1 00:00:07,917 --> 00:00:09,625 (door buzzing) 2 00:00:14,583 --> 00:00:15,333 - [Interviewer] Have a seat. 3 00:00:15,375 --> 00:00:17,208 Grab the mic. 4 00:00:17,292 --> 00:00:18,875 Do you know, you know how to do it. 5 00:00:18,958 --> 00:00:20,292 - Yes. - All right. 6 00:00:20,375 --> 00:00:22,625 - I'm just gonna set that- How are you guys? 7 00:00:22,708 --> 00:00:24,500 - [Interviewer] Good, good. 8 00:00:25,667 --> 00:00:26,792 How are you feeling today? 9 00:00:26,875 --> 00:00:28,125 - Nervous. 10 00:00:30,250 --> 00:00:31,208 Okay. 11 00:00:32,542 --> 00:00:33,625 I'm ready. 12 00:00:37,250 --> 00:00:39,667 I remember my mom said, 13 00:00:39,792 --> 00:00:44,833 "Happy endings are not just in fairy tales, they're real." 14 00:00:44,958 --> 00:00:47,167 My mother controlled everything I did. 15 00:00:47,292 --> 00:00:49,167 I was forced to use a wheelchair. 16 00:00:49,250 --> 00:00:52,000 She started telling people that I had cancer. 17 00:00:52,125 --> 00:00:55,042 But none of it was true. 18 00:00:55,125 --> 00:01:00,083 There was also lot of emotional and physical abuse. 19 00:01:00,083 --> 00:01:04,750 I started to feel like it was either her or me. 20 00:01:06,208 --> 00:01:08,333 - [Reporter] Dee Dee Blanchard's death was violent. 21 00:01:08,375 --> 00:01:11,167 - And that's when I hear her calling my name. 22 00:01:11,250 --> 00:01:12,583 "Gypsy, help me." 23 00:01:13,625 --> 00:01:15,458 - [Reporter] Her daughter, Gypsy Blanchard, 24 00:01:15,542 --> 00:01:18,875 and her boyfriend are now jailed on first degree murder. 25 00:01:18,958 --> 00:01:21,125 - I played a part in asking him 26 00:01:21,208 --> 00:01:24,917 to commit the murder, that is why I'm in prison. 27 00:01:25,042 --> 00:01:28,333 I've had six years to feel those emotions, 28 00:01:29,708 --> 00:01:33,333 and there's things that I've kept so private. 29 00:01:34,542 --> 00:01:37,042 The reason why I wanna talk about it now 30 00:01:37,125 --> 00:01:40,417 is because I want to be free 31 00:01:40,500 --> 00:01:43,250 of all these disturbing secrets. 32 00:01:45,333 --> 00:01:47,667 The first time I tried to run away, 33 00:01:47,708 --> 00:01:49,250 she chained me to the bed. 34 00:01:50,708 --> 00:01:54,625 And before I knew it, I pulled the trigger. 35 00:01:56,583 --> 00:02:00,208 She never wanted me to find love or be happy. 36 00:02:00,292 --> 00:02:02,208 I'm sorry. (sniffles) 37 00:02:03,917 --> 00:02:06,750 But I am engaged. 38 00:02:07,958 --> 00:02:10,042 (moody rock music) 39 00:02:10,167 --> 00:02:13,208 Today is the day before my parole hearing, 40 00:02:13,292 --> 00:02:15,958 and I will finally share my story 41 00:02:16,042 --> 00:02:17,750 the way that it should be shared. 42 00:02:18,917 --> 00:02:22,083 ♪ No, you can never take my soul ♪ 43 00:02:26,875 --> 00:02:29,583 (birds chirping) 44 00:02:34,542 --> 00:02:36,833 (door buzzing) 45 00:02:43,708 --> 00:02:45,000 - [Interviewer] Your hair's getting longer. 46 00:02:45,083 --> 00:02:46,417 - I know. (laughs) 47 00:02:46,500 --> 00:02:48,792 I didn't know how I was gonna wear it today, so. 48 00:02:50,917 --> 00:02:52,292 Okay. 49 00:02:52,292 --> 00:02:53,583 - [Interviewer] I'll let you settle in. 50 00:02:53,667 --> 00:02:54,500 - [Gypsy] Okay. 51 00:02:54,583 --> 00:02:56,000 - [Interviewer] It's good to see you. 52 00:02:56,042 --> 00:02:57,250 - And please get some flattering angles. 53 00:02:57,333 --> 00:02:59,667 I have gained some weight, so. (laughs) 54 00:02:59,750 --> 00:03:01,667 I have a little double chin going on. 55 00:03:02,875 --> 00:03:05,417 (gentle music) 56 00:03:10,875 --> 00:03:16,417 Well, ever since I came to prison, the end goal, 57 00:03:16,500 --> 00:03:20,625 the goal of everything that I have done 58 00:03:20,708 --> 00:03:24,667 within this facility was to get paroled. 59 00:03:24,708 --> 00:03:26,917 (tense music) 60 00:03:31,167 --> 00:03:34,292 Today is the day before my parole hearing 61 00:03:34,375 --> 00:03:37,000 and I'm feeling anxious. 62 00:03:37,083 --> 00:03:39,208 I'm feeling nervous. 63 00:03:39,333 --> 00:03:41,708 I don't have another shot after this. 64 00:03:42,708 --> 00:03:44,375 I don't have multiple parole hearings. 65 00:03:44,500 --> 00:03:46,167 It's the one and done. 66 00:03:47,042 --> 00:03:48,125 It is very scary. 67 00:03:48,208 --> 00:03:50,583 It's very frightening. (laughs) 68 00:03:55,792 --> 00:03:58,458 Tomorrow's parole hearing is a big deal 69 00:03:58,542 --> 00:04:01,333 because it determines my fate. 70 00:04:03,417 --> 00:04:04,667 If I get paroled, 71 00:04:04,750 --> 00:04:08,667 the parole date would be at the end of 2023. 72 00:04:08,708 --> 00:04:11,917 If I don't get paroled, then I will be released 73 00:04:12,042 --> 00:04:15,625 at the end of my 10 years, in 2025. 74 00:04:18,333 --> 00:04:20,208 Not getting paroled, 75 00:04:20,292 --> 00:04:23,708 it would take a toll on my emotions. 76 00:04:23,833 --> 00:04:25,250 I'll be crushed. 77 00:04:25,333 --> 00:04:29,208 To be quite honest, I'm preparing for the worst, 78 00:04:29,292 --> 00:04:30,875 but I'm hoping for the best. 79 00:04:33,958 --> 00:04:35,375 As I understand it, 80 00:04:35,458 --> 00:04:37,750 the parole board is going to ask me questions, 81 00:04:39,375 --> 00:04:41,417 certain questions about my crime. 82 00:04:41,500 --> 00:04:43,458 - [Reporter] 48 year old Dee Dee Blanchard's body 83 00:04:43,542 --> 00:04:45,583 was found in her house late Sunday night. 84 00:04:45,583 --> 00:04:47,333 The sheriff isn't saying how she died, 85 00:04:47,417 --> 00:04:49,500 but has said her death was violent. 86 00:04:49,542 --> 00:04:52,000 - [Reporter] Her daughter, 23-year-old Gypsy Blanchard, 87 00:04:52,125 --> 00:04:54,000 was located during a police standoff. 88 00:04:55,208 --> 00:04:57,208 - [Officer] Your mom's dead, okay? 89 00:04:57,333 --> 00:04:59,625 What I want to ask you- - [Gypsy] Wait, what? 90 00:04:59,708 --> 00:05:02,250 - [Officer] Listen to me before you say a whole lot. 91 00:05:02,333 --> 00:05:05,000 Do not dig yourself in a bunch of lies. 92 00:05:05,083 --> 00:05:07,458 So, I want to know, okay, why? 93 00:05:08,208 --> 00:05:10,708 - [Gypsy] Oh God. (whispering) 94 00:05:11,667 --> 00:05:14,875 - I'm sorry that I lied to you from the beginning. 95 00:05:14,958 --> 00:05:16,042 I'll tell you the truth. 96 00:05:17,625 --> 00:05:22,000 I feel worried because there are things 97 00:05:22,042 --> 00:05:24,625 that the board will ask me, 98 00:05:26,042 --> 00:05:29,333 and I want to give genuine answers, 99 00:05:29,458 --> 00:05:32,167 but they might not particularly care 100 00:05:32,250 --> 00:05:35,417 for the fact that I will mention 101 00:05:35,500 --> 00:05:38,083 the abuse that I suffered at the hands of my mother. 102 00:05:38,167 --> 00:05:40,417 (tense music) 103 00:05:42,375 --> 00:05:44,042 - [Producer] Kristy interview, take one, mark. 104 00:05:44,167 --> 00:05:45,500 (clapperboard clicks) 105 00:05:45,625 --> 00:05:46,958 - My name is Kristy Blanchard. 106 00:05:47,042 --> 00:05:49,958 I am the stepmother of Gypsy Rose Blanchard. 107 00:05:52,375 --> 00:05:53,958 Gypsy probably doesn't even remember 108 00:05:54,042 --> 00:05:57,917 hardly a time where she wasn't under lock and key, 109 00:05:58,000 --> 00:05:59,833 I'll say, like a prison. 110 00:06:01,458 --> 00:06:05,708 Gypsy was Dee Dee's daughter, but also her prisoner. 111 00:06:07,583 --> 00:06:09,875 - [Interviewer] Before you were in jail, 112 00:06:09,958 --> 00:06:13,542 had you ever heard the term, "Munchausen by proxy" before? 113 00:06:13,542 --> 00:06:17,667 - No, I had never heard of Munchausen by proxy before. 114 00:06:17,750 --> 00:06:19,958 (tense music) 115 00:06:27,500 --> 00:06:29,208 From a very young age, 116 00:06:29,333 --> 00:06:32,167 my mother had claimed that I had 117 00:06:32,208 --> 00:06:35,333 seizure disorders, hearing impairment. 118 00:06:35,417 --> 00:06:38,500 I was forced to use a wheelchair. 119 00:06:38,583 --> 00:06:43,375 And as I got older, she started shaving my hair off 120 00:06:43,458 --> 00:06:45,583 and telling people that I had cancer. 121 00:06:46,750 --> 00:06:49,417 And with all these assumed illnesses, 122 00:06:49,500 --> 00:06:51,000 doctors is what I knew, 123 00:06:51,125 --> 00:06:54,583 hospitals is what I knew, surgeries is what I knew. 124 00:06:56,208 --> 00:06:58,125 There was no end in sight. 125 00:07:02,500 --> 00:07:03,958 - As far as we know, 126 00:07:04,042 --> 00:07:07,417 Gypsy Blanchard is the only documented case 127 00:07:07,500 --> 00:07:10,667 of a victim of Munchausen syndrome by proxy 128 00:07:10,750 --> 00:07:13,458 who has killed their perpetrator to get out. 129 00:07:15,667 --> 00:07:17,833 That should tell all of us 130 00:07:17,875 --> 00:07:21,625 how desperate Gypsy was to escape her mother. 131 00:07:23,000 --> 00:07:25,042 - [Dee Dee] You wanna blow me a kiss? 132 00:07:26,375 --> 00:07:27,667 I love you. 133 00:07:30,875 --> 00:07:31,875 - [Producer] Okay, Rod interview. 134 00:07:31,958 --> 00:07:34,292 Take one, mark. (clapperboard clicks) 135 00:07:34,375 --> 00:07:36,083 - [Rod] My name is Rod Blanchard. 136 00:07:37,708 --> 00:07:40,167 As Gypsy's father, one of the bigger regrets I have 137 00:07:40,208 --> 00:07:41,667 is not making her feel that 138 00:07:41,750 --> 00:07:44,000 she could come to me with a problem. 139 00:07:44,083 --> 00:07:46,500 - [Clerk] State of Wisconsin versus Gypsy Blanchard. 140 00:07:46,583 --> 00:07:47,917 Case number 50- 141 00:07:49,542 --> 00:07:51,583 - I definitely failed in that department. 142 00:07:54,042 --> 00:07:55,542 Felt terribly sad, you know, 143 00:07:55,708 --> 00:07:58,875 for what she had been through, what she had to face. 144 00:07:58,875 --> 00:08:02,958 Couldn't imagine how she felt being so alone. 145 00:08:03,042 --> 00:08:05,083 (tense music) 146 00:08:09,958 --> 00:08:10,875 There you go. 147 00:08:10,958 --> 00:08:12,000 - Thank you. 148 00:08:14,333 --> 00:08:17,667 This was Gypsy in 2005, 149 00:08:19,500 --> 00:08:21,625 and you know, she could have been running 150 00:08:21,708 --> 00:08:24,333 and having this and doing this, 151 00:08:24,417 --> 00:08:26,875 and no, she was in a wheelchair. 152 00:08:28,375 --> 00:08:30,583 - Now that Dee Dee's gone, 153 00:08:30,708 --> 00:08:33,000 I have a completely fresh start with Gypsy. 154 00:08:34,125 --> 00:08:37,083 If, you know, if she makes parole and she's released, 155 00:08:37,167 --> 00:08:38,792 I think that's important that, you know, 156 00:08:38,875 --> 00:08:41,250 she can have some level of trust when she gets out. 157 00:08:41,333 --> 00:08:43,375 She knows she can talk to me. 158 00:08:43,458 --> 00:08:45,333 - How did you plead to the class A felony 159 00:08:45,417 --> 00:08:46,875 of murder in the second degree? 160 00:08:48,917 --> 00:08:51,458 - A lot of people will argue that 161 00:08:51,542 --> 00:08:54,875 Gypsy is in prison because of what she did. 162 00:08:54,958 --> 00:09:00,000 To me, that's a very narrow view of what happened. 163 00:09:02,875 --> 00:09:06,208 I'm Mike Stanfield and I was the lead counsel 164 00:09:06,292 --> 00:09:08,125 on the Gypsy Blanchard case. 165 00:09:10,458 --> 00:09:11,833 - Be the judgment and sentence of the court 166 00:09:11,958 --> 00:09:13,167 that you be sentenced to 10 years 167 00:09:13,250 --> 00:09:15,500 in the Missouri Department of Corrections. 168 00:09:15,667 --> 00:09:17,958 - It's important for people to realize 169 00:09:17,958 --> 00:09:21,458 Gypsy didn't choose to be abused. 170 00:09:21,583 --> 00:09:24,875 She didn't choose to be somebody else's pawn. 171 00:09:24,875 --> 00:09:29,000 And while yes, she was involved in the murder, 172 00:09:29,042 --> 00:09:31,875 she just went from one prison to another. 173 00:09:33,875 --> 00:09:36,625 - The parole board doesn't know me on a personal level. 174 00:09:36,708 --> 00:09:39,375 They just know what they've read about my case. 175 00:09:39,458 --> 00:09:40,542 - We have unearthed the appearance 176 00:09:40,625 --> 00:09:42,833 of a long financial fraud scheme, 177 00:09:42,917 --> 00:09:44,042 along with this tragic event. 178 00:09:44,125 --> 00:09:45,750 - [Reporter] Deception down to Dee Dee 179 00:09:45,875 --> 00:09:47,583 and Gypsy's last name. 180 00:09:47,708 --> 00:09:49,667 - [Interviewee] Her last name is not Blancharde. 181 00:09:49,792 --> 00:09:51,667 It's Blanchard with no E. 182 00:09:53,458 --> 00:09:55,708 - I'm going to feel pressure 183 00:09:55,833 --> 00:09:58,083 to give them what they want to hear. 184 00:09:59,083 --> 00:10:03,000 My mother taught me how to lie and manipulate, 185 00:10:03,125 --> 00:10:05,833 but that doesn't make me who I am, 186 00:10:05,917 --> 00:10:08,500 and I can learn to tell the truth. 187 00:10:08,625 --> 00:10:11,750 I'm just as flawed as the next person. 188 00:10:11,750 --> 00:10:13,417 I've made mistakes in my life. 189 00:10:13,542 --> 00:10:15,000 I've made bad choices. 190 00:10:15,125 --> 00:10:18,917 But once the parole board knows the things that they don't know, 191 00:10:19,000 --> 00:10:21,417 it'll make them understand a little bit better 192 00:10:21,500 --> 00:10:23,917 who I am and why I did what I did. 193 00:10:28,625 --> 00:10:31,500 (tense music) 194 00:10:31,542 --> 00:10:33,000 - [Gypsy] When I first got arrested, 195 00:10:33,083 --> 00:10:36,458 I will admit that I had a lack of remorse. 196 00:10:36,542 --> 00:10:41,292 It wasn't until even years later that I began to miss my mother 197 00:10:41,375 --> 00:10:45,750 and begin to understand that she's not coming back. 198 00:10:52,000 --> 00:10:54,708 - I think that she loved me in her own way. 199 00:10:54,792 --> 00:10:58,667 I think when she had me, she loved me 200 00:10:58,708 --> 00:11:01,667 and I think as a child, she loved me, 201 00:11:01,667 --> 00:11:06,500 but I don't think that she too much cared 202 00:11:06,625 --> 00:11:08,250 for whenever I'd grow up. 203 00:11:22,333 --> 00:11:24,875 (tense music) 204 00:11:33,292 --> 00:11:35,792 - Here's Gypsy and her mom. 205 00:11:36,917 --> 00:11:39,167 I find she looks like Rod, 206 00:11:39,250 --> 00:11:41,667 especially when she was a little blonde. 207 00:11:42,833 --> 00:11:46,792 This is one of their wedding photos. 208 00:11:46,875 --> 00:11:49,208 - Wow, that's a long time ago. 209 00:11:50,833 --> 00:11:52,917 I started getting emotional and just going down 210 00:11:53,000 --> 00:11:56,833 this emotional rollercoaster and just, 211 00:11:56,917 --> 00:11:59,333 I wish it would've been different. 212 00:11:59,417 --> 00:12:01,000 You know, we were only dating three months 213 00:12:01,083 --> 00:12:03,542 when Dee Dee told me she was pregnant. 214 00:12:03,708 --> 00:12:05,083 I was 17 years old, 215 00:12:05,208 --> 00:12:07,042 and I think she told me she was 21. 216 00:12:08,167 --> 00:12:09,667 She was actually 23. 217 00:12:11,042 --> 00:12:13,250 I felt that it was important to get married, 218 00:12:13,375 --> 00:12:16,708 but I woke up three months later on my 18th birthday, 219 00:12:16,792 --> 00:12:19,125 and it just kind of hit me like, you know, 220 00:12:19,208 --> 00:12:22,792 you're married here to a woman you're not in love with. 221 00:12:23,708 --> 00:12:25,792 I said, "Dee Dee, I'm sorry. 222 00:12:25,875 --> 00:12:27,917 I'll always try to be there as a father, 223 00:12:28,000 --> 00:12:30,833 but as a husband," I said, "I don't feel that." 224 00:12:31,875 --> 00:12:33,625 She grabbed our marriage license, 225 00:12:33,708 --> 00:12:36,125 it was in a frame, and threw it on the ground. 226 00:12:37,292 --> 00:12:39,833 - I know that the most devastating 227 00:12:39,917 --> 00:12:43,167 failure to her was losing my father. 228 00:12:43,208 --> 00:12:46,917 My mother blamed me for them getting a divorce 229 00:12:47,000 --> 00:12:51,333 because I wasn't the son that he wanted. 230 00:12:51,417 --> 00:12:52,583 I'm like, thinking in my mind, 231 00:12:52,667 --> 00:12:54,833 how are you blaming me for something 232 00:12:54,917 --> 00:12:57,125 that happened before I was born? 233 00:12:58,792 --> 00:13:01,000 (gentle music) 234 00:13:01,083 --> 00:13:04,750 - Gypsy was born, she was a cute little baby, you know. 235 00:13:05,792 --> 00:13:08,458 She was tiny, but healthy and happy. 236 00:13:08,542 --> 00:13:09,667 She really looked like me. 237 00:13:09,792 --> 00:13:13,292 I thought, well, you know, that's my child. 238 00:13:14,875 --> 00:13:17,625 After Gypsy was born, to make ends meet, 239 00:13:17,708 --> 00:13:20,167 I was gone a lot, working. 240 00:13:20,250 --> 00:13:23,042 So there wasn't much room for anybody else. 241 00:13:26,250 --> 00:13:28,500 I remember when Gypsy was three or four months old, 242 00:13:28,625 --> 00:13:32,292 Dee Dee told me she would like stop breathing in her sleep. 243 00:13:32,375 --> 00:13:34,792 She had her tested and she had sleep apnea. 244 00:13:37,542 --> 00:13:39,167 (tool whirring) 245 00:14:07,375 --> 00:14:11,000 - Gypsy was six months old when I started dating her dad 246 00:14:12,042 --> 00:14:14,833 and by the time Gypsy was around a year old, 247 00:14:14,917 --> 00:14:18,125 she had sleep apnea and then her eyesight, 248 00:14:18,208 --> 00:14:21,708 which she did have an extremely lazy eye. 249 00:14:21,708 --> 00:14:24,083 (tense music) 250 00:14:26,750 --> 00:14:28,583 - Okay. Wow. 251 00:14:28,667 --> 00:14:31,250 Endocrine, neurology. 252 00:14:31,333 --> 00:14:35,125 Ophthalmology, allergy, immunology. 253 00:14:35,208 --> 00:14:37,417 I've never seen any of this information, 254 00:14:37,500 --> 00:14:39,333 and I saw her a lot. 255 00:14:39,375 --> 00:14:41,375 (tense music) 256 00:14:44,750 --> 00:14:46,125 I'm Dr. Rob Steele, 257 00:14:46,208 --> 00:14:49,333 and I became Gypsy's pediatrician back in 2005. 258 00:14:49,375 --> 00:14:51,417 She was 14 at the time, 259 00:14:51,500 --> 00:14:53,792 but Dee Dee never had or could show me 260 00:14:53,875 --> 00:14:56,000 any of Gypsy's previous medical records. 261 00:14:56,125 --> 00:14:59,500 If I had seen any of this earlier on, 262 00:14:59,542 --> 00:15:01,958 I just think a lot of things would've been different. 263 00:15:03,208 --> 00:15:04,542 I've only had a little opportunity 264 00:15:04,625 --> 00:15:05,875 to kind of run through them, 265 00:15:05,875 --> 00:15:07,958 but when I looked in her earlier medical records, 266 00:15:08,042 --> 00:15:11,042 Gypsy had strabismus as an infant, 267 00:15:11,125 --> 00:15:13,875 which is when one eye or both wander, 268 00:15:14,000 --> 00:15:16,458 and over time you go blind. 269 00:15:16,542 --> 00:15:19,542 So you have to have surgery to correct the problem. 270 00:15:21,458 --> 00:15:24,292 - [Producer] So we don't have all of your medical documents, 271 00:15:24,375 --> 00:15:26,708 Gypsy, but the ones that we do have 272 00:15:26,833 --> 00:15:28,250 show that your first surgery 273 00:15:28,333 --> 00:15:32,000 was before you were even a year old. 274 00:15:32,083 --> 00:15:33,458 - [Gypsy] I didn't even know that 275 00:15:33,542 --> 00:15:36,292 I had a surgery before I was even one. 276 00:15:36,375 --> 00:15:37,583 But there's a lot of things that 277 00:15:37,667 --> 00:15:41,667 I don't know about my medical history at all. 278 00:15:41,708 --> 00:15:43,167 I've had issues with my right eye 279 00:15:43,208 --> 00:15:44,750 throughout the course of my life, 280 00:15:44,833 --> 00:15:47,167 and so I do know there's a real problem. 281 00:15:48,417 --> 00:15:51,167 - When you look at Munchausen by proxy, 282 00:15:51,208 --> 00:15:54,292 you often see that there was an encounter 283 00:15:54,375 --> 00:15:57,333 to address a real need with the child. 284 00:15:57,375 --> 00:16:00,792 But in doing so, Dee Dee gained attention 285 00:16:00,875 --> 00:16:03,583 from having a child that could go blind. 286 00:16:04,708 --> 00:16:06,333 That could have been the start 287 00:16:06,375 --> 00:16:08,542 of Dee Dee's Munchausen by proxy. 288 00:16:13,542 --> 00:16:18,083 - My name's Evans Pitre and I am Gypsy's uncle, 289 00:16:18,167 --> 00:16:20,958 which Dee Dee was my younger sister. 290 00:16:22,417 --> 00:16:23,042 Dee Dee was smart. 291 00:16:23,167 --> 00:16:25,042 She was the nurse's assistant, 292 00:16:25,125 --> 00:16:27,125 and she would look up the disease 293 00:16:27,208 --> 00:16:31,042 and kind of say, "Hey, maybe Gypsy does have that." 294 00:16:33,542 --> 00:16:37,625 But it's like, we would never see it. 295 00:16:37,708 --> 00:16:39,167 We would only hear it about 296 00:16:39,208 --> 00:16:41,708 through what Dee Dee was telling us, you know. 297 00:16:44,458 --> 00:16:47,833 - Dee Dee suggested that Gypsy had muscular dystrophy 298 00:16:47,917 --> 00:16:50,167 and that she had a seizure disorder, 299 00:16:51,208 --> 00:16:53,458 and was on a medication for that seizure disorder. 300 00:16:54,625 --> 00:16:56,125 - [Dee Dee] Hey, Gypsy. 301 00:16:56,125 --> 00:16:57,958 Are you ready to go to school? 302 00:16:59,333 --> 00:17:02,667 - When Gypsy was old enough to attend school, 303 00:17:02,750 --> 00:17:04,333 she was excited. 304 00:17:04,417 --> 00:17:06,542 - [Dee Dee] Ready to go, okay? 305 00:17:06,625 --> 00:17:08,375 Wave bye-bye to me. 306 00:17:10,042 --> 00:17:12,125 - I don't even think she went the whole year. 307 00:17:13,875 --> 00:17:15,625 And Dee Dee had told me the reason 308 00:17:15,708 --> 00:17:17,042 why she pulled her out 309 00:17:17,208 --> 00:17:18,333 was because she was scared 310 00:17:18,375 --> 00:17:21,000 they wouldn't give her her medication, right? 311 00:17:25,375 --> 00:17:28,667 - She was supposedly being taught by her mom, 312 00:17:28,750 --> 00:17:32,500 the homeschooling, which was never the case. 313 00:18:03,667 --> 00:18:07,500 Then one day, my mother walked into the room 314 00:18:07,542 --> 00:18:09,708 and she had a wheelchair with her, 315 00:18:10,917 --> 00:18:14,917 and very bluntly told me 316 00:18:15,000 --> 00:18:17,292 to use the wheelchair. 317 00:18:20,208 --> 00:18:22,500 I didn't understand her reasonings, 318 00:18:22,542 --> 00:18:24,250 but I trusted her. 319 00:18:24,375 --> 00:18:27,458 She was my best friend, and I loved her, 320 00:18:28,542 --> 00:18:30,583 and I never questioned as a child. 321 00:18:32,958 --> 00:18:34,625 Now looking back on it, 322 00:18:34,708 --> 00:18:37,083 I wish that I stood up for myself more. 323 00:18:38,042 --> 00:18:41,500 But people don't know that 324 00:18:41,625 --> 00:18:45,458 there was a lot of emotional abuse 325 00:18:45,542 --> 00:18:49,417 attached with the medical abuse, 326 00:18:49,417 --> 00:18:56,083 and they don't know how far back she was doing this to me. 327 00:19:02,500 --> 00:19:05,583 - [Gypsy] Since walking into Chillicothe prison, 328 00:19:06,625 --> 00:19:08,917 I think my biggest changes as a person 329 00:19:09,000 --> 00:19:12,000 has been my maturity level. (laughs) 330 00:19:12,083 --> 00:19:13,667 I thought everything was just fun, 331 00:19:13,708 --> 00:19:15,917 and I think that was part of experiencing 332 00:19:15,917 --> 00:19:18,292 more freedom than I ever had before. 333 00:19:18,375 --> 00:19:20,875 I understand how ironic that is, 334 00:19:20,958 --> 00:19:23,667 but from the time that I was born, 335 00:19:23,750 --> 00:19:25,917 my mother controlled everything I did. 336 00:19:26,000 --> 00:19:28,250 (tense music) 337 00:19:29,208 --> 00:19:31,375 (gentle upbeat music) 338 00:19:40,042 --> 00:19:41,333 - My name is Bobby Pitre. 339 00:19:41,375 --> 00:19:43,542 My cousin is Gypsy Rose Blanchard, 340 00:19:43,625 --> 00:19:45,792 and my aunt was Dee Dee Blanchard. 341 00:19:47,542 --> 00:19:50,083 For Dee Dee, Gypsy getting into the wheelchair 342 00:19:50,167 --> 00:19:52,625 was a graduation from like, 343 00:19:52,708 --> 00:19:56,625 wrapping her knee with a bandage for a basic scrape 344 00:19:56,708 --> 00:20:00,042 to let's see how far I could take this. 345 00:20:00,125 --> 00:20:01,500 And we all would knew 346 00:20:01,625 --> 00:20:03,417 it was a bunch of bull (beep), you know? 347 00:20:33,250 --> 00:20:34,667 If there was things that 348 00:20:34,708 --> 00:20:37,167 I would do that she wouldn't like, 349 00:20:37,250 --> 00:20:40,875 she would favor the cat over me. 350 00:20:40,958 --> 00:20:42,792 She would love on the cat 351 00:20:42,875 --> 00:20:45,583 and then she would just like look at me with this snarl. 352 00:20:47,625 --> 00:20:49,708 (gentle music) 353 00:20:51,333 --> 00:20:54,500 - This one time we was having like, a birthday party, 354 00:20:54,542 --> 00:20:57,083 and Dee Dee had went to the store 355 00:20:57,208 --> 00:21:00,042 and all the kids was, you know, 356 00:21:00,167 --> 00:21:03,000 jumping on the trampoline and Gypsy said, 357 00:21:03,125 --> 00:21:05,000 "Can I go jump on the trampoline?" 358 00:21:06,125 --> 00:21:07,792 We said, "Sure." 359 00:21:07,875 --> 00:21:11,500 So she was jumping with all the other kids. 360 00:21:13,375 --> 00:21:15,500 But when her mom pulled up, 361 00:21:15,625 --> 00:21:18,625 she dropped like a wet rag, 362 00:21:18,708 --> 00:21:20,917 and it's like, what happened? 363 00:21:22,708 --> 00:21:24,750 - It's not uncommon to see a child 364 00:21:24,833 --> 00:21:28,833 who's in a Munchausen abuse situation 365 00:21:28,875 --> 00:21:30,625 to just flip on a dime. 366 00:21:30,708 --> 00:21:31,833 When they're with their mother, 367 00:21:31,875 --> 00:21:35,417 they look really sick, they play the part, 368 00:21:35,500 --> 00:21:37,833 but then as soon as mother leaves, 369 00:21:37,875 --> 00:21:40,542 all of a sudden the kid is perfectly normal. 370 00:21:40,625 --> 00:21:43,625 - Dee Dee came out and was pissed. 371 00:21:43,708 --> 00:21:46,417 She was screaming, "Don't you know she's crippled?" 372 00:21:47,375 --> 00:21:50,667 And I said, "We all seen different." 373 00:21:50,708 --> 00:21:53,333 Dee Dee pulled her off of the trampoline, 374 00:21:53,417 --> 00:21:56,042 put her in her wheelchair and rolled her in the house 375 00:21:56,125 --> 00:21:58,667 for the rest of the day, you know. 376 00:22:00,792 --> 00:22:03,167 - We had heard from some of her family 377 00:22:03,208 --> 00:22:04,833 that Gypsy could walk. 378 00:22:05,958 --> 00:22:08,292 I was confused. 379 00:22:08,375 --> 00:22:10,500 But the relationship that Dee Dee allowed 380 00:22:10,542 --> 00:22:12,958 Gypsy and I to have was so fragile that, 381 00:22:14,708 --> 00:22:17,375 you know, I didn't do my due diligence like I should have. 382 00:22:28,042 --> 00:22:31,833 - We tried and tried and tried, you know, to be more involved. 383 00:22:31,875 --> 00:22:34,333 We would call her and ask her what you want for Christmas, 384 00:22:34,417 --> 00:22:36,667 what you want for your birthday. 385 00:22:36,750 --> 00:22:38,708 Gypsy would say, "Nothing but love." 386 00:22:40,000 --> 00:22:42,500 Then, you know, Dee Dee would get on the phone 387 00:22:42,542 --> 00:22:45,333 and she would say, "Oh, Disney this, Disney that. 388 00:22:45,417 --> 00:22:47,000 Princess this, princess that." 389 00:22:48,542 --> 00:22:50,583 (swelling orchestral music) 390 00:22:50,667 --> 00:22:54,500 - I grew up on this Disney fairytale, 391 00:22:54,542 --> 00:22:56,875 love at first sight notion. 392 00:22:59,083 --> 00:23:00,708 I remember many times hoping 393 00:23:00,792 --> 00:23:05,083 for like, a knight in shining armor 394 00:23:05,208 --> 00:23:07,125 to make me feel like I was special. 395 00:23:08,292 --> 00:23:10,875 (gentle music) 396 00:23:13,125 --> 00:23:15,917 - During that time, Gypsy's grandma, 397 00:23:16,042 --> 00:23:17,458 who was also my mom, 398 00:23:17,542 --> 00:23:19,500 was a very sickly person 399 00:23:22,542 --> 00:23:25,667 and after my mom passed, 400 00:23:25,750 --> 00:23:27,750 Dee Dee's world came crumbling down. 401 00:23:28,750 --> 00:23:30,708 - Dee Dee moved out of my grandmother's house 402 00:23:30,792 --> 00:23:32,917 and into projects all over the place, 403 00:23:33,000 --> 00:23:35,333 and we didn't know if she was here or there, 404 00:23:35,458 --> 00:23:36,583 or where she was. 405 00:23:36,583 --> 00:23:38,042 She just seemed to bounce, you know. 406 00:23:40,042 --> 00:23:42,750 - There was a active warrant out for her arrest 407 00:23:43,708 --> 00:23:47,917 in Lafourche Parish for writing bad checks. 408 00:23:49,000 --> 00:23:51,833 - She had maxed out two of my mom's credit cards 409 00:23:51,917 --> 00:23:54,542 after my mom had been dead for over a year. 410 00:23:55,583 --> 00:23:57,458 So Dee Dee was devious, 411 00:23:57,542 --> 00:24:01,250 and she knew how to get away with things. 412 00:24:01,333 --> 00:24:03,542 But if she done got caught, 413 00:24:03,625 --> 00:24:05,792 she knew she had to run away. 414 00:24:07,833 --> 00:24:10,042 - When Gypsy and Dee Dee started moving, 415 00:24:10,125 --> 00:24:12,792 I was visiting, you know, three or four times a year. 416 00:24:12,875 --> 00:24:14,500 But the further away they moved 417 00:24:14,583 --> 00:24:16,333 from Bayou Lafourche where we live, 418 00:24:16,458 --> 00:24:19,083 the visit intervals got further apart as well. 419 00:24:22,042 --> 00:24:24,167 - At that age, I really didn't understand 420 00:24:24,208 --> 00:24:25,542 why my mother was moving us 421 00:24:25,625 --> 00:24:27,917 from place to place to place, 422 00:24:28,000 --> 00:24:32,583 or why at certain times we didn't have a place to live. 423 00:24:33,500 --> 00:24:35,625 But it really kind of showed me 424 00:24:35,708 --> 00:24:39,250 that all I really had in my life was my mother. 425 00:24:39,333 --> 00:24:41,583 (soft tense music) 426 00:24:43,042 --> 00:24:46,875 Since my incarceration, I am finally free 427 00:24:46,958 --> 00:24:50,667 to build relationships and friendships. 428 00:24:51,792 --> 00:24:55,458 The best memory that I have in my entire life 429 00:24:55,542 --> 00:24:58,583 is the day that I got to prison, 430 00:24:59,708 --> 00:25:03,208 and I got to go out to the picnic tables, 431 00:25:04,458 --> 00:25:06,750 and I'm like, I'm free. 432 00:25:07,708 --> 00:25:09,375 I'm free to have friends. 433 00:25:09,375 --> 00:25:10,958 I'm free to do what I want. 434 00:25:12,000 --> 00:25:13,458 It might be in a controlled environment, 435 00:25:13,542 --> 00:25:15,667 but this is nice. (laughs) 436 00:25:15,750 --> 00:25:16,958 - [Interviewer] You're making me cry. 437 00:25:17,042 --> 00:25:17,875 - It's the truth. 438 00:25:17,958 --> 00:25:20,167 It's such a good memory. (laughs) 439 00:25:20,250 --> 00:25:22,250 - [Interviewer] Wow, wait. 440 00:25:22,333 --> 00:25:25,000 (gentle music) 441 00:25:25,917 --> 00:25:27,708 - When Gypsy was around eight, 442 00:25:27,792 --> 00:25:29,667 Dee Dee had called Wendy and said 443 00:25:29,750 --> 00:25:32,167 they were in New Orleans. 444 00:25:33,458 --> 00:25:35,792 But that she had some news to tell us, 445 00:25:35,875 --> 00:25:40,125 and I remember my heart sinking. 446 00:25:40,208 --> 00:25:42,167 (tense music) 447 00:25:47,042 --> 00:25:50,250 - [Gypsy] If I get paroled, when I leave this prison, 448 00:25:50,333 --> 00:25:52,167 I don't expect it to be easy, 449 00:25:53,625 --> 00:25:55,625 but I think that's part of the experience 450 00:25:56,750 --> 00:25:59,750 is feeling the hard times, 451 00:25:59,833 --> 00:26:03,125 learning by trial and error. 452 00:26:03,208 --> 00:26:04,292 It's how I learn. 453 00:26:06,458 --> 00:26:08,542 It's how I grow, it's how I evolved. 454 00:26:10,708 --> 00:26:13,667 (gentle whistling) 455 00:26:23,458 --> 00:26:26,458 - When Gypsy was around eight, Dee Dee had called one day 456 00:26:26,542 --> 00:26:29,083 and said she was diagnosed with leukemia. 457 00:26:30,875 --> 00:26:32,833 Like, this poor girl. 458 00:26:34,208 --> 00:26:37,542 She has all of these illnesses and then has this. 459 00:26:38,708 --> 00:26:42,000 - Honestly, I really didn't know what cancer was, 460 00:26:42,042 --> 00:26:43,958 but I was going through so many medications 461 00:26:44,042 --> 00:26:47,708 and surgeries that I didn't question it. 462 00:26:51,292 --> 00:26:54,708 - Most of the family felt that it was not real. 463 00:26:54,792 --> 00:26:56,792 You know, it's kind of like the wheelchair. 464 00:26:57,875 --> 00:27:00,792 But then Dee Dee was shaving Gypsy's head, 465 00:27:02,375 --> 00:27:05,833 and seeing that the medicine is making her hair fall out, 466 00:27:07,042 --> 00:27:09,250 so you really didn't know what was going on. 467 00:27:10,250 --> 00:27:13,667 - Of course, it was years before we found out that, 468 00:27:13,708 --> 00:27:16,167 you know, she didn't have leukemia. 469 00:27:16,250 --> 00:27:17,708 That it wasn't true. 470 00:27:19,500 --> 00:27:21,000 That all of it was a lie. 471 00:27:23,708 --> 00:27:25,542 - Munchausen by proxy perpetrators 472 00:27:25,708 --> 00:27:29,042 go to the ends of the Earth to maintain 473 00:27:29,167 --> 00:27:32,500 the charade of having a sick child. 474 00:27:32,542 --> 00:27:35,000 (gentle music) 475 00:27:38,917 --> 00:27:41,625 - Feeding tube. (sighs) 476 00:27:44,458 --> 00:27:45,625 Wow. 477 00:27:46,708 --> 00:27:48,792 After looking at the medical records, 478 00:27:48,875 --> 00:27:51,667 apparently Dee Dee had suggested to different doctors that 479 00:27:51,750 --> 00:27:54,667 Gypsy was not getting enough calories 480 00:27:54,792 --> 00:27:59,250 to allow her to gain weight, meaning by mouth, 481 00:27:59,375 --> 00:28:03,292 which is just wild because all of that was a lie. 482 00:28:04,958 --> 00:28:06,500 - [Producer] The documents that we saw, 483 00:28:06,583 --> 00:28:08,875 Gypsy, said that you have a fear of eating. 484 00:28:08,958 --> 00:28:11,708 - [Gypsy] That's ridiculous. 485 00:28:11,792 --> 00:28:13,792 Is that something like my mom said? 486 00:28:13,792 --> 00:28:15,083 - [Producer] Yes. 487 00:28:15,167 --> 00:28:15,875 - [Gypsy] Wow. 488 00:28:15,958 --> 00:28:18,833 No, I never had a fear of eating. 489 00:28:18,875 --> 00:28:20,750 - Regardless of what Dee Dee said, 490 00:28:20,875 --> 00:28:21,958 it's a doctor's job to figure out 491 00:28:22,042 --> 00:28:23,667 what's real and what's not, 492 00:28:23,750 --> 00:28:26,917 and that was not done for Gypsy. 493 00:28:27,042 --> 00:28:28,875 But unfortunately, the decision was made 494 00:28:29,000 --> 00:28:30,542 to have a surgical procedure 495 00:28:30,667 --> 00:28:32,208 to put a hole into her skin, 496 00:28:32,292 --> 00:28:34,458 down to her stomach in order to feed. 497 00:28:37,042 --> 00:28:39,042 - [Gypsy] My mom used to try to make things 498 00:28:39,125 --> 00:28:41,000 that were being done to me fun, 499 00:28:41,083 --> 00:28:44,542 and so like the feeding tube's name was Mickey Button, 500 00:28:44,625 --> 00:28:47,333 and so she came up with a song. 501 00:28:47,417 --> 00:28:48,708 It went like this. 502 00:28:48,792 --> 00:28:50,708 ♪ Mickey Button 503 00:28:50,792 --> 00:28:54,333 ♪ M-I-C-K-E-Y 504 00:28:54,417 --> 00:28:57,625 ♪ B-O-T-T-O-N 505 00:28:57,708 --> 00:28:59,667 ♪ Mickey button 506 00:28:59,708 --> 00:29:02,625 ♪ Mickey button 507 00:29:02,708 --> 00:29:06,708 - We find feeding tubes such a common aspect 508 00:29:06,708 --> 00:29:08,708 of Munchhausen syndrome by proxy, 509 00:29:08,833 --> 00:29:12,750 because a feeding tube gives a parent 510 00:29:12,833 --> 00:29:15,958 almost unlimited control 511 00:29:16,042 --> 00:29:18,500 to poison and medicate, 512 00:29:18,583 --> 00:29:21,708 starve and feed their kid. 513 00:29:23,917 --> 00:29:25,167 - I don't believe that 514 00:29:25,167 --> 00:29:27,250 there is a single rational human being 515 00:29:27,333 --> 00:29:29,500 on the planet that would not agree 516 00:29:29,583 --> 00:29:31,792 that what Dee Dee did to Gypsy 517 00:29:31,875 --> 00:29:35,000 was one of the most egregious forms 518 00:29:35,083 --> 00:29:37,833 of parental abuse you can imagine. 519 00:29:53,542 --> 00:29:56,125 (tense music) 520 00:30:00,042 --> 00:30:04,042 - At one point, Gypsy and Dee Dee were in New Orleans 521 00:30:05,083 --> 00:30:08,167 and they got in a car accident, 522 00:30:09,375 --> 00:30:12,750 and Dee Dee's foot was almost severed off. 523 00:30:17,083 --> 00:30:20,458 So while Dee Dee was recovering in the hospital, 524 00:30:20,542 --> 00:30:24,792 Dee Dee's dad, Claude, brought Gypsy home to Golden Meadow. 525 00:30:45,542 --> 00:30:49,000 - It was hard because I wanted to go to my mom in the hospital, 526 00:30:49,042 --> 00:30:52,083 but I had a pretty close bond with my grandpa. 527 00:30:53,125 --> 00:30:57,083 Then one day, it just seemed to change. 528 00:30:57,167 --> 00:30:58,792 I didn't imagine that my life 529 00:30:58,875 --> 00:31:01,583 was gonna get darker than what it already was. 530 00:31:01,667 --> 00:31:03,833 (tense music) 531 00:31:08,708 --> 00:31:10,167 (tense music) 532 00:31:10,250 --> 00:31:12,417 - [Gypsy] Here in prison, I think I've only scratched 533 00:31:12,542 --> 00:31:14,667 the surface of realizing 534 00:31:14,750 --> 00:31:17,833 how much trauma I have been through, 535 00:31:19,042 --> 00:31:22,375 and accepting the fact that it did happen. 536 00:31:24,750 --> 00:31:27,833 I have taken a trauma therapy class. 537 00:31:30,375 --> 00:31:32,333 However, I'm not getting 538 00:31:32,375 --> 00:31:35,542 as much therapy as I would hope to have. 539 00:31:35,625 --> 00:31:36,750 Therapy is something that 540 00:31:36,875 --> 00:31:41,250 I find is essential to my betterment. 541 00:31:44,042 --> 00:31:46,625 (gentle guitar music) 542 00:31:49,750 --> 00:31:53,042 When I was living with my grandpa 543 00:31:53,125 --> 00:31:56,333 and my step-grandmother, Laura, 544 00:31:56,375 --> 00:31:59,875 things changed in my life forever. 545 00:32:01,125 --> 00:32:06,250 I was being sexually abused, molested. 546 00:32:06,333 --> 00:32:08,500 (tense music) 547 00:32:08,542 --> 00:32:13,625 My grandpa would take me out of my wheelchair 548 00:32:13,708 --> 00:32:17,083 and bring me into a closet 549 00:32:17,167 --> 00:32:20,917 or the shack that was back behind their house 550 00:32:21,000 --> 00:32:24,208 where he would do woodworking, 551 00:32:24,333 --> 00:32:27,583 and he would perform sexual acts on me. 552 00:32:29,792 --> 00:32:31,708 He would make me touch him. 553 00:32:31,792 --> 00:32:33,417 He would touch me. 554 00:32:34,542 --> 00:32:36,583 (crows cawing) 555 00:32:38,583 --> 00:32:42,708 At nine, I don't think that I knew that it was wrong, 556 00:32:43,750 --> 00:32:47,750 but then my grandfather told me not to tell anyone. 557 00:32:47,875 --> 00:32:51,458 He's like, "You don't want papa to go to jail, do you?" 558 00:32:53,125 --> 00:32:55,542 I didn't want him to get in trouble, 559 00:32:55,667 --> 00:32:57,458 so I just kept quiet. 560 00:32:59,875 --> 00:33:02,500 - Years later, after she got to prison, 561 00:33:02,583 --> 00:33:06,917 Gypsy and I were on the phone and she said, 562 00:33:07,000 --> 00:33:10,625 "My grandfather, Claude, molested me." 563 00:33:13,833 --> 00:33:16,958 And I went to fall out my chair. 564 00:33:19,792 --> 00:33:24,958 To take the innocence away from a child is horrible. 565 00:33:26,208 --> 00:33:28,208 And I told her, I said, "I love you 566 00:33:29,292 --> 00:33:31,083 and I'm always gonna love you. 567 00:33:32,167 --> 00:33:33,458 I support you." 568 00:33:35,333 --> 00:33:37,958 - Kristy has been the mom 569 00:33:38,042 --> 00:33:40,542 that I always wanted to have, 570 00:33:40,625 --> 00:33:45,208 and honestly, I can't imagine my life 571 00:33:45,333 --> 00:33:48,667 without her now 'cause she's just been that supportive. 572 00:33:53,125 --> 00:33:55,583 The abuse was not something that 573 00:33:55,667 --> 00:33:59,167 I wanted to come forward with publicly, you know, 574 00:33:59,250 --> 00:34:01,250 because I just wasn't ready for that. 575 00:34:02,167 --> 00:34:04,500 But I feel like releasing 576 00:34:04,542 --> 00:34:09,292 all of that out would be very therapeutic for me. 577 00:34:11,458 --> 00:34:13,250 - [Interviewer] Gypsy told us that 578 00:34:13,333 --> 00:34:17,000 there may have been some abuse that went on in this house. 579 00:34:19,125 --> 00:34:20,667 - [Interviewer] With you and Gypsy. 580 00:34:21,792 --> 00:34:23,000 - [Interviewer] Yeah. 581 00:34:37,500 --> 00:34:39,417 - [Interviewer] So that's not true at all? 582 00:34:41,583 --> 00:34:42,542 - [Interviewer] Why do you think Gypsy 583 00:34:42,625 --> 00:34:44,042 would say that if it's- 584 00:35:17,917 --> 00:35:19,375 - [Producer] So, we talked 585 00:35:19,500 --> 00:35:23,500 to your grandpa Claude about this. 586 00:35:23,583 --> 00:35:28,500 He said that he absolutely did not sexually abuse you. 587 00:35:30,042 --> 00:35:32,583 - [Gypsy] Wooow. 588 00:35:32,667 --> 00:35:36,917 - [Producer] He said, you as a really young girl, 589 00:35:37,000 --> 00:35:39,000 would try and touch him, 590 00:35:39,125 --> 00:35:41,167 and he would have to tell you no. 591 00:35:42,208 --> 00:35:43,833 - [Gypsy] That just like confirms that like, 592 00:35:43,958 --> 00:35:45,375 I want nothing to do with him. 593 00:35:46,792 --> 00:35:50,708 Like, I would've had more forgiveness in my heart 594 00:35:50,792 --> 00:35:52,250 had he just told the truth. 595 00:35:54,208 --> 00:35:55,625 - No, I don't think that happened. 596 00:35:55,708 --> 00:35:58,875 I think that was just probably taught to her 597 00:35:58,875 --> 00:36:02,167 by her mom for the attention, 598 00:36:02,208 --> 00:36:05,375 to throw the spotlight on somebody else besides her. 599 00:36:06,542 --> 00:36:08,667 - [Gypsy] There is no part of me 600 00:36:08,708 --> 00:36:10,792 that questions if this happened or not. 601 00:36:10,875 --> 00:36:13,750 This 100% happened, 602 00:36:13,833 --> 00:36:16,625 and he can take it to his grave if he wants to, 603 00:36:16,708 --> 00:36:19,208 but the one person that is not gonna visit him 604 00:36:19,292 --> 00:36:20,750 at his grave is me. 605 00:36:26,708 --> 00:36:28,542 (gentle music) 606 00:36:29,583 --> 00:36:30,917 - [Gypsy] When people tell me that, 607 00:36:31,000 --> 00:36:33,208 "You're gonna need therapy the rest of your life," 608 00:36:33,292 --> 00:36:34,542 you know, I laugh it off, 609 00:36:34,625 --> 00:36:37,500 but I really do understand what they mean. 610 00:36:37,625 --> 00:36:39,750 I know that they're not calling me crazy, 611 00:36:39,833 --> 00:36:42,333 but I understand that it's going to take 612 00:36:42,458 --> 00:36:46,667 years to undo a lot of the psychological trauma. 613 00:36:48,833 --> 00:36:52,000 ♪ Hush-a-bye 614 00:36:52,125 --> 00:36:54,917 ♪ Don't you cry 615 00:36:55,000 --> 00:37:00,500 ♪ Go to sleep my little baby 616 00:37:00,542 --> 00:37:03,333 - [Gypsy] When my mom came home from the hospital, 617 00:37:03,417 --> 00:37:05,458 I wish that I could have been brave enough 618 00:37:05,542 --> 00:37:07,750 to tell my mom what was going on 619 00:37:07,833 --> 00:37:10,958 with my grandpa while it was going on, 620 00:37:11,042 --> 00:37:13,000 but she was too badly injured 621 00:37:13,083 --> 00:37:17,000 to physically protect me. 622 00:37:17,083 --> 00:37:20,667 Instead, a good year later, 623 00:37:20,750 --> 00:37:24,083 I finally started to tell my mom a little bit, 624 00:37:24,167 --> 00:37:27,458 but she started to cry and blame herself. 625 00:37:27,542 --> 00:37:32,125 So I just clammed up and nobody ever knew. 626 00:37:32,208 --> 00:37:34,458 (gentle music) 627 00:37:38,292 --> 00:37:40,417 - People come in here and inquire about Gypsy, 628 00:37:40,500 --> 00:37:42,667 what's going on with her and when she's getting out 629 00:37:42,792 --> 00:37:44,542 because a lot of people are on her side. 630 00:37:44,625 --> 00:37:46,167 A lot of people feel like, you know, 631 00:37:46,250 --> 00:37:47,667 she was wrongly done by her mom, 632 00:37:47,750 --> 00:37:50,583 and I definitely feel that, you know, 100%. 633 00:37:51,625 --> 00:37:53,542 Gypsy got robbed her whole life 634 00:37:53,625 --> 00:37:55,917 by the one person she looked up to. 635 00:37:56,042 --> 00:38:00,583 It was like the movie "Mommie Dearest" to the max. 636 00:38:00,708 --> 00:38:02,833 A sick, I mean, "Mommie Dearest" was sick, 637 00:38:02,875 --> 00:38:04,333 but Dee Dee was sicker. 638 00:38:07,333 --> 00:38:09,167 (church bells ringing) 639 00:38:09,208 --> 00:38:10,667 About a year after my grandmother died, 640 00:38:10,750 --> 00:38:14,208 my grandfather got married to Laura May. 641 00:38:14,333 --> 00:38:17,458 Dee Dee was very upset about that happening. 642 00:38:17,542 --> 00:38:20,167 She felt like my grandmother was being replaced 643 00:38:20,292 --> 00:38:23,000 by this woman that she probably hated. 644 00:38:23,083 --> 00:38:25,875 - Dee Dee had a vengeful side. 645 00:38:27,083 --> 00:38:29,208 If she wanted to do something to you, 646 00:38:29,292 --> 00:38:30,917 she went for the jugular. 647 00:38:32,292 --> 00:38:35,958 - So after Dee Dee got out the hospital, 648 00:38:36,042 --> 00:38:39,333 her and Gypsy were staying at my grandfather's house, 649 00:38:39,417 --> 00:38:43,500 and one day my grandfather and Gypsy were hanging out 650 00:38:43,583 --> 00:38:46,667 and Gypsy sees the Roundup in the corner 651 00:38:46,792 --> 00:38:49,208 and she tells my grandfather, "Oh, that's the vitamins 652 00:38:49,292 --> 00:38:51,542 that mom gives to grandma Laura May." 653 00:38:53,583 --> 00:38:55,375 And he's like, "What?" 654 00:39:09,875 --> 00:39:15,417 - [Gypsy] I know that my mother has this hatred towards Laura, 655 00:39:15,500 --> 00:39:20,458 so that is something that would be in her character to do. 656 00:39:22,250 --> 00:39:24,750 I remember a very heated argument. 657 00:39:24,833 --> 00:39:28,917 Laura was just like, "I don't want you here." 658 00:39:29,000 --> 00:39:30,458 And my mother's like, 659 00:39:30,542 --> 00:39:33,250 "Fine, we'll find another place to stay." 660 00:39:33,333 --> 00:39:35,333 (tense music) 661 00:39:35,417 --> 00:39:37,083 I was so happy. 662 00:39:38,333 --> 00:39:42,125 I had been asking my mother over and over again 663 00:39:42,208 --> 00:39:44,125 to leave my grandpa's house, 664 00:39:45,375 --> 00:39:47,583 desperate to get away from my grandpa 665 00:39:47,667 --> 00:39:49,917 and the abuse that was going on. 666 00:39:50,042 --> 00:39:51,208 Let's just go anywhere, 667 00:39:51,292 --> 00:39:53,333 anywhere but here, let's just go. 668 00:39:55,250 --> 00:39:59,083 But by exiling us from our family, 669 00:39:59,167 --> 00:40:00,667 it just gave her free reign 670 00:40:00,750 --> 00:40:03,208 to create new illnesses for me, 671 00:40:03,292 --> 00:40:06,125 to have me put on more medications 672 00:40:06,208 --> 00:40:08,000 to make things worse. 673 00:40:09,208 --> 00:40:10,958 - That put another nail in the coffin 674 00:40:11,042 --> 00:40:13,000 for Gypsy and her freedom. 675 00:40:13,042 --> 00:40:16,750 - Laura May ended up dying a slow, painful death, 676 00:40:16,833 --> 00:40:18,625 and I guarantee you it had a lot to do 677 00:40:18,625 --> 00:40:20,750 with the poisoning from that Roundup. 678 00:40:21,875 --> 00:40:26,125 - And when we thought we heard it all, we didn't. 679 00:40:26,208 --> 00:40:28,667 (tense music) 680 00:40:33,458 --> 00:40:36,333 - Maybe Gypsy wasn't as childlike 681 00:40:36,375 --> 00:40:38,125 or innocent as we thought she was. 682 00:40:39,292 --> 00:40:41,833 - Gypsy's case was literally like peeling 683 00:40:41,917 --> 00:40:44,833 the scariest onion you'll ever find. 684 00:40:44,875 --> 00:40:46,792 - First time I tried to run away, 685 00:40:46,875 --> 00:40:48,958 she chained me to the bed and said that 686 00:40:49,042 --> 00:40:53,625 "You will never find love. You will never be happy." 687 00:40:53,708 --> 00:40:55,417 I'm sorry. (sniffles) 688 00:40:56,500 --> 00:40:58,208 - Gypsy was just trying to escape the devil. 689 00:40:58,333 --> 00:41:02,667 - [Gypsy] I pulled the trigger as many times as I could. 690 00:41:02,750 --> 00:41:05,000 - I wish she could have come to me. 691 00:41:05,083 --> 00:41:07,292 - [Gypsy] Every time that I would take these pills, 692 00:41:07,375 --> 00:41:08,958 all my problems went away. 693 00:41:10,042 --> 00:41:12,917 - We should all feel that we failed Gypsy. 694 00:41:13,000 --> 00:41:17,708 - We are leaving right now for Gypsy's parole hearing. 695 00:41:17,792 --> 00:41:19,917 - I have been keeping a secret. 696 00:41:20,042 --> 00:41:21,250 I am engaged. 697 00:41:22,292 --> 00:41:24,042 - [Fiance] I didn't realize writing wedding vows 698 00:41:24,125 --> 00:41:25,875 would be so difficult. 699 00:41:25,958 --> 00:41:27,625 - I think that there is a possibility 700 00:41:27,708 --> 00:41:29,125 of a happy ending for me. 701 00:41:30,208 --> 00:41:32,583 (tense music)