TikTok influencer Sara Gilson’s boyfriend had urged her to distance herself from her estranged husband in the weeks before authorities say he fatally shot her.
Gilson, who was also known as Sara Duffey, recently shared a post accusing her husband of being a pedophile. Police in Owasso, Oklahoma, later responded to a reported domestic violence incident and found both Sara Duffey and Jeremiah Shawn Duffey dead, KTUL reported. Investigators are treating the case as a murder-suicide.
A child who was inside the home called 911 and told a dispatcher that “his step-father had shot his mother.”
TikTok influencer Sara Gilson, also known as Sara Duffey, left, was found dead alongside her estranged husband Jeremiah Shawn Duffey, right, in what Owasso, Oklahoma, police are investigating as a murder-suicide. (TikTok/@mrsgilson and @duffdaddy1)
Before her death, Sara Duffey posted a TikTok on July 11 with the caption: “Preparing for when Netflix drops a documentary about my soon to be ex husband who I just found out is a pedophile.”
Lyle Landers, Sara Duffey’s ex-husband, told People that he had “begged” her to leave the relationship.
“She had been stuck in a relationship where domestic abuse seemed ‘OK,’” Landers said. “I had begged her for five years to get away from him. I had offered to help her, in any way I could, to get away from him. But he seemed to have some sort of control over her, and she couldn’t seem to get away.”
Gilson posted a TikTok video, following the format of a popular trend, in which she alleged her estranged husband was a “pedophile.” (TikTok/ @mrsgilson)
“She was a wonderful mother and would die for her children. In fact, her trying to protect children is what ultimately led to her death,” Landers said.
On June 9, Owasso Police received a report from a parent and child accusing Jeremiah Shawn Duffey, a basketball coach, of touching a female child during an event held inside a school.
Police said similar accusations against Duffey had been reported before. He was accused of lewd molestations of a minor, with the case being sent to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.
Gilson had recently filed a protective order against Duffey and posted a video accusing him of sexual misconduct involving a minor. (TikTok/ @mrsgilson)
After the alleged incident, Sara Duffey filed an emergency protective order that barred him from the home.
That same day, another woman filed a separate protective order against Duffey, alleging he had been spotted “kissing and fondling” her 15-year-old daughter, a player on the youth basketball team he coached, according to The Oklahoman.
The outlet reported that he gave her money “to keep her quiet.”
