Key Highlights
- Ken Urker, previously engaged to Gypsy Rose Blanchard, has died aged 34.
- The Lafourche Sheriff’s Office said Urker was found dead after officers responded to a call on 1 October; his cause of death has not been disclosed.
- Urker and Blanchard had an on-and-off relationship for almost a decade and welcomed their daughter, Aurora Raina Urker, in December 2024.
Ken Urker’s death remains under investigation
Ken Urker, who was previously engaged to Gypsy Rose Blanchard, has died aged 34. In a statement shared with LADbible, the Lafourche Sheriff’s Office said officers responded to a call at around 6.15pm on 1 October and that Urker was ‘found dead upon arrival’.
Urker’s cause of death has not been revealed. The Sheriff’s Office said it was ‘continuing the death investigation’. According to TMZ, Urker was found unresponsive at his home in Louisiana on his birthday, 1 October. The publication reported that Blanchard sent him a message wishing him a ‘happy birthday’, but that it reportedly went unanswered.
Gypsy Rose Blanchard and Ken Urker’s relationship
Blanchard and Urker first met as pen pals while Blanchard was serving a 10-year sentence after pleading guilty to the second-degree murder of her mother, Clauddine ‘Dee Dee’ Blanchard, in 2015. Their relationship continued on and off for almost a decade.
Speaking to E! News in 2019, Blanchard said Urker first contacted her after seeing her story on television. She shared:
“He wrote me a letter of support after watching the HBO documentary Mommy Dead and Dearest back in 2017.”I wrote him back and pretty soon we just started writing on a weekly basis. We became fast friends.”
The pair later began speaking by telephone. Blanchard said:
“I talked to him like I had known him my whole life and vice versa.”
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Urker and Blanchard became engaged the following year, but their relationship ended the year after. Blanchard later married Ryan Anderson while she was still incarcerated in 2022, although the couple subsequently separated.
After Blanchard’s release from prison in December 2023, she and Urker rekindled their relationship in 2024. Speaking to E! News that year, Blanchard said:
“It wasn’t until I filed for divorce that I kind of really realised that that spark, that connection [with Urker] is even better than I expected. And we’ve grown a lot. I’ve matured. He’s grown. And so I think right now is the time in our lives that it’s the right time, right place, right everything.”
In December 2024, Blanchard and Urker welcomed their daughter, Aurora Raina Urker. Urker also appeared alongside Blanchard on the television series Gypsy Rose: Life After Lock Up.
Who is Gypsy Rose Blanchard?
Gypsy Rose Blanchard became internationally known because of the circumstances surrounding her childhood and her mother’s murder. Dee Dee Blanchard spent years claiming that her daughter had illnesses including leukaemia, muscular dystrophy and developmental issues.
Dee Dee was suspected of having Munchausen by proxy, now known as factitious disorder imposed on another (FDIA). The condition is a serious and rare form of abuse in which a caregiver, often a parent, fabricates, exaggerates or induces physical or mental illness in someone under their care.
Throughout Blanchard’s childhood, her mother forced her to use a wheelchair, had her fitted with a feeding tube and subjected her to surgeries that she did not need. As a teenager, Blanchard began an online relationship with Nicholas Godejohn, and the pair planned Dee Dee’s killing.
Godejohn fatally stabbed Dee Dee in June 2015. At trial, Blanchard pleaded guilty to second-degree murder and received a 10-year sentence. She was released from Chillicothe Correctional Center in December 2023.
Godejohn was found guilty of first-degree murder and sentenced to life in prison without parole, along with an additional 25 years for armed criminal action.
Why This Matters
Urker’s death comes after a highly publicised period in his relationship with Gypsy Rose Blanchard, including their reunion after her release from prison, the birth of their daughter and their appearances together on television. The Lafourche Sheriff’s Office has not disclosed a cause of death and says the investigation is continuing.
Frequently Asked Questions
Who was Ken Urker?
Ken Urker was previously engaged to Gypsy Rose Blanchard. The pair met as pen pals while Blanchard was in prison, maintained an on-and-off relationship for almost a decade and welcomed their daughter, Aurora Raina Urker, in December 2024.
What is known about Ken Urker’s death?
The Lafourche Sheriff’s Office said officers responded to a call at around 6.15pm on 1 October and found Urker dead. His cause of death has not been revealed, and the Sheriff’s Office is continuing its investigation.
Why did Gypsy Rose Blanchard go to prison?
Blanchard pleaded guilty to the second-degree murder of her mother, Clauddine ‘Dee Dee’ Blanchard, in 2015. She received a 10-year sentence and was released from Chillicothe Correctional Center in December 2023.
