Yahoo Movies Missouri farmer killed two men over $215,000 cattle contract, federal prosecutors say
A northwest Missouri farmer accused of murdering two Wisconsin brothers and burning their bodies now faces federal criminal charges alleging he killed them over a $215,000 cattle contract.
Garland Joseph Nelson, 27, of Braymer, was indicted Tuesday by a federal grand jury on a single count of mail fraud over an alleged scheme that prosecutors say drove him to murder two men. Nelson’s murder trial is a separate case and is scheduled to begin in June 2022, federal prosecutors said.
Prosecutors allege Nelson agreed to raise cattle for the brothers — Nicholas and Justin Diemel — and then sell the cattle for them. Under the contract, the Diemels were to receive the proceeds of the sales minus the costs Nelson charged for raising the cattle.
Over the course of about five months, between November 2018 and April 2019, several loads of cattle were sent to Nelson’s farm. But prosecutors allege Nelson sold, traded or killed many of the cattle while fraudulently billing the Diemel brothers for his services.
Nelson was accused of letting the cattle die out of neglect and incompetence. Examples of his services included an event in December 2018 during which Nelson was entrusted by a different client with caring for 131 calves. All but 35 died, prosecutors alleged, and the survivors were severely emaciated.
On the mail fraud count revealed Tuesday, Nelson was accused of sending a bad check to the Diemel brothers in the amount of $215,936. There was only 21 cents in the bank account, prosecutors said, and the check was “intentionally damaged” to prevent it from being submitted for payment.
In July 2019, the Diemel brothers flew to Kansas City from Milwaukee and rented a pickup truck. They then drove to Nelson’s family farm, where he is accused of killing them and trying to dispose of their bodies.
When the brothers suddenly disappeared, their case was surrounded by mystery for months.
The brothers were reported missing after they missed their plane home to Wisconsin. Police found their rental pickup truck abandoned in a commuter parking lot in Holt, Missouri.
Law enforcement agencies later scanned the 74-acre Nelson farm in Braymer, where human remains were found.
Prior to being accused of murder, Nelson spent time in prison for other cattle-related fraud.
In 2016, Nelson was sentenced to two years for selling more than 600 head of cattle that didn’t belong to him. He pleaded guilty to conducting a cattle fraud scheme that resulted in losses of more than $262,000 to his victims, the U.S. Attorneys office for the Western District of Missouri said at the time.
Nelson was released from federal prison for that crime in March 2018.
