By Tim Binnall
A self-proclaimed TikTok psychic has been ordered to pay $10 million in damages to a University of Idaho professor whom she accused of being behind the grisly slaying of four college students. According to a local media report, the bizarre case began around two weeks after the gruesome November 2022 quadruple murder that shocked the nation. As an array of online sleuths and true crime content creators flooded social media with speculation about the heinous crime, tarot card reader Ashley Guillard took to TikTok with a series of videos specifically pointing the finger at University of Idaho professor Rebecca Scofield, who was understandably stunned and aghast at the audacious accusation.
Scofield subsequently sued Guillard and prevailed in court in the summer of 2024 after a judge found the self-proclaimed psychic guilty of defamation. At a trial to determine damages last week, the tarot reader offered no real explanation as to why her 'mystical insights' were so spectacularly wrong, since suspect Bryan Kohberger confessed to the crimes last summer, and conceded that the accusations put forward in her voluminous videos on the case were "opinion at best." Her testimony did little to sway the jury, which heard how profoundly the false claims had affected Scofield's life and, in turn, awarded the professor a whopping $10 million in damages. One is skeptical that she will ever collect from the social media psychic.