A shy young woman enters the room and sheepishly asks the camera team if they could film her from the most advantageous angle possible – because she has recently gained a few pounds. The woman is Gypsy Rose Blanchard and only her clothing indicates that she is a delinquent. There is no doubt about her guilt – she readily confessed to ordering her mother’s murder at the age of 23. But no matter how clear the facts may be, the question of victim and perpetrator is not the case in this disturbing case.
In six one-hour episodes, the new true crime documentary “The Gypsy Rose Blanchard Case”, which can be seen exclusively in German-speaking countries on Crime Investigation and Crime Investigation Play, unravels the background to the bloody crime and the ten-year prison sentence for Blanchard have led. It quickly becomes clear: She didn’t just become a prisoner in 2016, when she ended up behind bars in the US state of Missouri – in fact, she has been a prisoner her entire life: “My mother controlled everything I did. I had to use a wheelchair sit. She told everyone I had cancer. But it was all a lie.”
The murdered Clauddine “Dee Dee” Blanchard suffered from the so-called Munchausen syndrome by proxy. The mentally ill people – in most cases they are the birth mothers – invent illnesses in their children or even deliberately cause their symptoms. Initially, “Dee Dee” claimed that her daughter suffered from epilepsy and was hard of hearing. She later shaved her girl’s head, put her in a wheelchair and put her on medication to make her look cancerous. Meanwhile, to the outside world, she portrayed herself as the mother let down by fate who did everything for her supposedly seriously ill child.
Gypsy Rose Blanchard explains her commitment to the true crime documentary with the words: “I had six years to process everything. There are a lot of things that no one knew about before. Now I want to get all these disturbing secrets off my chest.”
“The Gypsy Rose Blanchard Case” uses old video recordings to provide a glimpse into the tragic past of its protagonist. In the interviews conducted for the documentary, Blanchard also reveals details about her emotional world before and after her mother’s murder that get under your skin. “Because I supposedly suffered from all these illnesses, my childhood consisted of doctors, hospitals and surgeries. It was never-ending.”
She tried several times to escape from her mother’s clutches and also made a failed murder attempt herself. The crime was ultimately carried out by her friend Nicholas Godejohn: “I asked him to kill her. That’s why I’m in prison.” In the end, it came down to one simple and terrible fact for Gypsy Rose Blanchard: “It’s either her or me.”
How it could come to this, why no one noticed anything and what triggers such a martyrdom in a person – the documentary examines these questions in detail. In addition to the now 32-year-old, doctors, lawyers, police officers and, last but not least, her family members also have their say.
The first episode of “The Gypsy Rose Blanchard Case” will be available on demand on Crime Investigation Play as well as Wow and other providers on Sunday (April 7th). It will celebrate its TV premiere from April 14th every Sunday from 8:15 p.m. in double episodes on Crime Investigation and also as a stream via Crime Investigation Play.
The documentary won over a considerable audience in the USA. In fact, the incredible story of Gypsy Rose’s life and suffering aroused such lasting interest that the producing US broadcaster Lifetime has already commissioned a second season. This should deal with the time after her release from prison, because: Even if she is on probation, Gypsy Rose has been free since the end of 2023 – probably for the first time in her life.
