Ken Urker, Gypsy Rose Blanchard’s former fiancé, was found dead at his home in Louisiana after relatives warned police that he had threatened to take his own life and owned a gun.
Deputies attended the property in Raceland on Thursday evening for a welfare check after family members said Urker was not answering his phone and had failed to attend work.
One caller told dispatchers that Urker was in a “dark place”, had threatened suicide and possessed a firearm. A second caller later told authorities he had “killed himself” and asked whether he was safe.
Family friends entered the house through a bedroom window and found Urker unconscious and cold in bed. Deputies reported finding a holstered handgun on the bedside table, alongside a syringe and two shot glasses.
Drug paraphernalia and a brown powdery substance were also reportedly found in the bathroom. The police report does not state that the gun was fired or that it was involved in Urker’s death.
Urker was found on his birthday. Gypsy Rose had sent him a birthday message but received no reply, before her brother Dylan later discovered him inside the home.
Urker and Blanchard met through a prison pen-pal programme and became engaged in 2018 before ending their relationship. They later reconnected and had a daughter, Aurora.
Blanchard subsequently married Ryan Anderson while she was incarcerated, although the couple later divorced.
