A Missouri man charged in connection with the murders of two brothers from Wisconsin over cattle has pleaded guilty to his role in their deaths.Garland “Joey” Nelson of Braymer, Missouri, pleaded guilty to two counts of first-degree murder Friday in Cass County. Nelson was facing the possibility of the death penalty in the killings of 24-year-old Justin Diemel and 35-year-old Nicholas Diemel. He was originally charged with two counts of first-degree murder, armed criminal action, tampering with a motor vehicle, abandonment of a corpse and stealing of a motor vehicle. In a release, Caldwell County Prosecutor Brady Kopek said Nelson has been sentenced to two terms of Life Imprisonment. He will serve those terms consecutively – one right after the other. Kopek added that all remaining charges against Nelson will be dropped. The brothers were in Braymer on business in July 2019 to collect a $250,000 debt stemming from a cattle deal when they went missing. They had rented an F-250 truck for that trip. It was later found parked in a commuter lot in Holt, Missouri, with the keys still in the ignition. Nelson previously admitted to driving that truck from his farm to the commuter lot, however, he pleaded not guilty to that charge. Then, human remains were found both on his farm and in a livestock trailer in Nebraska, which the owner said he’d recently bought in Missouri. Nelson told prosecutors in 2020 that he’d disposed of the brothers’ bodies but denied killing them.In Friday’s plea hearing, Nelson admitted to shooting both of the brothers as part of the dispute over the cattle agreement. Nelson said after shooting them, he placed their bodies in barrels, burned them, then dumped the remains. One set of remains was dumped in a large pile of cow manure on the Nelson farm. The other was dumped in a mineral supplement bucket that was eventually located in Nebraska. “The matter has been pending for over three years, and it is now finally over,” said Special Assistant Prosecutor Stephen Sokoloff. “I am hopeful that the Diemel family will now be able to return to their lives without this hanging over them.”I know that no sentence will bring Nick and Justin back to them, but they can sleep knowing that Nelson will be behind bars for the rest of his life.”
A Missouri man charged in connection with the murders of two brothers from Wisconsin over cattle has pleaded guilty to his role in their deaths.
Garland “Joey” Nelson of Braymer, Missouri, pleaded guilty to two counts of first-degree murder Friday in Cass County.
Nelson was facing the possibility of the death penalty in the killings of 24-year-old Justin Diemel and 35-year-old Nicholas Diemel. He was originally charged with two counts of first-degree murder, armed criminal action, tampering with a motor vehicle, abandonment of a corpse and stealing of a motor vehicle.
In a release, Caldwell County Prosecutor Brady Kopek said Nelson has been sentenced to two terms of Life Imprisonment. He will serve those terms consecutively – one right after the other.
Kopek added that all remaining charges against Nelson will be dropped.
The brothers were in Braymer on business in July 2019 to collect a $250,000 debt stemming from a cattle deal when they went missing. They had rented an F-250 truck for that trip. It was later found parked in a commuter lot in Holt, Missouri, with the keys still in the ignition.
Nelson previously admitted to driving that truck from his farm to the commuter lot, however, he pleaded not guilty to that charge. Then, human remains were found both on his farm and in a livestock trailer in Nebraska, which the owner said he’d recently bought in Missouri.
Nelson told prosecutors in 2020 that he’d disposed of the brothers’ bodies but denied killing them.
In Friday’s plea hearing, Nelson admitted to shooting both of the brothers as part of the dispute over the cattle agreement. Nelson said after shooting them, he placed their bodies in barrels, burned them, then dumped the remains. One set of remains was dumped in a large pile of cow manure on the Nelson farm. The other was dumped in a mineral supplement bucket that was eventually located in Nebraska.
“The matter has been pending for over three years, and it is now finally over,” said Special Assistant Prosecutor Stephen Sokoloff. “I am hopeful that the Diemel family will now be able to return to their lives without this hanging over them.
“I know that no sentence will bring Nick and Justin back to them, but they can sleep knowing that Nelson will be behind bars for the rest of his life.”
