Court Documents: Iowa Teens Used Baseball Bat to Kill Spanish Teacher

(L) Jeremy Everett Goodale. (R) Willard Noble Chaiden Miller. (Assistant Jefferson County Attorney via AP)

Recently released court documents provided more details about the death of a 66-year-old Iowa Spanish teacher.

Jeremy Goodale and Willard Miller, both aged 16, are accused of killing Nohema Graber, 66, a teacher at Fairfield High School in Fairfield, Iowa. Police said that the two teens allegedly followed Graber and killed her with a baseball bat, according to court documents that were released to local media and The Associated Press this week.

The two teens have been charged as adults with first-degree murder.

Her body was found Nov. 3 under a tarp, a wheelbarrow, and railroad ties at the  Chautauqua Park in Fairfield, officials said. She was reported missing that day.

Graber had worked as a Spanish teacher at Fairfield High School for about 10 years, according to the school’s website.

The new documents revealed that Goodale wrote Snapchat messages describing how he and Miller surveilled Graber, followed her, and used a bat. Those messages also suggested where they disposed the evidence.

Someone who knew Goodale provided the Snapchat messages and showed the two “were involved in the planning, execution, and disposal of evidence” in the woman’s murder, the documents say, according to the Des Moines Register.

According to the court documents, police investigators viewed surveillance video that showed Graber’s car left Fairfield High School and entered the park about 4 p.m. on Nov. 2. The car was driven out of the park about 42 minutes later, followed by a pickup truck.

The documents say a witness told police the items used or worn during the crime were taken to Goodale’s home.

It’s likely Goodale and Miller would serve lengthy prison sentences if convicted as adults. If moved to juvenile court the two would be released from custody when they turn 18, less than two years.

The judge scheduled trial dates for the teens, with the trial for Goodale set for Aug. 23 and Miller’s date planned for Nov. 1.

“To know Nohema was to love her—she was the kind of person every community longs to have in its midst and we were blessed to have her in our lives,” the victim’s family said following her death last year. “She lived for her children, her family and her faith. Her next priorities were her job as an educator and the children she taught, her local Parish, and the Spanish-speaking community in Fairfield. The family deeply appreciates the outpouring of support during this unimaginable tragedy.”

AP contributed to this report.