Teen accused of killing Spanish teacher struggled in her class, mom says

FAIRFIELD — The mother of one of the Fairfield teens charged with killing their Spanish teacher last year admitted Wednesday that her son was “struggling” in that class, which the prosecution pointed to in court documents as his motive in the slaying.

Annalisa Clifford Gold, mother of Willard Chaiden Noble Miller, 16, testified during a suppression hearing Wednesday that her son transferred from the Maharishi school to Fairfield High School when he started his freshman year. Last year, as a sophomore, he had Nohema Graber for Spanish class and received lower grades than his usual A’s and B’s in other classes.

Before this hearing — at which the defense asked a judge to suppress evidence against Miller and the other charged teen, Jeremy Goodale, 17 — prosecutors filed documents that included Miller’s statements to law enforcement about receiving bad grades from Graber, which “directly connects Miller” to the crime.

Snapchat messages between a juvenile — identified in court documents as “J.B.” — and Goodale showed Goodale’s involvement and that he acted with another person to kill Graber, according to the recent court documents. J.B. also said Goodale made statements that implicate both Goodale and Miller.

Miller and Goodale are each charged as adults with first-degree murder and conspiracy to commit a forcible felony in the slaying of Graber, 66, on Nov. 2, 2021. The teens are accused of killing Graber with a baseball bat, according to court documents.

Gold, during testimony, said she wasn’t told her son was in custody or suspected of killing Graber. Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation agents asked her to sign a document, which they said allowed them to talk to students. The agents, she said, told Gold they were talking to all of Graber’s students.

Gold wasn’t allowed to see her son, but she thought he was in the room with other students and they were being interviewed as a group. Gold said she didn’t know Graber was dead at that point, only that she was missing.

She didn’t read the document herself because investigators came to her home early Nov. 4 and she couldn’t find her glasses. A DCI agent “paraphrased” it for her, she said.

The defense is arguing that, according to juvenile law, Miller’s parents should have been informed about their son being in custody and that officers should have stopped the interview when Gold asked.

Gold said more than once she was told she wasn’t allowed to talk to her son. She wouldn’t have given her permission for her son to talk to law enforcement without a lawyer, if she had known he was a suspect in a homicide. She said she wasn’t told her son was charged until 4:15 p.m. that day.

She did call and ask for advice from a friend who is a former police detective in Oregon after law enforcement came to her house. Gold put the friend on speaker phone to talk with investigators and told them to “shut down” the interview with Miller. A DCI agent said he would, but she learned later that wasn’t true.

Questioning

Iowa DCI Special Agent Ryan Kedley, testified during the hearing about Miller waiving his Miranda rights to talk with investigators. The interview lasted more than two hours.

Kedley said Miller was “remarkably relaxed” during the interview, considering it was early in the morning.

Miller talked about issues he had with Graber, Kedley said, but the defense lawyer asked the judge to not allow Kedley to provide details about those issues because the issue for this hearing was whether Miller had knowingly and voluntarily waived his rights.

According to court documents filed by the prosecution, investigators learned Miller had a meeting with Graber the afternoon of Nov. 2, 2021, to discuss his poor grade in her class.

Miller told investigators about his frustration with Graber hurting his grade-point average and with how she taught Spanish. He also said he knew Graber drove a Honda van.

Authorities learned, during the investigation, that Graber arrived at Chautauqua Park about 4 p.m. Nov. 2 for her daily walk, according to court documents. Graber’s van was seen leaving the park about 4:42 p.m. The van was then seen on Middle Glasgow Road after 5 p.m. and a witness described two males in the front seat. The same witness then saw two thin, white males walking along Middle Glasgow.

Graber’s van was found at the end of that road about a half-mile from where the two males were walking, the court documents stated.

Another witness told investigators that he was contacted about 5 p.m. and asked to pick up Goodale and Miller on Middle Glasgow Road, according to the documents.

Miller initially denied any involvement in the teacher going missing but then later said he knew about what happened but didn’t participate, court documents stated. He said the killers were a “roving group of masked kids” who forced him to provide his wheelbarrow to help move the body and drive her van from the park.

Eighth Judicial District Judge Shawn Showers allowed both the defense and prosecution more time to file additional written arguments, which are due Nov. 21 and 28. He then will file a written ruling.

Goodale’s trial is set to begin Dec. 5, and Miller’s is set for March 20.

Comments: (319) 398-8318; trish.mehaffey@thegazette.com