The twisted plot and murder of Dee Dee Blancharde is now subject of an upcoming HBO documentary, 'Mommy Dead and Dearest', which airs on May 15. YouTube / HBODocs
The father of Gypsy Rose Blancharde, the 25-year-old woman serving 10 years for plotting her mother's murder, says he understands why she had her mother killed.
The twisted plot and murder of Dee Dee Blancharde is now subject of an upcoming HBO documentary, Mommy Dead and Dearest, which airs on May 15.
But what was just as shocking than the murder itself was that Gypsy, who was believed by friends, neighbours, and her own father to be wheelchair-bound since childhood, could walk.
"I was happy that she was walking and then ... wow, total shock," Rod Blancharde, Gypsy's father and Dee Dee's ex-husband, tells the New York Post. "What has been going on all of these years?"
Doctors say that Gypsy was a victim of a severe case of Munchausen by proxy, in which a guardian, in this case her mother, exaggerates or induces illness in a child for attention and sympathy.
Gypsy and her mother arrived in Springfield, Missouri, claiming they fled from Hurricane Katrina.
According to her father, Dee Dee and Gypsy had moved away and he rarely got to see his daughter with her mum claiming he wasn't equipped to handle her care.
Dee Dee forced Gypsy to shave her head to make it look like she was on chemotherapy and forced her to take unnecessary medication that induced symptoms of other illnesses.
But now Gypsy's father has opened up over the murder saying he understood why his daughter had her mother killed.
Rod and Gypsy Blancharde in 2001. Photo / Supplied
"Yeah, it's wrong, and there were other options that Gypsy had, which she tried some of those avenues and they didn't work out," says her father. "Bad as it sounds, she [Gypsy's mom] asked for what she got."
"We still are learning [of new things] and amazed at some of the things that went on."
Dee Dee Blancharde, 48, was found stabbed to death by Springfield authorities on June 14, 2015, after concerned friends said they saw troubling posts on her Facebook account. One read: "the B**** is dead."
At the time of Dee Dee's murder, Gypsy and her boyfriend disappeared but they were arrested a day later.
Gypsy and her boyfriend, Nick Godejohn, were charged with first-degree murder in connection with Dee Dee's death.
In July 2016, Gypsy pleaded guilty to second degree-murder.
Nicholas Godejohn and Gypsy Blancharde. Photo / Waukesha County
Godejohn pleaded not guilty, arguing he killed Dee Dee to free Gypsy.
Gypsy is serving a 10-year sentence where she is working towards graduating high school.
She will be eligible for parole in 2024, at the age of 32.
Blancharde and his wife say Gypsy will always be welcomed in their home.
"It's really hard on her some days. She says, 'I just want to go home, I just want to be home with you all'," Mrs Blancharde told The New York Post.
"We went to see her in March and she looks great. From that first picture that they posted of her when she got arrested [to now], total transformation. She's more confident, she walks with her head held high. She talks more, she's opening up to us more."
Mrs Blancharde says she has forgiven Dee Dee, although Rod Blancharde still carries anger toward the mother of his child and blames himself.
"There's a million things I could have done differently."
"How do you kill your own mother? You had to have been put through some serious trauma, abuse, to be able to consciously make that decision," he said. "I couldn't imagine what she was going through.
"I think if Dee Dee was right here, right now, I might do the same thing that Gypsy did," he adds. "It's absolutely horrifying that you can do that to your child."
