3 Missouri Criminals Incarcerated For Unbelievable Crimes

We've talked about my love of crime dramas before. I think a lot of us have that same fascination with people who do things you just can't believe.  But I want to put it up here in the front - if you're thinking this is bad and you don't want to read it,  you probably shouldn't read this. So I was feeding my habit the other day, watching a documentary on demand called "Mommy Dead and Dearest". It's about a girl named Gypsy Rose Blanchard.

So when I realized that all this happened in our neck of the woods (or somewhat close by), I got curious. I did a little digging and found three stories that I thought were just... unbelievable.

Now, before, I start, just let me say: DON'T GET MAD AT ME. I've done my best to get the facts, and that's why I've deliberately chosen three cases where the people are incarcerated, convicted, and to the best of my knowledge, have actually confessed to these crimes. So please don't send me an angry Facebook message about how so and so is innocent or how could I forget about this case and why didn't I talk about that instead, etc. I just chose three. I couldn't possibly go through every single bad person in prison in Missouri. YES, I know there are others, okay?

The first one is the one that's been on my mind recently, namely Gypsy Rose, so let's start with her.

1. Gypsy Rose Blanchard

This is just... wow. So Gypsy is still quite young, in her mid twenties. Since she was a small child, her mother, Dee Dee Blanchard, convinced her that she was sick. It's called Munchausen By Proxy. It's that thing you saw in The Sixth Sense where the mom was making that little girl sick. That's pretty much what Dee Dee did, times seventy thousand. She made her - and countless others - believe that Gypsy had cancer, breathing problems, mental retardation, muscular dystrophy, just about everything. She made Gypsy stay in a wheelchair... even though Gypsy could walk. She could walk because She Wasn't Sick. But doctor after doctor believed Dee Dee (with one noteable exception, if you see the documentary), and scores of people sent Dee Dee money, free trips, they even built her a Habitat for Humanity home after they were displaced by Hurricane Katrina. Dee Dee didn't tell Gypsy her real age, and made her act about five years younger than she was. Schooling stopped at about the second grade level. She had her on a feeding tube, and on a ton of drugs she just didn't need. She'd even shave Gypsy's head every month to make her look like her hair was falling out. Dee Dee kept Gypsy isolated from other kids her age, and really just about everybody.

But, as teenagers are bound to do, Gypsy found a way. She found a boyfriend online named Nick Godejohn (who apparently has his own mental issues). She eventually told him what was going on, and they hatched a plot to get Gypsy out - by killing Dee Dee. Gypsy had Nick kill Dee Dee, and they ran off to his parents' place up north. Of course they were caught, and everything came out. It's just crazy how much this girl went through in her life,... but that doesn't justify the end. They're in prison now - Gypsy is actually in Chillicothe and will be up for parole in 2024.

2.   The Tee Kay Mobile Home Babysitters.

This one is bad.  Like, really really unbelievable. How could this go through someone's mind? These three are really just... something I can't even believe is human.  The three I'm referring to are Rebecca Sue Russell, John Scott Thomas III, and Billy Joe Bunch Jr.  Thomas and Russell lived in the Tee Kay Mobile  Home manor and would babysit kids.  I don't know if I can even describe it, so I'll let someone else do it. From KSDK in St Louis:

Rebecca Sue Russell, 30, John Scott Thomas III, 27, and Billy Joe Bunch Jr., 25, are charged with crimes against 7-month-old, 3-year-old, and 5-year-old girls. All three suspects are residents of the Tee Kay Mobile Home Manor.
[...]
Russell is accused of performing sex acts on all three victims and of holding down the 7-month-old girl while Thomas raped her. Thomas is also accused of raping the other two girls. Bunch told police he had the 5-year-old perform a sex act on him.

Karma has surely come around for them, though, because they're all in prison.  And, well, you've heard about child molesters and prison. Thomas got 30 years on each of the nine counts, but the sentences will run concurrently.  Rebecca Sue Russell was sentenced earlier to 10 years in prison;  Bunch Jr. got 15 years.

3.  Mark Christeson. 

He was actually executed by lethal injection a few months back.  Christeson and his cousin, Jesse Carter, decided to run off to Vichy. When they got there, they stayed with some relatives. Being criminal types, they decided they wanted to steal Susan Brouk's Ford Bronco. They broke into her house, and tied up her two kids, Adrian and Kyle.  They forced Susan into the other room and raped her. When they came out, one of the kids recognized Carter. Things got desperate, so they took the kids and Susan and put them into the Bronco. They drove them all down to the lake.  They stabbed all three, and drowned one kid and suffocated another.  They took the Bronco and several of the Brouk's electronics, selling them as they were on the run. They were quickly caught, and Jesse turned evidence on Mark. Jesse got life in prison and Mark was executed back in February.

It really makes you wonder what on earth is the human race capable of, you know? Some people are just... wrong in the head. There's no way I can really understand what would lead someone to do that, and I guess that's the fascination. It's partly coming from a place of gratefulness though, that I haven't experienced anything CLOSE to what happens to some people.  Sure, I've had some bad stuff happen to me, but nothing anywhere near any of that!!

Still, you have to think - what goes around comes around, right?

Karmically yours,
Behka