Man gets life for killing mom who made daughter fake illness

SPRINGFIELD, Mo. (AP) — A Wisconsin man has been sentenced to life in prison in the stabbing death of a Missouri woman who forced her daughter to use a wheelchair and undergo unnecessary medical tests so she could collect gifts and charitable donations.

The Springfield News-Leader reports that the 29-year-old Nicholas Godejohn, of Big Bend, Wisconsin, won’t be eligible for parole under the sentence ordered Friday. The sentence was the only one possible after he was convicted in November of first-degree murder in the June 2015 death of 48-year-old Clauddine “Dee Dee” Blanchard at her home near Springfield.

Defense attorneys argued for a lesser charging, saying that Blanchard’s daughter, Gypsy Blanchard, manipulated Godejohn into killing her mother in order to escape from an abusive home life. She already is serving a 10-year prison sentence.

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Information from: Springfield News-Leader, http://www.news-leader.com