Ken Urker’s sister has accused Gypsy-Rose Blanchard of misrepresenting the couple’s relationship before his sudden death on his 34th birthday.

Urker was found unresponsive at his Louisiana home on Thursday. His official cause of death has not yet been determined.

Since his death, Blanchard has said she believes her former on-and-off fiancé died from an overdose. Blanchard, who previously served time for killing her mother, said she became worried after Urker failed to respond to a “happy birthday” message she sent him.

She has also reportedly told people that the pair were engaged and making plans to have a second child.

“None of that is true,” Urker’s 31-year-old sister, Autumn Urker, told The US Sun. “Gypsy had no right to lie and say that it was because of some text that she sent to him.”

Autumn alleged that Blanchard has continued spreading “lies” since her brother’s death, particularly about when their relationship ended.

“They were not together,” Autumn told the outlet.

She said the couple had split more than a month earlier and that Urker had been the one to end the relationship.

Blanchard, meanwhile, has described Urker as her “greatest love story,” saying he would remain her “soulmate and my red string” forever.

“It’s a slap in the face. You don’t have to lie and make it seem like something,” Autumn said.

Police records obtained by The US Sun reportedly identify an overdose as Urker’s unofficial cause of death, although the official determination remains pending.

He was found in his bedroom with a handgun still in its holster beside the bed.

Autumn said she believed her brother’s death was accidental, adding that the family had “more details” they were not prepared to release.

Urker was discovered by Blanchard’s half-brother, Dylan Blanchard, and his wife, Anita, after they learned he had not arrived at work.

According to The US Sun, Dylan and Urker’s boss, Justin Daigle, entered the bedroom through an unlocked window and found him unconscious and cold on the bed.

The police report said investigators found syringes containing a “brown powdery substance” in the bathroom, along with another syringe on the nightstand.

Autumn said she spoke with her brother until around midnight. They ended the call by telling each other they loved one another and had planned to meet for dinner to celebrate his birthday.

‘That’s how we hang up the phone, we say that we love each other. He didn’t say anything weird,’ she told The US Sun. 

CONTINUE READING: I will continue to have affairs with my friends' wives for my whole life because I relish the control – NewsFinale

The sister also said her brother had been struggling with the cyberbullying he was receiving after a prison phone call between him and Blanchard surfaced. 

She recalled Urker asking her if the call was weird, to which she replied that it wasn’t. 

‘My brother was a great man. He was the kind of man that tried to love the broken. He was the kind of man that believed without demanding proof,’ Autumn said.  

Earlier this week, Blanchard said of Urker’s death: ‘I don’t know if it was intentional or not. He was not in a good state of mind lately. I’m in disbelief. I can’t think. I’ve screamed until my throat burns.’

Blanchard and Urker share a one-year-old daughter Aurora. 

Blanchard’s relationship with Urker began during her seven-year prison sentence for her part in the murder of her abusive mother, Claudine ‘Dee Dee’ Blanchard.

During this time, she started corresponding with Urker, and he proposed in 2018, only for them to split months later. Blanchard was released in December 2023, after being granted early parole, and in 2024 reunited with Urker.

Blanchard also claimed Urker was ‘relentlessly cyberbullied’ before his untimely passing, in a statement provided Thursday to TMZ.

‘Ken was an amazing father and a man who was deeply loved,’ she began, adding that Urker would ‘forever be my soulmate and my red string, a connection that time, distance, and even death can never erase.’

Blanchard said that he went through an ‘unimaginable level of public scrutiny’ while being with her and that the ‘cruelty directed toward him was something no human being should have to endure.’

She noted that the online harassment had a ‘profound impact’ on Urker.

Regarding their infant daughter Aurora, Blanchard vowed to ‘make sure she grows up knowing how deeply her father loved her.’

Blanchard said that she would also ensure her daughter knew ‘who [Urker] was beyond what strangers on the internet chose to say about him.’

Blanchard’s ex-husband, Ryan Scott Anderson, has also spoken out in defense of his former wife since Urker’s passing. 

‘Honestly, I don’t think she has anything to do with it,’ he said on The Sarah Fraser Show. 

‘Now, I understand why the police would want to cross their T’s and dot their I’s, especially in her previous conviction, I get why they might look into that.

‘But I highly doubt she had anything to do with it. I would be shocked if she did. I honestly think it was exactly what she said. That is my opinion.’ 

The Daily Mail has reached out to Blanchard, Autumn and the police for comment.  

Christa Pike could still face execution after surviving two failed attempts, provided she recovers and is able to understand the punishment imposed on her, legal experts said.

The 50-year-old convicted murderer was scheduled to become the first woman executed in Tennessee in more than 200 years on Wednesday. However, she survived the lethal-injection attempt and remains unconscious in critical condition while receiving lifesaving treatment at a hospital.

“She can’t be executed if she is brain injured and doesn’t understand the proceedings,” Deborah Denno, a professor at Fordham School of Law, told The Post.

Denno cited a 2019 U.S. Supreme Court case involving a person with dementia, saying the court recognized that someone cannot be executed if they are unaware of the punishment they are about to receive.

If Pike survives and is later deemed mentally competent, however, Denno said she could have a “strong argument” under double-jeopardy protections, which generally prevent a person from being punished twice for the same crime.

That argument could support a recommendation that Pike serve life in prison instead of being executed for the brutal 1995 murder of her 19-year-old classmate, Colleen Slemmer, who was killed in an apparent jealous rage, Denno said.

Pike’s attorneys have asked Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee to commute her death sentence. Lee halted state executions and ordered an independent review following this week’s failed execution.

Michael Meltsner, an emeritus professor at Northeastern University School of Law, said he was skeptical that Lee would grant the request because of the nature of the crime and the governor’s apparent responsiveness to Slemmer’s family.

“For instance, the governor could commute her sentence to 30 years in jail, but that’s unlikely to happen here,” Meltsner said.

YOU MAY ALSO READ: Farmer Wants a Wife Axed as Channel Seven Cancels Dating Show

Here’s the latest on the botched execution of Tennessee murderer Christa Pike:

Before the failed execution, Pike had told the courts she had a “history of difficulty with blood draws and needle insertion,” according to a motion filed by her lawyers.

Because of her concerns about Tennessee’s lethal-injection protocol, she proposed hanging as an alternative execution method, but the request was denied.

Tennessee law identifies lethal injection as the primary method of capital punishment. Prisoners whose crimes were committed before Jan. 1, 1999, may instead choose the electric chair.

Pike declined the electric chair as an alternative, citing her Buddhist beliefs.

If she is scheduled for execution again, Denno said Pike’s lawyers could renew their request for a different method.

“She could be executed using a different method of execution, and she has a very good argument that lethal injection, in her case and with her particular medical situation, simply doesn’t work,” Denno said.

“However, the state could reject all her arguments and just set a new execution date using lethal injection again.”

The FlyDubai first officer accused of assaulting the captain during a flight to Tel Aviv allegedly used the cockpit’s crash axe in the attack. He has been identified as Hamam al-Hammami, a 29-year-old Omani national.

A Middle Eastern source told Fox News that al-Hammami had been barred from flying for Oman Air, the country’s national carrier, in 2024 amid concerns over alleged extremist views.

The source said investigators believe al-Hammami relocated to Dubai later in 2024.

The United Arab Emirates, which is overseeing the investigation into the incident aboard FlyDubai Flight 1073, said the co-pilot struck Capt. Smit Machchhar with the aircraft’s crash axe. The attack reportedly left the captain incapacitated and sent the plane into a steep descent before passengers intervened and helped regain control.

The source also said al-Hammami spent much of his life outside Oman, including a period living with his Syrian-born mother.

According to the source, FlyDubai did not contact Oman Air to review al-Hammami’s employment history before hiring him.

A Gulf diplomat told The Associated Press that investigators are examining whether al-Hammami acted alone or had ties to an extremist organization.

MUST READ: Republicans are expressing concerns about Vice President Kamala Harris – NewsFinale

The AP separately reported that Oman had prohibited al-Hammami from flying because of concerns that he had embraced extremist beliefs.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu characterized the incident as terrorism on Friday and said the alleged attacker had undergone “Islamic radicalization.”

“He came to crash the passengers on board,” Netanyahu said, according to The Wall Street Journal.

The investigation remains ongoing. Check back for additional updates as more information becomes available.

Prince George, British Columbia, is facing an unusual consequence of its drug crisis: crows have reportedly been exposed to opioids discarded on city streets.

The birds have been picking through waste and debris in areas where illegal drug use is common, potentially coming into contact with leftover substances.

British Columbia introduced a drug decriminalization pilot in 2023, but the province chose not to renew it in early 2026. Local residents and rescue workers say the effects of the wider drug crisis remain visible in Prince George.

A disturbing video shared on social media appears to show a crow twitching on the ground, its head lowered after apparently ingesting a toxic substance.

The suspected overdoses have become such a concern that volunteers with the animal rescue organization Good Caws Crow Rescue Society now carry naloxone, a medication commonly used to reverse opioid overdoses in humans.

Volunteer Dayna Slater said the group has responded to more than a dozen suspected drug overdoses involving crows so far this year.

‘It’s disheartening, it’s scary,’ Slater told the CBC.

‘It’s a whole bunch of factors coming together to make, like, the perfect storm.’

Slater said an increasing number of birds suffering suspected overdoses have been found in a part of Prince George known for open illegal drug use.

Affected crows have been found with their wings spread, their eyes closed and their heart rates dangerously slow. Some birds have died after suspected overdoses.

Others remain alive but appear unresponsive. In some cases, Slater said, brown liquid foam has been seen coming from the birds’ beaks.

DISCOVER MORE: Ancient Egyptian ‘Gateway to the Underworld’ Found in Roman Tomb

Slater believes the crows may be encountering traces of toxic drugs in exposed garbage and discarded materials on the streets.

‘A crow doesn’t know the difference between a sandwich bag and a bag that had something in it,’ Slater said.

Only a very small amount of residue may be enough to harm the birds.

‘It takes something the size of like a grain of sand to affect a bird,’ she said.

Slater said most of the crows treated by the rescue group recover enough to be released within 24 hours.

Dr. Kaitlyn Liukaitis, a veterinarian at Birchwood Veterinary Clinic, has treated some of the affected birds. She said their symptoms are consistent with exposure to toxic drugs.

In January 2023, British Columbia premier David Eby decriminalized drugs in the province – a move he later admitted was a mistake.

‘I was wrong on drug decriminalization and the effect it would have,’ he said during a speech in October 2025.

‘What it became was a permissive structure that… it was okay to use drugs anywhere that resulted in really unhappy consequences.’

However, after decriminalization of possession was put in place, British Columbia became a mecca of open-air drug use.

And while British Columbia chose not to continue with the pilot program in 2026, the province and its cities remain plagued by criminality and squalor as a result of the experiment. 

The Daily Mail has contacted David Eby for comment. 

Trying to beat California’s punishing heat wave with a day at the beach? Health officials say it may be best to stay out of the ocean.

Los Angeles County health authorities are urging visitors to avoid swimming, surfing and other contact with ocean water at several well-known beaches after testing detected bacteria levels above state safety limits.

The elevated contamination could raise the risk of illness, the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health said.

The advisories cover sections of Santa Monica Beach, Paradise Cove, Redondo Beach, Venice Beach, Topanga County Beach and Manhattan Beach.

The restricted areas vary by site, ranging from roughly 100 yards of coastline to the full designated swimming zone.

The beach warnings arrive as a severe heat wave grips California, with temperatures forecast to stay well above normal for several more days.

On Friday, the National Weather Service issued heat advisories from Southern California across Central California and into the Bay Area. Forecasters said the oppressive conditions could continue into October.

YOU MIGHT ALSO LIKE: Russia Launches Missile into Poland Following Attack on Ukraine by ISIS – NewsFinale

Some forecasts suggest the heat may persist through mid-October, creating an unusually prolonged spell of extreme weather across the Golden State.

The National Weather Service attributed part of the persistent warmth to a strong El Niño pattern and warmer-than-usual sea surface temperatures.

That combination may send Californians searching for relief, even as health officials advise people at several beaches to avoid the water.

The warning does not apply to every beach in the county.

Malibu Lagoon at Surfrider Beach and Inner Cabrillo Beach in San Pedro were removed from the advisory list after new samples showed bacteria levels had fallen back within state health standards.

Other heavily visited beaches, however, continue to face concerns.

Heal the Bay assigned Redondo Beach and the area around the Manhattan Beach Pier an “F” on its Beach Report Card. As of Friday afternoon, Malibu Lagoon at Surfrider Beach held a “C” rating.

The U.S. Coast Guard has launched a search for a plane carrying six people after it vanished Saturday morning during a flight from Bermuda to Boston.

Search teams are looking for the Gulfstream G100, a twin-engine midsize jet, in waters near Nantucket. Coast Guard officials said aircraft and surface crews are assisting in the operation.

The Coast Guard’s Northeast District said the Federal Aviation Administration lost communication with the aircraft early Saturday.

FlightAware data shows the plane departed Bermuda International Airport at 11:41 p.m. ET.

The FAA and National Transportation Safety Board had not immediately responded to requests for comment from News Media.

This remains a developing story. Check back for additional updates.