A TikToker who was sued for defamation over claims she made in videos about the 2022 University of Idaho murders will soon learn her fate.
Federal jurors are now deliberating just how much money University of Idaho professor Rebecca Scofield is owed after filing a successful civil lawsuit against content creator Ashley Guillard, reported the Idaho Statesman.
Scofield’s lawsuit contended that Guillard falsely accused her in several TikTok videos of participating in the murders of four University of Idaho students. Guillard even suggested the professor had been romantically involved with one of her students.
On November 13, 2022, Bryan Kohberger found his way into the Moscow, Idaho, home shared by college students Madison “Maddie” Mogen and Kaylee Goncalves, both 21, and Xana Kernodle and Ethan Chapin, who were 20.
All four were fatally stabbed, and last summer, Kohberger, 31, pleaded guilty to the gruesome early morning killings, for which he received four life sentences.
Scofield claimed in her lawsuit that Guillard’s salacious claims damaged her career and reputation.
The videos received millions of views, and the false claims were shared across the web. Scofield’s attorneys sent Guillard cease-and-desist letters, telling her the accusations were false and harmful. Yet Guillard continued to make more videos.
As a result, Scofield, 40, lost her anonymity and sense of security which left her with severe grief and depression that manifested as chronic headaches and nerve damage throughout her body, she testified, according to the Statesman. “It was like a stone on my chest that was not crushing me, it was dissolving me,” Scofield told the court while holding back tears. “I was unraveling underneath the weight of it.”
Jurors heard testimony in the penalty phase about how viral online accusations can impact hiring decisions, damage one’s professional reputation, and chip away at their long-term earning potential — even when the allegations are invented.
Guillard, 41, represented herself during the trial.
The claims against Scofield, she said, were based on her clairvoyance. “We work with intuition, not facts,” Guillard testified. “The facts are the job of law enforcement, not a psychic.”
Guillard tried to connect Scofield’s subsequent health issues to a total hysterectomy she had undergone weeks after the murders. Scofield has countered that she fully recovered from the surgery and that doctors, including a therapist, have attributed her physical challenges to the emotional damage she experienced in the wake of Guillard’s claims.
Cameras were barred from recording the proceedings.
Prison life has been the pits for Kohberger, who has complained repeatedly about other inmates taunting him and making threats against his life at the Idaho Maximum Security Institution at the Idaho State Correctional Complex.
Kohberger, a devout vegan, has also filed a complaint at the prison accusing the staff of depriving him of food. “I have on several occasions not received all items of food on my tray,” Kohberger wrote in a complaint obtained by People. The convict also alleged in his complaint that he did not receive any replacements when raising the issue. Kohberger has also complained about the quality of the fruit he received in prison — in particular, the bananas.
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