OPINION: UI professor had every right to be awarded $10 million 

True crime has been a recent obsession that seems to be going viral on every major social media platform. Outlets like Instagram and TikTok are full of videos of unsolved murders and mysteries.  

It was no surprise that when tragedy struck the University of Idaho in 2022, when four students were killed, that true crime TikTokers would pounce.  

A federal jury recently ruled that a TikTok influencer, Ashley Guillard, would have to pay $10 million in damages to a UI professor after Guillard made over a hundred videos claiming that the professor murdered the students. Guillard continued to make videos even after Bryan Kohberger, who pled guilty to the murders, was arrested and charged for the crimes.  

Rebecca Scofield, a history professor and department chair at UI, claimed that these videos were false and impacted her mental and physical health as well as her relationship with the community.  

“There was a moment where it felt like I lost ownership of my face and my name, and it was no longer stitched to my body,” Scofield told jurors during the trial. “It was utterly terrifying.”  

Guillard claimed that the tarot cards pointed her to Scofield, who she found by scrolling through the history department’s page.  

These murders shocked the nation, and the families of Ethan Chapin, Madison Mogen, Xana Kernodle and Kaylee Goncalves, the victims, finally saw some justice when Kohberger was convicted in 2025 and was given multiple life sentences. 

Even so, the internet still speculated and produced outlandish theories that could not be verified by police or anyone.  

Awarding Scofield the $10 million sends a clear message: online content does not excuse responsibility. 

Guillard, whether it was for attention or fame, or because she believed she was helping, still ruined someone’s life. She continued with spiritual intuition guiding her claims rather than actual evidence and facts.  

This is why accountability matters, especially influencers who have fans that will believe anything someone tells them. This goes beyond one case. People can lie, people can make false claims and the old saying of “don’t believe everything you see on the internet” rings true.  

More information on the case can be found on The Argonaut’s website.  

Andrea Roberts can be reached at [email protected].