An Iowa teenager was sentenced to life in prison for killing a Spanish teacher, an immigrant from Mexico after his friend received a bad grade in her class.
He and his partner stalked the woman and beat her down with a bat two years ago.
Now 18, Jeremy Goodale will be 43 years old before receiving a chance at parole.
Goodale pleaded guilty to helping his friend Willard Miller kill Nohema Graber, a 66-year-old teacher at Fairfield High School, on Nov. 2, 2021. Years after her death, the two pleaded guilty to first-degree murder charges in April 2023.
Both teens were charged as adults. However, because they were 16 when the murder was committed, neither was subjected to an Iowa requirement that those convicted of first-degree murder serve life without parole.
During the sentencing hearing on Wednesday, Nov. 15, video captured a distressed Goodale bleeding from his nose and filled with emotions before he was sentenced to life in prison with a chance for parole after 25 years.
He offered an apology to Graber’s family.
“I’m sorry, truly sorry. What I’ve taken can never be replaced,” Goodale sobbed, as The Associated Press reported. “Every day, I wish I could go back and stop myself, prevent this loss and this pain that I’ve caused everyone.”
The presiding judge, Shawn Showers, said that he believed Goodale was truly remorseful but did not contemplate the consequences of taking Graber’s life. Still, the judge said Goodale was smart enough to have prevented the tragic and brutal death.
Graber’s brother, one of 10 relatives who gave victim impact statements, said he did not believe Goodale’s remorse was real.
“I must say your actions to me undercut that. You’re now an adult. You’re over the age of 18, and yet you have your counsel to represent you … arguing on your behalf to escape punishment for this horrific crime. That doesn’t sound like remorse to me,” the brother said.
Goodale and Miller plotted to kill Graber because Miller was failing her class, and the bad grade would prevent him from participating in a study-abroad program he wanted to attend.
The two devised a plan, where they stalked, mapped out her daily walking routine in a Fairfield park, and used a bat to beat her to death.
After beating her to a bloody pulp, they hid her body under a tarp and a wheelbarrow.
Law enforcement was able to connect the teens to the violent crime based on statements Goodale made to friends on their social media.
Barbara Graber, the victim’s sister-in-law, also commented on the murder and how sick she is of the defendant and his partner in crime.
“I am so ready to clear my head of thoughts of Jeremy Goodale and his co-defendant Willard Miller,” she wrote in a victim impact statement. “It haunts me the last face Nohema saw on this Earth, and the last words she heard were those of Mr. Goodale.”
Many on social media responded to the video from the sentencing, his tears, and his bloody nose.
“He might lose a lot more blood in prison,” one person wrote. A second comment read, “It’s the stress getting to him. Realizing he might not get out ever again.”
“Wow! You can’t even be a teacher without some entitled child wanting to kill you over a grade now?” another person said. “SMH. That boy needs to be tried as an adult and sent to adult prison, where he will undoubtedly learn some very valuable adult life lessons.”
Showers said there were 25 different factors he took into consideration when arriving at the life sentence for the teen. He looked at Goodale’s willingness to testify against Miller had the case gone to trial, a decision that weighed heavily in the judge’s eyes.
He believed that out of the two, Miller was “far more sinister in his planning” to kill the teacher, which added to him receiving a heftier sentence.
“Unlike your co-defendant, it’s clear to me you have regretted your role in Ms. Graber’s murder. I think time will tell, but you’re far more likely to be successful than Mr. Miller,” Showers said to Goodale during the sentencing hearing, according to the Des Moines Register.
Miller was sentenced to life in prison in July. He was granted the possibility of parole in 35 years, ten years more than his accomplice.
