Police: Teens used baseball bat to murder Iowa high school teacher

DES MOINES, Iowa — New court documents unsealed in the case of two teenagers who face charges in the death of a Fairfield High School Spanish teacher offer new insight into how police say the pair planned and carried out the woman’s murder.

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Nohema Graber, 66, taught Spanish at Fairfield High from 2012 until her death in November 2021. Willard Noble Chaiden Miller and Jeremy Everett Goodale, both aged 16 at the time, were arrested one day after her body was found and charged with homicide in the first degree and conspiracy to commit homicide in the first degree, as we reported at the time.

Attorneys for both suspects are arguing for their clients to face trial in juvenile rather than adult court, but both are currently charged as adults.

New court documents obtained by The Associated Press indicate a witness who knew Goodale showed police messages from the social media app Snapchat that showed Goodale and Miller “were involved in the planning, execution, and disposal of evidence” in Graber’s death. The messages allegedly describe how the teens stalked the teacher, how she was killed, where her body was found, and how they disposed of evidence. One of the messages indicated a baseball bat was used to kill Graber, the AP reported.

Many details have still not been released, including any possible motive. Attorneys for both teens have asked for much of the evidence to be sealed and for the public and media to be excluded from hearings.

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