Dee Dee Blanchard

On June 14, 2015, sheriff's deputies in Greene County, Missouri, United States, found the body of Clauddine (née Pitre; born May 3, 1967, in Chackbay, Louisiana) face down in the bedroom of her house just outside Springfield,[3] lying on the bed in a pool of blood from stab wounds inflicted several days earlier. There was no sign of her daughter, Gypsy-Rose, 23, who, according to Blanchard, had chronic conditions including leukemia, asthma, and muscular dystrophy and who had the "mental capacity of a seven-year-old due to brain damage" as the result of premature birth.
Murder Victim. Her life took a tragic turn when she was found dead on June 14, 2015, in her house in Greene County, Missouri. She was discovered face down in a pool of blood from stab wounds, several days after the incident occurred. Her daughter, Gypsy Rose Blanchard, initially thought to be missing due to her chronic health conditions, was later found in Wisconsin with her boyfriend, Nicholas Godejohn. However, investigations revealed shocking truths about the Blanchards' lives. It emerged that Gypsy Rose, despite her mother's claims, did not have the multitude of illnesses she was purported to have. Dee Dee had fabricated Gypsy Rose's medical conditions, manipulated her daughter into unnecessary medical treatments and surgeries, controlled her through abuse, and made her pretend to be disabled. Dee Dee had a history of deceitful behavior and manipulated others, including doctors, charities, and the community, into believing her daughter's fabricated illnesses. She used various means, including changing identities and falsifying documents, to perpetuate the deception. The case gained widespread attention due to the revelation of the abuse Gypsy Rose endured. Gypsy Rose pleaded guilty to second-degree murder and served eight years of a ten-year sentence. She was granted parole in September 2023 and released from prison on December 28, 2023. Nicholas Godejohn, convicted of first-degree murder for his role in the killing, was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole. The case drew significant media coverage and has been depicted in various documentaries, TV shows, and films, shedding light on the complex and tragic circumstances surrounding the Blanchard family.

Ashes were flushed down the toilet by her own father.

• Murder Victim*

Late on the night of June 14, 2015, deputy sheriffs in Greene County, Missouri, United States, found the body of Dee Dee Blanchard (born May 3, 1967, Chackbay, Louisiana, as Clauddine, sometimes spelled Clauddinea, Pitre) facedown in the bedroom of her house just outside Springfield, lying on the bed in a pool of blood from the stab wounds inflicted several days earlier. There was no sign of her daughter Gypsy Rose, who according to Blanchard suffered from leukemia, asthma, muscular dystrophy, and several other chronic conditions and had the mental capacity of a 7-year-old due to brain damage she suffered as a result of her premature birth.

The Blanchards' neighbors, who notified the police after growing concerned about Facebook posts earlier in the evening, suggested that Dee Dee may have fallen victim to foul play. They were also fearful that Gypsy Rose, whose wheelchair and medications were still in the house, might have been abducted and in serious danger. Police found Gypsy Rose the next day in Wisconsin, where she had traveled with Nicholas Godejohn, a boyfriend she had met online. She was alive and well, but "things are not always as they appear" the Greene County sheriff said the next morning. Public outrage that someone might have had taken advantage of a severely disabled girl to kill her mother gave way to shock, and some sympathy, for Gypsy Rose when investigators announced that the younger woman was actually an adult and had none of the physical or mental health issues her mother had claimed that she had.

Further investigation found that some of the doctors who had examined Gypsy Rose, both locally and in the New Orleans area, where she and her mother had lived before allegedly being displaced by Hurricane Katrina in 2005, had found no evidence of the claimed disorders. In one case professionals suspected Munchausen syndrome by proxy (a mental disorder where a parent or other caretaker exaggerates, fabricates, or induces illness in a person under their care to obtain sympathy or attention). Dee Dee had changed her name slightly after her family confronted her about how she treated Gypsy Rose and suspected her of poisoning her stepmother. Nonetheless, many people accepted her situation as true, and the two benefited from the efforts of charities such as Habitat for Humanity, Ronald McDonald House, and the Make-A-Wish Foundation.

Dee Dee, who reportedly had Munchausen syndrome by proxy, had been making her daughter pass herself off as younger and pretend to be disabled and chronically ill, in the process subjecting her to unnecessary surgery and medication, and controlling her through occasional physical and psychological abuse. Munchausen expert Marc Feldman says that this is the first such case in his quarter-century of experience of an abused child killing the parent. Gypsy Rose pleaded guilty to second-degree murder and is serving a 10-year sentence; after a brief trial in November 2018 Godejohn was convicted of first-degree murder

• Reference: Find A Grave Memorial - SmartCopy: Mar 3 2022, 6:18:37 UTC
• Reference: Find A Grave Memorial - SmartCopy: Jan 9 2024, 15:49:28 UTC