Ken Urker, the partner of Gypsy Rose Blanchard, was found dead Thursday evening at a Louisiana home, according to the Lafourche Parish Sheriff’s Office.
Deputies responded to a residence in Raceland at about 6:15 p.m. and discovered Urker deceased, the office said in a statement. Authorities said the death investigation is ongoing and have not publicly released a cause of death.
Blanchard, who shares a daughter with Urker born in 2024, told People magazine that he overdosed. People also reported that he died on his 34th birthday. The sheriff’s office did not immediately respond to a request for further comment.
Blanchard told the magazine she was in disbelief. “I can’t think,” she said. “I’ve screamed until my throat burns.”
The couple met through a prison pen pal program while Blanchard was incarcerated for her role in the 2015 murder of her mother, Clauddine “Dee Dee” Blanchard, Variety reported. They briefly separated and later reconciled in 2024.
Blanchard has said her mother abused her for years and forced her to fake serious illnesses. She pleaded guilty to second-degree murder and was sentenced to 10 years in prison. Her then-boyfriend, Nicholas Godejohn, received a life sentence for fatally stabbing Dee Dee Blanchard.
The killing drew intense media attention and inspired HBO’s 2017 documentary “Mommy Dead and Dearest” and Hulu’s 2019 series “The Act.” Blanchard was released early in 2023 after being granted parole.
Blanchard told People that Urker faced heavy public scrutiny during their relationship. In a statement, she said he “endured an unimaginable level of public scrutiny and relentless cyberbullying” on platforms including TikTok and Reddit, calling the cruelty he faced something no person should have to endure.
“I believe the tremendous weight of that 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,” she said.
Blanchard also said she wants their daughter to grow up “knowing how deeply her father loved her and who he was beyond what strangers on the internet chose to say about him.”