Idaho murders: TikTok sleuth DEFENDS false claim professor is involved (2024)

A TikTok true crime 'sleuth' is standing by her baseless claim that a University of Idaho professor of gender and sexuality is involved in the horrific murders of four students in November, despite a defamation lawsuit.

The Texas-based sleuth, Ashley Guillard, who uses tarot cards and other readings to help her make speculative assertions regarding true crimes, was named in the lawsuit filed in Idaho by Professor Rebecca Scofield.

Cops have said Scofield had nothing to do with the killings and confirmed she was in Oregon when they took place.

Kaylee Goncalves, 21; Madison Mogen, 21; and Xana Kernodle, 20, and Kernodle's boyfriend,Ethan Chapin, 20, were all stabbed to death inside the home they rented just off campus on November 13. The crime remains unsolved.In the lawsuit, Scofield said she never met any of the victims.

Scofield is suing Guillard for failing to remove the videos in which the sleuth alleges that the professor planned the murders because she was in a relationship with Kaylee Goncalves. However, Guillard is refusing to back down despite police saying they don't believe there's a connection.

Guillard told NewsNation: 'When I go to court and they see the evidence or they see how I connect the dots, then they'll make a decision as it pertains to whether they want to continue to live in blinders or believe it. If they don't, I don't care.'

Scofield's attorney sent a statement responding to the interview, saying:'The statements made about Professor Scofield are false, plain and simple. What's even worse is that these untrue statements create safety issues for the professor and her family.

'They also further compound the trauma that the families of the victims are experiencing and undermine law enforcement efforts to find the people responsible in order to provide answers to the families and the public.'

The TikToker and tarot card reader has addressed the lawsuit in several videos, saying Scofield will 'regret' it.

Guillard alleged, with no evidence, that Scofield perpetrated the killings with another student because Goncalves was trying to break up with her and 'keep from making the relationship public.' She began mentioning Scofield in a video on November 24.

On her profile, Guillard says that she has also solved the murders of rappers Kirshnik Khari Ball, Takeoff as well as Shanquella Robinson and Kevin Samuels.

In the lawsuit, Scofield says that none of the four victims of the horrific killing were in in any of her classes.

On the day of the killings, Scofield wasn't even in Moscow but was in Oregon with her husband visiting friends and said that she doesn't even remember meeting any of the students.

At one point, Guillard alleged: 'I don't care what y'all say, Rebeca Scofield killed [the victims] and she was the one to initiate the plan...'

Eventually, Scofield asked the fortune teller to remove the videos, only after they had been seen by thousands, but Guillard failed to act.

The TikToker was relentless, alleging in another video: 'Rebecca Scofield is going to prison for the murder of the 4 University of Idaho students whether you like it or not.'

According to her TikTok profile, Guillard, who goes by the moniker Ashley Solves Mysteries, has over 105,000 followers and has achieved 2.6 million likes. She writes in her bio section: 'Ashley is God.'

Scofield says in the lawsuit that as a result of Guillard's videos, she has received online threats and she fears for the safety of her family.

In a video posted on December 22 titled: 'Rebeca Scofield will regret this lawsuit' she says: 'You just don't get it, I've been against people big and small, corporations and giants, systemic policies and racism and won.'

Guillard added: 'They all regret coming against me. All of them. Now Rebecca will be added to that list of regretful people.'

The lawsuit seeks a jury trial to establish any compensation.

On her Facebook, Guillard says that she is an army veteran having served as an HR Sergeant in the US Army, serving between 2003 and 2007. She also says that she attended Troy University and Columbus State University.

She is from Chicago and now lives in Houston having previously lived in Atlanta.

Guillard has written books with titles such as Live in Fantasy Land and The War on Your Money.

On Wednesday, Moscow Police Chief James Fry told KTVB:'There's a lot of people who... want to be involved on the internet. We are the official source of information.'

According to an online profile, Scofield is an assistant professor of history at the University Idaho. The bio says: 'She is interested in how popular ideas about the West play out in people's everyday lives.'

At the time the profile was written, Scofield was working on the Gay Rodeo Oral History Project. Another section reads: 'Her other work covers topics such as country-western icons like Dolly Parton and mechanical bull riding.'

Scofield is also working on the bookSlapping Leather: Sport and Performance at the Gay Rodeo. The professor has a doctorate in philosophy from Harvard.

Her work exploring gender stereotypes was featured by the Associated Press in 2018.

Scofield said she was inspired to study the American West when she stumbled across a cowgirl fashion store called Rodeo Clowns in Tokyo while conducting research on the fashion industry for her master's degree.

'They were selling jean shorts and cowgirl boots and flannel shirts to Japanese teenagers, and I was just like, 'What has happened?' ' Scofield said. 'I was literally on the opposite side of the world, and the American West was following me.'

This interest led Scofield to study the rise of the 'urban cowboy' phenomenon, where people who did not grow up in rural areas choose to dress in Western-styled clothing and to identify with the stereotypical ideal of what it means to be a cowboy, she said.

In the piece, Scofield says that she is a native of Emmett, Idaho.