KANSAS CITY, Mo. (NBC 26) — Garland Joseph Nelson, the man charged in the deaths of two Wisconsin men in rural Missouri, is expected to plead guilty, according to court documents.
Nelson is charged with two counts of first-degree murder, two counts of abandonment of a corpse, two counts of tampering with physical evidence, two counts of armed criminal action, and one count of tampering with a motor vehicle.
Nelson is anticipated to enter a guilty plea to those counts this week, according to a court document filed Tuesday by the U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Missouri.
According to previous reports, Nelson entered into a business relationship with two brothers from Shawano County, Nicholas and Justin Diemel, to care for cattle. While Nelson cared for some of the Diemels' cattle, he is accused of selling, trading or killing some cattle without paying the Diemels any of the proceeds, and continued to bill the Diemels for the cattle.
When the Diemels became suspicious of the scheme, they stopped sending cattle to Nelson and demanded payment for the cattle. Nelson eventually sent the Diemels a check for nearly $216,000, but the check was tied to a bank account with just 21 cents.
Court documents allege that, as Nicholas Diemel became frustrated with Nelson’s lack of payment, he traveled to Missouri to retrieve his money.
It was during that trip in July 2019 that Nelson is accused of killing the brothers and attempting to dispose of their bodies. According to previous reports, the brothers' remains were later found in Missouri and Nebraska.
