Ken Urker, the father of Gypsy Rose Blanchard's young daughter, was found dead at a home in Louisiana on his 34th birthday, and authorities say they are still investigating how he died.
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| Ken Urker and Gypsy Rose Blanchard, who share a daughter, in a photo shared on social media. |
Urker was found unresponsive Thursday, Oct. 1, a family source told PEOPLE. TMZ was the first outlet to report his death. His cause of death has not been confirmed.
The Lafourche Parish Sheriff's Office said deputies were notified at about 6:15 p.m. CDT and responded to a residence in Raceland. Urker was found dead when they arrived. In a statement to E! News, the office said it is continuing its death investigation. No further details about the circumstances have been released.
How Urker was found
According to TMZ, Blanchard sent Urker a birthday text that day and did not get a reply. PEOPLE reports that her brother, Dylan, and his wife went to the home and found him. TMZ's account names Dylan only. Both outlets attribute the details to family sources, and authorities have not described how he was discovered.
Urker's sister, Autumn, went live on TikTok that evening to confirm his death, according to PEOPLE. She said his last words to her were "I love you."
Blanchard's statement
Blanchard, 35, gave TMZ a statement calling Urker an "amazing father" and a man who was "deeply loved." She said he "will forever be my soulmate and my red string."
She also said Urker was subjected to "relentless cyberbullying" and an "unimaginable level of public scrutiny" on social media before he died. She said she believes the harassment had a "profound impact" on him. These are Blanchard's own claims, and nothing in the reports connects them to the cause of death, which remains unknown.
Blanchard said she will make sure their daughter, Aurora, grows up knowing how much her father loved her. She asked for privacy for herself and her family.
Their relationship
Blanchard and Urker have a daughter, Aurora Raina Urker, who was born in December 2024. The two first connected through a pen pal program while Blanchard was in prison. Urker proposed during a prison visit in October 2018, according to TMZ.
Reports differ on how the relationship is best described. TMZ and other outlets call him her former fiancé. PEOPLE calls him her partner. The couple's history was on and off. During one period apart, Blanchard married Ryan Anderson, and she later separated from him.
Blanchard was released from prison in December 2023, and she and Urker reconnected in April 2024. Urker told PEOPLE that he visited her the first weekend of that month, that they met up again a month later for a jazz festival, and that they soon learned they were expecting a baby.
Who Blanchard is
Blanchard became widely known after the 2015 killing of her mother, Clauddine "Dee Dee" Blanchard. She pleaded guilty to second-degree murder and was released on parole after serving part of a 10-year sentence. Her case has been the subject of documentaries, a scripted series and her own TV projects.
What happens next
The Lafourche Parish Sheriff's Office has not said when it expects to finish its investigation or released a cause of death. Those answers will most likely come from the sheriff's office or the coroner's findings.