Gypsy Rose ‘LYING’ About Fiancé Ken Urker's Death: Report

It seemed like a happily ever after. Who initially brought up killing your mother? I did. Once known for her role in a horrific murder, Gypsy Rose Blanchard found her prince charming in Ken Erker. Babe. Yeah. You want to make love? I want to make love. But after Ken's recent death, questions have risen to the forefront. Gypsy is that the record straight about her side of the story. But those closest to Ken, say it's far from the truth. And it realized Gypsy had earned it with a teensy. But you know, she tried to paint a fake narrative that they were engaged in blah, blah, blah. Y'all weren't. This is Scandal, presented by Lawn Crime. I'm Sierra Leesby. [MUSIC PLAYING] I'm sad to report the death of Ken Erker, a Louisiana dad who died on his own 34th birthday. You probably recognize the name, though, for his association with Gypsy Rose Blanchard. The woman convicted of murdering her mother back in 2016. News broke last week that Ken was found dead in his home from what appeared to be an overdose. Since then, Gypsy has posted to social media with tributes to Ken and even started a change.org petition to make real changes when it comes to cyberbullying. But those closest to Ken are calling Gypsy out for allegedly peddling a false narrative. And you're not going to [bleep] due to my brother when you did to Dee Dee. You're not lying on his name. She's referring to Dee Dee Blanchard, Gypsy's mother who was murdered in their Missouri home on June 10th, 2015. I did. Gypsy coordinated her mother's murder with her secret boyfriend, Nicholas Gota-John, a Wisconsin man, who she met online. Because it was a secret relationship and my mother would never allow me to have a boyfriend. Why not? Because she controlled every aspect of my life. Gypsy later told investigators she felt murder was the only way out. I truly didn't believe that nobody would believe me if I told anyone. My mother had legal documents in place saying that I was incompetent. And I thought that meant that if I went to anyone with police or told anyone she would just have them convinced that I was making everything up. This came after years of living under the guise of false sickness. It's something called Munchausen by proxy, where someone, usually a parent, fabricates a serious illness of someone they're taking care of. Dee Dee Blanchard convinced her family, her friends, doctors, and even her own daughter that she was living with a whole host of severe illnesses. What illnesses did you believe you had? Cancer, muscular dystrophy. I needed glasses, I needed hearing aids, seizure disorder. But as it turned out, this was a wildly false narrative. Gypsy was never really sick. Why were you in a wheelchair in June of 2015? Because my mother forced me to be in her. Do you know why you were forced to be in a wheelchair? No, sir, she just forced me to be in her. And how long had you been in a wheelchair as of June of 2015? Since probably I was about eight years old. Was there a time between when you first were put in a wheelchair in June of 2015 that you figured out that you really didn't need to be in a wheelchair? Yes. When was that? I always knew that I didn't need the wheelchair. How did you know that? Because I could walk. Gypsy testified she thought no one would believe her. Why did you not tell doctors that you knew you could walk or you didn't believe yourself to be killed during the time you were doing this? I didn't think that anyone would believe me. I thought they would eventually tell my mom and that would make my home life even worse for me. I feared her more than I feared anyone else. Gypsy plotted the murder with Nicholas, who took a bus from Wisconsin to Missouri to carry out the act. He stabbed Dee Dee to death as Gypsy hid in the bathroom. While you were in the bathroom, you could hear your mom, correct? Yes, sir. Gypsy and Nicholas went on the run, but were ultimately tracked down in Wisconsin. They were both charged with first degree murder, but Gypsy eventually reached a plea deal. In July 2016, she was sentenced to 10 years in prison on a conviction of second degree murder. For his part, Nicholas Godogen was convicted of first degree murder and sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole plus 25 years. Now while Gypsy was serving time in prison, the documentary, "Mommy, Dead and Dearest" premiered on HBO, according to People magazine, that's how Ken Urker got in touch with Gypsy. Starting in 2017, they were pen pals before they finally met in real life. After that, they started dating and were even engaged in 2018. Just a few months later, the pair broke up, but reconnected in August 2019. At some point, their relationship fizzled again and Gypsy ultimately married school teacher Ryan Anderson in a prison ceremony in July 2022. The following December, Gypsy was finally released on parole and began her life on the outside. Married life with Ryan didn't last very long, though in the couple split in March 2024, and the following month, April 2024, CMZ reported Gypsy and Ken reconnected in real life, even getting matching husky tattoos. A few weeks later, they confirmed they were back together, and that's when we started seeing cute videos like this. (laughing) And looking at the videos alone, they seemed so in love. - Babe. - Yeah. - You want to make love? - I want to make love. - How much love do you want to make? - So much so that in July 2024, Gypsy and Ken announced they were expecting. Their daughter Aurora was born in December 2024. And from afar, they seemed like a happy family. Gypsy posted pictures and videos of them all together, seemingly living a happy life. (chattering) But then, tragedy struck. News broke last week that Ken died on October 1st, his 34th birthday. And there's been some conflicting reports as to what happened leading up to Ken's death, and we'll get to that in just a minute. But I'll start by saying that at the time of this recording, we have not yet received the autopsy or toxicology reports. The coroner told the New York Times, "At this time, there is no definitive cause of death." Officials with the Lou Forge County Sheriff's Office also told the Times the death investigation is still underway, but so far, there's no evidence of foul play. E-News reports that on the evening of September 30th, Ken went to church with Gypsy's half-brother Dylan and Dylan's wife Anita. At the time, Ken reportedly made some concerning statements. Officials told E-News, quote, "They stated Mr. Erker made comments of being depressed and upset. They advised he made a TikTok live video at approximately 11 p.m. They advised that he just had the video going while he was driving without him saying anything." The next day Ken reportedly didn't show up for work. That evening, Dylan went over to his house just to make sure everything was okay. In a statement to E-News, officials said Dylan Blanchard was able to gain access to Mr. Erker's bedroom window due to it being unlocked and was able to see Mr. Erker lying on his bed unconscious. Once they realized Mr. Erker was not answering, Mr. Blanchard and Justin Dagle, that's his boss, moved the blinds and made entry through the window and located Mr. Erker in his bed, called to the touch. Ken reportedly had a paper towel on his left arm covered in what appeared to be blotches of blood. On the night stand next to him, sat a holstered handgun, laying next to two shot glasses and a syringe. According to officials, nothing else seemed out of place in Ken's home. The next day, Gypsy posted a tribute to Ken on her social media writing quote, "You will always be my greatest love story. You will be remembered and loved forever." She also spoke out to people magazine saying, "I don't know if it was intentional or not. He was not in a good state of mind lately." She also said, "I'm in disbelief. I can't think. I've screamed until my throat burns." Gypsy has since created a change.org petition in honor of Ken, revealing a reported struggle with mental health issues and cyberbullying. She wrote in part, "Ken recently died following a suspected overdose. At this time, we do not know whether the overdose was intentional and I will not speculate about circumstances that have not been determined. What I can't speak about is what happened before his death. We reported it again and again." Ken was a public figure and experienced an enormous amount of public scrutiny. Across platforms, including TikTok, Instagram, YouTube, and Reddit, there was extensive content about him that we believe crossed the line from criticism into targeted harassment and cyberbullying. She went on to say, "Ken and Flah is about changing the way social media platforms handle repeated reports of harassment. One post viewed alone may not tell the whole story, but hundreds of posts, videos, and comments directed at one person can reveal a pattern that deserves a meaningful review." The petition would ask lawmakers to consider a couple of changes, including human reviews of reports, meaningful appeals, evidence, preservation, and transparency. And putting a stop to cyberbullying does sound like a good thing. But here's where the conflicts come in. Because according to Autumn Erker, that's Ken's sister, Gypsy said she's the one who sounded the alarm that something was off with Ken. When she texted him happy birthday on October 1st and Ken didn't reply, Gypsy knew something was wrong. Autumn says, that's not the case though. She told the US Sun, quote, "Gypsy had no right to lie and say that it was because of some text that she sent to him." In fact, according to Autumn, the last conversation she had with Ken was relatively normal. He said he had just got to work, he was going home, he was tired, so he was going to go to sleep, and then he had work in the morning. I love you. It just, that's how we hang up the phone, you know? We say that we love each other. You didn't say anything weird. Autumn told the Sun she believed that Ken's death was an accident. She says she has more details, but she's keeping them private for now. About the cyber bullying, Autumn says it could have stemmed from a recently resurfaced jail call between Gypsy and Ken. The call was recorded a couple of years ago, but people have been talking about it lately. So Autumn told the US Sun, quote, "He asked me what I thought about the phone call that everybody's been playing this past week, calling him the most sick things, and I told him he wasn't that guy." But it's the things Gypsy has been reportedly saying that have created a problem for Autumn. Gypsy had been telling people they were engaged in planning a baby number two. None of that was true. And this isn't the first time that Autumn has called up Gypsy. This is from a video posted to her TikTok that's from August 16th of this year. This is a poem about a girl that we all totally don't know. This is called The Queen of Make Believe. Oh, here comes Miss Storytime. Queen of the Lie. With the new detail she forgot to mention last time, you twist and you turn every fact till it bends. And then you call this all haters when we won't play pretend. You swore that your stories were perfectly true, but one call after the other is exposing you. And yet you're more concerned with your lips and your hair. Girl, read the poem, "Nobody cares." A thousand dollar hairstyle, injections on skew, a payment plan face, and just to still be disliked too, hell if I were you, I would hate me too. You wanted the spotlight, the pity, the crown, but truth had a funny way of chasing you down. You can filter your face, you can edit your tail, but you can't put concealer on truth when it fails. So keep telling your stories, keep changing the plot, keep claiming your innocent, give it all that you've got. Because lies may run fast, but the truth doesn't tire, and eventually everybody sees through a liar. In that video, Autumn never says Gypsy's name, but she called her out by name in a TikTok live over the weekend and even brought up Gypsy's murder conviction. And it realized Gypsy had already went to TMZ, but you know, she tried to paint a fake narrative that they were engaged in blah, blah, blah. Y'all weren't, and you're not gonna (beep) do to my brother where you did to DD. I don't care if you're trying to make it seem like you're not lying on his name. He was not with you. Just last night he was detesting your (beep) name. Stop. You have a borough. You have her now. You've got what you (beep) wanted. So far, we don't have any response from Gypsy about that allegation of sorts, but I wanna talk it all out. So let's bring on today's guest. It's one of our favorites here at Scandal, long crime analyst and criminal defense attorney, Julie Rendelman. Julie, thank you so much for coming on. It's been a hot second since you've been on Scandal. - Yes, but not a hot second since I've seen you. So yes. - Though at least I got my Julie fix. - Yes, she's so great to see you. Thank you for coming on. I know you're a fan favorite and everybody is talking about this. I had some friends actually who came in over the weekend and they were like, did you hear about Ken? Oh my God. And now the drama just keeps going. So I have to ask you, we just played in our Scandal episode, the video that Ken's sister posted, or she was TikTok-living. And she basically said like, I'm paraphrasing, but she said something like, you're not gonna do to my brother what you did to Dee Dee, which she was convicted of killing her mother. I mean, she was there for it, second degree murder. So is that an allegation that she killed Ken? - I mean, who knows? Sarah, let me ask you this question. When you got, when you saw the news that he had died, like, did your brain start going for a second? Like, just for a second. Go in like, where was she when he died? Like, there was just that moment. - Okay, yeah. So, by the way, that doesn't mean anything. There's no legal aspect to that at all. But that's like the first thing I thought of. Now, I think that she's more talking in terms of perhaps she's blaming Gypsy, maybe because of the issues in their relationship. I don't think she's actually calling her out and saying he, she killed her. - Yeah, because there have been no formal allegations of that that she, just because she has been convicted of second degree murder, actually, with her mom. I haven't seen any reports anywhere that police are looking into Gypsy or anything like that. But I guess, wait, tell me what you're gonna say. - Yeah, no, no, I agree with you. I think, in fact, it's quite the opposite. I think they're saying that, I mean, look, I thought it was strange 'cause it sounded like they were, they were supposed to be engaged. They have a child in common. It seems clear that from, at least what we're reading, that she wasn't there when he died. In fact, it sounds like he had been there for a period of time before the body was even discovered. And so, I'm guessing that if they believe, in any way she performed that she was involved, we would hear about it sooner rather than later. - Yeah, and there have been discrepancies in how long they were together, whether they were actually engaged at the time, whether the engagement had been broken off again. I have seen some reports that they were living separately for a while and were broken up according to his sister. They had been broken up and living kind of separately for a while. But I guess I have to go back to just the general thing here, the fact that she is a convicted murderer. And as we know in all the criminal cases that I talk about, there's that phrase, it's always the husband. We have that phrase because investigators first look at, whoever's closest in your inner circle, your significant other. So, would the fact that she has this on her, I guess, sheet, the fact that she has a conviction, her background check, would investigators then look into her because she was his girlfriend or fiancee? Sure. I mean, I think anytime you have some type of death, unless it's completely natural causes, you're going to do an investigation and determine what the cause of death was and whether or not there was anybody else that might be in any way responsible for that. The fact that somebody is believed to have died of a drug overdose doesn't end the investigation. We've certainly seen people who have been accused, arrested and convicted of providing the drugs to the individual before they overdosed. I don't know that there's any evidence whatsoever in regards to gypsy being, in any way, criminally responsible for her fiancee, ex fiancee's death. But we all know that when someone dies, the family can sometimes become incredibly emotional. And if there was any volatility in the relationship between gypsy and her ex or her fiancee, that might be something that the sister is jumping on. Yeah, and actually I had seen the sister's tech talk. I went back on it and she had a couple of other videos posted about gypsy. For instance, there's one that we play in our episode that was, she wrote a poem about her back in August. So this is obviously way before Ken died because he died on October 1st. So there had been some form of animosity at least from Ken's family, maybe not his entire family, but his sister versus gypsy. And you're right, in her tech talk live, she didn't outright say, oh, I think you murdered my brother. I don't think she said that. But based on what she did say, you're not going to do to my brother what you did to Dee Dee. Could there be any sort of defamation there? Sure, you mean like a civil-- Yeah, a civilically. Could there be a defamation suit brought? Certainly there could be. Do I think that we're going to see that with gypsy in this case? No, I don't. Just because I don't think that she wants more drama in a courtroom than what she's already had. Remember, these two people met. I think he met her while she was incarcerated. She's been. So there's always an oddity when an individual begins a relationship with a woman or a man who's in custody at the time, particularly when they're in custody for murder, as Gypsy was. And we also know there was potentially on and off in their relationship throughout, because I think they had broken up, gotten back together a few different times. Yeah, that's true. So there might be, again, bitterness from the family, and also bitterness that-- whether they think that she was in control of him, which were some of the allegations from before when Gypsy's mother was murdered. that, you know, they may feel that in some way she is maybe not criminally responsible, but responsible in terms of whatever was that brought him to overdosing. - That's interesting that you brought that up because I mean, her mom was accused. She never was charged or convicted in any way because she died and we found out about it after, but her mom kind of retroactively has been accused of munchausins by proxy where she defrauded a bunch of people, convinced even Gypsy for a time that she had all these really terrible diseases, doctors, family members, all sorts of people. I mean, make a wish habitat for humanity. So her mom, based on those allegations, super controlling and does it sound to you like, Ken's family is now coming forward and saying, okay, maybe Gypsy, maybe not to that level, but has some sort of control issues too. - Well, yeah, but remember, I think the allegation with Gypsy also with regards to her mother in terms of that murder was that she convinced her boyfriend at the time to assist her in terms of killing a mother. So obviously, I don't think they're saying that Ken was convinced to kill anybody, but that maybe she had some type of female sphingali control over him such that his emotions and happiness rose and fell with his relationship with her. - Oh, that's interesting because I was thinking, oh, maybe it runs in the family, the control issue, but you're right. I mean, Nicholas Gotajan is now serving a life sentence because he was maybe coerced or suggested that he should kill Gypsy's mom because she's the one who brought the idea. And she mentioned that, she testified to it. I mean, she served her time in prison. So, okay, let's go back to Ken though. You mentioned the overdose. We don't at this time of this recording have a definitive answer. We don't have autopsy or talk reports. Talks reports, I should say. Anything like that, we don't know for sure, but it seems like it's an overdose and we've seen this a lot where it could be accidental, it could be on purpose, whatever it is. If it is an overdose, could people be charged for supplying him with whether it was illegal drugs or not? - So the answer is yes. If an individual dies of an overdose. By the way, even if it's accidental or intentional, they can still attempt to locate and identify the individual or individuals that provided those drugs to him and then potentially indict and charge them. - So we do have an investigation ahead. I mean, first of all, you need to determine cause and manner of death, but then after that, I mean, we've seen that in, for instance, the Matthew Perry case or Michael Jackson were people who sold drugs, whether it was illegally or they were a doctor and prescribed it, they could then be charged. So that could be coming down the pipeline. Another thing that Gypsy brought up too is that there was talk that Ken had maybe some mental health issues regarding what she called cyber bullying. I mean, I've seen this online. I'm sure you have two where people just attack you, whether it's your DMs or comments, YouTube, Reddit, TikTok, whatever it may be. There's so many different forms of social media that you can go on and people are so loud and so evil on social media. So if that's the case, I mean, I guess I'm just going back in my head too, for instance, Michelle Carter. This is a little bit different, a little more nuanced, but she is the woman who was convicted after her boyfriend killed himself and she egged him on. Right, and it was a lot of texts. It's slightly different than cyber bullying. But could there be any charges related to cyber bullying if he then took his life? So it's a great question. Could there be a scenario where someone is charged for cyber bullying in and of itself, maybe, if the level went to such a degree that it violated whatever that state's laws were? I'm not sure we're going to see a situation unless it's very similar to Michelle Carter where someone's going to be arrested and charged with his death. I think there is something to the idea of how we're dealing with in terms of the social media platform where individuals are allowed to bully someone again and again and again and we have to balance that with the whole first amendment rights of an individual to express themselves. And so I do understand. And by the way, we see it. I mean, even if I go on TV and say one thing that someone doesn't like the attacks are. And if you're not strong enough to handle them, they can really be quite overwhelming, especially if you're going through whatever mental health issues you were. I will note though, it is a little strange, just one thing. It's not an accusation. But with Gypsy, she talks about him being her soulmate, the love of her life. But yet, he seemed to have been there for more than a day. It wasn't until people that went to church with him found him and again, we don't know the full story. So I am curious were they not in touch with several days? Was she not herself concerned that something was happening with him mentally? So I am just just a pure observer's curiosity about that. Yeah, that is interesting because there's been some conflicting reports there too, where Gypsy said I texted him. October 1st was his birthday. Text him happy birthday. He didn't reply. And that's when I knew something was wrong. And then Ken Sister says that's not fair for Gypsy to say. That's not exactly what happened. And you're right. I mean, I think the last time that he was seen was around 11 PM on a TikTok stream the night before September 30th. And then he's found around 6 PM. That's after work hours, generally, on October 1st that Thursday. So you're right. I mean, it's at least a question. You know, just again, just one of those things I'm just curious about as to what the nature of their relationship was at the time he died. There's another question too that I'll ask. And this is just people talking. I mean, he died. We heard about it on Thursday or Friday. And then almost immediately we saw that she had this exclusive interview with People Magazine where she broke her silence. And a lot of people were saying she broke her silence. It just happened. I mean, oh my gosh, she rushed to speak to the tabloids. And her, I guess, fiancee's ex fiancee, whatever sister had said, oh, she ran straight to TMZ. Okay, she wanted to chat about this. I guess what are your thoughts about this? Does this affect Gypsy's image at all? Your thoughts about her speaking out, right away? I mean, she can obviously do whatever she wants. But yeah, I mean, I'm not sure she had the most fantastic reputation before, even with all the struggles that are alleged that happened to her. I mean, I'm certainly a private person. So if something happened to my loved one, the last thing I'm going to do is go on TMZ or People to discuss my take on it. And I think my friends and loved ones would look, would frown upon it. At the same time, she may feel, because just like we're talking about it, she may feel this defensiveness and a desire to kind of speak out to make sure people are not looking at her and thinking that she was in any way responsible. And that may be a motivating factor why she's coming out and talking about it so quickly afterwards. Yeah, I could see it both ways too. I mean, going back to the cyberbullying of it all, you and I have seen this. I mean, candidly, it has messed with my mental health the way that people say really terrible things to me. So maybe she's trying to get ahead of that too. And she's somehow coping with it. She's trying to make some sort of changes in the way of cyberbullying and the reporting. And I guess the bottom line here, we don't know what's going to happen. So we'll have to follow up and see. But the bottom line is that a life was lost. A young daughter now no longer has her father. So that part is very tragic and sad that she's going to be raised without him, just a sad story overall. I guess we'll have to wait and see what happens. We'll report the facts when they come in. Julie Rendellin, thanks for stopping by and kind of giving us your take on all this. Thanks for having me as always. We're going to keep an eye out for any responses from either side. But that is where today's episode of Scandal leaves us for now. Thanks for watching. I'm your host, Sierra Gillespie. And I'll see you next time.