Found Deceased MO - Clauddinnea 'Dee Dee' Blancharde, 48, Springfield, 10 June 2015 - #2 *Arrests*

[QueenBea13]

Why or how would anyone expect a 3rd grader to make adult decisions?

 

[anastacia]

I agree that murder is a sin. Here is where I'm tripping though. We have this girl who was not sent to school so she could develop socially. From what I've read her mother was her only companion. Even her interaction with nurses and doctor's and the media was with her mother right by her side. As she grew I'm sure she became tired of the life she was living. I say this because she began to have a 'secret' life on the internet. I'm guessing that one way her mother kept her compliant with the deception is by telling her without it they would both be out on the streets and starve, that their very survival depended on the funds they were getting from the deception.

She should have gone to the authorities you say. And told them what exactly? That her mother was forcing her to lie and scam the system and society? Before any action could have been taken the situation would first have to have been thoroughly investigated. Where would she stay in the meantime? She was too old for foster care. She had no job skills. There isn't a social agency that I know of that exists to support a grown woman with no marketable skills. Any disability payments she received went to her mother. If she turned her mother in for fraud they would be stopped while her situation was investigated. The case would be closed out. No more support. She might have qualified to draw disability under mental health issues, God knows she probably has many due to the way she was raised, but it can take years to get approved. Ask anyone who draws it. Where does she live in the meantime? How does she support herself? Family has come forward now but did she even know of their existence before? I believe I read her mother cut off contact with them when Gypsy was 8. Add to that her mother may have very well told her that if the deception ever came to light, Gypsy would be prosecuted for her part in it. Gypsy might well have been prosecuted, I don't know. She finally meets someone who professed to care about her. He was also damaged goods, but how was she to know this? What did she have to measure him against? What was her standard of 'normal'? She tried bringing him into her life but I've read that her mother opposed this. I can only imagine Mommie Dreadful did indeed oppose her meal ticket doing anything that would take her away. Not to mention the fear of anyone finding out that the innocent helpless child had a boyfriend. Mommie Dreadful said NO. Well she could have just runaway before the murder much as she did after the murder. Yes, she could have. WE know this. Did she? Or in her mind was Mommie Dreadful so all powerful that she could have reached out and snatched her back no matter where she went or what she did? Mommie Dreadful had been all she had known up until this point, she must have seemed as powerful as God to Gypsy. I do know the situation seems pretty hopeless to me and I am a reasonably well adjusted adult with social skills. To an emotionally, and possibly mentally, stunted person it might well have seemed that killing her mother was her only option to ever have a chance at any kind of life.

Again, I'm just thankful I'm not on the jury that will hear this case.

 

[iluvmua]

So battered women who snap and kill their aggressors should spend 50 years in jail as well? Baffling.

For what it's worth, I think DeeDee got exactly what she deserved. Just because someone died, doesn't meant they suddenly became less of a monster.

She didn't deserve to be killed. put in prison, yes, killed no. jmo

 

[Zuri]

As a homicide survivor, I would never serve on a jury for a case like this. I am an advocate for victims of homicide. In this case, I don't know who the victim actually is, but I have compassion for Gypsy, if the investigation proves what most of us surmise to be true.

 

[iluvmua]

A part of me feels sorry for Gypsy and a part of me does not. moo

 

[QueenBea13]

That's the way I feel, ever since I heard her tiny squeaky mousy voice tell the judge her address! I guess in my mind I thought that voice was an act & in reality she'd have this normal 23 yr old sounding voice, but it is so childlike, she is so childlike. My heart feels sorry for her but then my head is like what the **** is wrong with this chic????

 

[anastacia]

No, Dee Dee didn't deserve to die. I'm not saying that. I'm saying that to the child she had victimized for practically all of her life, murder must have felt like her only option. If the facts of this case are what I understand them to be. If the facts are that Gypsy was raised from the age of 5 to be a 'professionally sick' person, if she was indeed as socially isolated as I understand her to be, if everything is as I understand it to be, then I understand why she might have felt that murder was her only option. I understand why she felt that that person she met on the internet was her only means of having anything resembling love and a 'normal' life and why she felt that she had to hold on to it at all costs.

 

[Lilibet]

The Judge signed the waiver and Missouri authorities have 30 days to come get her. Judge Michael Bohren asked Blancharde if she understood what she was doing. She said yes but conferred with her attorney. The Judge wasn't happy with that and wanted her to answer the questions. She told the judge she has a 3rd grade education and was taking anti-seizure medication in jail.

http://www.cbs58.com/story/29362147/gypsy-blanchard-will-be-sent-back-to-missouri-to-face-charges

Huh? She's taking anti-seizure meds in jail? I wonder what doctor ordered that? This case is so messed up.

BBM

At this point, post confession, I am going to take everything Gypsy says with a grain of salt. I think she knows what to say to get what she wants. She learned at the feet of a master and it's ingrained in her. The judge isn't going to check her school transcripts or her prison meds. She can say whatever she wants. And again, she needs long term counseling, and should not be turned loose for a long time. While I have sympathy for her, I don't trust her at all.

 

[pepelepolecat]

The Judge signed the waiver and Missouri authorities have 30 days to come get her. Judge Michael Bohren asked Blancharde if she understood what she was doing. She said yes but conferred with her attorney. The Judge wasn't happy with that and wanted her to answer the questions. She told the judge she has a 3rd grade education and was taking anti-seizure medication in jail.

http://www.cbs58.com/story/29362147/gypsy-blanchard-will-be-sent-back-to-missouri-to-face-charges

Huh? She's taking anti-seizure meds in jail? I wonder what doctor ordered that? This case is so messed up.

My only experience is with Topamax ... Stopping it abruptly can lead to withdrawal symptoms or seizures (according to the packaging). Even if she didn't need it, she'd need to continue taking it in jail and taper off under a doctor's supervision for her own physical safety.

(Topamax can also cause fuzzy thinking, mood disturbances, etc. I'd be interested in learning what and how many medications she was on when all this went down.)

 

[kaen]

Why or how would anyone expect a 3rd grader to make adult decisions?

She said she had a 3rd grade education. Unfortunately or fortunately (depending on your POV) the prison system is filled with low functioning adults or barely literate ones.

While I want to feel sorry for her if she has diminished capacities, I struggle with all of the other people in jail who have been victimized, malnourished, drugged, and/or not parented. Her circumstances have drawn many in but the sad reality is that many prisoners have horrific circumstances in their past.

The partner in this crime also has diminished capacities (killed because Gypsy told him to, sent the knife to himself so he wouldn't be caught with it, etc). While he did not deal with this mother and that abuse, it is clear that some simple cause and effect thinking is not present. On some level he is a victim here as well but he would engender lots of people saying to put him away forever.

This is a tough one but, at the end of the work day, I think both should be in prison and take responsibility.

 

[anastacia]

I hear what you're saying. I do. I just keep thinking that if the victim in this case weren't her mother, and if she had killed her herself, how would everyone feel then? If the girls held in Ohio had killed their captor would we be saying that even though they were captive victims they still belonged in prison?

This abuse started when Gypsy was 5 years old according to her mother's family. From the age of 5.

ETA--On the other hand, if you beat and abuse a dog until it becomes a killer, it still has to be put down. It's not the dog's fault, it was tortured, but it's beyond salvage now and must be destroyed. Since we're talking about a human being here, euthanasia is out of the question, but maybe imprisonment is the way to go. It's not Gypsy's fault that she is what she is, but society still has to be protected? Is that the correct way to look at this horrible situation?

ACK!! This case is tearing me up because I just DON'T KNOW and I usually have such a strong sense of black/white--no grey--in this case it's all GREY to me!!

 

[MsMarple]

BBM

At this point, post confession, I am going to take everything Gypsy says with a grain of salt. I think she knows what to say to get what she wants. She learned at the feet of a master and it's ingrained in her. The judge isn't going to check her school transcripts or her prison meds. She can say whatever she wants. And again, she needs long term counseling, and should not be turned loose for a long time. While I have sympathy for her, I don't trust her at all.

I think that's a wise stance to take right now and I agree that however this case plays out Gypsy needs intense therapy.

Slightly off topic but I've been following the Josh Duggar molestation case and in an odd way the Duggar girls are in a similar position to Gypsy. They've been infantilized and exploited by their parents, under-educated and kept very much under the thumb of their father. They have to put on a happy face for the public and have zero skills that would allow them to break free of their family even if they wanted to.

Right now I'm so happy and grateful that my parents were... well, my parents. IYKWIM.

 

[kaen]

I struggle as well. Her story is compelling and the abuse is getting clearer but lots of criminals have had abusive situations. They are responsible as she is.

I would hold her responsible if she had picked up the knife or asked someone else to do the deed. If she is mentally incompetent or unable to know right from wrong, then it is a different story. She and the young man left her mother there, ran away, stole money (maybe more than once), and she knew the actions killed her mother so I see that as capable. She didn't think her mother would be alive when she returned home. She started secret FB/SM pages. She posted the horrific statements on FB as well. It is hard for me to give her a bye on this one.

 

[ninij9]

I don't know that I am so quick to believe her about having a third grade education. I have a lot of empathy here for Gypsy, I think she had a terrible mother, but I still am not ready to believe a word this woman/child says. I'll wait to see what the white coats have to say about her. I bet her IQ is surprisingly high for her situation. JMO.

 

[Lilibet]

I hear what you're saying. I do. I just keep thinking that if the victim in this case weren't her mother, and if she had killed her herself, how would everyone feel then? If the girls held in Ohio had killed their captor would we be saying that even though they were captive victims they still belonged in prison?

This abuse started when Gypsy was 5 years old according to her mother's family. From the age of 5.

ETA--On the other hand, if you beat and abuse a dog until it becomes a killer, it still has to be put down. It's not the dog's fault, it was tortured, but it's beyond salvage now and must be destroyed. Since we're talking about a human being here, euthanasia is out of the question, but maybe imprisonment is the way to go. It's not Gypsy's fault that she is what she is, but society still has to be protected? Is that the correct way to look at this horrible situation?

ACK!! This case is tearing me up because I just DON'T KNOW and I usually have such a strong sense of black/white--no grey--in this case it's all GREY to me!!

BBM

You've expressed perfectly the moral and legal dilemma this case presents. I think most of us have been struggling with this. Right now, with the limited amount we know, I believe that society needs to be protected from both of them and they both need help. I also believe that they need to (learn to) take responsibility for their actions in the process. They took a life, and IMO, even if society understands and sympathizes with the reasons, they can't just go free. Dee was apparently awful, but Gypsy had no legal or moral right right to impose a death sentence, even though I understand she may have felt it was her only escape. Of course, Gypsy probably has not been taught society's moral standards, but she has to be held to them nonetheless and hopefully rehabilitated IMO. What a mess!!

 

[Arbogast]

At a certain point, when you look at the fact that we have a 24-year-old woman pretending to be crippled and to be obviously much more mentally handicapped than she is...I hate to say it, but my guess (now that I've heard her say that she has a third-grade education) is that, yes, she did learn from the master, and that she will default to what she's used to: lying and pretending to be something she isn't.

I have sympathy for her, but I keep thinking about the fact that she's sharing pics from various fetish sites while posing in little girl's princess dresses and snuggling with stuffed animals. Not that the two are mutually exclusive or anything, but I just feel like she's an ACTRESS at this point, and it's the norm for her. I can really see her saying that she's going to get a lot of sympathy and get acquitted, if not because of her mother's treatment of her, then because she's going to pretend she has a much more diminished mental capability than she really has. It's literally all she knows.

 

[GigTu]

This abuse started when Gypsy was 5 years old according to her mother's family. From the age of 5.

Yet they did absolutely nothing to stop it or remove her from the situation.

They are as guilty as the dead witch.

 

[Lilibet]

It just occurred to me that it's very interesting that Gypsy had the ability to think on her feet and come up with excuses when the judge disapproved of her consulting with her attorney. Most of us in her dire situation would be intimidated and just say "Yes, your honor." Again, while I sympathize to a degree, I refuse to trust her and be scammed by her. JMO

 

[Lilibet]

Yet they did absolutely nothing to stop it or remove her from the situation.

They are as guilty as the dead witch.

With all due respect, we don't know what the family did or didn't do. Nor do we know the lengths DeeDee went to in hiding from them and from the law. She fooled a lot of people who probably wouldn't have believed her family, so I don't think it's fair to lump them in with DeeDee in terms of guilt. JMO

 

[passionflower]

someone had shown a photo of Gypsy with shading on her neck, possibly bruises.
Now do we know if anyone ever saw bruising on her?
I am wondering if DD was getting more abusive with G?
Mental, verbal and physical?
Was there a huge fight the night before? with or about the boyfriend?
Going to expose DD???