Hawkeye Reporter

Two Fairfield High School students accused of killing a Spanish teacher and hiding the body have been formally charged, according to a Nov. 12 report by the Associated Press.

Sixteen-year-olds Willard Noble Chaiden Miller and Jeremy Everett Goodale were charged Nov. 12 with first-degree murder and conspiracy to commit a felony. The victim was Nohema Graber, 66, who taught at Fairfield High School, where Miller and Goodale attended. It is unclear whether or not the students had her for class or if there was a motive.

“Being satisfied from the showing made that the case should be prosecuted, I approve the trial information,” Judge Joel Yates said in determining there was enough evidence to go to trial, according to the Associated Press.

Graber was last seen at school on Nov. 2, according to the Des Moines Register. She was reported missing the next morning and a search party discovered her in Chautauqua Park, apparently killed by blunt force trauma to the head. She was found under a tarp, wheelbarrow and railroad ties. 

Graber was known to walk in the park. Police allege that Miller admitted to being at the park and providing materials used to kill and hide the body. It was also reported that Goodale had been posting about killing her on social media. An associate of the teens alerted police, leading to the Nov. 4 arrest, the Register reported.

Police also reported that they found clothing with blood at the teens’ homes.

Graber was born in Mexico and moved to Fairfield in the early 1990s with her husband, who was a Fairfield native, and the first two of her three children, according to the Des Moines Register. She started teaching Spanish in 2006 in Ottumwa and later Fairfield High School. 

The Des Moines Register said prosecutors do not believe the alleged crime was related to her ethnicity.

Miller and Goodale are set to be arraigned Nov. 29, and they are being held on a $1 million bond. Their attorneys have requested to reduce this amount with a hearing scheduled for Nov. 23.