"Disabled" woman to face murder charge in Mo.
WAUKESHA COUNTY, Wis. -- A young Missouri woman police say faked a disability will return to Missouri to face charges in her mother's murder amid allegations that the family defrauded friends and neighbors for years.
Gypsy Blancharde was arrested Monday along with her boyfriend in Wisconsin, nearly 600 miles away from the family's Springfield, Mo. home. She and boyfriend Nicholas Paul Godejohn are facing first-degree murder charges after Gypsy's mother, Clauddinnea "Dee Dee" Blancharde, 48, was found stabbed to death in her bed, according to a probable cause statement.
Gypsy Blancharde waived her right to challenge extradition in a Waukesha County, Wis. court Friday, reports CBS affiliate WDJT. Officials in Missouri reportedly have 30 days to transfer her back to the state. Godejohn's hearing is set for June 29, reports the station.
She told a judge she had a third-grade education and was taking anti-seizure medication in jail, reports the station.
Gypsy, who neighbors reportedly believed was confined to a wheelchair because of muscular dystrophy, "can walk without assistance or wheelchair and she can do that very well," Greene County Sheriff Jim Arnott said at a news conference Tuesday.
He said police have unearthed the "appearance of a long financial fraud scheme along with this tragic event," and cautioned the public against donating to the family, which he told CBS affiliate KOLR had a history of soliciting donations from the public online.
"Things are not always as they appear," Arnott said.
Godejohn told police he stabbed Dee Dee Blancharde to death at Gypsy's request, using a knife she gave him. He said he stole cash and mailed the knife to his Wisconsin home before the two fled there, according to court documents.
Thursday, officials reportedly unsealed a search warrant that reveals details of what Wisconsin police uncovered in Godejohn's home. The items are consistent with the story the couple told police, reports CBS affiliate KOLR.
The officers seized a package with Blancharde's Springfield address on it that allegedly contained a knife, reports the station.
Other items included laptops and hard drives, a backpack with an unlabeled bottle of medication, three wigs in a plastic bag, and letters between Godejohn and Blancharde.
The search warrants also reveal Blancharde had at least two Facebook accounts under the names "Emma Rose" and "Devona Wolf," which alluded to plans of a future life with Godejohn. Blancharde allegedly referred to a possible engagement and plans to name their future son after him, reports the station.
Artnott said Tuesday that police don't know whether the family are Hurricane Katrina victims, as they have reportedly said. KOLR reports Dee Dee Blanchard and her daughter relocated to the Ozarks after the 2005 storm that devastated New Orleans, eventually moving into a house built by Habitat for Humanity.
"We really don't know the true background of this family," Arnott said. "....This is a tragic event surrounded by mystery and public deception."