She said she was in “disbelief” and had no words for the depth of her loss.
“Ken was an amazing father and a man who was deeply loved. He will forever be my soulmate and my red string, a connection that time, distance, and even death can never erase,” she told People.
“Above all, Ken loved our daughter, Aurora. She is a beautiful reflection of his enduring spirit, and, through her, a part of him will always remain with us.”
The couple welcomed daughter Aurora Raina Urker in December 2024, having first connected as prison pen pals while Blanchard was serving a 10-year sentence for her role in the murder of her mother, Dee Dee Blanchard.
After getting engaged in October 2018, the pair later called off their engagement and Blanchard went on to marry Ryan Anderson while still in prison.
She was released on parole in December 2023 after serving 85% of her 10-year sentence.
She later separated from Anderson and rekindled her romance with Urker, with the divorce finalised in December 2024.
Dee Dee was found stabbed to death in her Missouri home in June 2015, with Blanchard and her then-boyfriend, Nicholas Godejohn, arrested less than 48 hours later.
Blanchard was 23 when she was arrested and she pleaded guilty to second-degree murder.
According to ABC News, Blanchard has said Dee Dee subjected her to years of abuse, falsely presenting her as seriously ill, restricting her to a wheelchair, and coercing her into unnecessary medical treatments.
In 2017, she told the outlet she had wanted to “escape” her mother.
“She physically chained me to the bed and put bells on the doors and told … anybody that I probably would’ve trusted that I was going through a phase and to tell her if I was doing anything behind her back.”
Godejohn admitted to stabbing Dee Dee in what he said was an effort to protect Blanchard from her mother. He was sentenced to life in prison without parole for his role in the killing.
