Sara Gilson’s Ex and Father of Her Kids Speaks Out After Her Death

Lyle Landers says he saw the warning signs for years before tragedy struck. Now he's opening up about the woman he once married and the fear he carried for her safety.

Sara Gilson's ex-husband, Lyle Landers, is speaking out after the social media influencer was murdered by her estranged husband, Jeremiah "Shawn" Duffey. Landers revealed that he had never approved of the former couple's relationship from the start.

"Shawn had been a risk for her since they got together," he said in a recent interview. "She had been stuck in a relationship where domestic abuse seemed 'okay.' 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," Landers, 46, said of Gilson, with whom he shared two children.

Gilson, 43, was found dead in her Oklahoma home on Thursday, July 23, 2026. She had been shot by Duffey, 48, who then fatally shot himself, according to the Owasso Police Department.

Just weeks earlier, Gilson had publicly accused Duffey of being a pedophile. In court documents obtained by People, a woman filed a protective order against Duffey on behalf of her 15-year-old daughter on June 10.

The minor had played on a youth basketball team that Duffey coached. Per The Oklahoman, the mother alleged Duffey kissed and touched her daughter and was caught in the act by another coach.

The teen also told her mother that Duffey engaged in other inappropriate behavior, including sending her messages, inviting her to his hotel room during a tournament trip, and offering her money "to keep her quiet."

On the same day the mother filed her request, Gilson also submitted her own application for an emergency protective order against Duffey.

In her application, she alleged that Duffey owned a gun, had threatened suicide, and "went on the run." He was immediately ordered out of their shared home and told to stay at least 100 yards away from her, court records show.

Gilson had previously filed two protective orders against Duffey back in 2021. Both were dismissed after she failed to appear at the scheduled hearings.

In the aftermath of her death, Landers remembers Gilson as "a beautiful person, inside and out," someone who "took great pride" in her work as a hairdresser and who never stopped showing up as a devoted mother to their children.

"She loved people immensely, and without judgment," Landers said. "Her greatest achievement in life, though, was in our two babies."

"She was always so worried before we had kids that she wouldn't know what to do, or that she wouldn't be a good mom. Turns out, she was a great mom," he continued. "She went over the top for our kids, and always made sure that they knew she loved them."

Landers shared that he and Gilson divorced roughly seven years ago.

Despite the split, the pair managed to build a genuine friendship in the years that followed. "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," he said.

He added, "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."