By BRENT MARTIN
St. Joseph Post
A northwest Missouri man charged with killing two Wisconsin brothers and disposing of their bodies on his farm has pleaded guilty to first-degree murder in both deaths.
By pleading guilty, Garland “Joey” Nelson of Braymer avoids the death penalty.
Nelson had faced the possibility of two death sentences in the murders of 24-year-old Justin Diemel and 35-year-old Nicholas Diemel. He pleaded guilty in Cass County Circuit Court Friday morning. He has been sentenced to life in prison for both murders, to be served back-to-back.
Nelson had told prosecutors nearly two years ago that he had disposed of the bodies of the two men, but at that time he denied killing them.
The two brothers disappeared after visiting Nelson’s farm near Braymer in July of 2019. Authorities found their burned remains in both Missouri and Nebraska.
The Diemel brothers had a livestock operation in Shawano County, Wisconsin. Their father reported them missing in July of 2019 after they failed to return from Nelson’s farm. Court records stated the Diemel family had sent livestock to Nelson to care for, but he had neglected the cattle. The brothers had gone to the Nelson farm to demand a refund totaling $250,000.
Court records disclose Nelson shot the brothers, stuffed their bodies in barrels, and burned them. The remains had been dumped on a manure pile; the barrels hidden on the property.
Nelson had been trouble with the law before.
Nelson had been sentenced in 2016 to two years in prison for selling more than 600 head of cattle that didn’t belong to him. Nelson had pleaded guilty to cattle fraud of more than $250,000 in losses. He was released from prison in March of 2018.