Ken Urker, Gypsy Rose Blanchard’s ex-fiancé and the father of her daughter, was found dead by police at his home in Louisiana on October 1. He was 34 years old.
“We responded to a residence at 107 Double H Drive, Lot 4, in Raceland today after receiving a call at 6:15 p.m.,” the Lafource County Sheriff’s Office said in a statement to NBC News.
“34-year-old Kenan Ürker was found dead on arrival. We are currently continuing the death investigation.”
This is the latest development in the relationship between Blanchard and Urker, who have navigated a difficult path throughout their love affair.
The pair met when Blanchard was still behind bars for his role in the 2015 murder for allegedly abusing his mother. They had since gotten engaged, called off the engagement, gotten back together, and started a family. Blanchard also married another man between these events.
“We didn’t have a plan, to be honest,” she told TODAY.com in 2025 about rekindling her relationship with Urker. “It was one of those things where we really winged it. So we stick with each other when it comes to scrutiny. We lean on each other for support. One has to be strong, and then the other has a moment of rest and weakness to let it all sink in.”
Dr. D., a board-certified psychiatrist and author of “Dying to Be Sick: True Stories of Medical Deception.” Blanchard is thought to be a victim by proxy of Munchausen syndrome, a psychological disorder in which “the caregiver feigns, exaggerates, or evokes illness in (another person),” Marc Feldman said in an earlier interview with TODAY.com.
Read on to learn about them.
2017: A letter leads to love
After watching the 2017 HBO documentary “Mommy Dead and Dearest,” which chronicled the murder of Blanchard’s mother, Clauddine “Dee Dee” Blanchard, as well as the abuse Gypsy Rose Blanchard suffered throughout her childhood, Urker sent a letter to the then-inmate, who was serving a 10-year sentence in a Missouri state prison.
Nicholas Godejohn, the ex-boyfriend of Gypsy Rose Blanchard who carried out the murder of Dee Dee Blanchard, is serving a life sentence without the possibility of parole after initially pleading not guilty.
“I wrote him back and pretty soon we were writing weekly,” Blanchard said in an interview with E! News. “We became fast friends. Soon we started talking on the phone. We would spend hours on the phone. I would talk to him as if I had known him my whole life, and vice versa.”
Although their budding relationship began platonically, things changed during Urker’s first face-to-face visit with Blanchard at Chillicothe Correctional Facility. That’s when they shared their first kiss, which Blanchard told E! as the “greatest kiss” of his life.
October 2018: Blanchard and Urker get engaged
The two grew closer last year after an initial meeting and Urker popped the question during a prison visit in October 2018.
Blanchard chronicled this special moment in her 2024 memoir, “My Time to Stand.”
“‘Gypsy, I know you inside and out and I love you for the person you are today, for the heart I learned,'” he wrote about his proposal. “Then Ken pointed his hands over his chest, over his heart, and continued, ‘I want to spend every day waking up next to you, building a life with you, and being the person you can get through all the hard times with. I want to be that person for you. Will you marry me?'”
He eagerly accepted.
August 2019: They broke up after a year
Their engagement occurred less than a year after they started — at least for a while.
In August 2019, Urker broke up with Blanchard.
“There were a lot of adults in her life who were probably much ‘smarter’ than she was and said it wasn’t the right time for me to get married,” Blanchard explained in her book. “‘If you love him, you’ll set him free’ was the common advice he heard over and over again, sometimes from prominent Hollywood therapists and other media personalities, sometimes from my immediate family. I see now that he believed he was acting in my best interests at the sacrifice of his own needs and desires.”
The two reunited later that month, but the reunion did not last long.
July 2022: Marries another man
Urker wasn’t the only person who reached out to Blanchard during his incarceration. Louisiana teacher Ryan Scott Anderson began corresponding with Urker some time after she broke up with him, and things progressed quickly between Anderson and Blanchard.
They were married on July 21, 2022, at Chillicothe Correctional Facility.
In the Lifetime documentary “The Prison Confessions of Gypsy Rose Blanchard,” Anderson referred to himself as “the Prince Charming that Gypsy had been waiting for her whole life.”
Blanchard was released from prison in December 2023 after serving eight years of his sentence. She and Anderson broke up months later. In an interview with TODAY.com, Anderson said the split left him “blinded.”
Spring 2024: Blanchard and Urker reconnect
After this separation, Blanchard and her ex-fiancee Urker decided to try their relationship once again.
Urker took to Instagram on April 15, 2024, to share photos from their “incredible weekend” together. The picture carousel featured several smiling photos of the couple, as well as a look at the matching husky dog tattoos they recently got to commemorate their bond.
July 2024: They are waiting
Urker and Blanchard celebrated a surprise event in July 2024: a baby was on the way.
“This was not planned at all. This was completely unexpected, but we are both so excited to embark on this new journey of parenthood,” Blanchard said in a now-deleted TikTok that TODAY.com reported at the time.
December 2024: Divorce and new arrival
Blanchard and her estranged husband Anderson finalized their divorce on December 9, 2024.
“My marriage to Ryan taught me a lot about myself,” Blanchard told TODAY.com. “There’s something Ryan said in Season 1 (of the Lifetime series ‘Gypsy Rose: Life After Lock Up’): ‘Life is not a fairy tale. It’s going to have its own challenges.’ I didn’t understand this at the time. Now, after going through everything, I apply this to my relationship with Ken. We will have bad days, moments when we feel overwhelmed but do not give up. “Don’t judge the entire relationship based on just one day or one argument.”
Less than three weeks later, on December 28, Blanchard gave birth to a daughter named Aurora.
Shortly after Aurora’s arrival, the new mother announced on social media that she would not be sharing pictures of her little girl’s face with her followers.
“They keep asking everyone, ‘No, I won’t post pictures of Aurora,'” she wrote on her Instagram story. “I understand everyone’s excitement and appreciate the support, but we value our daughter’s privacy and safety.”
March 2025: Go on a reality show together
The new season of “Gypsy Rose: Life After Lock Up” will air on March 10, 2025, and it promises to take a closer look at Blanchard’s life since leaving her last relationship and starting a family with Urker.
Speaking to TODAY.com ahead of the premiere, Blanchard shared what she hopes viewers will enjoy about the show.
“I want them to take away the fact that everyone grows up in their lives,” he said. “No one is ever done fully developing who they are. That’s what I’ve been doing all season long, building my character, learning about myself, discovering what I am.”