Two teenage high school students killed their Spanish teacher after beating her with baseball bats for receiving poor grades, prosecutors argue in newly unsealed court documents.
Nohema Graber, a high school Spanish teacher in Fairfield, Iowa, was found beaten to death and hiding in a camp of 9,400 outside of town in early November 2021.
Police arrested Willard Miller and Jeremy Goodale, both 16-year-old high school students, for her murder on November 2, 2021.
However, Miller’s attorneys challenged some of the evidence gathered against the teen at a hearing on Wednesday. They claim the police had no probable cause when they ransacked his home and his cell phone.
Police discovered that Graber met with Miller at Fairfield High School on the evening of Nov. 2 to discuss her failing grades in her class.
“The poor grade is believed to be the motive behind the murder of Graber which directly connects Miller,” prosecutors said in a report, reports Metro.
Graber then drove to a local park where she was known to walk after work.
Witnesses in the park recalled seeing her truck drive away, driven by two young men in the driver’s seat and passenger seat.
Another witness confirmed to investigators that Miller and Goodale called them and asked to be picked up from a remote part of a country road. Graber’s truck was found abandoned at the end of the same road.
When police questioned Miller, he admitted that he was frustrated with the way Graber taught Spanish. He said that she was present at the teacher’s murder but that she did not attend.
Miller claimed that Graber was abducted by a “roving group of masked kids” who also forced Graber to help move his body with their wheelbarrow. The same group of attackers forced him to ditch Graber’s truck, the teen said.
Police used interviews with Miller and witnesses to obtain a search warrant. After searching his cell phone, they discovered he was communicating with another person using the SnapChat app to “cause Graber’s death,” the criminal complaint says.
Goodale was arrested shortly after.
A search of Miller’s home also revealed “multiple clothing items appearing to have a substance consistent in appearance with that of blood,” reports Metro.
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