QAnon ‘Sovereign Citizen’ Mom Neely Petrie-Blanchard Arrested for Murder
QAnon follower and self-proclaimed Sovereign Citizen Neely Petrie-Blanchard has been arrested for murder. Petrie-Blanchard sought help from fringe legal theorist
Ivy Griffith
QAnon follower and self-proclaimed Sovereign Citizen Neely Petrie-Blanchard has been arrested for murder. Petrie-Blanchard sought help from fringe legal theorist Christopher Hallet and his “E-Clause” business. Hallet is also a self-proclaimed Sovereign Citizen. The QAnon fanatic Petrie-Blanchard allegedly shot Hallet dead when he failed to help her regain custody of her children.
Who is Neely Petrie-Blanchard and How is She Involved with QAnon?
Petrie-Blanchard is one of many aggrieved mothers who have been sucked in by the QAnon cult-like group. QAnon promises mothers who have lost custody of their children that they will use their network of legal representatives to help them regain custody. The QAnon network eggs these desperate mothers on with claims that the deep state or “cabal” is involved with CPS taking children to abuse them.
Per DailyBeast, “Petrie-Blanchard, 33, had emphatically embraced QAnon, a conspiracy theory movement that relies on anonymous online clues from a figure named ‘Q’ to imagine a world where [outgoing President] Donald Trump is secretly at war with cannibal-pedophiles in the Democratic Party. On Facebook, she posted pictures of herself at a Trump rally in a ‘Q’ T-shirt that referenced the fringe QAnon belief that John F. Kennedy Jr. is still alive. After being released on bail on the kidnapping charge, Petrie-Blanchard filmed herself taking the QAnon oath, while her daughters were returned to their grandmother’s care.
Hallett, 50, had become a key part of the YouTube QAnon network, streaming his fake legal claims with his on-and-off business partner Kirk Pendergrass. While neither man is registered as a lawyer in their home states or appears to have any legitimate legal education, they promoted their services on QAnon YouTube shows to build a following among a community of desperate mothers who had lost their children, and solicited donations for their services.
Hallett’s legal services appear to have universally failed when they managed to reach the courts. He claimed that Donald Trump had authorized him to create a separate legal system, a notion that a federal judge found risible in a January opinion, calling Hallett’s legal work ‘rambling.’”
Petrie-Blanchard Begins Suspecting Hallet of Working With Authorities Against Her
According to witnesses close to the case, Petrie-Blanchard became paranoid as Hallet failed to secure custody of her children. The QAnon follower believed Hallet was working with authorities to keep her children from her. Petrie-Blanchard shot Hallet late Sunday.
CBS 4 reports, “At around 9 p.m., deputies responded to the 16000 block of SW 34th Court Road for calls of shots fired. Upon arrival, they found 50-year-old Christopher Hallet dead from multiple gunshot wounds.
Neely Petrie-Blanchard, 33, was named the primary suspect for the shooting. She was later arrested at a gas station in Lowndes County, Georgia.”
Hallet and Petrie-Blanchard also both proclaimed themselves Sovereign Citizens, which means they don’t see themselves as subject to the laws of the United States. Unfortunately for Petrie-Blanchard, her self-proclaimed “get out of laws free” club card didn’t protect her from the law as authorities arrested her initially as an escaped fugitive, with charges later filed for Hallet’s murder.
QAnon, Domestic Terrorism?
What happened with Petrie-Blanchard is not an isolated incident. QAnon theorists rile up followers who believe they’re protecting children and fighting for right, and a number of murders and planned incidents of violence have been connected with the cult-like group.
DailyBeast shares, “…Hallett’s reputation in the world of aggrieved QAnon mothers grew large enough that a fugitive on the run from the FBI traveled to his home in Ocala, Florida, to get his help on her custody case. Like Petrie-Blanchard, Colorado mother Cyndie Abcug had fallen under the sway of Hallett and his YouTube allies, convinced that QAnon believers could help win her son back from a foster home. According to a police report, Abcug was plotting an armed assault on the foster home with fellow armed QAnon supporters, convinced by QAnon claims that the foster parents were ‘pedophiles.’
Abcug’s teenage daughter allegedly tipped off the police to the plot. But Abcug fled the state ahead of her arrest and became a cross-country fugitive with help from QAnon supporters. She eventually made her way to Hallett, convinced that he could help her regain custody of her son. But Abcug eventually grew disillusioned with Hallett’s supposed legal abilities, according to one of her traveling companions, and was later arrested by the FBI in Montana while still on the run.”
Since President Trump’s loss in the November elections, Q spokespeople appear to have gone deeper underground. With factions more splintered than ever, the potential for violence has increased. Although the US government stops short of considering QAnon a terrorist group, that classification may be revisited in the next year.