Gypsy Rose Blancharde, born in 1991, was starved and medically abused by her mother, Clauddine ‘Dee Dee’ Blanchard (aka Clauddinnea Blancharde), who is believed to have had Munchausen by proxy syndrome. Gypsy was homeschooled.

Blanchard kept Gypsy’s head shaved to make her appear sick. She forced Gypsy to take seizure medications which made her teeth fall out. She kept her confined to a wheelchair and allowed her to eat only through a feeding tube for several years. Blanchard subjected Gypsy to several unnecessary surgeries, such as having her eye muscles operated on, tubes inserted in her ears, and her salivary glands removed. Blanchard lied about Gypsy’s age, saying she was four years younger than she was. In February 2011, when Gypsy was 19, she tried to escape with a man she had met at a science fiction convention. Blanchard responded by destroying the family computer and supervising Gypsy’s later internet use.

The abuse came to light in 2015 when Gypsy and her online boyfriend, Nick Godejohn, murdered Blanchard. After Gypsy’s arrest it became evident that she was not sick and she gained 14 pounds in prison. In a plea deal, Gypsy pleaded guilty to second-degree murder and is serving 10 years in prison.

Date: June 14, 2015
Location: Slidell, Louisiana; Springfield, Missouri

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