A TikTok psychic who repeatedly accused a University of Idaho professor of a quadruple homicide, among other things, has been ordered to pay $10 million in damages.
Following 2022's Moscow stabbings, from which four University of Idaho students were killed, online creator Ashley Guillard made a series of TikToks in which she insisted that Rebecca Scofield, who was chair of the university's history department, was responsible for the killings.
What happened in court?
In court, Guillard, who claims to have psychic abilities, testified that she had read tarot cards that led her to the conclusion that Scofield was the killer; she made videos containing accusations against Scofield up until August 2025, Idaho Statesman reports.
Meanwhile, Scofield testified that she had developed severe anxiety, PTSD, and nerve pain as a result of these accusations.
The outlet adds that, as well as sharing photos of Scofield in these TikTok posts, Guillard also shared contact details for her, along with claiming that she had an affair with one of the female students, and that the murders were part of her attempt to cover up the so-called entanglement.
The publication also notes that the jury, which took under two hours to deliberate, opted for a sum of money that was a lot larger than Scofield's legal counsel initially asked for. In total, Scofield was awarded $10 million in damages, with $7.5 million of that being punitive damages, which are damages awarded in order to punish the defendant and deter them and others from repeat offences.
TikToker Atozy, who reported on the case, said in a video: "This is generational debt. For some absolute stupidity. Why would you ever do this? I don't understand what the upside here was. But regardless, the good thing from this is that the professor, Rebecca Scofield, her name is 100% cleared now. There's no doubt whatsoever that she was completely wronged."
Redditors reacted
Meanwhile, over on Reddit, users were making their feelings known on the r/popculturechat subreddit.
According to one Redditor, there is a disturbing subculture around this case. "Honestly. Some of the fans behind this whole thing are delusional," they wrote. "I frequent some of the subreddits for updates, and there are so many borderline psychopathic conspiracy nuts. Crazy. I’ve never seen a case attract so much [expletive]."
"Tbh I’m glad because openly accusing people of horrific crimes based on vibes alone and then sending your social media following after them HAS to have consequences," a second added. "At best, there are people who mean well trying to solve crimes they’re not qualified to solve because real life isn’t a mystery novel, and at worst, there are people making money off the backs of innocent people and victims of crimes."
While a third echoed: "Good. Way too many of these content creators are viewing crime cases as entertainment that they can just wildly speculate about and accuse actual people without consequences. While I would hope that this case makes them think before posting nonsense, many of them will continue until they are faced with lawsuits too."
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