Influencer dead in apparent murder-suicide, police say, after accusing husband of pedophilia

Digital Media Manager

OWASSO, Okla. —

A social media influencer is dead following an apparent murder-suicide, authorities said, less than two weeks after accusing her estranged husband of pedophilia on TikTok.

Sara Gilson and Jeremiah Shawn Duffey are dead following an apparent murder-suicide on July 23.

Both were found fatally shot Thursday in their Owasso, Oklahoma, home.

Gilson, a TikTok influencer from Oklahoma with more than 78,000 followers and millions of likes, accused Duffey of pedophilia in a viral TikTok post just days earlier.

Here’s what we know about the case.

Oklahoma influencer killed in murder-suicide

Owasso Police Department officials said in a news release that dispatchers received a call around 11:16 p.m. on July 23 about a reported domestic violence incident at a home on North 130th East Avenue in Collinsville, which falls within Owasso city limits.

According to police, dispatchers reported hearing a woman screaming and what sounded like a gunshot shortly afterward. The dispatcher tried to get in contact with anyone on the other end of the call, but they were unsuccessful.

Shortly afterward, police received another 911 call from a juvenile saying his stepfather had shot his mother, according to the news release. The child had made the call from a neighbor’s home.

When officers arrived, they found two people dead with gunshot wounds to the head. Police investigated the deaths as a murder-suicide.

The child who called 911 was taken into protective custody, and police said he was released to his other parent who wasn’t involved in the murder-suicide.

The Owasso Police Department identified the two people as Sara Duffey, who is also known as Sara Gilson, and Jeremiah Shawn Duffey. Gilson had been granted a protective order against her husband.

The investigation into the murder-suicide is ongoing. Police said there is no threat to the public.

Husband’s child sex crimes allegations

On June 9, the Owasso Police Department received a sex crime report from a parent and a child. Police said the crime took place an hour before the two came into police headquarters.

The alleged sex crime happened at an elementary school in Owasso, according to the news release. Police said they learned that a basketball coach of a travel team allegedly inappropriately touched a girl on the team inside the school during the event.

The Owasso Police Department identified the coach as Jeremiah Duffey. Police also said similar actions by the coach had been reported over an extended period of time toward the same child in several law enforcement jurisdictions across multiple states.

Neither Duffey nor the travel basketball team were associated with Owasso Public Schools, according to police. The team was renting the court while school was not in session.

According to Owasso police, another team coach witnessed the alleged incident. That coach reportedly “immediately intervened and reported it to the juvenile’s parent.”

Police said Duffey reportedly fled the scene, and his wife was contacted about the incident. She was also given information about how to file an emergency protective order against her husband.

Duffey was accused of lewd molestations of a minor, and police said the case was sent to the U.S. Attorney’s Office to be reviewed.

Duffey was a member of the Osage Nation, and the case was considered to be a “major crime under the Federal Major Crimes Act.” Owasso police said there had been no reports that Duffey had violated the protective order.

According to Tulsa-area television station KJRH, Gilson filed a protective order against her husband last month. In the protective order, she claimed that he was caught kissing a child on one of the basketball teams that he coached.

KJRH also reports that Gilson filed two previous protective orders against Duffey in 2021. One was for stalking and the other was for abuse.

Who was Sara Gilson/Sara Duffey?

Sara Gilson was a TikTok influencer from Oklahoma who had more than 78,000 followers and more than 2.1 million likes. Her most recent videos averaged hundreds of thousands of views, with several getting more than 1 million views.

On July 11, less than two weeks before the murder-suicide, Gilson posted a 15-second video with the title “Preparing for when Netflix drops a documentary about my soon-to-be ex-husband who I just found out is a pedophile.” The video also was captioned “I wish I was joking.”

That video has more than 22.4 million views.

Where is Owasso, Oklahoma?

Owasso is a city in Rogers and Tulsa counties in eastern Oklahoma. It is almost a two-hour drive northeast of Oklahoma City.

The city is the largest northern suburb of Tulsa and had a population of almost 40,000 in the 2022 census.