Two southeast Iowa teenagers used a baseball bat to kill their high school Spanish teacher, police alleged in court documents released Tuesday.
On Tuesday, Judge Shawn Showers turned down the defense lawyers' request to exclude the media from a hearing at which teenagers will seek to be tried in the juvenile system rather than in adult court.
Jeremy Goodale and Willard Miller, both 16 years old, are charged with murder in the death of the 66-year-old Fairfield High School Spanish teacher Nohema Graber. One of them reportedly described in social media posts how they followed the woman, carried out the attack and hid her body
The teacher’s body was found on Nov. 3, 2021, hidden under a tarp, a wheelbarrow and railroad ties at the Chautauqua Park in Fairfield, about 95 miles southeast of Des Moines. She had been reported missing earlier that day.
Included in the court documents, police investigators studied the surveillance video that showed Graber’s car left Fairfield High School and entered the park about 4 pm on Nov. 2. The car was driven out of the park about 42 minutes later, followed by a pickup truck. According to a witness, the items used or worn during the crime were taken to Goodale's home.
Miller told Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation agents that he provided a wheelbarrow from his home. Another witness stated that he saw a boy pushing a wheelbarrow down Fairfield street around midnight on Nov. 2.
Goodale and Miller are charged as adults as required by Iowa court procedures, which state that anyone 16 or above who is charged with a forcible felony is automatically waived to adult court "and is subject to the same criminal procedures and penalties as adults."
In Iowa, the adult sentence for first-degree murder is life in prison. However, in 2016 the Iowa Supreme Court banned judges from imposing murder sentences of life without parole for offenders aged under 18, as it amounts to cruel and unusual punishment under the Iowa Constitution.
Trial dates are scheduled for the teenagers with Goodale’s set for Aug. 23, while Miller’s is set for Nov. 1.
