Over a week after Ken Urker’s death, his sister is explaining why a gun was part of his nightly routine.
In an interview the Daily Mail published on Thursday, October 8, Autumn Urker said her brother “had to sleep with a gun every night” because of life with Gypsy Rose Blanchard. She made one thing clear: he was not afraid of Gypsy despite her criminal past.
The fear, she said, came from online bullying, including death threats and doxxing by strangers. In her view, he would never have been a target if he hadn’t been tied to a love story that made headlines all over the world.
Autumn was also pretty blunt about who she blames. She believes the harassment wouldn’t have happened without the relationship and the sensational elements surrounding it. That puts some of her anger squarely on Blanchard, even as she insists he didn’t fear her.
As we previously reported, Urker was found dead in Raceland, Louisiana, on his 34th birthday, October 1, after police responded to a 6:15 p.m. call. Authorities said the investigation is ongoing, and no official cause of death has been announced. The gun comes up in another place, too. TMZ reported that law enforcement records include a caller’s warning that Urker was in a dark place, had threatened suicide, and owned a firearm. That is a report from a records trail, not a finding from investigators, and it doesn’t prove anything about how he died. It does show that concern about him and his gun existed before that night.
Meanwhile, Blanchard has her own view of his final stretch. She told PEOPLE she believes he overdosed, though she doesn’t know whether it was intentional. “He was not in a good state of mind lately,” she said. The two had also quietly separated about a month before he died, which makes the grief for everyone involved even more complicated.
Publicly, Blanchard is staying out of a fight with Autumn. She acknowledged “significant tension” between them and said Autumn never backed the relationship. “Right now, my priority is grieving Ken, supporting our daughter and honoring his memory.” She also said her talks with the rest of his family have been positive and respectful.