Gypsy Rose Blanchard, who was serving time in prison for her role in the murder of her mother, has been granted parole and is scheduled to be released in December, the Missouri Department of Corrections said Thursday, reportsOzarks Firstand theSpringfield News-Leader.
In July 2016, Blanchard, 32, pleadedguilty to murderfor her role in the killing of her mother, Clauddine “Dee Dee” Blanchard. She was sentenced to 10 years in prison.
Courtesy ABC News
Gypsy is set to be released on Dec. 28, 2023. By then she will have served 85% of her 10-year sentence. Prior to her prison sentence, Gypsy spent time in the Greene County Jail, and her time in the county jail contributes to her overall sentence.
Dee Dee Blanchard was found dead in June 2015, and soon after Gypsy and her boyfriend,Nick Godejohn, were both charged with first-degree murder.
Gypsy and Dee Dee Blanchard.GREENE COUNTY SHERIFF’S OFFICE
Dee Dee had convinced her friends, family, and community that Blanchard was a terminally ill teenager with the mind of a 7-year-old who suffered from muscular dystrophy, leukemia, and other ailments. Additionally, Blanchard alleged her mother wouldn’t allow her to speak during doctor visits and told her that if she ever tried to escape, police wouldn’t believe her story.
In the 2018 Investigation Discovery documentaryGypsy’s Revenge,Blanchard explained what her childhood was likeas she suffered abuse from her mother. “I couldn’t just jump out of the wheelchair because I was afraid and I didn’t know what my mother would do,” Blanchard said. “I didn’t have anyone to trust.”
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“I believe firmly that, no matter what, murder is not okay,” she told McGraw. “I do believe that I do deserve to spend some time in prison for that crime. But I also understand why it happened, and I don’t believe that I’m in the right place to get the help that I need.”
Blanchard’s boyfriend, Godejohn, 32, was sentenced to life in prison without parole in 2019 after a trial. He was convicted offirst-degree murder for the 2015 stabbing, theSpringfield News-Leader,local stationKY3andKOAMreported.
Godejohn met Blanchard online and traveled from Wisconsin to see her in Missouri. Blanchard said in court that she had “talked him into it.”
“That was, man, probably the best days of my life, that’s the only way I can describe it,” Godejohn said of his time with Blanchard in a prison interview for the 2019 Oxygen specialGypsy Rose & Nick: A Love to Kill. “I enjoyed every second of it.”
Godejohn continued, “From the very beginning, I just knew we were soulmates. Those five days when I was actually with her, physically with her, those five days were the most intense, and magical, and awe-inspiring days I’ve ever had.”
Blanchard and Godejohn have since separated. A family friend told PEOPLE in April 2019 thatshe was engagedto a man she met as a pen pal while in jail.
The case was the center of theHBO documentaryMommy, Dead and Dearestand inspired the Hulu miniseriesThe Act.
A spokesperson for Missouri Department of Corrections did not immediately respond to PEOPLE’s request for additional information on Thursday.
source: people.com
