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Family of Nohema Graber give victim impact statements
FAIRFIELD – Family members of Nohema Graber had the chance to share the pain they’ve felt for the past year and a half after Graber was murdered by two Fairfield teenagers.
Just before receiving a life sentence Thursday for planning and executing the murder of Graber in Fairfield’s Chautauqua Park on Nov. 2, 2021, Chaiden Miller listened to victim impact statements from the Graber family. One of those was Graber’s son, Christian, who said he wanted to talk directly to Miller.
“I’ve met your mother on several occasions, and we had good conversations. She seemed like a decent woman,” Christian began. “I met your grandmother yesterday before the funeral of my father, and we had a decent conversation. I feel sorry for you, for your mother, grandmother and all your family. They are decent people, and I think there is potential for you to become a decent person as well. I don’t see it at the moment, but I really hope that one day you can be.”
Other family members took to the microphone in the courtroom to share their feelings. Some read prepared statements that were written by someone else. For instance, a written statement was read from Graber’s sister-in-law, Marilyn Fuest.
“I do believe every person my sister-in-law Nohema Graber met became her friend if he or she wasn’t already,” Fuest wrote. “The only exceptions were the two who stole her from the thousands who loved her. She had a way of lighting up the room when she entered. That is because she genuinely cared about every person.”
Tom Graber, the brother-in-law of Nohema Graber, remarked that the murder of Nohema has had an enormous impact on her family, Fairfield High School and the Fairfield community.
“Not only was Nohema robbed of 30-some years of her life, her murder robbed Paul Graber of the love of his life, and certainly hastened Paul’s own premature death,” Tom said, referring to his brother Paul’s death on June 29, 2023, just days before this sentencing hearing. “In the spring of 2021, Paul had just endured more than five years of dialysis, a side effect of his severe diabetes, and he received a miraculous kidney transplant. Things were at last looking up. He was looking forward to resuming travel with Nohema and their son, Jared, visiting their son Christian in Spain, and their daughter, Nohema Marie, who was working in Europe.”
Tom Graber said that instead of being able to enjoy those traveling experiences, “Willard Chaiden Miller murdered Nohema a few months later.”
“Paul was deeply and understandably depressed by the murder of Nohema, and his life ended last week from the ravages of a metastatic cancer, that would have been caught and treated far sooner had Nohema been there,” Tom said. “I’m certain, from knowing Nohema for 35 years, that she would have made Paul see a doctor much sooner for the pain and skin lesions he began experiencing late last year.”
Call Andy Hallman at 641-575-0135 or email him at andy.hallman@southeastiowaunion.com
