University of Idaho professor Rebecca Scofield filed a federal defamation lawsuit in December 2022 against Ashley Guillard, a self-described psychic and tarot-card reader who had posted scores of videos accusing Scofield of involvement in the murders of Kaylee Goncalves, Madison Mogen, Xana Kernodle and Ethan Chapin. Guillard claimed, based on tarot readings and what she described as spiritual intuition, that Scofield had been involved in a romantic relationship with one of the victims and had orchestrated the killings to keep that relationship secret. Scofield said the accusations were completely false, that she had never met any of the four victims and that she had been out of state when the murders occurred. After Guillard continued posting the allegations despite receiving cease-and-desist letters, Scofield sued her on two defamation claims—one based on the allegation that Scofield planned the murders and another based on the claim that she had been romantically involved with one of the students.
Guillard did not back away from the accusations after being sued. She represented herself for much of the litigation, insisted that her claims were “substantially true,” and told the court that she had used her “spiritual brain,” intuition and investigative abilities to determine what had happened. The federal court later rejected her counterclaims and, in 2024, granted Scofield partial summary judgment on liability while allowing her to pursue punitive damages, finding that the evidence established the falsity of the accusations and that a jury could consider the harm caused by Guillard’s repeated publications. The case ultimately became a stark example of the misinformation that exploded around the Moscow murders before an arrest was even made, with an uninvolved university professor forced into years of litigation after being publicly accused of murder on the basis of tarot readings rather than evidence.
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