Gypsy Rose Blanchard is organizing her own celebration of life for her late partner Ken Urker, who died last week.
Blanchard, 35, told People she will "most likely" attend Urker's upcoming funeral after his family invited her, but she also wants to host her own service in November.
"I have this memory of us for a Fourth of July celebration we had bought so many fireworks and we had the best time to shoot them off," Blanchard told People. "So I’d like to get fireworks and shoot them off in memory of that."
Urker, 34, was found dead at his home in Louisiana on Oct. 1, the Lafourche Parish Sheriff's Office confirmed to USA TODAY. On Oct. 2, the sheriff's office said it had found no evidence of foul play amid the death investigation, though it had not
been "completely ruled out." TMZ was first to report Urker's death.
Days before Blanchard revealed details about Urker's celebration of life, she shared a Change.org petition for a proposed law targeting cyberbullying.
The petition for Kenan's Law, started by Blanchard on Oct. 4, says Urker received an "enormous amount of public scrutiny" before his death and that there was "extensive content about him that we believed crossed the line from criticism into targeted harassment and cyberbullying" across various social media platforms. She alleged they both reported this content to social media platforms, but were often told "no violation" was found.
The petition urges lawmakers to require social media platforms to implement additional procedures for handling harassment, including the ability to report multiple posts at once in cases of an ongoing pattern of harassment, rather than "forcing every incident to be evaluated in isolation." As of Oct. 7, the petition had more than 9,700 signatures.
Ken Urker's cause of death remains unknown
Blanchard told People on Oct. 2 that she believes Urker died in his bed from an apparent overdose.
"I don't know if it was intentional or not," Blanchard told People. "He was not in a good state of mind lately."
According to a Lafourche Parish Sheriff's Office incident report obtained by USA TODAY, authorities were called to Urker's home in Raceland, Louisiana, on Oct. 1 after receiving a request for a welfare check on Urker, who was making threats of suicide.
During an initial investigation of Urker's residence, police deputies found "paraphernalia" in the bathroom, including several syringes and a spoon, as noted in the incident report. The items were located next to a "brown powdery substance."
A syringe and handgun were also seen on Urker's nightstand, according to police. Urker's body reportedly had a paper towel placed on the left arm, and the paper appeared to have several "blotches of blood" on it.
If you or someone you know needs help battling a substance abuse addiction, contact the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration's National Helpline at 1-800-662-HELP (4357).
If you or someone you know needs mental health resources and support, please call, text or chat with the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline or visit 988lifeline.org for 24/7 access to free and confidential services.
Greta Cross is a national trending reporter at USA TODAY. Story idea? Email her at gcross@usatoday.com.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Gypsy Rose Blanchard shares celebration of life plans for Ken Urker
