The father of murdered influencer Sara Gilson’s kids begged her to dump her second husband for years before he gunned her down in a shocking murder suicide weeks after she called him a pedophile online.
Gilson’s first husband, Lyle Landers, told People magazine that he was always alarmed about his ex’s relationship with Jeremiah “Shawn” Duffey, who was accused of molesting a juvenile before he was found dead alongside Gilson in her Oklahoma home.
“Shawn had been a risk for her since they got together,” said Landers, the father of Gilson’s two children.
“She had been stuck in a relationship where domestic abuse seemed ‘OK.’ I had begged her for five years to get away from him,” said the ex, who split from her seven years ago.
“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.”
Landers’ worst fears were apparently confirmed last Thursday as the 43-year-old lifestyle and beauty influencer was found riddled with bullets, less than six weeks after she was in court seeking an emergency protection order against her estranged second husband.
Gilson alleged in her application for the protective order that Duffey, 48, had threatened suicide “and went on the run,” according to The Oklahoman.
Duffey, a member of the Osage Indian Tribe of Oklahoma, had been required to stay 100 yards away from his wife, which forced him from their home, the outlet writes.
She had previously sought protective orders against him twice in 2021 but they were dismissed after she failed to show up at hearings to make her case.
Two weeks before her death, Gilson accused Duffey of being a pedophile in a TikTok video on the trend of people pretending to sit for a Netflix documentary, with court records showing he was accused of sexually assaulting a 15-year-old girl who played for the youth basketball team he coached.
The same day she was in court, a protective order was issued against Duffey on behalf of the teenager, whom he allegedly assaulted over an extended period spanning multiple states.
Another team coach claimed he witnessed Duffey assault her inside an elementary school where the competitive traveling team was renting the court while school was out of session and notified her guardians, sparking an investigation.
Duffey allegedly sent the minor inappropriate messages, kissed her and touched her inappropriately, and invited her to his hotel room during a tournament, offering money “to keep her quiet,” according to court documents obtained by the Oklahoman.
Investigators noted that similar conduct by Duffey toward this player had occurred over an extended period across multiple states and law enforcement jurisdictions.
Duffey fled the scene that night and had evaded police contact ever since.
Gilson and Landers, who have two children, amicably ended their marriage seven years ago.
“It had been the best thing in the world for our kids, but also for us,” Landers told People.
“We coparent as well as anyone, and it has shown in our kids. 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.”
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