On July 5, 2016 Gypsy Rose Blanchard received a sentenced of 10 years to a Missouri State prison after reaching a plea deal to charges of second degree murder of her lifelong abusive mother. The case was highly profiled and received national news coverage. HBO made a documentary film called "Mommy Dead and Dearest" directed by Erin Lee Carr which aired May 15, 2017. The documentary features home movies, interviews from family members, doctors, friends, experts, attorneys and a one on one with Gypsy filmed the same day she accepted the plea deal. It is a non-biased look at the case and will certainly challenge anyone to really think about whether or not Gypsy is now where she deserves to be.

Gypsy was forced all her life to fake a long list of ailments and illnesses including leukemia, vision and hearing impairment, sleep apnea, retardation, muscular dystrophy, and a chromosome disorder and digestive disorders. Her mother Dee Dee Blanchard suffered from a disease called Munchausen by Proxy Syndrome, a relatively rare form of child abuse that involves the exaggeration or fabrication of illnesses or symptoms by a primary caregiver. Dee Dee convinced multiple doctors that Gypsy was sick child all her life starting from an age of just three months old. By 6 years old Gypsy was deemed paralyzed from the waist down from muscular dystrophy and had a feeding tube implant. The whole time being completely healthy and forced to fake her symptoms during doctors visits and while out in public. Even her closest neighbors and friends had no clue Gypsy's predicament.

By her late teens Dee Dee began documenting Gypsy's actual age as much younger and was shaving Gypsy's head and telling everyone Gypsy had Leukemia and was retarded. Dee Dee completely controlled Gypsy's food intake through a feeding tube often times medicating her without her knowing while she slept. Dee Dee convinced doctors to remove Gypsy's saliva glands by applying oral gel numbing cream in her mouth so it appeared she was drooling constantly. Her teeth all fell out from all the medication Dee Dee had pumped into her over the years.

Gypsy tried running away once and was caught within 4 hours, then Dee Dee handcuffed her to a bed for 2 weeks. Dee Dee was using Gypsy's illnesses as part of her scamming multiple organizations for money, housing, care, Disney trips, attention, and free flights to hospitals. After an anonymous call was placed about Gypsy's well being, local police department visited their home and Dee Dee convinced them that Gypsy was being well taken care of and her illnesses were legitimate. At this point Gypsy says she had no other way out of this life of captivity confined to a wheelchair, a feeding tube and very limited social interaction.

Although having only been educated to a second grade level, Gypsy became desperate after falling in love with Nicholas Godejohn 27, a young man from Wisconsin whom she met on a Christian dating website. Gypsy tried coordinating a meeting between Nicholas and Dee Dee at a local movie theater and Dee totally despised him as Gypsy recalls. So here she was, captive all her life, in love with no escaping Dee Dee, her own mother. Nicholas suffers from a form of autism and displayed having multiple personalities from evidence presented in court. Gypsy and Nick planned and murdered Dee Dee in her sleep on June 13, 2015. Nicholas stabbed Dee Dee multiple times and slit her neck while Gypsy hid in the bathroom. Together they fled to Nicholas's parent's home back in Wisconsin, thinking they could finally be together and Gypsy could be free at last. Gypsy recalls and acknowledges what she did was wrong and without hesitation admits now, that 10 years in prison is better than 10 years living under her mother's abuse.

I am Gypsy's Father Rod Blanchard. I too was lead to believe Gypsy was sick her whole life. Dee Dee and I were married then separated during her pregnancy. I was 17 Dee Dee was 23. I have always tried to be the best father I could, but Dee Dee always kept my relationship with Gypsy very limited. I always provided financial and moral support to them even after Gypsy turned 18 I continued to pay $1,200 a month in child support payments because I was convinced that Gypsy was disabled and Dee Dee spent all of her time caring for Gypsy. They were relocated from Louisiana to Missouri after Hurricane Katrina in 2005 and they would become unavailable just prior to my planned visits to see them. We maintained a relationship but only by phone calls and cards and gifts. Dee Dee always coached, filtered and monitored Gypsy and I's communications.

We all have failed Gypsy, her mother, the doctors, the police, and myself. Any one of us could have done more to free her from hell with her mother. She never had a chance, she was brainwashed, threatened. Living in fearful captivity in a child's body her entire life, she never got to blossom into the beautiful young woman she deserves to be. How is this any different than a wife snapping and killing her abusive husband? Why? Because she planned it? She believed this was her only escape.. that was her reality. Watch the documentary, watch her interview.

I'm petitioning for any relief to Gypsy's 10 year sentence, a shorter sentence, perhaps relocation to a mental facility where she can get the better help she needs. Gypsy has a loving family and community waiting, supporting her every step of the way to freedom. She calls home 3-4 times a week and spends hours on the phone with her amazing step mother, my wife Kristy. She has a younger brother Dylan 22 and sister Mia 16. She has suffered long enough. Please help her come home.

She is serving time in Chillicothe Corrections Center in Missouri. She is eligible for parole in 2024, she will be 32. She appears completely healthy and in good spirits, although we don't know if there were any long term physical effects from the abuse.

Thank You for your signature and support

Rod Blanchard Jr.

http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/video/father-gypsy-blanchard-speaks-mommy-dead-dearest-47410578

https://mommydeadanddearest.com/

https://www.buzzfeed.com/michelledean/dee-dee-wanted-her-daughter-to-be-sick-gypsy-wanted-her-mom?utm_term=.kdQPqxo5g#.pd4VZ4Nxa