Mom’s murder uncovers years of fake illness and fraud
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A young woman is accused in the brutal stabbing death of her mother and then posting the killing on Facebook - but that's not the most bizarre part of the story.
Police say Gypsy Rose Blancharde – who was believed by friends, neighbors and even reporters to be disabled – not only could walk, but it appears she and her mother may have been pulling off a financial scam for years.
Greene County (Missouri) Sheriff Jim Arnott began the media briefing on the case Tuesday in an unusual way:
“Things aren’t always as they appear,” he said.
Gypsy Blancharde and her boyfriend, Nicholas P. Godejohn, 26, are accused of plotting to kill her mother, Clauddinnea “Dee Dee” Blancharde. Authorities are not even sure of the younger Blancharde’s true age, placing her somewhere between 19 and 23.
Dee Dee Blancharde was discovered stabbed to death Sunday in her home in Springfield after an ominous Facebook post apparently made by the pair alarmed their friends and family.
The Blanchardes shared a joint Facebook account, and friends believed the girl suffered from muscular dystrophy and leukemia. They lived in a house provided by Habitat for Humanity, and at one time the girl was crowned queen of a New Orleans Mardi Gras parade for sick children. She was even granted her wish of going to Disney World.
But authorities say all that was a scam, and they do not yet know the full extent of it.
Blancharde and Godejohn were taken into custody in Wisconsin on Monday after a brief standoff with law enforcement. They are being held on $1 million bond.
A relative of the Blanchardes, Bobby Pitre, said he knew about the fraud and kept his distance for the past 15 years.
“I was so disgusted with the woman,” he said.
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