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Murder Trial Begins In ‘Mommy Dead And Dearest’ Case In Which Woman Lied For Years About Daughter Being Disabled
Clauddine Blanchard falsely claimed her daughter Gypsy suffered from a host of ailments, subjecting her to unnecessary surgery and treatments. The truth finally came out after she was stabbed to death in 2015.
A tragic family drama involving deception, manipulation and ultimately murder is again the centerpiece of a court case.
Nicholas Godejohn, 29, is facing first-degree murder charges in the 2015 stabbing death of 48-year-old Clauddine "Dee Dee" Blanchard, who for years pretended her daughter, Gypsy Blanchard, was disabled and forced her to undergo unnecessary medical treatments.
Gypsy is currently serving a 10-year prison sentenced for her role as the mastermind in her mother's murder. Clauddine Blanchard was found dead in her Missouri home on June 14, 2015, face down on her mattress in a puddle of blood. Godejohn, Gypsy’s boyfriend, is accused of carrying out the attack.
The case was the subject of the HBO documentary “Mommy Dead And Dearest.”
It's suspected that Clauddine Blanchard had Munchausen by proxy, a condition wherein a caregiver fabricates health problems of the person they are caring for with the intent to gain sympathy and attention. Clauddine Blanchard had been lying about her daughter’s ailments since she was a baby, fabricating a reality in which she couldn't walk and required a wheelchair, subjecting her unnecessary surgery and medications and falsely claiming she suffered from leukemia, muscular dystrophy, and mental retardation, amongst other ailments. In addition to sympathy, Clauddine Blanchard garnered donations, free trips and even a house.
The investigation of Clauddine Blanchard's murder exposed the lies about Gypsy Blanchard’s condition and revealed that she was very much a hostage of her mother’s deception.
While attorneys for Godejohn, who met Gypsy through a Christian dating website, admit he did the stabbing, they say he has autism and was manipulated into the killing, the Springfield News-Leader reports.
Prosecutors argue Godejohn killed Clauddine Blanchard not to save Gypsy from her mother's physical and psychological abuse, but to get her out of the way so he could romantically pursue her daughter.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
[Photo: Associated Press]
