Gypsy Rose Blanchard’s partner found dead in apparent drug-related incident

(ABC NEWS) — Gypsy Rose Blanchard‘s partner Kenan Urker was found dead on his 34th birthday in what officials describe as an apparent drug-related incident, authorities said.

Officers discovered Urker dead when they responded to a call from a home in Raceland, Louisiana, on Thursday evening, according to the Lafourche Parish Sheriff’s Office.

Urker, who was lying on a bed, was cold and his face and arms were blue, according to the sheriff’s office. A paper towel on his arm appeared to have “blotches of blood” on it, the sheriff’s office said.

On the nightstand next to the bed was a holstered handgun, a syringe and two shot glasses, according to the sheriff’s office.

In the bathroom, deputies discovered syringes, a spoon and a “brown powdery substance,” the sheriff’s office said.

The sheriff’s office said there’s “no evidence of foul play.”

Blanchard wrote on Instagram on Friday, “You will always be my greatest love story. You will be remembered and loved forever.”

She added in an Instagram story that he was an “amazing father” and “will forever be my soulmate.”

In 2015, Blanchard and her then-boyfriend Nicholas Godejohn were arrested for the fatal stabbing of Blanchard’s mother, Clauddinnea “Dee Dee” Blanchard.

Gypsy Rose Blanchard pleaded guilty to second-degree murder and was released from prison in 2023.

“Dee Dee” Blanchard had allegedly abused her daughter for years by convincing Gypsy Rose and the public that she was extremely sick, when she wasn’t. “Dee Dee” Blanchard allegedly portrayed her daughter as a frail, disabled child who suffered from multiple illnesses including leukemia and muscular dystrophy, subjecting her to a life in a wheelchair, a feeding tube and unnecessary surgeries.

After her release from prison, Gypsy Rose Blanchard told ABC News she wanted to share her story “to bring awareness to mental health issues, to Munchausen by proxy, to abuse victims.”

She said she hoped her story would serve as a “cautionary tale” for others.

“So that the next person that might be in a situation like mine, they don’t take the route that I did,” she said.