Some parents are so desperate for attention or money that they decide to pretend that their child is extremely ill. This is known as Munchausen syndrome by proxy.
10 Parents Who Fabricated Illnesses: A Chilling Overview
1. Dee Dee Blanchard
When Dee Dee Blanchard’s baby, Gypsy Rose, was just three months old, Dee Dee insisted the infant couldn’t breathe properly, prompting doctors to diagnose sleep apnea and attach a breathing apparatus. As Gypsy grew, Dee Dee escalated the ruse, telling everyone the child suffered from a chromosomal disorder that required a wheelchair, chronic low weight demanding a feeding tube, and epilepsy that caused her teeth to fall out. Dee Dee even claimed Gypsy’s mental capacity was limited, leading the family to homeschool her after second grade.
The fabricated condition turned into a media magnet. The pair landed spots on local news shows, received multiple Disney World trips, and even got a $6,000 donation from country star Miranda Lambert. Habitat for Humanity helped them secure a home, further cementing the illusion of a family in need.
When Gypsy reached her early twenties, loneliness drove her to a dating site where she met Nicholas Godejohn. After a brief, secret rendezvous in a movie theater bathroom, Dee Dee discovered the relationship and forbade any further contact. The tension peaked when Gypsy, desperate for freedom, asked Nicholas to kill her mother. He complied, stabbing Dee Dee to death. The duo fled, but Gypsy posted a cryptic Facebook message hoping authorities would think a random attacker was responsible. Police traced the IP, uncovered the truth, and Gypsy was arrested. At jail, a medical exam revealed she was perfectly healthy. She pled guilty to second‑degree murder and received the statutory minimum ten‑year sentence, with the court acknowledging the lifelong abuse she endured.
2. Hope Ybarra
Hope Ybarra convinced family and friends that she was battling bone cancer that had metastasized to her brain and lungs, even claiming it erased her hearing. To maintain the charade, she learned sign language and later secured a cochlear implant, all while asserting that only a distant clinic in Alabama could treat her “condition.”
After the birth of her second child, Hope alleged the newborn suffered from cerebral palsy, necessitating ankle braces for over a year. Miraculously, the child appeared to recover around the time a third sibling was born. The third child, born ten weeks premature, was kept in a neonatal unit for months. Hope then deliberately diluted the infant’s formula, preventing weight gain, and later fabricated a diagnosis of a rare metabolic disorder, prompting a costly sweat‑test that she tampered with using a nasal spray to produce a false positive for cystic fibrosis.
Working as a chemist, Hope stole pathogens from her lab and poisoned her daughter, inducing anaphylactic shock. She also inserted a central line, using a syringe to siphon off her child’s blood, causing severe anemia. Over four years, the girl endured 30‑40 unnecessary procedures. When Hope’s father requested her medical records, none existed. Confronted, Hope confessed that she fabricated the cancer to secure her husband’s attention. Child Protective Services intervened, and a court barred her from any contact with her children, sentencing her to ten years behind bars. The surviving daughter now thrives, fully healthy after years of torment.
3. Leatha Kaye Slauson
Leatha Slauson claimed her five‑year‑old daughter was battling cancer, administering cannabis oil and the chemotherapy drug Neupogen, which caused painful cramps and joint aches. She also placed a feeding tube through the child’s nose and into her stomach, further convincing onlookers of a dire medical emergency.
The community rallied, contributing roughly $30,000 in donations. The family received a Disney World vacation and even had the young girl honored as an honorary fireman. However, the school nurse, noticing a lack of proper medical documentation, alerted authorities.
Confronted, Leatha admitted the entire cancer story was fabricated to siphon money. She pled guilty, receiving five years of probation, mandatory mental‑health treatment, and a court order prohibiting any contact with her children.
4. Emily Creno‑King
Emily Creno‑King convinced everyone that her four‑year‑old son, John (nicknamed JJ), suffered from a rare cancer. She shaved his head, forced him to wear a mask in public, and orchestrated a series of over‑twenty blood tests and six radiographic studies. JJ endured roughly 150 hours of inpatient EEG monitoring across four months, and was prescribed seizure medication based solely on his mother’s claims.
Emily plastered social media with heart‑wrenching updates, asserting JJ had only 18 months to live. Sympathetic strangers offered financial assistance, but a fellow parent of a leukemia patient grew suspicious and tipped off police. Investigators uncovered the fraud, and Emily confessed, revealing she fabricated the illness to salvage her marriage.
She was sentenced to 18 months in prison and ordered to repay $3,000 in restitution.
5. Monika Burgett
Monika Burgett’s son, Jackson, arrived prematurely at 25 weeks, weighing a mere .91 kilograms (2 lb). He spent three months in the neonatal intensive care unit and was diagnosed with neurofibromatosis, a genetic condition that can cause benign tumors. Monika dramatically exaggerated his health, claiming he had brain cancer and warning neighbors that doctors weren’t sure he would survive the night.
She shaved Jackson’s head and eyebrows, inserted tubes into his nose, and launched a GoFundMe campaign that raised $40,000. At the hospital, Monika insisted Jackson was in constant pain and struggling to eat and breathe, prompting staff to administer unnecessary oxygen, feeding tubes, and opioid painkillers. For over a decade, she masqueraded as a medical professional, even convincing doctors to perform brain surgery on Jackson twice.
When hospital personnel grew suspicious and reported her to family services, Monika was arrested. Jackson was placed in his father’s care, quickly recovered, and no longer required pain medication.
6. Katelyn Christina Carnline
Katelyn Carnline duped charitable donors by claiming her five‑year‑old son had cancer. She shaved his head, posted photos of him wearing a breathing mask, and collected $2,000 in donations to cover alleged medical expenses.
After her deception was exposed, Carnline shifted her focus to an infant daughter, alleging the newborn suffered from a rare genetic disorder called inborn errors of metabolism. She fabricated a fundraising page that netted $150, then brought the baby to the hospital, claiming seizures. Physicians noted the infant’s dangerously low weight and admitted her for several days. Carnline was tasked with feeding the child in‑hospital, yet the baby failed to gain weight. Doctors eventually placed a feeding tube directly into the baby’s stomach, after which she was released.
Months later, the infant returned to the hospital still severely underweight. Doctors observed that she never experienced seizures and began gaining weight under proper care. Child Protective Services, alerted by the medical team, contacted police. Carnline was arrested, and her children were placed with family members.
7. Elisabeth Hunnicutt
Elisabeth Hunnicutt’s five‑month‑old son developed a flat spot on his head and began experiencing neck spasms. She told her husband the boy suffered from agenesis of the corpus callosum—a brain‑development defect—and cerebral atrophy, a degenerative brain disease.
To mimic hydrocephalus symptoms, Elisabeth secretly administered clonidine, the autism medication prescribed for her older son, causing the infant to appear unresponsive and sleepy. Doctors, believing the child was severely ill, performed a cranial burr‑hole procedure and attached a brain monitor, only to discover no fluid accumulation. The ruse unraveled when Elisabeth’s mother‑in‑law caught her feeding the infant yogurt laced with a blue pill, later revealing the truth to her husband.
Confronted, Elisabeth confessed, pleading guilty and receiving a ten‑year probation sentence. She also relinquished parental rights to both sons. Within two weeks of being removed from her care, the younger son transitioned from sleeping 20 hours a day, relying on a gastric feeding tube, and taking up to 20 medications, to becoming an active, healthy two‑year‑old.
8. Wendi Michelle Scott
Wendi Michelle Scott first staged a personal battle with cancer, shaving her head and eyebrows and using a wheelchair or walker to garner sympathy. After giving birth, she abandoned the self‑inflicted illness and turned her deception toward her young daughter.
Scott repeatedly poisoned her child with magnesium, administering syringes to draw blood until the girl’s volume plunged to half the normal level on three separate occasions, necessitating emergency transfusions. The child also endured severe diarrhea, vomiting, high fevers, rapid heart rate, and extensive blood loss. Over three years, the girl underwent 72 unnecessary procedures, ranging from invasive tests to radiological scans.
When physicians detected elevated magnesium levels, they suspected foul play and alerted child services. Confronted, Scott confessed and pleaded guilty, receiving a 15‑year prison sentence. After being separated from her mother, the daughter gained weight, began behaving like a typical child, though she now faces heightened cancer risk from repeated imaging and bears permanent surgical scars.
9. Teresa Milbrandt
Teresa Milbrandt convinced everyone that her seven‑year‑old daughter, Hannah, was battling leukemia. She shaved Hannah’s hair, forced her to wear a protective mask, and enrolled her in counseling to mentally prepare for an imagined death. Teresa would tell Hannah they were heading to the hospital for treatment, administer a sleeping pill, and later claim the child had received care while she slept.
The hoax swindled 65 individuals and businesses out of roughly $31,000. After nine months, staff at Hannah’s school observed that her hair was not falling out but had simply been cut, prompting a report to family services and subsequent police involvement.
Teresa confessed, explaining she fabricated the story to keep her husband from leaving, believing his love for Hannah would tether him to the family. She received a 6.5‑year prison term, while her husband, Robert, was sentenced to four years and 11 months and ordered to pay $34,400 in restitution. Hannah entered foster care, later battling severe mental‑health challenges, including multiple suicide attempts, though she has since made significant progress.
10. Jessica Good
Jessica Good spent years masquerading that her youngest daughter was fighting cancer. Beginning when the child was merely a few months old, Good convinced family and friends that her daughter suffered from a litany of ailments: lymphoma, seizures, a nut allergy, cerebral palsy, and even a spot on the heart‑transplant waiting list.
Good orchestrated multiple fundraisers and GoFundMe campaigns, urging hometown residents to donate. A golf fundraiser netted $12,000, a local photography studio contributed $3,100, and the family’s church provided at least $5,000. She also siphoned over $45,000 in state assistance from the Department of Human Services.
After four years, suspicions grew as the girl never lost her hair and appeared surprisingly healthy. The church warned police of potential fraud. Investigators consulted the child’s physicians, who found no evidence of any claimed conditions. Good was arrested, pleaded guilty, and received a three‑year prison sentence, 20 years of probation, and was ordered to repay $69,565 in restitution.