A College of Idaho professor gained a $10 million judgment after a tarot TikTok influencer publicly pushed false claims that she was behind the savage quadruple slayings of 4 faculty college students.
A Boise jury in US District Court docket ordered fortune-telling Texas TikToker Ashley Guillard on Friday to pay $10 million after concluding she falsely accused professor Rebecca Scofield of getting a secret romance with one of many 4 victims and orchestrating their killings, the Idaho Statesman reported.
Following the decision, Scofield thanked the jury and stated she hopes the case sends a transparent warning that making “false statements on-line have penalties in the actual world.”
“The murders of the 4 college students on November 13, 2022, had been the darkest chapter in our college’s historical past,” Scofield informed Fox Information.
“As we speak’s determination reveals that respect and care ought to all the time be granted to victims throughout these tragedies. I’m hopeful that this tough chapter in my life is over, and I can return to a extra regular life with my household and the fantastic Moscow neighborhood.”
Scofield, the college’s historical past division chair, filed the lawsuit in December 2022 — simply weeks after Kaylee Goncalves, Madison Mogen, Xana Kernodle and Ethan Chapin had been brutally stabbed to dying at an off-campus rental residence in Moscow, Idaho, on Nov. 13, 2022.
Guillard started importing movies to her greater than 100,000 TikTok followers in late November 2022, accusing Scofield of a secret relationship with one of many college students and claiming she had “ordered” the killings, garnering tens of millions of views throughout the social media platform.
The criticism states that Scofield had by no means met the victims and was out of state when the murders occurred.
Even after being served with cease-and-desist letters and after police publicly confirmed Scofield had no connection to the murders, the Houston-based tarot reader continued posting movies, the historical past professor’s authorized group argued.
Guillard doubled down on her accusations towards Scofield after being sued, posting a defiant video saying, “I’m not stopping,” and difficult why Scofield wanted three legal professionals to sue her “if she’s so harmless.”
The professor’s authorized group argued the defamatory accusations painted her as a felony and accused her {of professional} misconduct that would derail her profession.
Bryan Kohberger, then finding out criminology at Washington State College, pleaded responsible in July 2025 to the quadruple murders in a deal that took the dying penalty off the desk. He’s at the moment serving 4 consecutive life sentences in Idaho.
In June 2024, Chief US Justice of the Peace Decide Raymond Patricco discovered Guillard’s statements legally defamatory, leaving damages to be determined by a jury.
Through the damages trial, Scofield described the anguish of seeing her title tied to the murders on-line, the Idaho Statesman reported.
Nevertheless, Guillard, performing as her personal lawyer, insisted her feedback had been merely beliefs primarily based on tarot card readings.
She claimed to have psychic powers and testified that she relied on tarot playing cards to attempt to resolve the stunning homicides that shook the agricultural faculty city and sparked international consideration.
It took jurors lower than two hours to return their verdict, the outlet reported.
The jury awarded Scofield $7.5 million in punitive damages along with $2.5 million in compensatory damages.
With Submit wires
