University of Idaho professor awarded $10M after mastermind says he ‘ordered’ killing
A University of Idaho professor won a $10 million judgment after a TikTok promoter publicly pushed false claims that he was responsible for the brutal quadruple murders of college students.
A Boise US District Court judge ordered Texas TikToker Ashley Guillard on Friday to pay $10 million after concluding that she falsely accused professor Rebecca Scofield of having a secret affair with one of the four victims and plotting their murders, the Idaho Statesman reported.
After the verdict, Scofield thanked the judge and said he hoped the case sends a clear warning that making “false statements online has consequences in the real world.”
“The murder of four students on November 13, 2022, was the darkest chapter in the history of our university,” Scofield told Fox News.
“Today’s decision shows that respect and care must always be given to victims during these tragedies.” I hope that this difficult chapter in my life is over, and I can return to a normal life with my family and the good community of Moscow.”
Scofield, chair of the university’s history department, filed the lawsuit in December 2022 — just weeks after Kaylee Goncalves, Madison Mogen, Xana Kernodle and Ethan Chapin were brutally stabbed to death in an off-campus rental home in Moscow, Idaho, on November 13, 2022.
Guillard began uploading videos to his more than 100,000 TikTok followers in late November 2022, accusing Scofield of having a secret relationship with one of the students and saying he had “ordered” the murder, gaining millions of views on the social media platform.
The complaint alleges that Scofield had never met the victims and was unconscious at the time of the murders.
Even after being served with cease-and-desist orders and after police publicly confirmed that Scofield was not connected to the murder, the Houston-based tarot reader continued to post the videos, the history professor’s legal team argued.
Guillard doubled down on his accusations against Scofield after the indictment, posting a defiant video saying, “I’m not stopping,” and challenging why Scofield needed three lawyers to sue him “if he’s innocent.”
The professor’s legal team contested the defamatory allegations that painted him as a criminal and accused him of misconduct that could interfere with his career.
Bryan Kohberger, then studying criminology at Washington State University, pleaded guilty to four counts of murder in July 2025 in a plea deal that eliminated the death penalty. He is currently serving four consecutive life sentences in Idaho.
In June 2024, US Chief Justice Raymond Patricco found Guillard’s statements legally defamatory, leaving damages to be determined by a jury.
During the damages hearing, Scofield described the grief of seeing his name tied to the killings online, the Idaho Statesman reported.
However, Guillard, who was acting as his lawyer, insisted that his comments were just speculations based on readings of tarot cards.
He claims to have magical powers and testified that he relies on fortune-telling cards to try to solve a shocking murder that rocked a rural college town and sparked worldwide attention.
It took the jury less than two hours to return a verdict, the report said.
The jury awarded Scofield $7.5 million in punitive damages in addition to $2.5 million in compensatory damages.
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