Idaho Professor Falsely Accused by TikTok Psychologist of Student Murders Reveals Fear for Children's Safety

Rebecca Schofield describes the sleepless nights she spent protecting her children after TikTok psychologist Ashley Guillard falsely accused her in the University of Idaho murders.

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A University of Idaho historian who successfully sued a Texas psychologist TikTok accused without evidence of involvement in the murders of four students has revealed her fears for her children's safety — including sleepless nights at sleepovers — and other consequences of the ordeal in a new essay.

Rebecca Scofield, 41, first learned of Ashley Gillard's unfounded videos on Thanksgiving less than two weeks after the murder. Court documents give a raw account of what he went through.

"I went and laid down in my son's bed because his bedroom is the closest entrance to our house," she testified in court. "And I was so afraid for him, so I sat at the end of his bed all night and watched him."

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A still image taken from one of Ashley Gillard's TikTok videos falsely linking a University of Idaho professor to the murders of four undergraduate students she had never met. (TikTok/ashleyisinthebookoflife4)

Things got worse as time went on and more of Gillard's videos were released, he wrote in a New York Times op-ed Monday.

"Over the next few weeks, while I mourned with the rest of my community, this TikTok influencer uploaded over a hundred videos declaring that I had committed a quadruple murder," he wrote. "The videos had millions of views. I was inundated with calls, messages, comments and emails, many of which were harassing or threatening. And I could have been anyone."

University of Idaho History Department Chair Rebecca Scofield is pictured in a portrait on the school's website. The Harvard-educated historian was awarded $10 million after being falsely accused of masterminding the murders of four undergraduates. (University of Idaho)

She had trouble sleeping and found herself roaming the hallway outside her children's room that night instead. He stopped going to class and taught students remotely. While she was raging at home, she felt exposed there at the same time.

Gillard's claims persisted even after Scofield's lawyers filed a cease-and-desist order against him, after Moscow police publicly said the professor was not a suspect — and even after police arrested Brian Kohberger in connection with the crimes.

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Madison Mogen, top left, smiles over the shoulders of her best friend, Kaylee Goncalves, as they pose with Ethan Chapin, Zana Kernodel and two other housemates in Goncalves' latest Instagram post, shared a day before the four students were stabbed to death. (@kayleegoncalves/Instagram)

"The bus didn't hit me, it punched me in the face," Scofield wrote. However, I saw firsthand how the online world can feel more real than the physical world. Even after the real killer was caught and convicted, the charges against me continued. And even though these outrageous claims were made online by someone I'd never met, they were amplified by unsuspecting viewers and algorithm-driven platforms, and the damage seeped into every aspect of my life."

Scofield also warns that social media giants face little liability as they promote potentially defamatory or harmful claims.

"We can try to hold platforms accountable for the harmful content they publish," Scofield wrote. "A federal law, Section 230, protects online platforms from many defamation lawsuits, meaning only individuals are liable for false information, even if a platform helped spread it. Proposals to amend Section 230 range from adding exceptions for extreme cases to removing immunity for social media companies. If the companies that make billions from these platforms don't protect us, What other solution do we have?"

"We can complain," he added, and "we can also share our stories."

He did both, and a federal jury awarded him $10 million in a defamation lawsuit against Gillard, a 41-year-old Houston man who repeatedly posted videos of Scofield online, claiming he directed the murders and had an extramarital affair with one of the victims, without providing any evidence. Gillard has appealed to the Ninth Circuit.

"I realized that we are all responsible for the online world we live in and that we all have to fight its tendency," Scofield writes: "to promote lies."

As part of his warning, he noted that technological advances in communication have had enormous effects on the world throughout history, pointing to the impact of the printing press on Christianity and claiming that "radio helped fuel fascism throughout the United States and Europe."

"Digital platforms are rewriting our reality in a much more profound way," he wrote. Discovering the truth through historical analysis takes a long time, and even then, it is often partial at best. Social media is breaking this trend. "Even though many content producers hold themselves to high standards of research, they are not professionally subject to rules of conduct or formal review."

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Scofield and a TikTok spokesperson did not immediately respond to messages seeking comment.

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Last year, Kuhberger pleaded guilty to murdering Madison Mogen, 21, Kylie Goncalves, 21, Zanna Kernodel, 20, and Ethan Chapin, 20. All four were undergraduate students at the University of Idaho. The three young women lived with two other roommates in a rented house off campus, and Chapin spent the night with his girlfriend, Cranodell.

All four were killed in a knife attack at the home at 4am on November 13, 2022.

In July, Kohberger filed a lawsuit in an attempt to withdraw his plea. He is scheduled to attend a virtual court hearing on Thursday to ask the judge to drop his case as part of the process.

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