Details emerge about the online romance that led a daughter to kill her own mother.

Gypsy Rose Blanchard is the young Missouri woman who murdered her mother after she was the victim of her elaborate lies in one of the worst cases of Munchausen by proxy.

Now, details of the online romance that led to her decision to kill her abuser have been revealed.

Though the then 23-year-old had only met Nicholas Godejohn once before the day he stabbed her mother Dee Dee to death in June 2015, her father has no doubt the relationship was real.

“I really believe she was madly in love,” Rod Blanchard told People magazine.

Listen: Emily Webb talks about Australia’s most chilling murders and why she is so interested in them.

So how did the romance begin? And what role did love play in Gypsy’s decision to kill her mother?

According to her step-mother Kristy Blanchard, Gypsy’s desire to escape from her mother’s abuse – which consisted of her convincing the world of extensive illnesses and conditions she never had – was also a desire to escape to a new life with Nicholas.

“She wasn’t looking for a hit man or anything, she was looking for love,” Kristy told People.

The US woman also compared their actions to the final scene’s of Disney’s rapunzel adaption Tangled – one of Gypsy’s favourite movies.

“It’s like she played out that part of the fairy tale, you know?”

“She got rid of the evil [villain].”

Online romance blooms.

Gypsy and Nicholas first met online more than a year before Dee Dee’s death, according to her father and stepmother.

Gypsy set up an online dating profile as a way to escape her mother’s control and the relationship started off like any other, her family said.

Her mother had told everyone she had muscular dystrophy and it was only after a year of chatting that Gypsy told Nicholas she could walk.

People reports the couple engaged in erotic role-playing online, with Gypsy creating Facebook profiles, with names such as “Little Kitty,” “Candy” and “Ruby”.

Rod said that he suspected his daughter’s participation was an attempt to enter into his world.

“I guess she may have figured that, you know, well if he’s going to accept me for what I am, I’m going to accept him.”

The couple met in person for the first time at a screening of Cinderella in early 2015.

Months later, Godejohn allegedly travelled from his home in Big Bend, Wisconsin to Springfield, Missouri to fatally stab Dee Dee as she slept.

The pair then ate brownies and stayed overnight at the motel before catching a bus to Nicholas' home. There, they were arrested for murder.

In 2016, Gypsy pleaded guilty to second-degree murder and is currently serving 10 years in prison.

Nicholas, who is awaiting a mental evaluation, has pleaded not guilty, arguing he killed Dee Dee to save Gypsy from her abuser.

That's also the way Gypsy's father and stepmother assess the situation while discussing the control Dee Dee had over her daughter and who she spent time with.

"Maybe she felt like she had to choose. She chose Nick and love," Rod told People.

Kristy added: "She chose life."