Who Is Nick Godejohn? New Details About Gypsy Rose's Boyfriend And The Man Who Murdered Dee Dee Blanchard
Was he a predator or a victim?
Instagram Mothers are supposed to live and die for their children. It's supposed to be a bond so powerful that's almost beyond human understanding. Even people with difficult relationships with their mothers know just how pivotal a role they played in their lives. But not every single woman out there is meant to be a mother. For the most part, these women choose not to have children at all, but for the women who do it can sometimes spell disaster and tragedy.
Such was the for two women in Missouri. They were a mother and daughter who brought light into the lives of everyone around them in spite of their own troubled and difficult circumstances: Dee Dee Blanchard and her daughter Gypsy Rose. Their story has been made into a podcast, an HBO documentary, a Buzzfeed long read, and now it's coming to Hulu as the dramatized version of their lives in a film called The Act.
So who is Nick Godejohn? Here's everything you need to know about the mother and daughter and the man who helped to destroy their entire world.
1. The Lie
Anyone who met Dee Dee and Gypsy Rose Blanchard was immediately struck by the bond between the mother and the daughter. Gypsy and her daughter moved to Missouri, according to the mother, after they lost everything during Hurricane Katrina. Little did those who met her know this was a massive lie, and it wasn't the only one that Dee Dee Blanchard had told, and it wasn't even the worst one...not by a long shot.
You see, Dee Dee, who did not work, earned most of her income lying about her daughter Gypsy's health. She claimed the child had muscular dystrophy, asthma, and a myriad of other ailments that left her confined to a wheelchair, and totally bald. Additionally, Dee Dee told everyone that her daughter had the mind of a 7-year-old because she was born prematurely. The reasons for Dee Dee's actions we can only speculate about. Some believe she had Munchausen's by proxy, a medical condition where a caretaker makes the person they are caring for sick, or pretends they are sick to receive attention. Dee Dee and Gypsy did live in public housing, and they received countless varied donations because of Gypsy's perceived illnesses, so it may have been that Dee Dee was just doing it for the payday.
As Gypsy began to grow up, it was harder and harder for her to bow under the pressure of her mother's lies. Her mother continued to tell people that her daughter was just a younger teenager when later it would come to light that she was, in fact, in her 20s.
2. Gypsy Pushes Back
By 2010, Gypsy was done living under her mother's thumb. She was tired of holding her mother's hand every time they were in public, and she was tired of the physical abuse she suffered when the two were alone. Gypsy claims her mother would frequently beat her with her hands or with hangers. The medical procedures she forced Gypsy to endure were another kind of torture in and of themselves. She rubbed topical treatments to Gypsy's gums which made them water and then reported "overactive drooling" to doctors who eventually removed Gypsy's salivary glands altogether.
Gypsy began reaching out and making friends, primarily using the internet to do it. Her mother and her mother's well-meaning friends thwarted some of her earlier romances, but they missed their chance to stop the love affair that would truly change Gypsy's life forever... and end Dee Dee's. According to Gypsy, she met Nicolas Godejoh of Big Bend, Wisconsin in an online dating group for Christian Singles. The two immediately were smitten even though they hadn't met.
3. The Love Affair
Dee Dee couldn't risk Gypsy having a boyfriend because that meant someone would find out about all her lies. When Gypsy snuck off to a hotel room with a man she met at a science fiction convention, her mother presented a false birth certificate with her daughter's faker, younger, age on it. When Dee Dee found out Gypsy was talking to a man she met online, Dee Dee reportedly destroyed the computer with a hammer. This time, Gypsy was desperate to keep her romantic relationship with Godejohn a secret from her nosy mother.
For Gypsy, Godejohn was an escape, but he was far from perfect in reality. He had a criminal record for indecent exposure and a long history of mental illness. At various points, he was diagnosed as having DID (Dissociative Identity Disorder) or Autism. Online, the two fantasized about different ways they could be together, and they always led to one surefire plan: murdering Dee Dee and running away together. Eventually, those plans became a reality when Godejohn came to the house and was given a knife and duct tape. He told Gypsy to go hide and cover her ears, and then he stabbed her mother to death. Godejohn and Gypsy fled along with $4,000 cash. It wasn't until she was found by police that the truth started to come out, and those who worried that Dee Dee's murderer also killed or abducted Gypsy were in for a grim surprise when they found out the truth about her involvement.
4. Where They Are Now
Eventually, Gypsy struck a plea deal for second-degree murder and was sentenced to 10 years in prison. Nick Godejohn was found guilty of the murder of Dee Dee and sentenced to life in prison. Life inside of prison has actually been better for Gypsy than life with her abusive mother. While most people initially lose weight in jail, Gypsy wound up gaining more than 14 pounds once she was out from beneath the shadow of her mother. Here's hoping the time and resources her time in prison will provide her will prepare Gypsy for life without Dee Dee, and for life on her own.
Rebecca Jane Stokes is a writer living in Brooklyn, New York with her cats, Batman and Margot. Her work focuses on relationships, pop culture and news. For more of her work, check out her Tumblr.