Gypsy Blancharde granted early release date, state announces

SPRINGFIELD, Mo. (KY3/Gray News) – Gypsy Blancharde, the woman who conspired to kill her abusive mother who forced her to pretend to be disabled, was granted early release.

The Missouri Department of Corrections announced last week Blancharde will be released from prison Dec. 28 after the state granted her request for parole.

Blancharde pleaded guilty to second-degree murder in July 2016 in connection to the death of her mother, Dee Dee Blancharde.

She was sentenced to 10 years in prison.

Investigators said Blancharde convinced her then-boyfriend, Nicholas Godejohn, to stab her mother to death in 2015. He was sentenced to life in prison.

In court, Blancharde testified her mother forced her to use a wheelchair and undergo unnecessary medical tests to collect gifts and charitable donations.

She also said she planned her mother’s killing, considering poison, arson and a gun.

According to investigators, Dee Dee Blancharde used her daughter as a disabled poster child to garner attention and con people out of money.

Her case earned national headlines and also led to the documentary, “Mommy Dead and Dearest.”

The Blanchardes moved to Springfield in 2006 from Louisiana after being displaced by Hurricane Katrina in 2005. After they moved, they used the last name Blanchard instead of Blancharde as the rest of their family does.