Here's What You Need to Know About Nicholas Godejohn, Who Killed His Girlfriend's Mother to Stop Her Abuse

By now, chances are you've at least heard of the murder of Dee Dee Blancharde at the hands of her daughter Gypsy Rose and boyfriend Nicholas Godejohn. It was the subject of the 2016 long-form Buzzfeed essay, "Dee Dee Wanted Her Daughter to Be Sick, Gypsy Wanted Her Mom Murdered," then the 2017 HBO documentary, Mommy Dead and Dearest.

And this past year, the case was even fictionalized and embellished for Hulu's The Act, starring Joey King as Gypsy Rose and Patricia Arquette as Dee Dee, the Munchausen-by-proxy (now renamed FDIA, factitious disorder imposed on another), overly protective mother who kept her daughter wheelchair-bound and tube-fed until she was violently murdered herself.

The fascination surrounding this stranger-than-fiction case shows no sign of stopping, as Oxygen's Killer Couples is about to revisit the events once again for a two-hour special entitled "Gypsy Rose & Nick: A Love to Kill For." Surprisingly, the network seems to have gotten Godejohn himself to appear in the episode and tell his side of the tale.

Here's everything you need to know about Nick Godejohn's upbringing, disability, and sentence.

In The Act, Nick (chillingly portrayed by Calum Worthy) confided in Gypsy that "I think I do have multiple personalities." "But don't worry," he said, "because there is a good one, it's me Nick. But the other one is dark. Actually he's a vampire; his name is Victor."

Although a fictionalized retelling of the facts, it appears there was some truth to Godejohn's mental health claim. In their communications leading up to Dee Dee's murder, which were reviewed during his trial, the young couple would try on different personas. Nicholas repeatedly referred to his "evil side," and once went so far as to say that "his evil side enjoys killing."

"He had multiple personalities that were violent and scary," Gypsy said in an interview with Dr. Phil, the same conversation in which she detailed the long-term effects of the medications her mother force-fed her. "He thought he was a 500-year-old vampire named Victor," she continued. "I thought I was in love with him, the good side of him."

During Nick's pre-trial hearings, psychologists were brought in to determine whether he had premeditated the June 2015 killing of his girlfriend's mother and whether his first-degree murder charge was appropriate. 

Psychologist Dr. Kent Franks testified that Godejohn has autism spectrum disorder level 2, per the Springfield News-Leader, "requiring substantial support with accompanying intellectual impairment." His diagnosis would make it "difficult to deliberate," and his defense advocated for a "less serious conviction" that the prosecution disagreed upon. He was ultimately sentenced to life in jail.

For a brief refresher on the events that transpired between June 10 and June 15, 2015, Godejohn arrived at Gypsy's house and repeatedly stabbed Dee Dee to death around 3 a.m. on June 10.

Nick and Gypsy packed their bags and stayed at a Days Inn for two nights before heading off to Wisconsin, where they arrived on June 13 and stayed in Godejohn's house with his mother, step-father and brother. On June 14, Gypsy posted a sinister and now famous message to Dee Dee's Facebook account that read, "That Bitch is dead!"

(She alleged in court that her intention had been to scare people into thinking that her mother had been killed and she had been kidnapped.) And it wasn't until the following day, June 15, that law enforcement traced that message to the Godejohn's IP address. That's when the SWAT team stormed in.

"All I know is the SWAT team came in this morning, took my wife and I out of here — something with my stepson," Charles Goldammer said to ABC12 at the time. "Supposedly he did something in Missouri, which we don't believe because he wouldn't hurt a fly."

In police tapes on HBO's Mommy Dead and Dearest documentary, we hear Godejohn's mother, Stephanie, offer her account of the couple's brief stay. "You know, it was weird because when I picked them up from the bus station, I even asked her, 'How's your mom doing? ... That might have been the first thing I asked her. No big deal, they acted like nothing."

Oxygen's two-hour special on Nick Godejohn's story and his part in the murder of Dee Dee Blancharde airs Saturday, July 13 at 7 p.m.