On July 21, 2019, 34-year-old Nick Diemel and his younger brother, 24-year-old Justin Diemel, traveled from their home in Shawano County, Wisconsin, to a farm in Braymer, Missouri, intending to collect a debt of approximately $250,000. The brothers, who ran a cattle business called Diemel’s Livestock, had been dealing with Garland Joseph Nelson, a Missouri farmer who had agreed to feed and pasture their cattle before selling them.
Over the previous months, the business arrangement had deteriorated, with Nelson failing to remit payments and sending a bad check that had been intentionally damaged to prevent cashing. Seeking to resolve the financial dispute and inspect their livestock, the male siblings drove a rental truck to Nelson’s property, but they never returned for their flight home, prompting their family to report them missing.
Authorities launched an investigation that quickly focused on Nelson after the brothers' rented pickup truck was discovered abandoned in a commuter parking lot in Holt, Missouri. As law enforcement examined the Nelson farm, a disturbing picture emerged regarding the fate of the missing men. Evidence uncovered at the scene, along with Nelson’s eventual admissions, revealed that upon their arrival, the brothers were ambushed and shot to death. To cover up the murders and the underlying fraud scheme, their bodies were placed into 55-gallon barrels and burned. The remains were subsequently scattered, with some discovered in a manure pile on the Braymer farm and others found months later in a bucket inside a livestock trailer in Lincoln County, Nebraska.
Garland Nelson was arrested and charged in connection with the deaths, facing two counts of first-degree murder along with multiple other charges related to the disposal of the bodies and the fraudulent cattle operation. The investigation revealed that Nelson had sold, traded, or killed many of the cattle entrusted to him without compensating the Diemel family, using the funds to pay other debts instead. In September 2022, facing the possibility of the death penalty, Nelson pleaded guilty to two counts of first-degree murder. He was sentenced to two consecutive life terms in prison without the possibility of parole. Additionally, Nelson received a 32-year federal prison sentence for mail fraud and being a felon in possession of a firearm, bringing a final legal resolution to the brutal crimes that claimed the lives of the Wisconsin brothers.
