A Braymer cattle farmer was charged on Wednesday with two counts of first-degree murder in the deaths of two missing brothers from Wisconsin. Police found human remains on 25-year-old Garland “Joey” Nelson’s farm.
According to the probable cause statement, the Diemels traveled to Caldwell county to get payment of $250,000 from Joey Nelson for the sale of cattle. Nelson admitted to investigators that he was paid to feed and sell cattle for the Diemels.
Caldwell County Sheriff Jerry Galloway announced the murder charges against 25-year-old Garland “Joey” Nelson today.
Court documents say that Nelson intentionally killed the brothers with a .30-30 rifle on his farm near Braymer. Each brother’s bodies were initially placed inside a 55-gallon metal barrel in a pole barn on Nelson’s property. Prosecutors allege that Nelson then moved the bodies with a skid loader bucket to a pasture nearby, where he set the remains on fire with diesel fuel. After the bodies were burned, Nelson hid the remains in a manure pile. Nelson also tried to get rid of the barrels by crushing them.
Court documents say a bloodstain found on nelson’s clothing has been confirmed to be from Nicholas Diemel, according to DNA testing. That same piece of clothing contained a spent .30-30 caliber cartridge.
Nelson is also charged in Caldwell County with two counts of abandonment of a corpse, two counts of tampering with physical evidence in a felony prosecution, two counts of armed criminal action, tampering with a motor vehicle, and unlawful possession of a firearm.
An initial arraignment is scheduled for Thursday, October 24, 2019, at 10 am. The murder charges carry a range of punishment of life in prison without parole or death.
Brothers Nick and Justin Diemel, who owned a livestock business in Wisconsin, were reported missing July 21st after renting a truck and traveling to Nelson’s farm in northwestern Missouri. The brothers failed to show up for a flight back to Wisconsin. Afterward, Nelson was charged with tampering with the brothers’ vehicle by driving to a commuter parking lot at Holt and leaving it there.
Judge Jason Alfred Kanoy ordered Nelson to be held without bond because he “poses a flight risk and a danger to the community.”
