Gypsy Rose Blanchard’s partner, Ken Urker, has died at the age of 34, the Louisiana sheriff said.
The investigation into his death continues. Capt. Brennan Matherne of the Lafourche County Sheriff’s Office told CBS News there was no sign of foul play. TMZ was the first to report the news.
According to police records, Gypsy Rose Blanchard’s stepbrother and his wife Dylan and Anita Blanchard went to Urker’s house and tried to break into the house. Unable to do so, Anita called the Lafourche County Sheriff’s Office and requested a welfare check. He said Ürker was in a “dark place,” owned a gun and was threatening suicide, records show. Police officers were dispatched to the home around 6.15pm on Thursday.
Anita told police that Dylan knocked on the door of the house for an hour but received no response. Police said Dylan and another man, Justin Daigle, were eventually able to enter the home through an unlocked bedroom window. Daigle said he touched Urker’s body and noticed that he was cold and not breathing.
The police arrived at the scene and found Ürker dead in his bed. Police noted that he “appeared to have been there for a long time,” and the report noted that his face and arms turned blue.
Urker had a gun, syringe and two shot glasses with him, according to the police report. Police said other drug paraphernalia, including a brown powdery substance, was also found in Urker’s bathroom.
The cause of death was not disclosed.
Thursday was Urker’s 34th birthday.
Gypsy Rose Blanchard, 35, and Urker connected in 2015 while he was in prison for the murder of his mother, Clauddine “Dee Dee” Blanchard. They share a 21-month-old baby girl childAurora. Gypsy Rose Blanchard told People magazine that Urker’s death was a shock.
“I don’t believe it. I can’t think,” he said. “I screamed until my throat burned.”
“Ken was a wonderful father and a deeply loved man,” he said.
Blanchard wrote on Instagram that Urker “will always be her greatest love story” and “will forever be remembered and loved.”
Blanchard was previously engaged to Urker in 2018 and began dating him following her split from ex-husband Ryan Anderson.
Blanchard and Anderson Departed early 2024Three months after they married while he was in prison for his role in his mother’s murder. He was sentenced to 10 years in prison for second-degree murder in the death of Blanchard’s mother, who was killed by her then-boyfriend, Nicholas Godejohn. Blanchard accused her mother of subjecting her to medical child abuse for years. Released in 2023 after serving seven years in prison. Godejohn was sentenced to life imprisonment.
Anita Blanchard told the Lafourche County Sheriff’s Office that Urker had recently made comments about being depressed and sad and did not show up for work on Thursday. Gypsy Rose Blanchard told People magazine that Urker “hasn’t been in the best of moods lately” and had recently been the victim of cyberbullying.
Gypsy Rose Blanchard said on her Instagram story that “the persecution of Urker is something no human being should ever have to endure.”
“I believe the immense weight of this scrutiny and harassment had a profound impact on him, and I hope his passing serves as a reminder that there is a real person behind every screen, every headline, and every comment,” he wrote.
CBS News has reached out to Gypsy Rose Blanchard’s representative for comment.