A mother-of-two sat down in front of her camera, shuffled her chair, and stared straight ahead. ‘Preparing for when Netflix drops a documentary about my soon to be ex husband who I just found out is a pedophile,’ she wrote in a caption. The TikTok video, following a viral trend, was viewed nearly 18 million times. Thirteen days later, she was dead.
Sara Gilson, 43, was shot and killed at her home in Owasso, Oklahoma, on the night of 23 July. Police found her and her husband, Jeremiah ‘Shawn’ Duffey, 48, both dead from gunshot wounds to the head in an apparent murder-suicide. Their son had escaped to a neighbour’s house and called 911.
“Influencer Sara Gilson was shot dead by her husband 13 days after posting a TikTok accusing him of being a paedophile.”
The violence had been preceded by a series of allegations. On 9 June, the mother of a 15-year-old girl who played on the basketball team Duffey coached filed a police report accusing him of ‘kissing and fondling’ the teenager during a youth basketball event. Another coach witnessed the incident, intervened, and informed the girl’s parents. Police said similar conduct by Duffey toward the same player was reported to have occurred ‘over an extended period of time, in multiple law enforcement jurisdictions, across multiple states prior to this incident.’
The girl told her mother that Duffey had sent her inappropriate texts, invited her to his hotel room during a tournament trip, and offered her money to ‘keep her quiet.’ After the allegation, Duffey reportedly threatened to kill himself and went into hiding.
The day after police informed Gilson of the molestation accusation, she filed for an emergency protective order. The following day, she posted the now-viral TikTok, which bore the caption: ‘I wish I was joking. #plottwist #netflix #documentary.’
An online fundraiser for Gilson’s children has raised more than £24,000. It described her as ‘an incredible mum who loved them fiercely, worked hard to provide for them and dreamed of giving them the best life possible.’ In the US, the CDC reports that more than half of female murder victims are killed by partners or exes.
