Random Facts About The Munchausen By Proxy Case of Dee Dee Blanchard (11 items)

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  (#8) Dee Dee Blanchard Had Been Dead For Days

  At 10:45 PM, the Greene County Police searched the Blanchard house, located just outside of Springfield. All of the sick girl's medications and mobility aids where present, but the teen was missing. When investigators searched the upstairs, they found Blanchard, who had passed several days prior from stab wounds. 

  While the family friend organized funerary services and initiated a charity campaign to cover the expenses, police tried to locate Gypsy Rose. Local concern grew for the safety of the missing girl everyone believed to be physically and mentally incapacitated.
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  (#2) Blanchard's Ex Was In The Dark

  Dee Dee Blanchard had changed the spelling of her last name when she relocated from Louisiana. She and former husband Rod Blanchard had separated after a brief marriage, but he reportedly was by no means the distant, cruel, and negligent father Blanchard had presented him to be. Rod had taken Gypsy on trips when she was younger and maintained pleasant exchanges with his ex on the phone. He had consistently been paying Blanchard $1,200 a month in child support to help with medical expenses, even after Gypsy turned 18.

  However, Rod had been in the dark about the extent to which Blanchard had manufactured Gypsy's health issues. Rod explained that Gypsy had been healthy until she was about 3 months old - when Blanchard became convinced the infant had sleep apnea and seizures. Blanchard began to speak about Gypsy's chromosomal defect and, backed with medical terminology from her time working as a nurse's aid, seemed to know what she was talking about. Rod believed her.

  In a 2016 interview with BuzzFeed, Rod explains his ex's possible motives:

  I think Dee Dee’s problem was she started a web of lies, and there was no escaping after [...] She got so wound up in it, it was like a tornado got started, and then once she was in so deep that there was no escaping. One lie had to cover another lie, had to cover another lie, and that was her way of life.
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  (#3) Blanchard Even Fooled Gypsy's Doctors

  Doctors seemed to trust Blanchard's assessment of Gypsy's frail health, even when the evidence didn't add up. But as a fraud, Blanchard moved around a lot, changing Gypsy's doctors and not leaving a clear medical trail. Many doctors adored the pair, one even calling them their "favorite mother, daughter patient." 

  But some of the doctors were suspicious. One noticed that Gypsy tested negative for muscular dystrophy, despite the mother's insistence that she had it. Another noted that Blanchard and Gypsy's relationship showed "a strong possibility of Munchausen by proxy," a condition in which a person intentionally makes another individual ill in order to gain attention and sympathy. Blanchard stopped seeing those doctors.

  Although professionals conclude that Blanchard likely had MSBP, she was not examined prior to her passing.
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  (#6) Gypsy Rose Is Perfectly Healthy

  When Greene County Police tracked the IP address of the posts on Blanchard's Facebook page, they led back to Nicholas Godejohn of Big Bend, Wisconsin - Gypsy's secret boyfriend. Police went to his house, where he gave himself up. Gypsy was with him, and to everyone's relief, the sick teen was unharmed. 

  However, Gypsy was more than fine. She had left all of her wheelchairs at home because she didn't need them. She hadn't needed her medication or used her oxygen tank. While she had previously been bald, her hair was starting to grow back. Later reports revealed that Blanchard had been shaving her daughter's head, an act authorities speculate to proliferate the image of Gypsy Rose's illness.

  When investigators and health professionals evaluated the teen, they discovered that she had never been sick. When questioned after Blanchard's passing, Gypsy explained that she was afraid to disobey her mother's story, even when she suspected that she wasn't as ill as her mother maintained. In Gypsy's Revenge, the 2018 Investigation Discovery documentary, Gypsy Rose elaborates how her mother's lies isolated her and prevented her from obtaining help:

  I couldn’t just jump out of the wheelchair because I was afraid and I didn’t know what my mother would do. I didn’t have anyone to trust [...] I couldn’t trust Aleah because my mother was starting to put things in my head that Aleah wasn’t my true friend and that she was a bad influence on me so I couldn’t be friends with her anymore [...] I didn’t reach out to my dad because I grew up with my mom saying all these horrible things about him.
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  (#4)  The Assailant Posted 'That B*tch Is Dead!' On Facebook

  On June 14, 2015, a disturbing post went up on 48-year-old Dee Dee Blanchard's Facebook page: "That B*tch Is Dead!" Immediately, friends and family begin to post messages of alarm and concern. They were unsure if they should call the police or whom to alert. Then, another comment appeared on the status, again posted from Blanchard's Facebook account:

  I f*cken SLASHED THAT FAT PIG AND RAPED HER SWEET INNOCENT DAUGHTER…HER SCREAM WAS SOOOO F*CKEN LOUD LOL.

  A family friend unsuccessfully tried to reach Blanchard and contacted the police after she saw Gypsy's abandoned wheelchair at the residence. When police obtained a search warrant later that night, they made an unexpected discovery.
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  (#10) Despite Incarceration, Gypsy Rose Seems Optimistic About Her Future

  In July 2016, Gypsy was convicted of second-degree offenses and received a 10-year sentence. During her incarceration, Gypsy has had to face her anger towards her mother and with the doctors who did not prevent Blanchard's mistreatment. In a 2016 exclusive with BuzzFeed, Gypsy elaborates on her feelings:

  It makes me frustrated that none of the other doctors could see that I was perfectly healthy. That my legs were not skinny, like someone who was [really] paralyzed. That I can’t... I don’t need a feeding tube. Stuff like that.

  But Gypsy also seems positive about her situation and prospects. While most lose weight when they transition into a correctional facility, Gypsy Rose has gained healthy pounds. She is no longer taking harmful medications and has reportedly exhibited an upbeat attitude: "It’s okay. I mean, honestly, it’s made me a stronger person, because I truly believe that everything happens for a reason." 

  Rod Blanchard's support of his daughter has never wavered, and he maintained that Blanchard "asked for what she got." Although she won't be eligible for parole until late 2023, Gypsy has appeared in numerous documentaries and interviews regarding her story, and she plans to write a book about her experiences to help other victims. Her story was adapted into a Hulu true crime series, The Act, in which Joey King plays Gypsy Rose. 

   

   

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