The ex-husband of the social media influencer who authorities say died at the hands of her estranged second husband in an apparent murder-suicide has filed suit to block the alleged killer’s beneficiaries from inheriting any portion of her estate.
In a four-page court filing, Lyle Landers claimed that his ex-wife, TikTok influencer Sara Gilson, died without a will. She “left an estate consisting of personal property” in Tulsa, Oklahoma, Landers’ lawyers wrote.
Landers and Gilson had two children together before she married Jeremiah Shawn Duffey. Duffey, 48, fatally shot Gilson, 43, on July 23 in Owasso, Oklahoma, according to the local police department. She had publicly accused him of pedophilia days earlier.
In the court filing, Landers’ lawyers wrote that because Duffey “intentionally and feloniously took” Gilson’s life, any of his beneficiaries “should be barred from inheriting her estate.”
Landers’ lawyers cited an Oklahoma law informally known as “the slayer statute,” which blocks a person who killed someone from inheriting their money or property.
Landers “believes he is entitled to serve as Administrator of said estate,” his lawyers wrote. He “seeks to preserve and protect [the] decedent’s estate for” their children, who are minors, they added.
In an interview with NBC News after Gilson’s killing, Landers said he repeatedly urged his ex-wife to leave Duffey after learning about domestic abuse in their marriage.
“I always told her, ‘You’re not locked into this; get away.’ ... I tried to tell her I don’t feel this is a good situation for you or our children,” Landers said. “I knew that he had violent tendencies, but I didn’t think he had this in him. I really didn’t.”
Gilson sought multiple protection orders against Duffey dating back five years, according to court records reviewed by NBC News. In the applications, Duffey alleged a range of physical, verbal and emotional abuse.
Gilson’s most recent protection order was filed June 10, according to court records. The same day, the parent of a girl Duffey coached on a youth basketball team accused him of molesting her child in a protection order of her own.
Duffey fled after the child abuse allegation was leveled. He had not been seen by police again until he and Gilson were found dead from apparent gunshot wounds to the head in what law enforcement officials believe was a murder-suicide.
Authorities are still investigating the killings.
