Gypsy-Rose Blanchard disputes suicide as cause in ex-fiance Ken Urker’s death

Gypsy-Rose Blanchard says she does not believe her late ex-fiancé, Ken Urker, took his own life. 

Blanchard, 35, shared the update on a Change.org petition she created in his memory. She said the official cause of death is still pending toxicology results. But she wrote, “we do know with 100% [certainty] that it was not suicide.”

The petition calls for social media platforms to respond better to repeated online harassment. 

Blanchard said it is not about how Urker died. She said it is about the “extreme cyber bullying” that came before his death. She believes it hurt his mental health. She also said it led him to use unhealthy coping habits, such as drugs and alcohol.

Blanchard wrote that she had seen Urker read negative comments online. She said he also watched clips with hateful and demeaning commentary. She said this had a deep, negative effect on him.

Urker died on October 1. Lafourche Parish Sheriff’s Office officials told Us Weekly he was “found dead upon arrival” at a home in Raceland, Louisiana. 

Authorities have not announced an official cause of death as the investigation is still ongoing.

Blanchard and Urker first connected when he was her pen pal. She was in prison at the time in connection with the 2015 death of her mother, Clauddine “Dee Dee” Blanchard.