Gypsy Rose Blanchard Released From Prison After 8 Years

Gypsy Rose Blanchard, who was serving a 10-year sentence for her role in the brutal killing of her allegedly abusive mother, was released from prison Thursday morning.

Blanchard, now 32, was freed after being granted parole in September, years before the end of her decade-long sentence. She was sentenced in 2016 after pleading guilty to a charge of second-degree murder related to the 2015 stabbing death of her mother, Dee Dee Blanchard, who had convinced neighbors and doctors alike that Gypsy Rose had a slew of medical problems which weren’t real.

The Missouri Department of Corrections confirmed that Blanchard was released from the Chillicothe Correctional Center early Thursday, KMBC-TV reports. Together with her then-boyfriend Nick Godejohn, Blanchard conspired to kill her mom after she had allegedly been subjected to years of unnecessary medical procedures and treatments.

Godejohn, who met Blanchard online, later told police he stabbed Dee Dee in her bedroom at her home in Springfield, Missouri, because he wanted to protect his girlfriend. He was convicted of first-degree murder and sentenced to life in prison, later saying that he would do it again.

When Dee Dee’s body was found in June 2015, Blanchard was not at the property, prompting authorities to ask the public for help in locating her. She and Godejohn were found several days later in Wisconsin, where they were arrested for Dee Dee’s murder.

Blanchard is suspected of being a victim of Munchhausen by proxy, an unusual type of abuse in which caregivers intentionally make their children sick or exaggerate their illness as a means of gaining attention.

Growing up, she was led to believe she had multiple conditions including muscular dystrophy, leukemia, and epilepsy. Blanchard also used a wheelchair despite knowing that she could walk and was similarly aware that she did not need the feeding tube she was given. Dee Dee also allegedly lied about Blanchard’s age.

The bizarre circumstances of the case attracted huge interest and was covered in the HBO documentary Mommy Dead and Dearest as well as the Hulu drama The Act.

“I was desperate to get out of that situation,” Blanchard told People, claiming she was being subjected to physical and mental abuse at the time she asked Godejohn to kill her mother. Despite the alleged abuse, Blanchard added that her mom “didn’t deserve” to be killed. “She was a sick woman and unfortunately I wasn’t educated enough to see that,” Blanchard said. “She deserved to be where I am, sitting in prison doing time for criminal behavior.”