Who Is Nicholas Godejohn, The Man Who Stabbed Gypsy Rose’s Mother?

Gypsy Rose Blanchard's crime instantly garnered national attention after her shocking story came to light: She was sent to prison after she enlisted her online boyfriend, Nicholas Godejohn, to kill her mom in 2015. And while a daughter killing her mother is disturbing enough, Gypsy Rose's reason for the murder was even more so: Clauddine "Dee Dee" Blanchard allegedly forced her daughter to pretend she had leukemia, muscular dystrophy, and other ailments in a suspected case of Munchausen by proxy.

“The Act,” a true-crime anthology series on Hulu, based its first season off the story, zeroing in on Dee Dee's abuse of Gypsy: allegedly forcing her to shave her head, remain in a wheelchair, get feeding tubes, and receive unnecessary surgery. When people talk about the case, it is what people typically focus on — the nightmarish dynamic between mother and daughter. But what about the person actually responsible for the violent act? Who exactly is Godejohn, the man who took a bus down from Wisconsin to kill his online girlfriend’s mother?

Masturbation at McDonald's

Godejohn's first run-in with the law actually happened a few years earlier. He was allegedly caught watching pornography in a McDonald's in 2013, reportedly for a whopping nine hours, according to Patch in Waukesha County, Wisconsin. Customers complained that he was fondling himself during the lengthy porn-watching session, although Godejohn claimed he was just scratching himself.

Police also allegedly found a large folding knife on him during that arrest.

Want to know more about the Gypsy Rose Blanchard case? Watch a special episode of "Killer Couples," available now on Oxygen.com.

Mind of a child

Godejohn's mental state might be key to understanding why he assisted Gypsy in murder. Psychologist Kent Franks testified at a 2016 hearing that Godejohn has more the mind of a child than an adult, according to a 2016 report by KY3 in Springfield, Missouri. He said that after two mental evaluations on Godejohn, he determined that the killer is on the autism spectrum with an IQ of 82 and the functionality equivalent to that of a 10-year-old.

Franks also testified that Godejohn believed he was doing the right thing by stabbing Gypsy’s mother to death and he believed he could rescue his girlfriend.

He didn’t supply the murder weapon

Gypsy did. She stole the knife from Walmart and gave it to Godejohn, who she met on ChristianDatingForFree.com in 2012, according to BuzzFeed News.

He said he had an “evil side”

Texts shown in court during Godejohn’s trial revealed how he and Gypsy would often chat under different identities. For example, one of Gypsy’s characters was “Kitty the little girl,” according to Rolling Stone. While Gypsy chose the name “Ruby” when discussing dark topics, Godejohn was just his "evil side," according to the Springfield News-Leader. He once texted that his darker side "enjoys killing."

In “The Act,” which did fictionalize some aspects of the case, his “evil side” manifested in an alter ego of sorts he created: a character named Victor.

He referred to himself as a “hired hit man”

"She was basically the mastermind behind it all [and] I was basically a hired hit man in its own weird sense," Godejohn, now nearly 30, told “20/20” in a 2018 interview.  “I loved Gypsy to the point where I would ... do anything for her. I've proven that with what I did.”

However, he went on to say that he felt abandoned by his former girlfriend.

“Unfortunately, because of how far I went, I feel as if she's betrayed me,” he admitted.

He was into BDSM

Godejohn was into BDSM, which encompasses a variety of typically sexual practices and role-playing with bondage, discipline, dominance, submission, and sadomasochism. The couple would engage in role-playing over texts revealed during Godejohn’s trial, according to WDAF-TV in Kansas City.

He wanted sex after the murder

After killing Dee Dee, Godejohn allegedly considered raping Dee Dee, according to the HBO documentary “Mommy Dead and Dearest.”

“At one point, I was thinking about it,” he said in a recorded confession, played in that documentary.

Gypsy said in the same doc that, “he had wanted to rape my mother. [...] So, what I did was make a deal with him. I’d let him rape me and then he wouldn’t do that to my mom.”

Both admitted to having sex after Dee Dee’s stabbing. For Godejohn, he said it was consensual, but Gypsy said she she doesn’t agree. She claims she yelled at him to stop and he didn’t.

Police have never charged Godejohn with rape.

He will spend the rest of his life behind bars

While Gypsy is expected to be out of prison in her early 30s, Godejohn was sentenced earlier this year to life behind bars without the possibility of parole.