Gypsy Rose Blanchard to Be Released from Prison Next Week for Vicious Murder of Controlling Mom

I feared her more than I feared anyone else it's a case that left the nation in shock and awe when Gypsy Rose Blanchard once believed to be a paraplegic cancer patient orchestrated the brutal murder of her mother and caregiver who initially brought up killing your mother I did the case raised questions of morality and ethics when Gypsy alleged mental and physical abuse at the hands of her mother who she said fabricated I's illnesses for years I always knew that I didn't need the wheelchair and how did you know that cuz I could walk almost a decade after the murder of DD Blanchard her daughter is now set to be released from prison I think is going to be a very difficult transition coming out into the real world and having to live life independently we're taking a look at the case so far and what's next for the high-profile defendant as she makes her way into life on the outside it's shocking for anyone honestly we're the prison system is setting up a lot of people for failure uh a majority of people end up just getting back into prison simply because they can't meet the criteria for parole right they can't they find it difficult to get a job they find it difficult for housing family members if any even exist probably have ostracized them because of whatever the crime was I mean it's very difficult for these individuals to come out of incarceration and then find success it's it's very very rare according to forensic psychologist Dr John delator the transition to life outside of prison is jarring for anyone but maybe even more tricky for Gypsy and in this case I think another layer is added to it because it's a very well-known defendant in a high-profile case does that make things even more complicated it can it depends on the high-profile nature so some individuals can and kind of Coast on it right maybe the crime is so salacious that you know people just want to be in the arena right in the area of that person but others like this one I think is going to be a very difficult transition coming out into the real world and having to live life independently the high-profile aspect of the case set aside the details of gypsy's story create another variable in her post prison life and recover Y what illnesses did you believe you had cancer muscular distrophy I needed glasses I needed hearing aids seizure disorder I can't remember what else and when did you figure out that you weren't actually sick I started to piece things together when I was about 19 years old then I didn't understand the full extent of how healthy I was until after I got arrested gypsy's case put the terms Munch housin and Munch housin by proxy into the everyday Zeitgeist when after years of living with what she believed were real illnesses Gypsy realized her mother created a wildly false narrative Munch housings uh and Munch houss by Pro are kind of antiquated names for what we could what psychologists call a conversion disorder essentially when we take Munch housings the person believes themselves to have some kind of illness and so they'll do things to make themselves ill in a way to get attention or to get accolades or to get something right there's some external Source Munch Housen by proxy is when the individual puts that sickness puts that illness on someone else that's the by proxy part so it's not Gypsy that has Munch housings it's her mother that has Munch housings right that's the conversion disorder and so when it's by proxy though the individual doesn't know any better they don't know that they're not sick or maybe as they grow up they end up realizing that they're not but the caregiver has purposefully done things to make them sick has injured the person purposefully to make them sick in order to get the attention that they crave according to testimony from Gypsy herself her mother Claudine DD Blanchard used medications to create symptoms in her daughter then she told others that Gypsy suffered from multiple illnesses including cancer muscular distrophy and paralysis DD maintained Gypsy had the capacity of a seven-year-old and forced her daughter to use a wheelchair for more than a decade why were you in a wheelchair and in in June of 2015 because my mother forced me to be in one do you know why you were forced to be in a wheelchair no sir she just forced me to be in one and how long at had you been in a wheelchair as of June of 2015 since probably I was about 8 years old was there a time between when you first were put in a wheelchair and June of 2015 that you figured out that you really didn't need to be in a wheelchair yes when was that I always knew that I didn't e the wheelchair and how did you know that cuz I could walk Gypsy alleged her mother used these fake illnesses as a financial fraud scheme did you and your mother obtain any kind of Advantage by you being in a wheelchair yes sir what kind of Advantage did you obtain Financial um attention charity financially mean money yes sir did you obtain money as a result of you being in a wheelchair yes sir how did that work out uh I asked you why you attained an advantage for being in wheelchair and you said people gave you money and then I I think my next question is why did they give you money because they felt sorry for me they believed the LIE they the fraud as Gypsy got older she branched out using online dating websites to connect with people virtually that's where she met Nicholas Goa John the man who would go on to murder her mother how did you meet him on an online Christian dating website do you remember the name of that site Christian dating forfree.com how old were you when you met ni about 21 in June of 2015 what did you consider your relationship to Nick to be what kind of relationship we were boyfriend girlfriend and when did you become boyfriend and girlfriend in October 2012 when did you first meet Nick in person March um 2015 so between October of 2012 and March of 2015 you hadn't actually met Nick in person that is correct how did you how how what type of relationship did you have during that period of Time online relationship and by online what do you mean strictly communicating through Facebook any other ways other than Facebook um instant text messaging emails during go to John's 2017 trial Gypsy told jurors the relationship was Kept Secret for fear of her control cring mother finding out prior to March of 15 when you indicated you met Mr go John for the first time in person had your mother met him no sir did she know he existed no sir why is it she didn't know because it was a secret relationship and my mother would never allow me to have a boyfriend why not because she controlled every aspect of my life did you and Nick ever talk about the fact that you were not allowed to date yes how many times do you think I don't remember did you and your mother ever have any discussions about whether you were ever going to be able to date yes sir did you and Nick talk about that we may have what did your mother say about your ability to date going forward she said that it would never happen that she would never allow it what about Mary marage did you and Nick ever talk about marriage yes did you and your mother ever discuss whether or not you'd be able to get married someday yes what did she tell you she said that she wouldn't allow it but when Dee did find out about the relationship she reacted harshly she took me back home she smashed my computer and my cell phone she chain me to a bed for two weeks as Gypsy testified it was that kind of reaction that kept her from revealing the truth about her fake illnesses why did you not tell doctors that you knew you could walk or you didn't believe yourself to be ill during the time that you were doing this I didn't think that anyone would believe me I thought they would eventually tell my mom and that would make my home life even worse for me I feared her more than I feared anyone else instead she turned to a more drastic approach I was growing in increasingly desperate to get out of my home life did you tell Nick that yes and what was your mom doing that caused you to be more desperate things were getting physically and more physically abusive the hitting was more the starving was more now you mentioned you were in a wheelchair uh were you to act any certain way when you're in a wheelchair yes sir how was that she would have me stay very quiet and pretend like I couldn't walk who initially brought up killing your mother I did why not just tell somebody rather than kill your mother why was that not an option I truly didn't believe that nobody would believe me if I told anyone my mother had legal documents and placeing that I was incompetent and I thought that meant that if I went to anyone the police or told anyone she would just have them condensed that I was making the everything up who talked to into killing your mother I did I talked him into it in June of 2015 Goa John traveled from his home in Wisconsin to Blanchard's Springfield Missouri home he stabbed Dee to death as Gypsy listened in from the bathroom you could hear your mom correct yes sir okay and you heard her scream yes sir and and she screamed your name yes sir why didn't you kill your mother I didn't believe I could do it could you explain what you mean by that I don't like blood I don't like the side of blood frankly I'm too sish so I just honestly didn't believe I can do it on my own Days Later investigators tracked down both Gypsy and Goa John to Wisconsin where they were taken into custody Goa John was eventually tried and convicted of first-degree murder in 2018 this month his defense team filed an appeal for a new trial citing ineffective councel during his first goar around right now he's serving out his life in prison sentence without possibility of parole Gypsy though took a plea deal resulting in a 10-year sentence this year she was granted parole after serving eight years in some of the interviews I've seen from Gypsy since she's been arrested and now Behind Bars she says that she feels more free in prison than she did the life prior to that living with her mother so how do you think she'll grow accustomed to a newfound Freedom when she is released life without her mother freedom is a double-edged sword right cuz it's a weird statement to say that she feels more freedom while in custody but the reality is is that that freedom that she's feeling is not being oppressed and not being abused by her mother she's able to live the life that she wants to live under certain circumstances now you take those certain circumstances away and now all you have is uncertainty and someone who hasn't lived an independent life may find the idea of uncertainty very difficult to actually live with and you touched on Independent life which kind of brings me to my next question here while she was incarcerated Gypsy got married back in 2022 but based on her prior Life as we know it in prison and before that she's never really had a conventional romantic relationship in the way of going on dates or long-term dating living with a significant other so what would that drastic change be like she won't be completely independent likely living with her husband yeah it's it's hard to say because we don't don't really know the type of relationship that they actually have yes they're married but does she even know what marriage actually means does she have a marriage relationship or a marriage type relationship that any one of us would see as being conventional or even unconventional just anything that would make kind of logical sense in terms of intimacy there's no guarantee that any of that is there and just could actually be another source of exploitation either from Gypsy or towards the husband but gypsy will have more to overcome than just the memory of her mother's murder prison time set aside the crime itself set aside of murder how does someone like Gypsy recover from that believing for many years that they are sick and then coming to the realization that they were healthy the entire time it's a hard thing because it the it it boils down to the Betrayal that they feel as a result of their primary caregiver in this case the mother the primary caregiver doing these kinds of things intentionally to hurt her it's going to take years upon years of working through all the different layers of betrayal of love and hate and all the different mixed emotions that you would have as a result of it being your mother working through all of those kinds of things to actually learn how to trust again which may not actually be possible I mean it can be but for some people it's it's going to be a real struggle how will she learn to trust people going forward now that she's being released I wouldn't be surprised if she ever did now the the the other thing that we need to to understand is that she also manipulated someone into engaging in a murder so let the the idea that she's somehow this person who doesn't understand what's going on in in the world is that's not true she clearly does she knows right from wrong I think what we're really kind of focusing on though is the transition because she she had a villain in her life in her mother and she was able to kind of focus her energies and Fus Focus the the skills that she did have into overcoming that villain she doesn't have that anymore now she has to live her life totally completely independently and free from you know the abuses that she suffered from before if she's not able to do that she may find herself back in prison Gypsy has been outspoken since her arrest giving multiple interviews from behind bars including several that led to the book released conversations on the eve of Freedom delator says this will likely continue I think she has to I think and for her I think the transition is going to require being in the media Spotlight because it's a it's a behavior it's a condition it's a situation that she understands because of the the notoriety of the case from so many years ago but it's real world connections that will be gypsy's ultimate test people want to connect to other people right just on it just on just generally people want to make those kinds of connections and I think we have to really caution ourselves into understanding what the level of betrayal she actually feels is and how far does it extend I mean certainly extends as far to her mother but maybe she doesn't maybe she's just as trusting with other people which is why she's able to get married right maybe she is just as trusting as anybody else would be and so in that case she wouldn't find it all that difficult I think this first couple of years in particular this first year if she's able to settle down she's able to get a job she's able to get her housing in order she's able to to kind of maybe live a life under the radar despite the media scrutiny that she's clearly going to have if she's able to kind of live as normal of a life as possible for someone like her I think she stands a real chance of actually building on that and maybe potentially being a productive member of society if she's not able to do that and we're going to see this in the first year she's not able to do that I think she's going to have a real difficult time and may find herself Behind Bars again Gypsy is set to be released from Missouri's chill Coffee Correctional Center on December 28th we've reached out to her for comments about the transition to life outside of prison but so far haven't heard back reporting for long crime Network I'm Sierra Gillespie

Channel: Law&Crime Network

Views: 149,024

Keywords: law and crime, law and crime network

Id: 3rqW_wtUGnY

Length: 18min 18sec (1098 seconds)

Published: Fri Dec 22 2023