The Murder of Mrs. Nohema Graber
Jeremy Goodale sentencing hearing starts tomorrow, November 14
Jeremy Goodale will be sentenced this week for the murder of Mrs. Nohema Graber in Fairfield, Iowa just over two years ago. Goodale and his friend Chaiden Miller both plead guilty, Miller was sentenced earlier this year to life with the possibility for parole after a minimum of 35 years.
The county prosecutors recommended 30 years, but judges have discretion to impose any sentence they see appropriate. Because Miller and Goodale were juveniles at the time of the murder they aren’t eligible for life without parole.
Mrs. Graber, a beloved Spanish teacher and community member, was found in a Fairfield park in November 2021 hidden under a tarp, wheelbarrow and railroad ties. Goodale and Miller admitted to brutally beating Graber to death with a baseball bat. Allegedly over a bad grade.
But that isn’t the full story, who kills over a bad grade? What kids would believe they were so untouchable - so special - that they could get away with murder in their own small community?
Immediately after the killings I began fielding at first anonymous tips from people in Fairfield who knew Chaiden and Jeremy. The tips - some pages long - said that Miller had a history of violence, was manipulative, a bully and even scary. These were adults sending this information in to me. Scary?
There is a whole lot of history to get into with this case. Now that Goodale will finally be sentenced it seems appropriate to tell the background story. All the way back to 1970s California and a once simple movement.
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My previous reporting from the Graber case:
What a tragic case. I haven't researched it but obviously no one kills a teacher solely over a grade. There would have to be troubling behavior leading up to violence on that scale.
Miller reminds me of any school shooter. :/ This is HORRIFIC.