Speaker 1: Sword and Scale contains adult themes and violence, and is
not intended for all audiences.
Speaker 2: Listener discretion is advised.
Speaker 3: Hayden told his friend Bill that Olivia's kind of dating.
Not to be surprised if the teacher comes up missing.
Speaker 1: Didn't expect to hear back from me so soon, did you?
I mean, I told you you're getting more Sword and Scale.
It's just some people don't listen for some reason. This
is season twelve, episode two hundred and eighty seven of
Sword and Scale, a show that reveals that the worst
monsters are real. So from now on, episodes that are
only available to Plus members will have a little plus
next to the name easy right. If you want to
get them, you'll have to sign up for Plus. Go
to Swordinscale dot com or download our app on Android
or Apple. You know, things cost money, so sometimes the
most dangerous thing we can do is follow someone's lead
without thinking about it. It's easy to get caught up
in the movement, swayed by a friend's confidence, especially when
you're young and naive. We all want to belong, We
all want to feel like we're part of something, so
there are times where we might be distracted, preoccupied, with
other things, But sometimes you have to really stop and
ask what the hell am I doing here? What am
I following? And where is this all leading me? Because
not every leader has good intentions, and not every follower
realizes the stakes until it's too late. In the heartland
of Iowa, Fairfield is one of those small towns where
everyone seems to know everyone else and life moves at
a leisurely pace. It's the kind of place where neighbors
wave from their porches Friday night football games are packed,
and teachers like Noema Graber are not just part of
the school but part of the community. People don't think
twice about letting their kids roam freely or leaving doors unlocked.
Fairfield feels safe and predictable. Chautauqua Park lies just on
the outskirts, surrounded by thick woods and quiet trails that
wind through the tall grass and dense trees. The park
is where townspeople often take their morning jogs, children play
by the pavilion, and now Amac Greebor likes to walk
after school. This ritual wasn't just an exercise, though, it
was a means of unwinding after being with students all
day long. But on this fall evening, the park would
prove to be anything but safe. The trails that provided
calm and refuge hid a dark secret. On November two,
twenty twenty one, she would go for a walk and
never come home. Nine one one calls started to trickle
in as the community say of security was ripped apart,
leaving them to wonder if any place at all was safe.
The first person to notice that Noah mcgreebor was missing
was her husband, actually her ex husband. See the Grabs
were divorced, but they still lived together a lot at
the time.
Speaker 4: A person kentish her office.
Speaker 2: Hello, my name is Paul Graber. I would like to
report a missing person and I'm curious to know if
there have been any accidents last night.
Speaker 4: Okay, who is the missing person?
Speaker 2: Her name is Noema Graber grr. She is a teacher
at the high school and I just received a call
from mister Stone, the principal, and she has not appeared
at work today.
Speaker 5: Okay.
Speaker 6: Where's she missing from?
Speaker 2: From two o five West Washington here in town?
Speaker 7: Okay?
Speaker 8: And what was the last time that she was seeing Well,
my son and I been out of town in Texas
and she knew we were arriving yesterday after being in
I was well for appointments.
Speaker 2: We came home, expected her to be here and looked
like she had prepared the starts of a meal for
us in the evening, but no sign, and she'd been
wondering all night. I didn't know whether to call or not.
I thought she would come in. Certainly she would come
in for work today that mister Sun said she is
not there and they have physically checked the room.
Speaker 1: Noeima was the last person who would take off for
no reason. I know we say that a lot, but
this just simply wasn't in her character. Noema was a
very thoughtful, deliberate person who kept her schedule and did
not miss school.
Speaker 7: Okay.
Speaker 2: She did take the automobile, which is it's in nineteen
ninety seven Honda Odyssey.
Speaker 9: Okay.
Speaker 10: And do you know what the license late is?
Speaker 2: No, I can, I can dig it up.
Speaker 4: Who is it registered to?
Speaker 10: Is it registered to her?
Speaker 2: Yes? Yes, it's the dark blue okay.
Speaker 10: And have you is her phone off?
Speaker 4: Have you tried calling hers?
Speaker 2: It's going to voice now it has no cell phone.
Speaker 9: Okay.
Speaker 1: You can tell by the dispatcher's reaction. That's a weird thing.
To say, I mean, of course it is. It's twenty
twenty five. How do you not have a cell phone.
Speaker 2: I'm sitting right next to her. I'm in the home
right now.
Speaker 10: And her phone is there.
Speaker 2: It's here. She's one that she can only use for
calls on WhatsApp and different things. It doesn't have service,
a regular phone service.
Speaker 7: Okay, And what was last?
Speaker 9: The last thing?
Speaker 4: You actually spoke.
Speaker 2: To her on Sunday evening about about eight o'clock from
my brother's home in Dallas, Texas, and she was excited
that we're coming back and said that a lot of
things that happened.
Speaker 4: And what does she teach it the high school?
Speaker 2: Pardon? Oh, she is a Spanish teacher. She's one.
Speaker 1: In case you didn't hear him say it, Noema was
one of two Spanish teachers at Fairfield High School.
Speaker 11: County is about eighteen thousand. It's not an exact figure
in that ballpark. It's kind of a you know, it's
it's Iowa. So Iowa's counties are all laid out on
a grid, so all things considered, it's it's it's a
you know, small Midwestern city with a pretty good and
diverse economic base. Certainly one of the more unique towns
in the state of Iowa, that's for sure.
Speaker 1: That was District Attorney Chauncey Moulding. Fairfield is where he
was born and raised. It has a cultural side that
feels unexpected for such a small town home of Maharishi
International University. People from all over the world attend school
and live here, making the tiny town exceptionally diverse. This
brings us back around to Noema Graber, who was native
to Mexico. Although she didn't attend Maharishi University, she lived
in Fairfield. That was because she met Paul Graber a
few years after graduating high school. She worked as a
flight attendant and he was in Mexico as an exchange student.
He flew back to the States but never forgot about Noema. Meanwhile,
being a flight attendant wasn't lofty enough for Noema, who
was extraordinarily bright and ambitious. She decided she would be
a commercial airline pilot instead, so she paid her way
through flight school and became one of the first women
in Mexico to be licensed to fly passenger jets. Eleven
years after Paul first met Noema, he was back in
Mexico and looked her up. The couple reconnected, married and
raised a family in Fairfield. Only in her fifties did
no Ama decide she wanted to be a teacher. So,
being the kind of person that just does what she
wants to do, she earned her degree and certificate. For
the next nine years, many Fairfield students would learn no
AMA's native language directly from her.
Speaker 11: She goes missing. People go missing, right, it's not. It's
always created as serious, but it's not always presumed that
the person that the worst has happened, Right, you have
to assume and look. But ninety nine times out of
one hundred, when somebody goes missing, it's you know, they
either don't want to be found from a significant other
they're hiding from, or it's a kid that runs away,
whatever it is. But missus Graver's lifestyle and life pattern
really was a predict and be very She's not somebody
that would just go missing, So her being missing was
taken very seriously. And her you know, she's not somebody
that would just not show up to class. You know,
she's not somebody that would just not come home to
her husband. Her husband happened to be out of town
to day she went missing. So he comes home and
she's just not there.
Speaker 1: Almost immediately, residents started calling the dispatch center detailing where
they saw her in the days before and after her disappearance.
Speaker 7: Right, my name is Joy Craig, and I just got
an email from the school saying that missus Gregory is missing, Okay,
And I just want to say that I know I
saw her at the library on Monday the first, because
we had a Day of the Dead celebration, okay, And
she was there and that.
Speaker 9: Was eight okay, And so that started at five.
Speaker 7: Yeah, so I don't it ended at six because he
closed it six and so I know she was there
sometimes during that period, and.
Speaker 9: I believe she was there by herself. All right, we
will get that added into our report.
Speaker 1: A lot of people calling in were parents and students
who had just seen no Ema at school the day
she went missing.
Speaker 9: So my son and I were there yesterday at school.
We met with her at a quarter after one. I
think we left about two point thirty, and I just
was seeing posts on Facebook that people were reporting they
didn't know what happened to her in the afternoon, so
I thought it would be useful to let you know.
Speaker 1: Calls were coming from everywhere, like a man who thought
he saw no Ema and her van in Middletown the
day after she went missing. And this doctor leaving the
hospital thought she saw Noema's van in the parking lot.
Speaker 3: Jeffrey's an Catty law center.
Speaker 4: Yeah, I'm curious. Are you still looking for information about
the missing teacher or was she found? What information do
you have? Oh, I just saw something unusual when I
was leaving work from the hospital, and I don't know
if it involves her or not. I just saw like
an argument, you know. Two cars pulled into the parking
lot when I was leaving about five forty five on
Tuesday evening, and one looked kind of like her van,
and she got out and she was upset. She was
talking really loudly, and she walked towards the driver's door
of the other cars that looked like kind of like
a sedan or something. Okay, I had more than one
person in it, and I don't know if it was her.
You know, I didn't look real good, but I'm a physician,
and I just got in my car real quick because
I thought maybe there was a fight, and there wasn't
hardly anybody else there, you know, this parking lot was
pretty empty.
Speaker 1: The thing is, the cops located no Ema in record time.
Do doo the consistency of her routine. She always took
a walk at Chittauqua Park at the end of the
school day, so that's where they first started looking.
Speaker 11: Now un the nust and then we've found the body
at that point. The body was found close to sundown,
but the search pattern located her relatively quickly. She was
in a you know, not a well traveled part of
the park, but she wasn't a public park, you know.
Speaker 1: The police formed a grid and officers started looking near
the northeast side, where thick underbrush lined railroad tracks. Keeping
the others in view, one went forward and saw a
red wheelbarrow hidden in the shadows with a blue tarp
strewn over it. Near this was a cluster of rocks
showing faint red drops of what seemed like blood. Careful
not to disturb the evidence, the two continued walking westward
and came to a paved trail deep into the park.
But then, all of a sudden, the officer turned around
and spotted a green sweater and dark shirt lying tangled
in the brush. The sweater marked with The brown stain
was twisted amongst branches, and the shirt had a red
substance with the unmistakable consistency of blood. Then a call
came in from an officer back where the wheelbarrow was seen.
He found what appeared to be a human foot barely
visible beneath the tarp, partially covered by the railroad tie.
As they regrouped at that location, they had to climb
down a steep hill. This is where they uncovered Noema
about one hundred yards east of the trail, under the
tarp and wheelbarrow. She had been violently assaulted. Her pants
were down around her ankles with her underwear, Her top
had slid up or was pulled up, and she was
wearing only a white bra lying somewhat on her side.
The back of her head was noticeably battered and bloody,
with tiny twigs and broken leaves smashed into the hair
strands along with dried, caked blood. As the search pressed on,
other deputies followed new leads streaming in from the dispatch center.
One collar in particular would deliver a revelation that changed everything,
fast tracking the hunt for Noema's killer or killers. This
was the first homicide in Jefferson County in over ten years.
In the early morning hours after NOA. Mcgrabor's body was found,
residents of Fairfield, Iowa were about to face the reality
of her brutal killing. It was the fall of twenty
twenty one. In quiet town, known for its peaceful streets
and close knit community, was suddenly shaken by the kind
of tragedy it had rarely, if ever faced. The victim
was one of their very own respected teachers. After a
quickly finding Noema at the local Chautauqua Park, the investigation
shifted into high gear. Local law enforcement, alongside state investigators,
started piecing together the evidence, hoping to make sense of
what happened. Leeds emerged, calls kept coming in, and a
clearer picture of Noema's final hours was starting to take shape.
But for detectives, one question loomed largest of all, who
could do this and why. The very person closest to
Noema was her ex husband, who still lived with her
part time. The pair had even discussed getting remarried, something
that would make all three of their children happy, but
especially their youngest since he was disabled. Her ex husband, Paul,
brought out some startling information while Noema was well expected
amongst her peers. She wasn't liked by all the students,
especially the students who didn't work hard for their grades.
He also noted that there was a history of grade
changing at FHS for quote unquote favorite people. He specifically
pointed the finger at Principal Becker. Get this, Paul said,
former Principal Becker wanted his wife fired for not fixing grades,
and the current administration immediately fell into the same mindset,
the mentality that no child should be left behind, no
matter what the circumstances, but especially not if it's their child.
Paul said his wife was even confronted by the current
principal and his wife in order to give their son
a better grade, but no aimas standards would never or
do something like this. It's you know, unethical, remember ethics,
remember that shit. She rebutted that the only way she
would change their son's grade would be if she changed
every student's grade too. Paul reported that former Principal Becker
threatened his wife physically by telling her he hoped he'd
never meet her alone. Becker tried to get her fired
but was unable to only because of a procedural error.
Becker was in the room when the vote was taken.
The current vice principal had the same negative view of
Noema because of her posture on grades. I guess the
idea of them being earned in all didn't sit well.
If you think our legal system is bad, then don't
even bother looking at the educational system. It'll frustrate the
fuck out of you. According to Paul, his wife was
a very old school in the way she thought, you know,
earning things and not just being handed them boomer shit.
Some people don't like boomer shit and they get very,
very angry. Paul said, if a student wanted a grade,
she expected them to put in the work and didn't
believe in just handing them out. He went on to
tell police that at one point their house was egged
and windows were broken by a huge group of students
who also threatened will get you, meaning they were going
to be violent if they didn't get their way. So
who would have thought that being a teacher, at least
one that takes their job seriously would make you a
target by the very administration who's supposed to be watching
over these children. Among the calls flooding in a dispatch
and the DA's office one call stood out and led
investigators in a dark direction.
Speaker 3: Hi, Jefferson County in Law Center, Payter says Tracy again, Hi, Hey,
I have a question. I don't know what TD officers
are working or anything, but I was talking with my
daughter and she was talking with me a little more
about the boy that she's kind of seeing being friends
with this kid that I talked to Barker about, and
she gave me a little more info from this friend.
I didn't know if it was something I needed to
bring her in and disclose to an author.
Speaker 4: Okay, who do you know who the kid is, Tracy?
Speaker 3: The boy she's seeing, his name is Bill or Billan
or something like that. This this Bill, and it has
it's pertaining to this teacher.
Speaker 4: But yessing, yes, so Bill.
Speaker 3: Apparently, according to Olivia a couple of weeks ago, this
kid I can't say his name, Chasen or Jayden or whatever.
Speaker 10: You know A lot of.
Speaker 3: Friend I do not, m hm, So I guess Olivia said.
A few days ago this Shyden told his friend Dyll
that Olivia is kind of dating. Not to be surprised
that the teacher comes up missing.
Speaker 9: Right right?
Speaker 11: Okay?
Speaker 3: And so I just didn't know if I needed to
bring her in so she could just tell them what
she had discussed with the boyfriend.
Speaker 4: Okay, yep, yep, yep.
Speaker 7: And your daughter is Madison or this is Olivia?
Speaker 3: Olivia is Olivia? Yeah?
Speaker 9: Are they currently still seeing each other? Dyl and Olivia?
Speaker 4: Yeah?
Speaker 3: I mean there's they'll talk every night.
Speaker 7: Okay, So okay, and.
Speaker 4: Night told this Shandon boy is the one that told.
Speaker 3: Dil Yes, and Bill told Olivia. Because Bill is concerned.
Speaker 7: Sure, let me go ahead and pass on the information
on this tracy.
Speaker 1: This mother gave two different time frames for when this
kid had heard the information. That's days and two weeks,
but whether it was days or weeks, this was evidence
that some students still had it out for their Spanish teacher.
One of those students who admitted he didn't like her
and quote wouldn't be surprised if she disappeared was named
Willard Noble Chaydon Miller and simply went by the name Chayden.
Speaker 12: What were you getting in Spanish?
Speaker 6: I was really great because so I started the year
like any other with open mind ambition.
Speaker 12: I want to get the work time.
Speaker 13: I'm not only the kids.
Speaker 6: I don't see how did people have the same class
on their phoneland, like they know that we're it's not
the hearty honestly, and it makes your life how and
it really just funks over your future. Honestly, this crap
is very old fashioned. Hate technology. Yeah, well makes your life.
Speaker 12: Hell.
Speaker 6: She sees your phone and she's not that great at English,
so just that as she kind of just stands upon
the class and like talks about stuff and then we'll those words.
I feel like the information has not been covered nearly
enough for us.
Speaker 14: There's some kids like us can do it.
Speaker 12: She takes favorites.
Speaker 15: I don't.
Speaker 6: I don't look at speaking Italy because she's really missing.
Speaker 12: But I just I.
Speaker 6: Wasn't one of her favorites, I think, and she will prioritize.
Speaker 12: Her favorites even though they're the ones that are usually
doing the best in class.
Speaker 6: And just the way she teaches, it's not like to
pass the class, and it feels very self taught and
you're on your own.
Speaker 1: Jayden tried talking to Noema and even talk to the
principle about her. The principal's response was to tell him
that he was aware of the problem because so many
kids through the generations had trouble and tried to get
her fired. The principle took copious notes, and Jayden remarked
that he was a good principle who liked the kids
a lot, and that made the principle happy, but who
had so much hatred towards Noema that they would attack
her and bash her skulling. That's what police wanted to
know and did mention.
Speaker 5: We're here, you know, helping out with the investigation, trying
to figure out what happened with missus Graver.
Speaker 12: What do you think happened to her?
Speaker 14: It's not like she's a very routine persons prayers with.
They liked her to just often leave.
Speaker 12: And when you say she's very routine, what do you
what do you What do you know about her that
would indicate that she's very routine.
Speaker 6: Well, she's always on time, she's always where she says
she'll be when she says that. I don't have so
much of a personal relationship with her, but I know
people that too.
Speaker 12: Do you know of anybody out there that would have.
Speaker 5: A serious gripe with with miss Greebor that may want
to hurt her in some way?
Speaker 16: I don't know.
Speaker 6: There's a lot of kids that fall into the same
boat as me and Spanish classes and they don't like her.
Speaker 14: She's of a asshole. Sometimes not like her enough to
hurt her.
Speaker 13: I don't know.
Speaker 6: I heard about her wisdow being smashed.
Speaker 14: I don't know how long than that was. And then
just yesterday my.
Speaker 6: Dad he had gone and actually had a meeting with
her because I had been complaining to him about her
and how this Spanish is kind of shitting on my GPA,
and so he was like, Okay, I'm gonna talk to her.
And he just told me yesterday on while driving me
the therapy that he didn't want to tell me anything
because I would still to seeing her. But apparently so,
I don't know that it happened all in the same night.
Her house got aimed and peeped, and I guess the
window was smashed. I guess I had him all at
the same time, and that meeting, missus Graver.
Speaker 12: Had asked him about it.
Speaker 14: That's how he found out acid because she was suspecting me.
Speaker 1: It was clear that a lot of people took issue
with no AMA students, parents and even the principle, well
both principles, to be fair, She had a history of
students vandalizing her house at least once. But while Jayden
felt like his Spanish grade was shitting on the rest
of his GPA, he confronted no Ama directly and wasn't
part of the group that had broken windows.
Speaker 12: And so again, we're.
Speaker 5: Not here to come down on you if you were
involved in an egging or a teaching But if you
were involved, I don't.
Speaker 12: But if you were involved, we want to get.
Speaker 5: It out of the table now so we can identify
that and move on from it.
Speaker 12: Okay, so were you involved. You were not involved, And
I know I have no idea.
Speaker 6: Usually people like something like this happens. You can find
out once against small town people can be boast. You
never know when no word will slip from someone's Mount
Minico spread anything.
Speaker 14: And I could ask around me if I don't, but
I bet there'd be very quiet because it was pretty serious.
I mean, smashing things would do. Yes, that's a big charge.
Actually if not, well, if you could be very easily
become breaking an entering rity, no not just if you
snatch the window and if you go inside and.
Speaker 12: Start making you know, messes around made it, that could
be an issue. But so for a high school. That's
pretty Yeah, that was so.
Speaker 5: Tell me that is there any can you think of
any reason why somebody might say you were involved in that?
Speaker 6: Uh?
Speaker 14: Because we butt heads in class.
Speaker 5: Okay, but like with a little bit more specifically, like
anybody might say, like, hey, listen, I know for a fact.
Speaker 12: He was involved.
Speaker 14: Not I think he was no other than us arguing
in class. You know, I don't Okay, Yeah, I wasn't.
Speaker 12: Yeah, yeah, yeah, okay, all right, I won't.
Speaker 6: Miss it because because it's so easily go south, I
feel like if mcco pulls up, but it's not, it's
just a hole.
Speaker 12: Right.
Speaker 1: Jayden may not have been involved in vandalizing no AMA's
house with a group of students, but he did know
something else about another group and their retaliation against her
in the park on the day she went missing. This
is what he says happened.
Speaker 5: It was very.
Speaker 6: Sketchy, and I am very good with body language, and
I knew that I did not.
Speaker 14: Want to be involved, and.
Speaker 6: I got out of there as I want to go down,
want to completely disassociate myself from anything.
Speaker 12: That would have happened. You wanted to have had.
Speaker 6: Time before anything happened, I said, I need to get
out of here. If something goes down, I don't want.
Speaker 12: To be involved at all.
Speaker 6: And I left, and I didn't assist with anything. I
had no I want to say, no knowledge, but I
something was up.
Speaker 12: And who if I'm with you, did? I know it's okay,
and I know there's.
Speaker 6: It's just something was kind of I've been in situations
where you know this isn't by languages, ok Okay, don't
short change it now.
Speaker 12: I'm not short changing it, Okay.
Speaker 6: What I was saying is that I've been in situations
where I may not be involved, but I may be
with the people that did it or whatever it was,
and things go south very very quickly as soon as
officers show up and whatnot.
Speaker 4: And I knew that I.
Speaker 6: Could feel that this is this could be very easy
to be one of those situations, and so I left.
Speaker 12: Okay, tell me about the situation.
Speaker 6: I was at Chautauqua with Jeremy and I seen this Grams.
Speaker 5: Car pull up and this is yesterday and or sorry
two days ago, Tuesday.
Speaker 12: Night, right, and something didn't.
Speaker 6: I had had some buy some prior something from the
past few days, and I knew that this is this
is when I'm gonna leave because I don't know what's
gonna go down. And I did, okay, And I don't
know anything past that point other than the next day
I see that she's not abschool.
Speaker 1: This is the part where Jeremy Goodale comes in. Jayden
was at Chatauqua Park with his friend Jeremy and Jeremy's
girlfriend Zoe.
Speaker 12: We were hanging out.
Speaker 6: For a little bit and we were at the shelter
that's you can kind of see the parking lot, you know,
that's far off you can see.
Speaker 12: The parking lot. But then Zoe has to leave.
Speaker 6: She leaves, and than some I'm shouldn't you right? And
well if I see miss Grayberg, don't.
Speaker 5: Go over that?
Speaker 12: What was doing right?
Speaker 6: I had had I had heard prior things for the
past week about just a lot of people talking about
missus Drayberg, and just I knew something I met that
there were other people at the park.
Speaker 12: Posted up I don't know on the trail or what.
Speaker 6: But and I had seen from teenagers when they were
coming like in the distance going down and it was sketchy.
And I see her, and I think something might go down.
I need to disassociate myself cause I am.
Speaker 12: I'm staying on the right track. I need to.
Speaker 14: Keep clean record.
Speaker 6: I'm getting all my trades in, I'm getting as much
college credit in. I'm not trying to fuck this up
by getting becoming a suspect because of me being by
some thing that just happened in being a teenager.
Speaker 5: And so I left.
Speaker 1: And that's what every parent hopes their kid will do. Right,
leave the scene when shit starts getting shady. But what
about his friend Jeremy. Well, unbeknownst to him, Jeremy has
already been implicated in one of many phone calls reporting
sightings of Noema from Wisconsin no less, But Jeremy does
not disassociate himself like his friend Jayden does.
Speaker 10: Hi, I'm calling regarding maybe some information about a missing
woman Noma Graber.
Speaker 9: Okay, what's your name?
Speaker 10: My name is Sean Allen.
Speaker 9: Say El Alien, Yes it is Okay, what information do
you have?
Speaker 10: Okay, So I've got a fort I live in Wisconsin.
I've got a fourteen year old who has been playing
Xbox with a young man named Jeremy. That's a lesbian
good Gooddale g O O d A l E. My
son and my son's friend from California have been in
an Xbox Snapchat relationship with this person for a couple
of years. My son comes to me tonight, it just distressed,
just distressed, crying, and he's got to tell me something important,
and he proceeds to tell me. He tells me that
this Jeremy person had shared with my son and my
son's California friend that he killed somebody and there was
a group of people and he described some things in
detail to do with a bat and a car in
It freaked my son out. He kind of blew it off.
But then they received this ktvo missing person's thing, and
now it's got my son just really really really freaked out.
Speaker 1: So you know how Snapchat's really big because the messages
and pictures are immediately deleted with the correct settings. Two warnings.
First of all, the receiver can still screenshot it naud duh.
And of course the cops can always get their hands
on records through a subpoena. Oh I'm sorry. Did you
think it was end to end encryptid? Yeah?
Speaker 2: Right?
Speaker 10: And then, like I said, last night, Ben and Jack
received a snap which I think has been self deleted
or gone at this point. But this Jeremy allegedly told
this tale about what he had done. And then then
my son thinks Jeremy may be using drugs.
Speaker 4: And when did Jeremy sail this?
Speaker 10: Then what time yesterday did Jeremy get a hold of you?
Ten o'clock last night Central time?
Speaker 1: This bag the question. Since Jeremy admitted he killed someone,
did he say when he did this?
Speaker 10: So Ben's thinking between after school and ten o'clock?
Speaker 4: Okay, Sean, how do you say your first name?
Speaker 2: B A?
Speaker 10: And yeah, okay, picture where Oh it sounds like Ben
and Jack, my son and my son's friend were a
little freaked out and we're trying to be sleuths and
track where this guy was on Snapchat and took some
screenshots and stuff.
Speaker 8: So did it show that he's at Fairfield?
Speaker 10: It shows that Jeremy is in Fairfield.
Speaker 1: Apparently Jeremy thought that since Snapchat is anonymous and can
be set to delete immediately, it was okay to confess
to murder to someone in a different state. Not only
did Jeremy confess, but he also gave details like a
complete fucking moron, you know, zoomers the future leaders of society.
Speaker 10: Ben was recalling that Jeremy said there was a group
of friends that then. Did they say they hid the car,
did something with the body? Did any of that? I think,
I don't know. He showed me a picture of that
him packing a bleach into a backpack from the hed
the body, and he said. Ben says Jeremy sent him
to pictures of what appeared to be a bloodied shirt
and bleachs going into a backpack.
Speaker 1: Imagine you're a parent and your kid lays this on you,
would you believe them?
Speaker 10: Part of me was thinking, Okay, this is got to
be bullshit. But then you know, we found the kid
on Facebook. Ben knows that he plays tennis. That name
is on the tennis roster at the high school in Fairfield. Again,
somebody weird could have all figured that out and made
it up. But right, but whatever, there's some of those
things were lining up. I don't know when this, I
don't know when this missing person's thing came out. It
looks like it looks like today.
Speaker 1: The missing person's alert hit the state of Wisconsin just
two days after the group of teens allegedly killed no Ema.
This dad called in because his son received a snap
from a gamer friend Jeremy, who lived in Iowa. Jeremy
implicated a whole group of teens and police were interviewing Chayden,
who initially claimed no involvement. But Chayden's story was changing, and.
Speaker 5: I get why you came in here, and you spent
the first forty five minutes avoiding certain things because they're very,
very uncomfortable to talk with.
Speaker 12: Okay, But even in this new version of.
Speaker 5: It that you're telling me, where you were out there
and you actually saw this graver pull up, you saw
her pull up, and then you decided.
Speaker 12: Oh, I don't want to be a part of this.
That doesn't I don't buy that for a second. Not
for a second. She pulled up, and I knew, here's why.
Can I tell you why that doesn't shake out?
Speaker 5: Because for forty five minutes you were in you're saying,
no Chicagua.
Speaker 12: Barely any Jeremy nowhere about my house.
Speaker 5: Then all of a sudden, that confronts you with the effect
of something that you already knew was true, and then
your story angels, but not enough.
Speaker 1: Jaden's story was a slow rollout, like putting your big
toe in a lake to see how cold it is,
and if you can handle it, then putting your whole
foot in and then your leg so you realize you're
freezing and you should get the hell out of this lake. Anyway,
the story kept changing, one little bit at a time.
Speaker 5: Okay, like I shouldn't have a lot of people working
on this. I can tell in your eyes that you
have regrets, okay, but it lies in the falsehoods and
have truth. Don't show a person who's remorseful about what
they did.
Speaker 15: We were walking down the path of the road and
there were other people. Okay, I'm telling you this was
not a one person thing. There were five, six, seven maybe.
Speaker 6: Okay, And so I'm walking down and then we get
to there's another.
Speaker 12: Trail that heads off.
Speaker 6: And then a few minutes later I looked down and
I kind of see who There are multiple people.
Speaker 12: Around, and they were moving moving what a body okay, and.
Speaker 6: I freaked out. I had a panic attack and I ran.
Speaker 1: But as the officer pointed out already, he wasn't buying it,
not for a second. And if Jayden didn't want to
immerse himself in the deep waters of truth, he was
going to get a shove.
Speaker 12: We're right back to where we started you understand change,
you understand how that doesn't shake out.
Speaker 5: Okay, And as I told you, we have other people
putting you a lot deeper involved in this than what
you're explaining.
Speaker 12: Okay. Basically, what we're trying to figure out is whether you're.
Speaker 5: The ring leader or you're just along for the ride,
because there's a big difference.
Speaker 12: Plan anything.
Speaker 14: No one put in any plans.
Speaker 12: And she looking right now. I can tell you how
I regret about what happened. Okay. We can't change the past.
And it's a bitter pill to swallow.
Speaker 1: With all the interviews being conducted and all the surveillance
footage reviewed, there was one person who could either get
Chayden off the hook or completely drown him. The kid
that sent the snapchat, Jeremy Goodale.
Speaker 5: I'm glad you're here because we certainly have a lot
of things that.
Speaker 12: We kind of need to hash out and whatnot.
Speaker 5: I've got some questions that I'd certainly like to discuss
with Jeremy if possible, but because he's a minor.
Speaker 12: We need to go through you. Okay.
Speaker 5: I'm sure at the conclusion of any questions that I have,
I'm sure he'll ask some questions for me, but ultimately
that's completely up to the two of you whether you
want to speak any further with me and hear what
I have to say.
Speaker 12: I like him, was that this is an investigation of
this Grover been found.
Speaker 5: So at this point and I'll be up front eyes
with you, at this point, human remains have been located. Okay,
those human remains have not been positively identified as Missus Graver,
but due to a lot of different circumstances, we feel
there's a murder investigation.
Speaker 1: Jaden eventually accepted public defense, but Jeremy and his dad
hired a lawyer right away and didn't speak. It didn't
really matter though, who spoke and who didn't. The cops
had Jeremy and snapchat admitting the murder and showing a
bloody shirt. They had footage of Jeremy pushing a wheelbarrow
past the school to Chataqua Park that night. They had
the kids at school saying Jayden told them I caught
a body with a baseball bat. With all this evidence
and more, there was enough probable cause for search warrants.
They uncovered the bat, the murder weapon, the footage at
the park during the hours of Noema's murder and concealment
showed no other teens in the park. It was down
to Jeremy and Chayden. All the evidence was pointing to
Jeremy as the lead killer, but what didn't make sense
was the motive. Jeremy had already taken and passed Noema
Graber's Spanish class. He had literally no skin in the game.
It was Chayden who was planning a trip to Spain
that depended on whether or not he passed or failed.
It was also Chayden and his dad who went to
discuss this grade within hours of Noema's murder. According to
her husband, Noeima warned him about this meeting with Chaydon
and his parents. She said it wasn't pleasant and she
felt like Chaydon legitimately hated her. She would even turn
from the whiteboard to face the class, and every time
she felt like Chayden's angry stare was burning into her core.
Both teens were arrested and eleven months later, Jeremy offered
to give a complete and accurate account of what happened
in exchange for leniency.
Speaker 17: But do you recall the first time ever having a
conversation with chadon about miss Graver, and not necessarily about
what happened, but just a conversation with him about, you know,
some frustrations or a general awareness of her.
Speaker 18: Probably would have been about a month and a half
before November second, he would have brought up He brought
up some frustrations to me talking about how he was
having a hard time he didn't feel like she was
being very adequate understanding.
Speaker 12: So probably early in the school year.
Speaker 1: Okay, so hypothetically, of course, exactly how do you approach
another person, especially at school and ask for help been
killing a teacher?
Speaker 12: It was just like any other day.
Speaker 18: I was eating lunch in the cafeteria with John and
Shaden and a few.
Speaker 19: Other people that we said with, and when I got
up to bust my lunch trays, he kind of pulled
me aside and said, would you help me if I
killed missus Graver?
Speaker 1: I mean, I guess it's just like that.
Speaker 12: What was your response.
Speaker 18: I had paused for a moment and looked at him,
and then I said sure pretty much.
Speaker 17: I said yes, okay, And I mean, that's not a
request that a friend asked every day, And so what
was your immediate reaction that, Like, Hey, he's my best friend,
he needs something, I'm here to help, or what kind
of thoughts were going through your mind before you say.
Speaker 12: Like, yeah, sure, I mean.
Speaker 18: Originally was just trying to yeah. As soon as he
said that, I was like, holy shit, I mean, I
guess I'll help you. I'm just trying to be a
good friend.
Speaker 1: Just trying to be a good friend. That's what goes
through the minds of underdeveloped, idiotic brains. Remember that I.
Speaker 12: Would have been feeling pretty nervous at the time.
Speaker 18: I mean, at this point, I was pretty convinced that
he was going to go through with it, and I
had already agreed, and I just didn't want to seem
like a coward or a whissp by backing out at
the last moment.
Speaker 1: Well, Jeremy was committed enough to his friendship with Jayden
to be complicit in murder. It seems the friendship may
not have been reciprocated. It sure felt like Chayden tried
to pin everything on first a group of kids and
second Jeremy sou speciously. He asked Jeremy to go to
get a wheelbarrow from Chaden's house. Later that night, when
they moved the body. Was he trying to set them up?
This was da Chauncey Moulding's response.
Speaker 11: Well, you're asking a question that we on on our
team have asked a few times, and I think I
think it was. I haven't watched the proper innyview with
Jeremy in a very long time, but there was a
real big part of my thought process that wondered why
Chadon couldn't bring the wheelbarrow himself and was it possible
that he was setting Jeremy up to be the ball
And I don't have enough information one way or the other,
but you know, it doesn't make sense to me if
we're both sneaking out of our house at midnight for it.
Ask if you and I live in the same town
or were going to meet at the same place at midnight,
I wouldn't ask you to come to my house and
grab something. I would bring it myself.
Speaker 1: This isn't to say that Jeremy wasn't completely in on
the plan. He was, and nobody forced him to tattle
to his gamer friend through snapchat either. Remember the picture
was sent showing Jeremy's face, with the caption saying that
this was the last face his Spanish teacher would see.
It didn't feel like there was a lot of remorse.
Speaker 17: That to me shows somebody that's not ashamed of what
he's doing. Is what I'm getting that, and so there
had to be some pride. I would think that was
between the two of you, that you're working together on
this and executing the way that you went into.
Speaker 12: Is that fair?
Speaker 18: There would have been some bravado, sure, right, project myself as.
Speaker 12: Some cold hearted killering, right?
Speaker 17: Okay, okay, Now when was thet's talk about In terms
of the planning. You agree to help him out, You
agree that, hey, there's a four eight weekend coming up.
What are your different options here? Explain what you mean options?
Speaker 12: What are the.
Speaker 17: Different options for a plan like we could shooter her,
we could use baseball bats and we could stab, or
we could do all these different things. What's being discussed
between you two?
Speaker 18: I really just left the planning up to him.
Speaker 1: Detectives were able to back up Jeremy's story after finding
a murder list created by Chaden that detailed every implement
they would need down to garbage bags. Then, under a
column entitled procedure were the damning words of a young killer.
It's done, Move off the trail, empty compartments, load cargo,
blanket cargo, deactivate compartment contents, leave the bag by exit
and transport safely. Stun switch glove, deactivate the article to bag.
Finalize the win, secure victory, load into the storage spot.
Don't forget to close the door on the ground and
switch gloves. Move the sticks, wipe down tools, dispose of articles,
and grab bag by exit.
Speaker 2: Done.
Speaker 1: Just going to say this once if you're the type
of person that has the limited intellectual capacity to where
you have to write things down otherwise they might slip
your mind. And one of those things is a list
of items you'll need for murder and how to actually murder,
and you have to actually write out the word done
at the end of it. You know, I hate to
say this, but you might not have what it takes
for murder. In Fairfield, Iowa, a place with small town
routines and traditions, students at Fairfield High School were used
to getting a pass in some classes, like Spanish, at
least some students were, and it seemed the school's administration
condoned the lenient grades given out to some no student
left behind, you know, all that bullshit, But Noaai mcgrabor's
traditional style and strict grading left some students frustrated and resentful,
particularly those who think they're entitled to whatever grades they
want again, particularly a student by the name of Chaden Miller.
Chayden and Jeremy were two ordinary high school boys. Both
were you know, somewhat intelligent, I guess, and neither had
a criminal record. But Chayden was ambitious and calculating. He
led the way by repeatedly venting his frustrations about his
Spanish grade and how this was going to fuck up
his future.
Speaker 12: I guess.
Speaker 1: Murder wouldn't do that, though, right, moron right. Jeremy, his
loyal friend who'd known him since preschool, was impulsive and
easily influenced, so he quickly fell in line with his
friend's ideas. If you can't lead, follow, that's what they
say anyway. On November two, twenty twenty one, the extent
of Chayden's hatred became horrifyingly real when search teams found
Noah mac Greebor's body concealed under a tarp and wheelbarrow
in a heavily wooded area of to Taquate Park. On
that day, two ordinary students with hopeful futures became hardened killers.
Speaker 11: When Chaden and Jeremy were brought in and it was
determined that we had probably cause to charge first degree
murder for both Chaden and Jeremy. The most difficult part
in the initial stages for me personally was just having
to sit down with Jeremy's family and Jayden's family and
explain to them, Look, I'm sorry that you the one
have to tell you this, but both your sons are
in custody, and both of them have charges for killing
missus Graber, and they will not be on a such thing.
Speaker 1: Noam mcgreeber would all so not becoming home. She may
have been an old school teacher, but she was still
loved by many students and certainly loved by her family.
Speaker 11: She gave up that life to move here and keep
Spanish who she was married to, Paul, who her husband,
who unfortunately all died a week before of Jad, so
he was very very good. The whole Graver family is
some of the most sweet and just open hearted people
were never dealt with as victims, and they're very to
be completely friends with you. Far more forgiving of these
two boys than I ever would be. So she was
a well regarded teacher. I think that she made a
pretty big impact on the case that she taught. She
was strict, but she was fair and she was very kind,
and I think that she really kind of left an
impact on the kids that she taught because there is
there is still like a memorial for her, and the
kids put something together every year, an annual walk for
missus Graeber at the park where she was killed.
Speaker 1: Chayden was in fact the leader, planner, and mastermind behind
the killing of Noah mcgreebor. Though Chayden's parents were separated,
he lived with his mother and his father lived around
the corner. Provided with a doting mom and a sharp mind,
he couldn't bear the idea of anything or anyone standing
in the way of his plans. After all, they were
his plans and the children are our future, or so
I'm told. Noa mcgreebor, his Spanish teacher, had become an obstacle,
and Chayden didn't like obstacles. Jayden's dream was to join
an exchange program in Spain, a plan that he feared
is failing. Spanish great aid would ruin. Ironically, his victim's
story started with a similar dream. No Aima first met
her husband Paul in Mexico when he was an exchange student.
Little did she know that by refusing to give in
to the demands of this young man Chayden, his family
and the school administration, she would lose her life to
his ambition. Well, he pled guilty and was given life
and the possibility of parole in thirty five years. His
statement that the sentencing hearing was anything but ambitious, I.
Speaker 12: Like to say this opportunity to its possibly for the
morel India murder.
Speaker 5: I would like to appall use for my action as
first and foremost through the family.
Speaker 2: I'm a serting sorrier for the distress that I.
Speaker 12: Caused you, the devastation.
Speaker 1: Sorry, some of Noema's family didn't quite believe in Chaden's sincerity.
Speaker 20: To this day is going to make that he feels
no genuine worse. No doubt he's sorry for himself. I'm
sorry he's here, sorry for what's coming, perhaps sorry for
his family, But I don't believe he feels genuine remorse
or slaughtering in the way of Braver. I believe willerd
Chade Miller should be sentenced to life in prison, the
primate that he actually served no less than thirty five
years before becoming eligible to be considered for the possibility
of them.
Speaker 1: Sadly, Jeremy's dad died of cancer after becoming weakened from
the stress of this whole ordeal. His only son committed
an act that would stain his life and he would
never see his son as a freeman again. The funeral
was held the day before Chayden's sentencing, making it all
that much sadder. Jeremy good Ale was Jayden's opposite in
many ways. Whereas Chayden had friends, he was socially awkward.
Jeremy was the more popular of the two, but somehow
played the role of follower to Chayden's lead. He was
easily influenced and quite vulnerable. The only boy with four
older sisters, you might think there was plenty of estrogen
in the household, but his parents separated when he was
just ten, and his mother moved to a different state
with her boyfriend. This was Jeremy's dad at the sentencing
hearing right before he died.
Speaker 6: You know he was.
Speaker 16: He wasn't, I'm kind of.
Speaker 1: What he said through his tears was that Jeremy's mom
kind of abandoned him. From then forward, their relationship was
strained and eventually stopped altogether. Jeremy's dad did the best
he could to keep the family farm going, but he
had to sell it when Jeremy was twelve. Then twenty
twenty came along, and Jeremy's dad attributes the school closings
and isolation as playing a role in Jeremy's deteriorating mental health.
Speaker 13: And how was Jeremy performing with his school work when
everything was online?
Speaker 21: Not very well.
Speaker 16: You know, I was a single parent at that time.
I had to go to work, I had to provide
for the family, and I was to leave a fourteen
year old kid at home by himself. He had to
be online.
Speaker 21: Because that's how we're getting the studies. It wasn't under
his answer, he could imagine he was not doing this work.
He was no matter what I seem to do. Since
he had access to the internet, you know, I couldn't
keep him from playing video games and that's pretty much
what he did all day.
Speaker 1: His dad went on to say that he sought out
three different mental health therapists for his son, but weirdly,
he never got to have a single session with any
of them. Two of them died suddenly before the first appointment,
and one lost his license just before the first session.
Speaker 12: Weird.
Speaker 1: After the lockdowns and loneliness of twenty twenty, Jeremy came
to school hungry for a connection and his need to belong.
He was easily influenced by Chaden. Maybe Jeremy didn't realize
how far things would go. In his mind, it was
too late to back out of the dark plan for
fear of coming off to his friend as weak. But
unlike Chaydon, Jeremy was plagued by remorse after fully realizing
the horror of what he'd been a part of. Caught
between his own sense of guilt and his loyalty to Chayden,
you became tangled in a scheme that was never truly his.
Speaker 13: I want to say I'm grateful for this chance to
speak my peace. I offer my sincerest apologies to the
Graper family, but I know my words will never be enough.
I've had time to think on what to say, and
I'm sorry. I'm truly sorry. What I've taken can never
be replaced. Every day I wish I could go back
and stop myself, prevent this loss and this pain that
I've copsed everyone, everyone in the community and outside of it,
those closest to me, and those closest to the Graper
family as well as the Graper family. I didn't know
how taking the script this life would affect you. I
can't comprehend losing a loved one in such an awful way.
I'm sorry I didn't stop this from happening in the
first place.
Speaker 1: Jeremy went on to finish with a sincere and poignant apology.
He was given life with the possibility of parole after
twenty five years. Jeremy's need for connection made him vulnerable
to Chaden's control. Chayden had the charisma to lead, but
didn't seem to have a conscience behind it. Jeremy was
isolated after years without his mom, a dad who worked
long hours, and the loneliness of the pandemic, so he
followed Chayden, likely because he craved the excitement and didn't
want to lose the friendship. The problem with following the
wrong person is that it can lead you to places
that you never wanted to go. The search for connection, approval,
or even just something to believe in, can cloud our judgment.
We are, after all, emotional animals, reactive and not all
that disciplined. Sometimes it takes us a while to learn
a very important life. Sometimes it takes us a little maturity,
And that lesson is that with the wrong leader, the
price of following might just be more than you're prepared
to pay. All right, we did our part. Now it's
time for you to do yours. Go tell a friend
about your favorite podcast. Sword and Scale dot com