May trial set for Fairfield teen accused of killing Spanish teacher

FAIRFIELD — The trial for one of the two Fairfield teens accused of killing their Spanish teacher last year has been reset to May 15 in Scott County District Court.

Jeremy Everett Goodale, 17, asked the court to delay the trial because the defense and prosecution recently received a file from the Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation which his lawyers have not had a chance to review.

Goodale’s trial was previously moved to Scott County because of extensive pretrial publicity.

The trial for the other teen charged, Willard Chaiden Noble Miller, 16, is set for March 6 in Council Bluffs, where it was moved due to extensive pretrial publicity.

Both teens are charged as adults with first-degree murder and conspiracy to commit a forcible felony in the slaying of Nohema Graber, 66, on Nov. 2, 2021.

No motive for the crime had been released, but court documents filed before a Nov. 2 suppression hearing revealed Miller told investigators he was upset about receiving bad grades in Graber’s class and was worried it would lower his grade-point average.

His mother, during the hearing, admitted her son was struggling in the class. In his other classes, she said, he had A’s and B’s.

According to a search warrant unsealed in March, Miller told investigators he provided a wheelbarrow used to hide Graber’s body. A witness who lived near the park where Graber’s body was found told police he saw a male pushing a wheelbarrow toward the park about midnight Nov. 2, 2021.

According to court documents, the teens schemed over social media to kill Graber, who had taught at Fairfield High since 2012. They monitored her routine before ambushing her on her daily walk in the park, killing her with a baseball bat and later hiding her body, according to court documents.

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