Ken Urker, the former fiancé of convicted murderer Gypsy-Rose Blanchard, has died at the age of 33 after he was found unresponsive at his home in the US, according to reports.
Mr Urker was discovered unresponsive in Louisiana on Thursday, TMZ reports, on the same day that he is believed to have been celebrating his birthday.
Ms Blanchard had reportedly texted Mr Urker ‘Happy Birthday,’ but never received a response.
It is understood that he was found by Ms Blanchard’s brother, who arrived at the property after making prior arrangements to go out for dinner that evening.
The Lafourche Sherriff’s Office said in a statement to E! News: “We were notified about this at 6:15 p.m. CDT and responded. He was found dead upon arrival. At this time, we are continuing the death investigation.”
His cause of death has not been revealed.
The former couple share a 21-month old daughter named Aurora Urker, whom they welcomed on December 28, 2024.
Ms Blanchard and Mr Urker met as prison pen pals in 2017 while she was still incarcerated for her part in the murder of her abusive mother, Claudine ‘Dee Dee’ Blanchard.
What followed was an on-off relationship, with the couple getting engaged in October 2018, before separating several months later only to reunite in August 2019.
They split once again several years later, with Ms Blanchard going on to tie the knot with Ryan Anderson in 2022 while still behind bars.
In March 2024, just three months after her prison release, Ms Blanchard announced that she had separated from Mr Anderson and had reconciled with Mr Urker.
As a child, Ms Blanchard was a victim of Munchausen’s syndrome by proxy, after her mother drugged and forced her to use a wheelchair to convince the world that she had muscular dystrophy and was battling leukaemia.
Their warped relationship came to an end in 2015, when Gypsy-Rose’s then boyfriend, Nicholas Godejohn, came into their home in Springfield, Missouri, and stabbed Dee Dee to death.
The disturbing story gained worldwide attention, and even went on to become an eight-part biographical crime drama, The Act, starring Joey King as Gypsy-Rose Blanchard.
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