elaborate escape, you planned a murder. >> tonight on "20/20" the gripping story that became a national obsession. >> just chaos. >> it set off a roller coaster story. >> that inspirational young girl who grabbed the hearts of millions. celebrities like blake shelton, miranda lambert rallying around the princess in a wheelchair. >> happy endings are not just in fairytales. >> there's a reason i was born. to be a mom. >> completely independent on her doting mother who was suddenly found murdered. >> found dee dee

deceased. >> tonight the twist no one saw coming. >> the girl looked 12, sounded 5 and had a 40-year-old attitude. >> how can this young sick girl who can't walk be involved in her mother's death? >> reporter: we're taking you inside prison to see the stunning transformation in her only network interview. >> how did you go from this to this? >> plus the mystery man who came between mother and daughter speaking out for the first time. >> hi. >> one of the most elaborate con games ever. >> how was dee dee able to get away with this for so long? >> he wants to get out. ain't going to happen. >> i'm elizabeth vargas. >> and i'm david muir and this is "20/20." here's amy robach. >> are we still on? >> reporter: home movies capture the vibrant spirit of a young teenage girl.

>> i'm going to children's mercy hospital to see my dentist for my teeth. >> reporter: full of enthusiasm and effervescence, but behind the smiles life for gypsy blanchard and her mother dee dee is one replete with hardships and challenges. gypsy is in a wheelchair. >> they were local darlings. i mean, they were the shining star in this town of people who can outlast adversity and get through everything. >> reporter: the mother-daughter duo are local celebrities. the subject of countless local news profiles and articles. >> gypsy and her multiple illnesses and diseases. leukemia, muscular dystrophy, she had learning disabilities, had not been able to be out of a wheelchair since she was five years old. so the community really embraced them. >> reporter: dee dee's originally from louisiana, a

one-time beauty queen. and nurse's aide she marries rod blanchard at age 24. together the couple welcomes a beautiful baby girl. >> perfectly healthy pretty little baby. named her gypsy rose. i was excited and very scared. i'm not going to lie i was scared. i'm eighteen years old and i got a baby here. >> but she was beautiful and perfectly healthy. >> yeah, she was. nothing wrong with her. she looked perfect. >> i see you. you want to blow me a kiss? very good. >> reporter: but the relationship was far from perfect. and the couple broke up. >> and not long after dee dee was saying that she was sick, had problems sleeping, epilepsy. and it just progressed from there. >> leukemia, paralyzed muscular dystrophy, and she would

gypsy was probably seven eight years old. she's in a wheelchair now, she needs a feeding tube. >> was dee dee a good mother? >> i told dee dee she was the best mother. there's no way i can do what she doing -- you have a sick child, it's constantly 24/7 taking care of her and everything i mean, i always praised her and told her, "good job." >> reporter: rod and his new wife kristy would have sporadic visits with gypsy, but they are never alone. >> all the visits, dee dee had to be there the whole time. >> something never felt right about it. dee dee was so controlling. >> reporter: this is the last photo taken of rod with his daughter before fate would seemingly deal gypsy and dee dee another cruel blow leaving the pair displaced and depleted by hurricane katrina in 2005. >> the water is now 20 feet deep. >> reporter: their home ravaged by the storm and flood waters. they took refuge at this nearby special needs shelter. >> i learned from deedee, they were homeless, no place to go, so mercy hospital loaded them up

>> reporter: they were evacuated here to springfield, missouri. birthplace of route 66, a tight-knit community in the buckle of the bible belt. with dee dee a full-time caregiver, they're forced to piece together a life largely from donations, disability payments and child support from gypsy's dad. a turning point seems to be when the family gets this home located at the aptly named intersection of hope road and volunteer way. >> i remember my mother gave me this little glass house and said one day this will be real and now it finally is. >> the blanchards moved into that house, built by habitat for humanity. a wheel chair ramp was built just for her. >> she was like one of the happiest people i had ever met and yet she was the most sick that i had ever met at the same time.

stays, gypsy frequently jet-sets across the country. ball games, galas, even disney world. >> make a wish, they were taking her down to orlando, all expenses paid. >> hi, everybody. right now i'm in cinderella's castle. eating some real mashed potatoes. mmmm! ♪ >> reporter: she even got to meet country superstars miranda lambert and then husband blake shelton. >> miranda lambert came to springfield and i think she gave dee dee and gypsy money. >> reporter: yes, she did. look at this $3500 check from the singer's personal account. but that wasn't all. check her out posing with her favorite actors elijah wood and sean astin from "lord of the rings." >> no! no! >> that sounds like a really awesome li

not worth like what condition her health was in. >> reporter: but in private gypsy just wants to be regular teen and find love according friend and neighbor aleah woodmansee. >> she would show interest in like different boys and try to ask me advice on like, you know, how, how do you approach them? how do you like kiss a boy? aleah says mom dee dee didn't approve of the girl talk. >> she said my daughter has the mentality of a child. like you're talking to her about teenage things. >> reporter: but gypsy ignores her mother going behind her back and sets up this online dating profile. she soon connects with this man and pours out her soul. >> i need to tell you something. i'm no model i have a medical condition, so i can't walk. i have a chair i use. is that an issue? >> why would that be a problem u are an angel in my eyes. it will never make any difference in how i see u from the inside out. >> reporter: and with a few strokes of the keyboard, a secret online relationship blooms.

but when we come back mother and daughter are nowhere to be found. >> oh my gosh, somebody has kidnapped gypsy. >> reporter: the little pink house becomes a crime scene. >> things aren't as they always appear. >> next. i have type 2 diabetes. i'm trying to manage my a1c, then i learn type 2 diabetes puts me at greater risk for heart attack or stroke. can one medicine help treat both blood sugar and cardiovascular risk? i asked my doctor. she told me about non-insulin victoza®. victoza® is not only proven to lower a1c and blood sugar, but for people with type 2 diabetes treating their cardiovascular disease, victoza® is also approved to lower the risk of major cv events such as heart attack, stroke, or death. while not for weight loss, victoza® may help you lose some weight. (announcer) victoza® is not for people with type 1 diabetes or diabetic ketoacidosis. do not take victoza® if you have a personal or family history of medullary thyroid cancer, multiple endocrine neoplasia syndrome type 2,

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>> reporter: two of springfield missouri's most renown and revered citizens, gypsy blanchard and her mother dee dee taking center stage. ♪ i believe there are angels among us ♪ >> reporter: at a relay of life event to raise money for the american cancer society. >> the reaso

mom. >> reporter: but the sickly and often secluded gypsy believes she too has found her guardian angel. not at home in her mother, but online with a man. nick godejohn. >> she was in love with him. she thought that he was going to be the prince that came and finally saved her. and got her out of her locked tower and they'd live happily ever after. >> reporter: look at some of the messages the love-struck teenager sends a friend about her prince charming. >> i met a wonderful guy. he's my first boyfriend. he gives me poems and is so romantic. >> she was talking about this new guy that she was now in love with, and that they had met on a christian dating site and that they were already planning on naming their children after him. >> we want a snow wedding in a gazebo with red and white roses. >> honestly, what i was thinking whenever i saw these messages, is that these were just like fantasies and dreams. >> reporter: but on their shared facebook page, the harsh reality is what people saw. >> dee dee presented as a very doting mother.

she knew she was sick, and she was just going to love her. unconditionally, until she couldn't anymore. >> reporter: but then comes the day when family friends, kim and david, are horrified. when something very different popped up on gypsy and dee dee's facebook page. a very vulgar post. >> it said the bitch is dead. >> i, instantly took it as, their facebook account had gotten hacked. >> then we saw the second one, which said, "and i raped her sweet daughter, too." >> reporter: kim and david race to the little pink house. no one seems to be home but their new car is in the drive way. >> we circled the house, knocked on all the doors and windows. >> i called the police and let them know that we needed a wellness check done on a disabled mother and daughter. and they said that they would send somebody out. breaking news. the body of

blanchard has been found. >> you just can't forget the pink house with the wheelchair ramp. >> i see a stretcher coming out of the house and i just sobbed. >> we found dee dee blanchard deceased and of a violent nature. still actively looking for gypsy. >> then we really panicked because oh, my gosh, somebody has kidnapped gypsy. >> tell me about the moment when you heard that something happened to dee dee and that gypsy was missing. >> i was shocked. couldn't understand it. >> why would somebody do this to this child? no wheelchair. no medication. they gonna just leave her for dead. >> reporter: authorities move quickly and hit pay dirt when they trace the ip address of

those profane facebook posts to a small house 600 miles away in big bend, wisconsin, at the home of nick godejohn. gypsy's boyfriend. >> who is nick godejohn? >> he's functions at about 15 or 16-year-old. he is a kid that is similar to gypsy from the standpoint of not really having a normal social interaction history that most kids would've had up to that point. >> they go to the house. there's some standoff for a period of time. they have to bring the s.w.a.t. team there. >> reporter: when authorities enter the home they take both into custody. >> we started hearing from various sources, that gypsy wasn't a victim. she wasn't kidnapped, that she was actually involved in this somehow. it was very shocking beyond shocking. >> we have located gypsy in another state. uh she is ok. uh we do have another person of interest in custody. >> i'm detective hancock. your mom is dead okay?

now what i want to ask you, did you have involvement in this? >> wait, go back. what? >> your mom's passed away, okay? she's deceased, all right? now, what i want to ask you, did you have involvement in this? >> no. no. >> what happened with your mom that night? >> i don't know what happened with my mom. i don't know, why don't you just tell me? i don't know what happened with my mom. i don't know, why don't you just tell me? >> just listen to me, okay, sweetheart? you know what happened to your mom, okay? you know exactly. i'm not going to play around with this. >> sir, i didn't do anything! >> reporter: while gypsy keeps mum in the interrogation room, what does the other one say. >> from what she told me, her mom kicked her out of her house. >> reporter: what happens next leaves everyone in springfield stunned! >> in the newsroom it's just chaos. "okay, this story has completely done a 180." i bet my mouth was -- >> reporter: and, what a transformation! you'll hear from gypsy herself, next.

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>> this is the house where clauddina blanchard was found stabbed to death. it set off a roller coaster story. >> what would drive gypsy to plan the murder of her own mother? >> gypsy rose blanchard could be the most unlikely murder suspect ever. a supposed paraplegic suffering from muscular dystrophy, epilepsy, leukemia, and confined to wheelchair.

her boyfriend nick charged with killing her mother. >> people were saying well, maybe she was tricked into doing this. she met somebody online. he wanted to take her away and the mother wouldn't let her. they fought. somehow the mother was killed. the prevailing thought that she was really innocent. the princess outfits now replaced with an orange jumpsuit. >> my vision was still of this fragile little girl and that was, that was shattered. >> it was hard to wrap your brain around. how can this young sick girl who can't walk be involved in her mother's death? it was shocking beyond shocking. >> things are not always as they appear. >> reporter: the people of springfield might think they are witnessing a miracle, when astonishingly che

appearance in court. yes, that's her walking. no wheelchair. no signs of distress. not even a limp. >> gypsy crying through the proceedings and shocking many of those who knew her because she was walking and not using a wheelchair. >> i still did not want to believe that she could walk when they showed her on the news. in fact, i rewound it and played it, multiple times, because that's not who we knew. >> just when you thought the deedee blanchard murder case couldn't get any stranger. >> we've covered stories where you find out that someone you thought was so sweet, and innocent, and turns out there's a different side, but it was like a prize fight, where it's just one hit after the other. >> i was happy she was walking. big red flags. i felt so stupid. if she can walk, what else have we been lied to about? >> later we will show you the astounding extent of those lies. but one thing that is real, her voice.

don't forget. >> there were comparisons to cartoon characters saying that she was forcefully talking like a baby it sounded a little like maybe she had had some helium. >> reporter: take a listen, as gypsy calls her father from jail. >> daddy, i understand that we haven't had a chance to get close in a long time, probably my whole life. >> i have a lot of questions, obviously. you know, i'm confused. >> the stuff they say in the news is horrible and not true. you know i love my mama and you know that i would never hurt her. just know that i'm innocent and know that i'm still your little girl. >> at her arraignment gypsy enters a plea of not guilty to her mother's murder. >> we are here in missouri and driving to visit gypsy rose in prison. is she a murderer

when she walks in to the meeting room, i'm immediately struck by her radically changed appearance. she has long curly hair, makeup and her once frail frame has filled out. >> she tells me about the genesis of that relationship with nick godejohn. meeting him online and quickly falling in love. even hatching an ill-fated plan to introduce him to over protective deedee at a screening of cinderella. >> how did it go? >> awful. oh, my god. she got jealous, because i was spending a little too much attention on him and, she had ordered me to stay away from him and needless to say that was a very long argument that lasted a couple weeks. >> an argument that lasted a couple of weeks. what does that look like? >> yelling, throwing things, calling me names. bitch, shut, whore.

>> did you hate your mother at that point? >> i didn't hate her. >> you wanted her dead. >> yes, but it was not because i hated her, it was because i wanted to escape her. gypsy says while deedee took her to the hospital to have her feeding tube replaced seen here the last known image of deedee alive. nick traveled to springfield from wisconsin that's him checking into a local days inn motel. where he waited for gypsy to give word deedee is asleep. >> gypsy: the -- gonna go down tonight. gypsy: just the gloves and knife? nick: duct tape too, to muffle her gypsy: i'll pre cut it. >> how are you feeling? >> honestly, terrified, but then i had taken some medication that was not prescribed to me to calm me down. gypsy says she hands the items to nick and hides in the bathroom. while he goes into the bedroom. matching nick's story to police. >> okay, i'll admit it, i did

actually stab her mom. i will admit it. >> so when you're stabbing deedee, where is she at? >> she's on her stomach. >> did she scream or holler? >> yes, she did. >> what was she saying. >> first she said, "help," and then she called up for gypsy, but gypsy didn't do anything. >> i heard her scream once, and there was more screaming but not like the kind in a horror film. just like a startled scream, and she called out my name three or four times. and at that point, i wanted to go help her so bad, but i was so afraid to get up. it's like my body wouldn't move. then everything just went quiet. >> moments later the couple says they have sex on gypsy's

dee dee's body in the room next door. before taking a cab back to nick's motel and there they are, caught on surveillance cameras. >> it's disconcerting to see how quickly they were able to turn off any kind of impact from the murder it seemed there was no effect on us. >> hi. >> gypsy then shoots video of them in the hotel room, he's naked in bed. >> you're eating a brownie. >> this is just hours after gypsy heard her mother screaming for her help, and nicholas killed her. it's like they shut a door and that part of the life is over, and now we're on to our new life. >> were you afraid of getting caught? >> that never crossed my mind, i honestly didn't think we were going to get caught. oh, but they did captured time and again on video cameras every step documented in receipts and eyewitnesses. >> this is like a crime i call

drop the clues along the way as you go. i mean, they couldn't have laid it out better for the police look at them at the greyhound bus counter. and here hopping into janice buttram's taxi cab. >> she was in uh very dark black, black hoodie. but she had a very odd looking wig on, it was an old looking cher wig, which i found very un-normal, the girl looked 12, sounded 5 and had a 40 year old attitude. because she was not afraid to tell me off. i just knew there was something wrong. >> reporter: it might seem like an open and shut case but next we go inside the little pink house. >> it was filthy. >> the thing that shocked me the most was the closet inside gypsy's house. and what is found behind this locked door might unlock more than a decade of deedee's

closely held secrets and hold the key to freeing gypsy. >> i was like, "holy [ beep ], y'all need to get over here right now and look at this, my >> reporter: stay with us. ♪ you are a city city wall, city wall ♪ ♪ ♪ she could be dancing down a hall, dancing down a hall ♪ ♪ we're turning heads, we're turning heads, ♪ ♪ we're turning heads, oh yeah and nothing can stop us now ♪ your to-do list is crazy. which is why the online finance application at carmax.com is so convenient. get some of that finance stuff done from wherever you are, like at the doctor, karate or... back at the doctor. ha ha ha, yay kids! discoveat olive gardener side, with tastes of the mediterranean. recipes that put a fresh spin on traditional italian

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i'm going to children's mercy hospital. >> reporter: gypsy blanchard is caught in a web of secrets and lies. even her age is in dispute. >> my medical insurance has 23. >> okay, so how old, actually, are you? >> 19. me and my mother are hurricane katrina survivors, and my birth certificate was washed away in katrina and unfortunately they messed up the paperwork. >> reporter: she's behind bars and charged with murdering her mother. 48-year-old dee dee blanchard. known to the community as a

lovely caregiver for a sickly gypsy. >> how did you go from this to this? >> i only see as a fall from grace. i thought, back then, that i was a good person. and now i just see it as that was a fraud and i made a horrible mistake. >> reporter: a horrible mistake, because it turns out that little pink house, on hope & volunteer way, was actually the nerve center from which the so-called doting mother perpetrated an elaborate scam. preying on the sympathies of countless good samaritans. >> we have unearthed the appearance of a long financial fraud scheme, along with this tragic event. >> reporter: celebrities, charities, even cartoon characters, all conned. >> i was disappointed that i had been duped. >> and that's why i caution anyone not to put money into their accounts until we kind of figure out the extent of their deception.

you believe you suffered from? >> leukemia, asthma, both vision and hearing impaired, muscular dystrophy and seizures. >> did you always know you could walk if you wanted to? >> yes. >> she told you, you had to stay in a wheelchair when you could walk? how did she convince you to do that? >> i was so young. so, me looking up to her so much and just believing she knows best. i didn't question it. >> did you believe you were sick? >> there are certain illness that i knew i didn't have. i knew that i didn't need the feeding tube. i knew that i could eat and i knew that i could walk. but i did believe my mother when she said that i had leukemia. >> tell me about dee dee. what kind of mom was she?

>> very protective. >> you think she protected you? >> no. not in -- in certain ways yes, in other ways no. i think that she was very sick in her mind. for a long time i believe, like, we were like best friends, and when i was younger she was my best friend. >> she was your only friend. >> yes, other than my stuffed animals. and so i thought that she was a great mother. no complaints, we got along so perfect. you know, i saw her as an angel that can do no wrong. >> reporter: but as gypsy got older and became curious about life outside the little pink house, she says mom dee dee began exerting more control. >> what happens when she got upset with you? >> it would go into an argument that would last a couple days or it could be something where she wouldn't feed me for two days, or so.

>> was she ever physical with you? >> it started to be physical in 2011. she would hit me with a coat hanger sometimes. >> did you ever fight back? >> no. because i was too afraid to. >> reporter: gypsy says she did try and runaway once. but dee dee found her a few hours later. and, there were consequences. >> she physically chained you to the bed? >> she physically chained me to the bed. and put bells on the doors. and told anybody that i probably would've trusted that i was going through a phase. and to tell her if i was doing anything behind her back. >> did you ever consider, in a public place, if you stood up out of your wheelchair and walked, dee dee's fraud would be completely exposed? >> i honestly didn't think about that. >> it never crossed your mind? >> no. >> so, instead of planning an elaborate escape, you planned a murder. >> yes.

>> reporter: public defender mike stanfield has the extremely daunting task of coming up with a legal defense for gypsy. the evidence against her keeps mounting. >> in my 10 years of practice, this case by far had the most discovery that i've ever had. close to 100 cds worth of papers, photos, and digital information. >> reporter: but it's a field trip, along side gypsy's dad and stepmom he says proves to be the most helpful. while the outside of gypsy house is pretty in pink, the inside a chaos of clutter. >> frankly it was a disaster. there was stuff everywhere. >> i could tell dee dee did a lot of just, hoarding. just stuff piled up. i mean like, chest high to the back of the room. >> one of the bedrooms had so many items piled into it that you couldn't even walk into it. >> reporter: but amongst the

photos on the wall and the den of disorder, some clues. >> the thing that shocked me the most, the closet inside gypsy's house. >> i was like, holy [ bleep ] y'all need to get over here right now and look at this. i mean, my mouth dropped. from the top to the bottom, full of so many medications. >> reporter: this isn't your ordinary medicine cabinet. it's dee dee's personal pharmacy. a large linen closest fully stocked. >> she had even written on several of the bottles of gypsy's medication as if she was writing it for a child. for the anti-seizure medication it would say, "shaky baby." >> the organization of the medications that was shocking to me, because in every other area of dee dee's life,

absolutely no organization or cleanliness. except when it came to these medications. it let me know from the very beginning that something here was seriously wrong. >> reporter: wrong because it turns out. not only can gypsy walk, she says she's never been sick! not cancer. not epilepsy, not anything. >> the only thing that i have wrong with me is i have a little bit of a lazy eye. not all the time, but i have better vision in this eye than i do that eye. that's it. >> that's it? >> that's it. >> nothing else? >> nothing else. >> reporter: when we come back, operations, hospital stays. more than 100 doctors. >> did they fail her? >> reporter: how did they not see through her? next. dicare part d prescriptions? at walgreens, we'll help you save more with copays as low as $0 and reward points on prescriptions.

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>> they like taking pictures that's for sure. >> reporter: rod and kristy blanchard try to piece together the puzzle of his daughter gypsy hunting for clues in photographs and home videos. >> here's the reason i was born. to be a mom. >> that makes me sick. >> reporter: to sort out fact from fiction. >> do you think that dee dee came up with this idea. these movies created sympathy, which generated news coverage which generated money and free things. >> this one right here i don't think she meant for anyone to see this. >> i'm about to dive off our porch into the pile of snow. you ready? >> because everyone can see she is clearly moving her legs.

pictures only begin to tell the story. >> too many to count. >> reporter: the paper trail is where the really fresh breadcrumbs are in this hansel and gretel fairy tale. >> hope kids, jason's dreams for kids, kids wish network, so she would actually look up foundations and stuff that she could hit up and get help with. >> this one says she's born in '95, everything else is correct except the year. >> you can totally tell she changed the date! >> but she didn't change it here. >> so it was '91 and changed it to '92 and then to '95. she just wanted to make gypsy younger and younger. >> reporter: and that's not all dee dee forged located under her bed. >> was the prescription pad that dee dee stole from the hospital. >> reporter: but while the paperwork might be fake, the pills and procedures were dreadfully real including multiple gastrointestinal operations, eye surgeries, even the removal of her salivary glands.

>> reporter: medical records reviewed by abc news show gypsy was treated by at least 150 different doctors. >> walk me through what that appointment would typically be like. >> i would have a doll or a stuffed animal that i would play with, and mom would say, um, you know, "don't talk. just play with your stuffed animal and we'll do something fun after." >> the one things that absolutely common across every single medical record is that gypsy never spoke. every single medical record says, "mother reported," "mother states." "history by mother." >> brain scans, muscle scans, blood tests, cat scans. and you were perfectly healthy. so how would she get the doctors to understand, when none of it was true? >> she had a very sweet personality. very convincing.

charm and she would use her southern charm to get them to be friendly and get on their good side. >> and then she had no records. >> no. because of hurricane katrina wiped out all the records, supposedly. >> the biggest question was though, how was dee dee able to con the doctors? >> reporter: hospitals we contacted declined to comment but we tracked down one of her former neurologists dr. bernardo flasterstein -- >> my initial assessment, i saw a girl, a 14 year old girl that was sitting in a wheelchair. >> reporter: who examined her for muscular dystropy and cerebral palsy and immediately saw red flags. >> the testing didn't seem to show the same type of um, disabilities that gypsy should be showing. >> there was nothing there to support either. that kind of made me very suspicious. >> reporter: and his suspicion only grew when he told dee dee what should have been exciting news gypsy's prior diagnoses were wrong.

>> reporter: but the mother was not happy with that and when she left the office in a storm and told my nurses that i don't know what i'm talking about and that she's not coming back. >> dr. flasterstein, ultimately said, "i believe that the mother suffers from munchausen by proxy." that was one of the things that, i believe he bolded and underlined in that letter. >> what is munchausen by proxy? >> munchausen by proxy. it's essentially when a caregiver will fabricate an illness or induce an illness in their child in order to get medical care. dr. jamye coffman is a board certified child abuse pediatrician. >> it's abuse on the child, but it's to obtain attention or some kind of secondary gain for themselves. >> sometimes it's financial. >> it can be. the most common, though, is actually emotional gain. i look at it kind of like an addict who needs that fix.

hard is caused to the child you can report that to social services and say, "i have a suspicion." i at the time did not think that it had enough information just to call. >> reporter: dr. flasterstein didn't call child protective services but someone later else did -- >> reporter: according to this police report obtained by 20/20 a doctor alerted authorities when he "could not find any symptoms that support what dee dee alleges to be wrong with her daughter. two case workers later did visit the blanchard home. but they found nothing out of the ordinary and closed the case. >> how was dee dee able to get away with this for so long? >> most of the time, these mothers are pathologic liars. they're very difficult to detect. they're very manipulative. i think she probably did like most of these parents, these mothers. she moved around from doctor to doctor. they go to different hospitals and different institutions. >> reporter: that's exactly what she did after storming out of dr. flasterstein's office.

she moved gypsy's care 3 hours away to kansas city. >> why did your mom do this? >> i think that she was constantly seeking attention for herself because she didn't feel loved so let's make this baby girl sick so it forever needs you. and that's what i think is from. >> you know a lot of people see this and just wonder why. why didn't you say anything. >> i know. i beat myself up about that all the time, but i have to understand my mind frame back then. i was always so afraid of her. afraid of the consequences after. next, gypsy in court, where the consequence could be life behind bars. >> the knife used in the homicide was found in nicholas' home. >> and what about that boyfriend? what's he got to say for himself

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>> reporter: this is their only selfie together.

nick godejohn her prince charming. but their happily ever after, may never come true. the once loving couple now at odds and facing the possibility of life behind bars for the murder of gypsy's mother dee dee blanchard. >> there's a big difference between someone who asks someone to kill someone and someone that actually does it. >> is there? >> i think so because i would never kill somebody. i would never physically go through with killing somebody. i can't. >> my uh codefendant was putting my name out there in a bad light. >> reporter: that's nick himself, speaking to me via videoconference from jail just hours ago. it's the first time he's ever spoken publically. >> describe for me what gypsy's role was and what your role was in the murder of dee dee. >> she was basically the mastermind behind it all. i was basically a hired hit man.

>> do you still love gypsy? >> the reason why i did do this is because i was so deeply in love with gypsy at the time. i still do love her. >> how do you feel about nick now? >> if you would have asked me that a, two years ago, i would have said, "i'm still in love with him." but now, i don't hate him. i feel sorry for him. >> why do you think he did it. >> he was very much like my mother. both of them were very controlling. i feel like i was trained my whole life to do what i was told. >> gypsy blanchard has pleaded guilty to her role in a plot to kill her mother. >> in a courtroom stunner prosecutors cut gypsy a deal. >> how do you plead to the class a felony of murd?

>> sentenced to 10 years in a missouri department of corrections. >> gypsy's mother did not allow her to spend any time alone with any other human being. >> you're actually a prisoner now. how do the two compare? >> in some ways the same. but now i'm so much more freer. the prison that i was living in before with my mom was like i couldn't walk, i couldn't eat. i couldn't have friends. over here i feel like i'm freer in prison than with living with my mom because now i'm allowed to just live like a normal woman. >> prison isn't normal. >> no. not for most. but for me it is. >> what do you think he would want to say to you? >> i don't think it would be anything nice. all i c

wherever she is that she still loves me in some small way. and i want her to know that i am sorry. i'm so sorry. >> so many thorny issues to consider. so what do you think between gypsy and dee dee, who was the bigger villain? let us know on facebook and twitter. >> gypsy could be released from early as 2024 pending good behavior. nick has pleaded not guilty and scheduled to go to trial in the fall. >> many celebrities who donated money say they were duped. and that's our program for tonight. i'm elizabeth vargas. >> and i'm david muir. from all of us here at "20/20" and abc news, thanks for watching. have a good evening. good night.

jonathan: battling a raging fire in single digit wind chills. >> abc 7 news at 11:00 starts with breaking news. nancy: breaking news from olney townhomes were destroyed by a massive fire.