How Did Neighbors Discover Dee Dee Blanchard’s Murder? Aleah Woodmansee Shares Her Story of That Night

After Gypsy Rose Blanchard conspired to kill her mom with the help of her then-boyfriend, Nick Godejohn, they wanted to make sure that someone discovered Dee Dee Blanchard’s body before too much time had passed. So they decided to post something on Dee Dee and Gypsy’s shared Facebook account (a Facebook post that is, eerily enough, still live on the site) so that concerned friends and neighbors would check in on the family. In the seventh episode of The Act, airing Wednesday, April 24, true crime fans can watch the action play out on screen. But how did that day really go for Aleah Woodmansee, Gypsy’s friend, neighbor and the real-life inspiration for the character of Lacey?

After helping to debunk several other events in The Act — like that terrifying computer smash — Aleah exclusively told In Touch her story of the night the murder was discovered. “It was a little strange as to how I became aware of the [Facebook] post actually,” she said. Unlike in the show, where Lacey saw the post and realized something was up, Aleah stumbled onto the scandal. “My niece had fallen and broken her wrist only days before while I was working, so I told her I wanted to take her out for ice cream … as a way to make it up to her. I went over to my mom’s house to get her [and then] I found out mom wasn’t home. My little sister was there and said that mom was over at Dee Dee and Gypsy’s, and she tried to find out what was going on but wasn’t able to.”

That’s when she realized something was up. “I cut through our side yard and through the neighbor’s when I saw a small group, including my mom, in their driveway,” she exclusively told In Touch. “I tried to walk up to let her know I was taking my niece, but a sheriff stopped me before I could even cross the street. So I called out to her to let her know and she waived me on. I had gotten into the car and was just about to leave when my mom came running down the road, told me to grab my phone, and come talk the sheriffs. Once I finally made it to Dee Dee and Gypsy’s driveway, everyone was chattering about a post… so I finally looked it up and saw what all of the chatter was about.”

According to Aleah, everyone just assumed that the account had been hacked at first — “but we needed to let Dee and Gypsy know,” she said. “Everyone jumped on their phones and began calling all of the hospitals and urgent cares they were known to frequent, and I even suggested that they could be at the movie theater because it was late enough in the day, and Dee Dee was best friends with one of the owners, so they were able to see any movie for free. Whenever every option lead to another dead end, I realized I still had messages from Gypsy from long before then where she mentioned her boyfriend’s name.”

That’s where Nick came into play. “I took the messages to one of the Sheriffs on-site and they took down his name,” she continued. “She had also mentioned a Wisconsin marriage license, which helped to locate him. I told them that I figured it was a long shot. Dee Dee cut off [my] communication [with Gypsy] so long before then, and I didn’t even know if she was still dating this guy.” Years earlier, the mom had prevented the two girls from talking after discovering her daughter’s secret Facebook communications.

But still, it took a while for Aleah to realize that something was very wrong. “Honestly, at the time, I felt like things were alright, and something had just come up,” she told In Touch. “Mostly, we were concerned that they had an emergency and had to leave town because of it. It was odd that they had even left their car, but Dee Dee’s health was also declining. It wasn’t until hours passed [that] everyone [started] worrying that something happened to Dee Dee, and Gypsy was stuck inside without her wheelchair or any way to get help.”

It wasn’t until later that night that things started to fall into place. “I’ve always been able to keep a clear cool head in intense situations,” Aleah shared. “Which is why I didn’t react until early the next morning when a detective took me back to the house just after 1 a.m.” It was only then that the seriousness of the situation sunk in — and much later that the full story of what happened between Gypsy and her mother came out.