A federal jury in Boise hit a social media influencer with a $10 million judgment after finding she falsely accused a University of Idaho professor of involvement in the 2022 student murders. The case unfolded over claims spread online, testimony about lasting harm, and a judge’s finding that psychic intuition did not create a factual dispute. The verdict underscores that wild accusations on social platforms can carry serious real-world consequences.
The jury returned a unanimous decision in under two hours, awarding a total of $10 million after weighing compensatory and punitive elements. Scofield’s lawyers had sought roughly $1 million in compensatory damages and left punitive amounts to the jury’s judgment. The swift verdict signaled the panel found the online campaign both reckless and damaging.
The influencer, Ashley Guillard, launched her campaign on TikTok about two weeks after the killings and ultimately posted more than a hundred videos through August 2025. She allegedly shared Professor Rebecca Scofield’s photographs and personal contact details while asserting Scofield orchestrated the murders to hide a relationship. Those claims spread quickly and drew intense attention to a private academic who had no connection to the victims.
Scofield was visiting friends in Portland with her husband when the attacks occurred, and she had not taught any of the four students involved. Local investigators did not consider her a suspect during their inquiries, and the guilty party was later identified and prosecuted. Bryan Kohberger, a former doctoral student, pleaded guilty and is now serving four consecutive life sentences for the murders.
The professor described severe personal fallout from the false accusations, telling the court the ordeal left lasting scars. “It was like a stone on my chest that was not crushing me, it was dissolving me,” Scofield testified. “I was unraveling underneath the weight of it.”
Guillard represented herself at trial and defended her approach in blunt terms. “We work with intuition, not facts,” she said on the stand. “The facts are the job of law enforcement, not a psychic.” Chief U.S. Magistrate Judge Raymond Patricco had previously ruled that “psychic intuition, without more, cannot establish a genuine dispute of material fact.”
The jury divided the award between the claims, allocating $6.5 million for false allegations tied to the student murders and $3.5 million for the fabricated relationship accusations. That split reflects the court’s view of both the harm from the murder-related smears and the independent damage from the relationship claims. The decision arrives more than three years after the killings and after the actual perpetrator faced justice in court.
After the verdict Scofield stressed the broader meaning of the ruling for online behavior, saying, “The $10 million verdict reinforces the judge’s decision and sends the clear message that false statements online have consequences in the real world for real people and are unacceptable in our community.” The case is a stark reminder that social platforms are not a free pass for recklessness and that individuals targeted by viral allegations can seek redress in court.
