just stay strong.
You got this far, okay?
The rest is gonna be easier.
- Okay. Okay.
- Okay?
You guys have a safe trip back.
- Don't get in no trouble.
- I won't.
- Be good.
- I'll be a good girl.
- Follow the rules.
- I will.
Bye.
- Set a good example.
- I will.
We were very happy
Well, at least I thought we were
Can't somebody tell me
what's got into her?
A house, a home, a family
And a man
that loves her so
Oh, say, has anybody seen
My sweet Gypsy Rose?
Here's her picture
when she was my sweet Mary Jo
Now she's got rings
on her fingers
And bells on her toes
Say, has anybody seen
my sweet Gypsy Rose?
Oh, I got wind
my Jo's been dancin'
Here in New Orleans
In this smoke-filled honky-tonk
They call the Land of Dreams
Whoa, here she comes a-struttin'
In her birthday clothes
Say, has anybody seen
my sweet Gypsy Rose?
Sweet Gypsy Rose
Sweet Gypsy Rose
So take those rings
off your fingers
And bells off your toes
Say, has anybody seen my
Now you know just what I mean by
Has anybody seen my Gypsy Rose?