By Gianna Gregory -- Eagle Staff Writer
There's a name that's garnering a lot of attention in mainstream and social media these days: the strange case of Gypsy Rose Blanchard. Gypsy Rose Blanchard is a girl who was not only mistreated by her mother but also by the legal system in Missouri.
From infancy, Gypsy Rose Blanchard was a victim of Munchausen Syndrome by Proxy. Gypsy Rose is the daughter of Dee Dee Blanchard, a single mom who on the outside was a loving and generous caretaker to Gypsy. However, Gypsy Rose did not need a caretaker at all. From birth, Dee Dee told people that Gypsy had numerous illnesses including leukemia, muscular dystrophy, asthma, seizures, and more. Being kept in a wheelchair from a young age, Gypsy was conditioned to believe that she could not take care of herself and needed her mother to survive. As she got older, the lies kept piling up. According to BAZAAR Articles, when a medical professional questioned the authenticity of Gypsy’s conditions, Dee Dee would simply pack up their belongings and move away.
As Gypsy matured, Dee Dee started lying about her age, telling her and others she was younger than she was. For example, When Gypsy was 19, she was portrayed as 15. Gypsy was under her mother’s control until she was 24. However, Gypsy’s life changed on June 9, 2015.
On June 9, 2015, Dee Dee was murdered in her sleep by Nicholas Godejohn, Gypsy’s boyfriend. This was a deliberate act planned between Gypsy and Godejohn. After committing the murder, both Godejohn and Gypsy fled to Wisconsin to start their lives together and start a family.
For the first time in twenty-four years, Gypsy Rose was free. Her freedom lasted for five days until she posted on Dee Dee’s Facebook account about the murder. This ultimately led to Gypsy and Godejohn surrendering to Wisconsin law enforcement on June 11, 2015.
One year later, Gypsy was sentenced to 10 years in prison after pleading guilty to second-degree murder. While in prison, controversy over whether or not Gypsy Rose deserved to be incarcerated sparked up all over America. According to the South China Morning Post, during her imprisonment she gained supporters who believed she had no choice and killing DeeDee was a last resort for freedom. Gaining millions of followers while incarcerated, Gypsy Rose was released on December 28, 2023, after serving eight years out of her ten-year sentencing. Since then, she has gained millions more followers and fans.
However, with supporters also come skeptics and opponents. Gypsy Rose has been out of prison for less than a month and is already at the heart of renewed controversy. The first controversy happened just days after Gypsy was released from prison when her parole officer passed on the news that she was being ordered to leave the state of Missouri as a condition of her parole. While the legality of banishment from a state is completely up to the state’s government, it has never been done in the state of Missouri.
According to River Front Times, the closest the state of Missouri has gotten to banishing someone from its territory was a case from May 2008, where a 57-year-old man was banished from the small town of Clark, Missouri. However, he was banned for paying a teenager to knock over an honorary statue and he was only barred from the town.
Obviously, this case of banishment was minuscule, and being banned from a town of less than 300 residents is much less extreme than being banished from an entire state. Considering this case is the closest comparable thing to Gypsy Rose’s situation makes it questionable about whether or not her banishment is justified.
Gypsy Rose Blanchard served her time in prison for her crimes. Other ex-convicts are required to stay in the state that their parole is set in so authorities can keep an eye on them, so why is Gypsy Rose forced to leave behind her state just days after returning home She should not have to abandon the state she knows just because of her past, especially given the circumstances of the crime and having paid her debt to society through her 8 year incarceration.
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