Prosecutors said in court records released on Tuesday that two Iowa teens killed their high school Spanish teacher last year out of resentment over a poor grade, revealing for the first time a potential motive.
The paperwork was submitted ahead of a hearing scheduled for Wednesday, when a judge will hear arguments regarding whether or not to suppress any of the evidence against Willard Miller and Jeremy Goodale, who are accused of killing Nohema Graber, a high school Spanish teacher, in the unincorporated community of Fairfield.
Miller’s attorney is requesting that four search warrants be declared unconstitutional and that information gleaned from Miller’s house, his statements to police, his cellphone, and the social networking site Snapchat be suppressed.
On November 3, 2021, Graber’s body was discovered in a Fairfield park, concealed by a tarp, a wheelbarrow, and railroad ties. With a baseball bat, she had been beaten to death. At the time, Miller and Goodale were 16 years old.
A community called Fairfield, population 9,400, is located around 100 miles (159 kilometers) from Des Moines.
Investigators discovered that on the afternoon of November 2, 2021, Miller and Graber met at Fairfield High School to talk about his subpar grade in her course. Authorities claim that Graber later drove her van to a park where she was known to go for daily walks after school. Less than an hour later, witnesses spotted her van leaving the park with two men seated in the front seats.
At the end of a country road, the vehicle was abandoned. A witness later picked up Goodale and Miller as they walked to town on that road after receiving a call from Goodale, according to police.
Miller expressed his dissatisfaction with the way Graber taught Spanish and the how the grade in her class was affecting his GPA during an interview with the police.
According to court filings submitted by Assistant Iowa Attorney General Scott Brown and Jefferson County Attorney Chauncey Moulding, “the bad grade is thought to be the motivation behind the murder of Graber which directly connects Miller.”
Miller first denied having any part in Graber’s disappearance, but, according to court records, “eventually indicated he had knowledge of everything but did not participate.” He informed authorities that he was compelled to use his wheelbarrow to help transfer her body and to drive her van out of the park by the real murderers, a “roving bunch of masked adolescents.”
According to the paperwork, a witness gave screenshots of a Snapchat discussion “that identify Goodale’s confessions that he acted in coordination with another person to cause Graber’s murder.” Goodale made statements that directly link both Miller and Goodale, according to the witness.
In part, according to Miller’s attorney Christine Branstad, because “law enforcement failed to provide information to the issuing magistrate to show the informant is reliable or that the information from the informant should be considered reliable,” search warrants were issued without proper justification.
Miller’s trial is set for March 20 in Council Bluffs, while Goodale’s is set for December 5 in Davenport.
Both of the now-17-year-old minors will be tried as adults. A first-degree murder conviction carries a life sentence in prison in Iowa. Juveniles convicted of even the most heinous crimes in Iowa must be offered a chance at parole, according to Supreme Court decisions.
