Gypsy Rose Blanchard has spoken out about her grief after Ken Urker was found dead at his Louisiana home on his 34th birthday.
Blanchard, 35, said hours after the death that she was struggling to process what had happened. “He was not in a good state of mind lately,” she said. “I’m in disbelief. I can’t think. I’ve screamed until my throat burns,” She added that she did not know whether his death was “intentional or not.”
The couple had officially ended their relationship about a month before Urker’s passing, though they had been living apart for roughly two months, according to a source close to the pair. “They officially broke up about a month ago, but then they were living apart for about two months,” the source shared, adding that they were “trying to work it out for a bit,” but ultimately parted on good terms. “They both just amicably, a month ago, said let’s just leave it here, have our space, and see where we’re at,” the source continued. “It was nothing nasty…It was just a mutual agreement.” The couple were reportedly co-parenting their daughter, Aurora, who was born in December 2024, and the source noted that Urker was the “best” father. Mental health challenges on Urker’s side were cited as the reason for the split.
Urker’s sister, Autumn, has publicly challenged Blanchard’s account of events. Autumn claimed that Blanchard had been telling people that she and Urker were engaged and planning a second child, but asserted that neither was true. Autumn also accused Blanchard of lying about the details surrounding her brother’s death.
Despite the recent separation, Blanchard had envisioned a future with Urker that included a formal wedding ceremony. In a May interview, she laid out her hopes for their eventual marriage. “I don’t want to have a quick wedding; I want to have the big wedding,” she said. “I want to have the poofy dress; I want to have the family there, because my first marriage, I got married in the visitation room by the bathroom of a prison.”
That first marriage was to Ryan Scott Anderson, whom she wed in June 2022 while still incarcerated. The couple split two years later, and Blanchard then rekindled her relationship with Urker. Urker and Blanchard had originally connected as pen pals in 2017 while she was imprisoned for the murder of her mother, Clauddine “Dee Dee” Blanchard. They became engaged in October 2018, but the engagement eventually ended before her marriage to Anderson.
Law enforcement found Urker with drug paraphernalia and a gun at the time of his death, according to a police report. The Lafourche Parish Public Information Officer confirmed that Urker was “found dead upon arrival” at his home.
Blanchard’s relationship history has unfolded under intense public scrutiny since her release from prison. The murder of Dee Dee Blanchard exposed years of abuse through Munchausen syndrome by proxy, in which Dee Dee had fabricated and induced illnesses in her daughter. Gypsy Rose pleaded guilty to second-degree murder in 2016 and served eight years of a ten-year sentence before being paroled in December 2023. Her case became the subject of multiple documentaries and dramatizations, transforming her into a figure of sustained media fascination.
Autumn’s accusations against Blanchard have added a layer of conflict to the already complicated aftermath of Urker’s death. The sister’s claims about false engagement and pregnancy rumors, if accurate, suggest Blanchard may have been presenting a rosier picture of the relationship than reality warranted in its final weeks.
Blanchard’s May comments to the outlet now carry an added poignancy given the circumstances. Her desire for a traditional wedding with “the poofy dress” and family present stood in stark contrast to her prison marriage, and her specific mention of that contrast suggested she saw Urker as offering a chance at a more conventional life.
The couple’s daughter, Aurora, was born just weeks before Blanchard’s first anniversary of freedom from prison.
Blanchard has not addressed Autumn’s specific allegations publicly beyond her initial statement.