On July 21, 2019, 24-year-old male Justin Diemel and his brother Nicholas traveled from their home in Shawano County, Wisconsin, to a farm in Braymer, Missouri. The brothers, who operated a livestock business, had made the trip to collect a $250,000 debt owed to them by a business associate named Garland Joseph Nelson. The financial dispute centered on a cattle management agreement in which Nelson had been entrusted to care for and sell cattle belonging to the Diemels.
Instead, Nelson had sold, traded, or killed many of the animals without compensating the brothers, eventually sending them a bad check that had been intentionally damaged to prevent it from being cashed.
When Justin and Nicholas failed to board their return flight to Wisconsin, their family reported them missing. Authorities launched an investigation that initially uncovered the brothers' rental truck abandoned in a commuter parking lot in Holt, Missouri. Focus quickly turned to Nelson’s 74-acre farm, where the men had last been seen. During a search of the property, investigators found human remains that had been burned and discarded. Nelson eventually admitted to authorities that he had shot both brothers and placed their bodies in 55-gallon barrels to burn them. He then disposed of the remains by dumping them on a manure pile on his farm and hiding others in a bucket filled with mineral supplement, which was later discovered in a livestock trailer in Nebraska.
Garland Nelson was arrested and charged with two counts of first-degree murder, among other offenses including abandonment of a corpse and tampering with physical evidence. Investigations revealed that Nelson had a prior conviction for cattle fraud and was attempting to cover up his financial crimes when he committed the murders. In September 2022, facing the possibility of the death penalty, Nelson pleaded guilty to the murder charges. He was subsequently sentenced to two consecutive life terms in prison without the possibility of parole. In a separate federal proceeding concluded in April 2023, Nelson received an additional 32-year sentence for mail fraud and being a felon in possession of a firearm, with the judge ordering him to pay over $260,000 in restitution to the victims' company.
