Munchausen expert says Gypsy Blanchard case is unprecedented

A national Munchausen by proxy expert told the News-Leader this week he's never seen anything like the Blanchard murder case — and he's curious what would have happened at trial.

Marc Feldman — clinical professor of psychiatry at the University of Alabama and author of the book "Playing Sick?" — said he's been studying Munchausen by proxy for 25 years and this is the first case he's seen where the abuse victim murdered her parent.

Gypsy Blanchard, 24, pleaded guilty to second-degree murder on Tuesday, admitting to her role in the June 2015 killing of her mother Clauddine Blanchard, 48.

Gypsy Blanchard's attorney and relatives say her mother imprisoned her and forced her to pretend she was disabled.

The News-Leader is unaware of any formal Munchausen by proxy diagnosis for Gypsy Blanchard, but Feldman said he has been following the case closely and he feels confident saying Gypsy Blanchard was a victim of Munchausen by proxy — a form of abuse that involves a parent exaggerating, inducing or making up illnesses for a child.

"Gypsy was infantilized and kept away from her peers," Feldman said. "She was little more than a tool for Dee Dee to navigate through the world the way she wanted to."

Gypsy Blanchard's attorney Michael Stanfield said Tuesday if the case had gone to trial his defense strategy would have focused on the abuse Dee Dee Blanchard inflicted on Gypsy Blanchard, which included forcing the daughter to take medication that she didn't need and undergo medical procedures that were not necessary.

Feldman said he wonders whether a jury would have determined Gypsy Blanchard was justified in killing her mother.

"It's unprecedented," Feldman said. "I have no other cases to draw on in the criminal environment where there has been a murder charge in a Munchausen by proxy case."

Greene County Prosecutor Dan Patterson told the News-Leader after Tuesday's hearing he believes he could have secured a first-degree murder conviction in this case, meaning Gypsy Blanchard would have to spend the rest of her life in prison, but he did not believe that was fair because of the abuse Gypsy Blanchard suffered at the hand of her mother.

Feldman said he believes there were likely compelling arguments on both sides, and that led prosecutors and the defense to agree on a 10-year sentence.

Feldman said he was never contacted by the attorneys involved in this case, but he was interviewed by HBO, which is working on a project involving the Blanchard case.

A couple things that stand out about the Blanchard case to Feldman are the length of time that Dee Dee Blanchard abused her daughter and her ability to dupe so many people.

"The length to which Dee Dee took it is remarkable," Feldman said. "Part of the agenda appears to be malingering, trying to get money out of the fraud ... But most of it seemed to be her pursuit of attention and control."

Gypsy Blanchard will be eligible for release after 8 and a half years behind bars.

Feldman said he believes Gypsy Blanchard will face some challenges as she tries to recover from the abuse she endured.

"Adult survivors of Munchausen by proxy, they almost invariably have post-traumatic stress disorder," Feldman said. "If not the full-blown disorder, at least symptoms like flashbacks."

Feldman said Munchausen by proxy survivors can also struggle with discerning what's real and what's not, and they sometimes avoid getting medical care when they need it because they don't trust hospitals.

The Blanchard case captured national headlines last summer in large part because of the strange twists in the narrative.

Friends and neighbors believed Gypsy Blanchard was disabled and needed a wheelchair. They feared she was missing and endangered when her mother's body was discovered on June 14, 2015 in the family's home on Volunteer Way.

A bizarre post on the mother and daughter's joint Facebook page, saying "That B---- is dead," added to the intrigue.

It wasn't long, however, before investigators learned there was a lot more going on inside the pink home with the blacked out windows just north of the Springfield city limits.

By June 16, 2015, Gypsy Blanchard and Nicholas Godejohn had been arrested in Wisconsin and charged with first-degree murder.

Deputies say Gypsy Blanchard, who can walk just fine, arranged for Godejohn — the boyfriend she chatted with on a Christian dating website — to come to Springfield and kill her mother. The couple then took more than $4,400 from the mother's safe and fled to Godejohn's home in Wisconsin.

Over the next few days the story kept developing, with family members saying Dee Dee Blanchard imprisoned her daughter and forced her to pretend she was disabled.

The sheriff also said the mother and daughter, who were thought to be Hurricane Katrina survivors, were running an extended financial fraud scheme. The women apparently duped everyone from the sheriff's office (which investigated concerns about Gypsy Blanchard's health five years prior) to organizations like Habitat for Humanity (which supplied the Blanchards with their home on Volunteer Way).

Godejohn is still facing a first-degree murder charge. He is scheduled to stand trial in November.