Two Iowa teenagers are facing life in prison after being accused of beating their Spanish teacher to death with a baseball bat because she gave one of them a bad grade, local authorities said.
As reported by NBC News, 66-year-old Nohema Graber, a teacher at Fairfield High School, vanished on 2 November 2021 after going on her regular daily walk in Fairfield, Iowa. The next day, her badly-beaten body was found hidden under a tarp, railroad ties and a wheelbarrow in a local park.
citing court documents, the news outlet reported that two of Graber’s students Jeremy Goodale and Willard Miller, who were both 16 at the time, were arrested and charged with her murder.
Prosecutors said that Jeremy Miller met with his Spanish teacher at the high school on the afternoon of the murder. The meeting was held to discuss the low grade he had received in her class.
Miller reportedly told police that he was angry that Graber had given him a poor grade which was lowering his overall grade point average (GPA). He also voiced frustration with the way that Graber taught Spanish in her class, prosecutors said.
“The poor grade is believed to be the motive behind the murder of Graber which directly connects Miller,” the documents read.
Hours later, investigators said that Graber drove her van to a local park where she was known to go for a walk every day after work. There, the teenagers allegedly stalked and ambushed the teacher, beating her to death with a baseball bat before hiding her body.
Witnesses saw two males driving her van away from the area, investigators said. The vehicle was later found abandoned along a rural road.
Investigators said that the two teenagers were later picked up on the same road by a witness.
The students were arrested after police received a tip-off that Goodale had boasted about killing the teacher on Snapchat, detailing how he and Miller stalked Graber, killed her, and then hid her body and disposed of evidence.
The two teenagers were arrested and charged with first-degree murder. They face life in prison if convicted.
