Ken Urker: What the Police Report Actually Says About That Night

Tony Brueski (0:01)

This is Hidden Killers Live with Tony Brueski and Robin Dreeke.

Tony Brueski (0:08)

While the public PR narrative focuses entirely on internet trolls, the parish police report paints a much darker, far more isolated picture of Ken Urker's final hours. This wasn't a sudden out of the blue tragedy. There were glaring warning signs the day before his death. He told family at church that he was severely depressed by Thursday evening after he missed work and stopped answering his phone. Gypsy's family had to literally climb through an unlocked bedroom window for a welfare check. What they found was Ken unresponsive in bed, surrounded by a handgun, a syringe, shot glasses, and a powdery substance. We're going to look at the physical evidence to understand the very private spiral that was happening behind closed doors. To do that, Robin Dreeke retired FBI Special Agent, Chief of the Counterintelligence Behavioral Analysis Program and Master Class Instructor, of course, with us to help us do just that. Looking at the stark physical evidence on the nightstand, a gun, booze, a syringe, and some sort of drug residue.

What does an environment tell us about Ken's psychological state in those final hours, Robin?

Robin Dreeke (1:18)

Pain.

Tony Brueski (1:19)

Yeah.

Robin Dreeke (1:20)

Pain and sadness. I mean, it just breaks your heart looking at that for any human being, doesn't it?

Because, I mean, just pain and sadness. When you look at the totality of the circumstances leading up to this, this wasn't someone who was partying to get high and to hit a dopamine fix in the brain. This was someone who is doing these things alone, solitary, reports of being depressed by family. This is someone who's in a lot of pain, and you can only point that pain to one area right now that we're seeing from his life, and he chose this way to, whether by intention or mistake, it's gone.

Tony Brueski (1:59)

How... You know, it's interesting because he has the kind of history here of coming and going from the relationship with Gypsy, but then they had the baby together, and I wonder how much that influenced this decision of, you're never getting away from Gypsy now because you have a child with her, and now what?

Robin Dreeke (2:29)

And from what I heard, too, again, pure conjecture, social media, you know, the custody battle was coming for that, especially, you know, we covered in the last segment, if he's got this role in his mind of being this savior person, like writing to her behind bars, because he's going to be the guy that can identify with her and let her know because this was the original tent, from what I understand, again, I'm paraphrasing, that, you know, to let her know that someone cares and is listening to her and understands her, and she latched on to that as someone she can take advantage of, and that's, and so, yeah, the kid, I think, really complicates this for both these people because it becomes leverage in a narrative. You know, I think his narrative was he's trying to save her and in his own way, and then a custody battle's coming because, again, when you look, just look at the patterns of these behaviors, these things that I call life arcs, both of them extremely consistent with zero ability to get outside of that arc. She doesn't even have anyone trying, I think, but it sounds like he had some family at least close enough that are hearing his thoughts and hearing his words as a shame. Again, there's no victim blaming here at all or survivor guilt. I think anyone should have just because you never know what someone's going to do, I guess. But at the same time, though, he made the attempt whether because of loving critics or not to leave this relationship. But my thought is because she's so clever with words, actions and deeds for total control and manipulation of narratives, I think she kept sucking them back in.

As she tried to do right after he is self-eliminated, she's trying to control that narrative and she's successful. Look at all the freaking followers she has. That still blows my mind.

Tony Brueski (4:10)

What do you make of the gap here between the narrative that Gypsy is putting out there that they were on a break or that he was getting his drinking under control or whatever the hell.

And the narrative from his own sister who was basically saying, no, you're not going to spin this the way you spun it after you killed your own mom. I mean, invoking the death of her mom into this. Obviously, very different circumstances and how all that went down. But I almost, I don't want to say it directly, but some people are reading that as somehow insinuating that Gypsy had something to do with his death. We're not doing that, but the internet is alive and well with its rumors and all of that. And it seems to be somewhat being fueled by, at least some of the Urker family with statements that are being made. But again, we're in the moments after a tragedy. Sometimes people say, you know, really kind of harsh things because they're in a very, very emotional place at that moment.