An Influencer Accused Her Husband of Grooming a Minor. 2 Weeks Later, He Killed Her

On July 11, Sara Gilson, a 43-year-old hairstylist and influencer who advertised clothes and beauty products, posted an alarming video on TikTok. In keeping with a meme trend where influencers act as if they are the subject of a direct-to-camera interview, the video shows her fidgeting nervously below text that reads, “Preparing for when Netflix drops a documentary about my soon to be ex husband who I just found out is a pedophile.”

“I wish I was joking,” the video caption reads. The TikTok video now has tens of millions of views.

Less than two weeks later, police announced that the so-called “soon to be ex husband” had killed Gilson and himself. It was a startling end to a story her followers were just beginning to gather.

Gilson lived in Collinsville, Okla., with her husband, Jeremiah Duffey, 48, who went by his middle name, Shawn. Between them, they had seven children from previous marriages. Duffey, too, was a TikTok influencer, with a mixed bag of content that included dancing, life advice and documentation of his lifestyle. Offline, he was a coach for a girls’ traveling basketball team and a member of the Osage Nation, a Native American tribe with its own government, constitution and sovereign rights in Oklahoma.

On June 9, a month before Gilson posted the viral video, Duffey’s basketball team was playing at an Owasso elementary school just north of Tulsa when another coach alleged that he had seen Duffey kissing one of the players, a 15-year-old girl. He notified the girl’s mother, who then made a police report.

The girl allegedly told her mother it was not the first incident and that Duffey had been texting her inappropriately. The girl claimed Duffey invited her to his hotel room while the team was traveling and offered her money in exchange for her silence.

Unable to reach Duffey, police turned to Gilson and, after questioning, gave her information about filing for a protection order. Both Gilson and the girl’s mother did so the next day, and the judge ordered Duffey, who was absent, to move out of their home.

In her protective order application, Gilson wrote that Duffey “had went on the run” with a gun after threatening suicide. Duffey’s ex-wife, Stephanie Ramsay, said that his daughters had stopped speaking to him.

The investigation was made even more challenging because much of Oklahoma occupied federally recognized Indian territory. Duffey’s Osage citizenship and the alleged incident’s place on Indian territory meant the case fell under federal jurisdiction, leaving it up to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Oklahoma to prosecute.

In the meantime, Gilson shared her thoughts on the incident on TikTok while also trying to turn the page on her collapsed marriage. In a video on June 20, she wrote in a video caption: “While I'm grieving and trying to process the worst thing imaginable, I'm solely focused on my children and their well being. Their safety and mental health is my only concern at this time. We are not ok and I'm not sure I'll ever be the same.”

“Let’s all remember to pray for the victim,” she added.

Duffey’s TikTok account is now private, while Gilson’s remains public.

Gilson and Duffey’s relationship had been marred by abuse allegations for years. In 2021, Gilson petitioned for at least two protection orders against Duffey, and he was arrested that November for violating them. However, each petition was each dismissed when Gilson did not appear in court.

“Things keep getting worse,” Gilson wrote in her second filing.

Duffey’s ex-wife, Ramsay, said he had been threatening in both marriages, and that while Gilson repeatedly made plans to leave him, Duffey was “deeply manipulative.”

Gilson’s ex-husband, Lyle Landers, echoed Ramsay’s comments, telling People that he had wanted her to leave Duffey for years. “He seemed to have some sort of control over her,” he said.

He also commended Gilson as a mother of their two children.

“Trying to protect children is what ultimately led to her death,” Landers said.

Late at night on July 23, 2026, 911 operators answered a call from Gilson’s home, where they heard a woman screaming and a gunshot before the call dropped. They received a second call from Gilson’s son from a neighbor’s home, who said that his stepfather, Duffey, had shot his mother.

When first responders arrived, they found both Gilson and Duffey dead in the home. Police reported that Duffey had broken into the home and believed the deaths to be a murder-suicide.

Landers received sole custody of his two children with Gilson. Since the killing, he has asked the court to keep Duffey’s family from inheriting Gilson’s estate, arguing in a filing that they lost the right to her property when Duffey killed Gilson under an Oklahoma law known as “the slayer statute.” Gilson did not leave a will behind.

The killing invoked online conversations about domestic violence. Three-quarters of domestic violence homicides occur while or after victims try to leave their abusive partners, according to the Center for Relationship Abuse Awareness, or when victims try to seek protection through restraining orders or arrests. Counselors recommend forming safety plans with professionals.