Prosecutors have found a possible motive for one of two teenage suspects accused of beating their Spanish teacher to death, a year after her murder.
New court documents filed this week outline new details showing that Willard Miller, then 16, met with Spanish teacher Nohema Graber on Nov. 2, 2021, to discuss a poor Spanish grade.
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Prosecutors said this bad grade “is believed to be the motive behind the murder of Graber,” according to court documents, per KGAN.
Graber was reported missing and found dead later the following day. Miller and Jeremy Everett Goodale were charged last year with homicide in the first degree and conspiracy to commit homicide in the first degree in connection to Graber’s death.
Miller had told investigators that he was frustrated with Graber’s methods of teaching Spanish but denied any knowledge of her disappearance, according to court documents. Later, prosecutors said Miller told them he knew of her disappearance but did not participate.
Finally, he said that “a roving group of masked kids made him help” move the body for the “real killers.”
Social media exchanges led authorities to Miller and Goodale as suspects, showing their motive for her disappearance.
However, Miller’s defense lawyers plan to argue that his rights were violated when he appears in court on Wednesday and ask the judge to suppress the evidence. They will state that law enforcement’s warrants to look through Miller’s phone, computer, and Snapchat account did not have probable cause.
The defense is also arguing that Miller’s statements to police investigators were not voluntary. Police allegedly told Miller’s mother that they needed her to sign a waiver to ask him about Graber’s disappearance without telling her it was about a homicide or that her son was a suspect, the defense is arguing.
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Miller’s attorneys presented the motion to suppress evidence in March of this year, but the prosecution just filed its resistance to the motion this week in the new court documents. The state argues that probable cause existed because a juvenile witness, who knew both suspects, provided them a Snapchat that suggested Goodale and Miller were involved in Graber’s disappearance and death.
Miller is set to go to trial on March 20, 2023, and Goodale will go to trial on Dec. 5 of this year.
