Sara Gilson’s loved ones are remembering the influencer in the days since she was allegedly killed by her estranged husband, Shawn Duffey, in a shocking murder-suicide.
“Her last day, she was happy,” Gilson’s best friend Kelsi Lard told People in an interview published on Sunday, July 26, sharing that she was with her “the same day her life was taken.”
Lard continued, “As always, she was cracking jokes and making me laugh. I will miss her so much. I don’t want her life to be diminished into what happened in the end. She brought so much joy to all of us, and I’ll miss her every day.”
Lard shared that she thinks Gilson, whom she had been friends with for more than two decades, would want to be remembered first and foremost as a mother to her two children. Lard added that Gilson once told her being a parent was her “greatest accomplishment.” (Gilson shares her kids with ex-husband Lyle Landers.)
“She was a fun, loving and devoted mom. She loved [her kids] more than anything in this world. She’d do anything for them,” Lard said.
Gilson and Duffey were found dead inside their Tulsa, Oklahoma, home on Thursday, July 23. Gilson was 43.
Law enforcement officials interviewed an unidentified family member on the scene who claimed Gilson and Duffey died by murder-suicide, per local reports. A police investigation is ongoing.
Weeks before her death, Gilson publicly accused Duffey of pedophilia. Duffey did not address the allegations prior to his death. The pair separated earlier in the summer.
“Thank you for the army. Your thoughts, prayers and gift cards have meant more than you know,” Gilson wrote via TikTok last month, addressing her divorce. “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.”
She continued, “We are not OK and I’m not sure I’ll ever be the same, but God has been so faithful in this process and I feel his presence in everything I do.”
Landers, for his part, alleged that he “begged” Gilson to leave her estranged husband.
“She had been stuck in a relationship where domestic abuse seemed ‘OK,’” Landers claimed in an interview with People published on Sunday. “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.”
While Landers and Gilson divorced seven years ago, he explained that the exes were amicably coparenting their children.
“It had been the best thing in the world for our kids, but also for us. We coparent as well as anyone, and it has shown in our kids,” Landers said. “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.”
If you or someone you know is struggling or in crisis, help is available. Call or text 988 or chat at 988lifeline.org. If you or someone you know is experiencing domestic violence, please call the National Domestic Violence Hotline at 1-800-799-7233 for confidential support. If you or someone you know is experiencing child abuse, call or text Child Help Hotline at 1-800-422-4453.
