Best Friend Speaks: A friend of more than two decades shares emotional memories of Sara Gilson’s l@st day, remembering the influencer as “so loving”
“I don’t want her life to be diminished into what happened in the end,” friend Kelsi Lard tells PEOPLE exclusively
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Murdered influencer Sara Gilson.Credit : GoFundMe
Sara Gilson’s best friend is remembering the Oklahoma influencer and hairstylist’s last day alive, before she was killed by her estranged husband in a murder-suicide.
Kelsi Lard, a cosmetic tattoo artist, tells PEOPLE exclusively that she and Gilson, 43, had been friends for 23 years and she was with Gilson “the same day her life was taken.”
“Her last day, she was happy,” Lard, 36, says. “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,” she adds of Gilson.
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Gilson was found dead in her Oklahoma home on Thursday, July 23. She was killed by Jeremiah “Shawn” Duffey, who then fatally shot himself, the Owasso Police Department confirmed to PEOPLE.
Just weeks earlier, Gilson publicly accused Duffey, 48, of being a “pedophile.”
Lard tells PEOPLE that she believes Gilson would most want to be remembered for being a mother to her two children, whom she shared with her 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 says of Gilson, who once told her that motherhood was her “greatest accomplishment.”
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Another friend who worked with Gilson at Glaze Salon in Collinsville also shared fond words about the influencer — including what she wishes she had said to Gilson the last time she saw her alive hours before her death.
“If I would have known the last time I talked to her would have been the last time I talked to her, [I would have given her] a big hug — even though she hated hugs,” the friend, who wished to remain anonymous, tells PEOPLE.
“And then say, ‘I love you, and you’re amazing, and you’re beautiful.’ So many things,” she continues, adding that Gilson was like “family” to her and the other women who worked alongside her at the salon.
The friend says she and her coworkers “had a really, really hard time” walking into their salon the day after Gilson’s death.
“Her empty chair. Not seeing her and her bubbly personality. It’s just shock. It’s pure shock,” she says, adding of Gilson: “She was just the life of the party. She was always joking. She always had something funny to say about something.”
“She would listen. She was there to listen and help you. Didn’t matter, you know, what she was going through. She would always make sure that she was there for you … even if she was struggling or having a hard day,” adds the friend.
“She loved her kids more than anything. She would do anything for her kids. Her kids were her world,” she continues.
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Gilson previously filed two protective orders against Duffey in 2021, according to court records viewed by PEOPLE. They were dismissed because Gilson did not appear at the hearing, per The Oklahoman.
She filed for an emergency protective order against Duffey on June 10 and he was immediately ordered out of their home and to stay 100 yards away from her, court records viewed by PEOPLE show. On June 23, the protective order was extended through Aug. 24.
Gilson alleged in her application for the protective order that Duffey had a gun, threatened suicide “and went on the run,” per The Oklahoman.
Also on June 10, a woman filed a protective order against Duffey on behalf of her 15-year-old daughter, according to court documents viewed by PEOPLE.
The minor was on a youth basketball team that Duffey coached. He allegedly kissed and touched her and was caught by another coach, the mother claimed, per The Oklahoman.
The girl told her mother that Duffey engaged in additional inappropriate behavior, including sending her messages, inviting her to his hotel room during a tournament trip and offering her money “to keep her quiet.”
Gilson had alluded to the allegations against Duffey in a video on TikTok, which was posted two weeks before her death.
A GoFundMe has been established for Gilson and Landers’ two children.
