Two Iowa teenagers plead guilty to ambushing and beating their Spanish teacher to death

Two teenage boys pleaded guilty on Tuesday to ambushing and beating a Spanish teacher to death with a baseball bat following a confrontation about a poor grade.

Willard Miller and Jeremy Goodale were charged with first degree murder for the November 3, 2021 slaying of Fairfield High School teacher Nohema Graber, 66.

The teens were both aged 16 at the time of the incident which shocked the small town of Fairfield, Iowa and its population of about 9,400.

Miller previously denied ever striking Graber, despite admitting he helped plan and carry out the killing, which occurred after a meeting between them over a grade.

He pleaded guilty in court on Tuesday wearing an orange jumpsuit and a suicide prevention vest, ahead of his trial later this week, before Goodale appeared in a white and grey striped jumpsuit and entered the same plea. 

'We're glad the defendants have taken responsibility for the crime they committed and look forward to making sure justice is done at sentencing,' Jefferson County Attorney Chauncey Moulding said following the hearings. 

Willard Miller, 17,  pleaded guilty Tuesday to the murder of Iowa Spanish teacher Nohema Graber

Jeremy Goodale, 18, also pleaded guilty. Prosecutors have recommended multiple decade to life sentences for both teens

Nohema Graber, 66, was a respected educator in Fairfield, Iowa prior to her brutal murder

Both teens will be tried as adults due to the severity of the crime.

Prosecutors are recommending Miller, now 17, receive a sentence of 30 years to life with eligibility for parole after 30 years while Goodale, now 18, receives 25 years to life with eligibility for parole after 25 years.

The teens, according to court documents filed by the prosecution, allegedly grabbed Graber when she was on her daily afternoon walk in Chautauqua Park.

They dragged her into the woods and beat her to death with a baseball bat.

Graber's body was eventually found in a city park, hidden under a tarp, wheelbarrow and railroad ties. 

Prosecutors say evidence shows both teens struck Graber with the bat but the pair had different accounts of the attack. 

In late March, Goodale agreed to testify against Miller and said that it was his friend  who initiated the plan to kill Graber, and that they both struck her.

Witnesses saw Graber's van leaving the park on the day of the murder with two males in the front seat. The vehicle was left at the end of a rural road.

Details of the alleged murder shocked the community and threw many into a state of mourning over the loss of the respected educator and leader among the city's small, but growing Latino community.

Graber's family were in the courtroom for Tuesday's plea from the teens. Their loved one had been just days short of her 67th birthday when she was killed.

She was born in Mexico and worked as a flight attendant for a national airline prior to becoming an educator in America. 

Graber's son and daughter both took to social media after the killing to say they forgive the teenage attackers.

The pair were charged as adults due to the severity of the crime

Graber's family were in the courtroom for Tuesday's plea from the teens. Their loved one had been just days short of her 67th birthday when she was killed

Her son Christian wrote: 'I'm sorry I can't respond to the all of the messages but I'll just say what I've been told. My mother passed away.

'As I understand it was pre attempted murder by two students. I forgive them and feel sorry that they had that anger in their hearts.

'There's no point in being angry at them. We should hope that they can find peace in their lives.

'My mother was an angel of a woman and was one of the kindest souls.

Her daughter daughter Nohema Marie wrote, 'We've lost an absolute angel in our family.

'It is all thanks to her for instilling a love of travel and languages that my brothers and I have continued to experience the world throughout our lives.

'We had the wonderful fortune of growing up in a home filled with such an abundance of warmth and love.'