Man jailed in missing Wisconsin brothers case is denied bond on tampering charge
Update: Authorities on Monday afternoon held a news conference to offer the latest information in the case. That story is posted here.
A judge on Monday denied a change of bond for a northwest Missouri man jailed on accusations he illegally used a truck rented by two Wisconsin brothers who disappeared during a trip to the area earlier this month.
Garland Joseph “Joey” Nelson, 25, of Braymer, Missouri, was charged Friday with tampering with a vehicle used by the brothers, 35-year-old Nicholas Diemel and 24-year-old Justin Diemel.
The brothers were reported missing July 21. Authorities have since labeled their disappearances a “long-term death investigation.”
Nelson has been held without bond at the Caldwell County Detention Center. During his initial appearance Monday morning, a judge denied his request for bond change and set another hearing for Thursday.
The Caldwell County Sheriff’s Office said it planned to hold a news conference about the case at 4:30 p.m. Monday in the Braymer High School parking lot, about 70 miles northeast of Kansas City.
The brothers had traveled to Clinton and Caldwell counties for business related to a livestock company they run in Shawano County, near Green Bay, Wisconsin. The pair missed their flight home July 21, authorities have said.
Clinton County Sheriff Larry Fish on Friday said the case of the missing brothers had become a death investigation. A Facebook group called “Prayers for Nick Diemel and Justin Diemel,” which has more than 29,000 members, described the brothers’ lives as being “senselessly cut short.”
In charging documents, investigators said Nicholas Diemel rented a 2019 Ford F-250 truck from Budget Rent a Car, a vehicle Nelson admitted to using, though he did not have permission to do so. The vehicle was found the day after the brothers were reported missing, abandoned in a commuter parking lot in Holt, near Interstate 35.
GPS route information from the truck’s black box showed the Ford had been at a location where Nelson was known to conduct his farm operations, court records show.
More than two hours after it arrived at the farm, the vehicle left the area and it was taken to the commuter lot. Nelson admitted he left it there, according to charging documents.
The truck was found with the keys in the ignition.
In court records, a deputy with the Caldwell County Sheriff’s Office said Nelson was a danger to the community and had tried to mislead law enforcement, though a probable cause statement did not say how.
Nelson did not yet have an attorney listed in public court records who could be reached for comment.
Records show Nelson has been previously convicted in federal court in a separate case.
In 2016, Nelson was sentenced to two years in prison for selling more than 600 head of cattle that didn’t belong to him.
Nelson had pleaded guilty to conducting a cattle fraud scheme that “resulted in losses of more than $262,000 to his victims,” including the USDA Farm Service Agency, Cyclone Cattle Company and individual victims, the U.S. Attorney’s Office of the Western District of Missouri announced at the time.
He was released from prison in March 2018, according to the Federal Bureau of Prisons.
This story was originally published July 29, 2019 at 2:17 PM.
