Two high school students in Iowa (US) killed their Spanish teacher in retaliation over a poor grade she gave one of the students in her class, prosecutors said in court documents on Tuesday. The duo is being tried as adults.
For the first time since Willard Miller and Jeremy Goodale were apprehended and accused of killing their 66-year-old teacher Nohema Graber in the little hamlet of Fairfield on November 2, 2021, the new information provided insight into a potential reason.
On the afternoon of her death, Miller and Graber had a meeting at Fairfield High School to address his subpar grade in her class, according to the investigation.
Later that day, according to officials, the teacher drove her vehicle to a park where she was known to go for daily walks after school.
Graber’s brutally battered body was discovered in the park the next day, concealed behind a tarp, a wheelbarrow, and railroad ties.
Investigators think that Miller and Goodale, both 16 at the time, beat the victim to death with a baseball bat and boasted about it online.
Miller admitted to the police that he had been unhappy with the way Graber had taught Spanish and that the poor grade she had given him had hurt his GPA as a whole.
“The poor grade is believed to be the motive behind the murder of Graber which directly connects Miller,” court documents filed by Jefferson County Attorney Chauncey Moulding and Assistant Iowa Attorney General Scott Brown said.
A “roving group of masked teenagers” killed Graber and compelled Miller to dispose of the body, according to court papers. Although Miller initially claimed he had no knowledge of what had happened, he later “said he had information of everything but did not participate.”
Nohema Graber’s body was found under a tarp, wheelbarrow and railroad ties. Photo credits: AP
Less than an hour after the instructor arrived, observers saw two guys driving Graber’s vehicle out of the park. According to detectives, the two adolescent males were found walking down the same route as the vehicle, which had been abandoned at the end of a rural road.
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On Snapchat, Goodale reportedly boasted to a friend about the murder. A witness submitted images of a Snapchat discussion in which the adolescent specifically accused himself and Miller of being responsible for the murder of Graber.
However, according to Miller’s attorney Christine Branstad, four search warrants were improperly obtained. She is requesting that the court invalidate all four of them and suppress evidence from Snapchat as well as from her client’s home, statements he made to the police, and data gleaned from his phone.
On Wednesday, a judge will hear arguments to determine whether to suppress any of the evidence.
Source: wionews.com