Influencer Sara Gilson described having the “best weekend of my life” in a final Instagram post, less than three weeks before she was killed by her accused pedophile husband in a murder-suicide, as her best friend recalled a “happy” last day together.
Oklahoma mom-of-two Gilson, 43, was pictured smiling and having fun with friends in the series of photos and videos taken during a recent vacation to Florida.
“Take me back to Miami,” she wrote in the caption for the Instagram post. “Best weekend of my life.”
The post was made on July 3, less than three weeks before police say she was murdered by her estranged husband, 48-year-old Jeremiah “Shawn” Duffey, who then turned the gun on himself at her home in Owasso, OK, just outside Tulsa.
In chilling 911 dispatch audio from the July 23 slaughter, the dispatcher described hearing a “woman screaming,” followed by a “loud bang.”
More than a week earlier, on July 11, Gilson had publicly outed her basketball coach husband as a “pedophile” in a TikTok video she posted.
The day before, Duffey was accused of kissing and inappropriately touching a 15-year-old girl on his youth basketball team by the player’s mother, who filed a protective order against him.
The mom claimed the coach had also invited the girl to his hotel room during a tournament trip and offered her money “to keep her quiet,” according to court documents seen by the Oklahoman.
Gilson and Duffey had been estranged for at least a month before the accusations came to light.
On June 10, Gilson had filed for an emergency protective order against her husband, writing that he had a gun, had threatened suicide, and “went on the run,” according to the docs obtained by the local outlet.
The protective order was granted, and Duffey was immediately ordered out of the family home and made to stay 100 yards away from Gilson at all times.
On June 23, the protective order was extended through Aug. 24.
Gilson’s friend, cosmetic tattoo artist Kelsi Lard, said she was with Gilson “the same day her life was taken” on July 23.
“Her last day, she was happy. As always, she was cracking jokes and making me laugh,” Lard, 36, told PEOPLE.
“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,” she added.
Lard also shared a picture of the two long-term pals together on her Instagram over the weekend.
Thanking Gilson for “23 years of friendship, trauma bonding, riding along for each other’s highs & lows of life, and watching our babies grow up together,” she said the mom and her children had been “failed” by the justice system.
A GoFundMe set up to support Gilson’s two children has received more than $30,000 of its $35,000 target as of Monday.
