One of the two Iowa teens charged with beating their Spanish teacher to death in a dispute over grades has agreed to cooperated and testify for the state, prosecutors have revealed.
Murder suspect Jeremy Goodale has reached a deal with prosecutors and intends to testify against classmate Willard Miller, Jefferson County Attorney Chauncey Moulding said at a hearing on Wednesday.
Both boys, now 17, are charged as adults with first-degree murder in the 2021 death of teacher Nohema Graber, 66, who was beaten to death and dumped in a Fairfield park.
‘Mr. Goodale has turned state’s evidence and is listed as a witness against Miller,’ Moulding told Judge Shawn Showers at a pre-trial hearing, according to the Des Moines Register.
Miller’s trial is set for April and Goodale’s is scheduled for May. So far, court records do not list a plea agreement for Goodale, the newspaper reported.
Murder suspect Jeremy Goodale (left) has reached a deal with prosecutors and intends to testify against classmate Willard Miller (right), prosecutors revealed on Wednesday
It was not immediately clear whether he has been offered any leniency in return for his testimony against Miller.
Wednesday’s hearing was on a motion by Miller to suppress evidence against him, including any evidence stemming from police interviews with the two teens after the murders.
Prosecutors oppose the motion, and the judge promised to deliver a ruling on the matter as soon as possible.
After multiple delays, Miller’s trial is due to start on April 21. Judge Showers had previously moved Miller’s trial to Council Bluffs, about 200 miles west of Fairfield, due to concerns about the impact of intense media coverage on the jury pool.
Goodale’s trial, if it moves forward, is set to be held about 80 miles east of Fairfield in Davenport.
The victim Graber, a Spanish teacher at Fairfield High School, was beaten to death with a baseball bat, in what prosecutors said was a dispute over grades.
Her body was found in a Fairfield park November 3, 2021, hidden under a tarp, wheelbarrow and railroad ties.
Investigators say that Miller met with Graber at Fairfield High School on the afternoon of November 2, 2021, to discuss his poor grade in her class.
Nohema Graber’s body was found in a park on November 3, 2021, hidden under a tarp, wheelbarrow and railroad ties. She had been beaten to death with a bat
Miller faces first degree murder charges in the death of his 66-year-old teacher
So far, court records do not list a plea agreement for Goodale, who would face trial in May
Graber later drove her van to a park where she was known to take daily walks after school, authorities say. Witnesses saw her van leaving the park less than an hour later with two males in the front seat.
The van was left at the end of a rural road. After getting a phone call from Goodale, a witness later picked up Goodale and Miller as they walked to town on that road, investigators say.
In a police interview, Miller described the frustrations he had with the way Graber taught Spanish and over how the grade in her class was lowering his GPA.
‘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.
Miller initially denied any involvement in Graber’s disappearance but ‘later stated he had knowledge of everything but did not participate,’ according to court documents.
He told police that the real killers – a ‘roving group of masked kids’ – forced him to provide his wheelbarrow to help move her body and to drive her van from the park.
