‘It ruined lives’: For rural Wisconsin, brothers’ disappearance in Missouri hits hard
Hardly a day goes by that Troy Porter doesn’t run into to a friend or a family member of Nick and Justin Diemel, two Wisconsin brothers who vanished during a trip to northwest Missouri last month.
It’s been hard on people here, he said.
“A lot of days you shed a tear because you just run into someone.”
Porter, at his farm in Shawano County, northwest of Green Bay, has seen the effect on the community as weeks passed with no answers about what happened to the brothers, who went to Missouri on livestock business and disappeared July 21.
Nick, 35, left a wife and four children at home not far from Porter’s farm. Justin, 25, left a long-term girlfriend. The brothers haven’t been heard from since they reportedly went to look at some calves at a farm in Braymer, Missouri, about 70 miles northeast of Kansas City.
A man working at the farm has been jailed on accusations he dumped the brothers’ rental truck miles away, and human remains found during a search of the property have not yet been identified, according to local law enforcement in Missouri. The search for the brothers has been labeled a death investigation.
The Diemels are a big family, and in this tight-knit rural community the impact of the brothers’ disappearance was wide, area residents said.
In the face of the apparent tragedy, Porter said, people in the rural towns in and near Shawano County have done what they always do when someone is in need: come together.
On Thursday Porter pledged to donate all the day’s proceeds from his pick-your-own farm, Porters Patch, to the Diemel Brothers Benefit Fund to help the family.
He also challenged anyone in the community to match the donation, which a local firm, DTR Concrete, did. Between sales, the DTR Concrete match and individual donations, Porter said, they raised more than $7,000 in one day.
Down the road, the Navarino Rangers baseball team, which Nick used to coach little league for, announced on Facebook that all ticket prices for last week’s game would go straight to the family.
“There’s not a person around here that’s not helping in some way or another,” Porter said.
It’s needed, he said. The brothers’ disappearance has hurt a lot of people around here.
“I’ll be honest, Porter said. It ruined lives forever.”
‘Small town USA’
In a small town, everyone knows everyone, said Kevin Conradt, team president of the Navarino Rangers. So when the men were reported missing, the entire community knew it was bad.
“Everybody expected the worst because it wasn’t like those guys to not contact their family or be in touch,” Conradt said.
The team raised more than $7,000 from ticket sales, raffle sales and individual donations to benefit the Diemel family, Conradt said. Now they are raffling off an American flag made of baseball bats, and Conradt said the high bid was $999.
The opposing team from a neighboring town arrived Sunday with a donation for the family as well. It’s just part of the culture of the community, Conradt said.
“This is small town USA at its finest,” he said. “Everyone’s come together, everyone wants to help in some way.”
One Navarino Rangers player, 28-year-old Ryan Boettcher, is going beyond the team donations.
He’s known the Diemel brothers for at least a decade, he said.
Boettcher’s father is business partners with Brandon Diemel, one of the other brothers, and Boettcher has fond memories of the family.
“They were a lot of fun, that’s for sure,” Boettcher said. “And they took care of everyone around here.”
Since Nick and Justin have been missing, Boettcher said, the lack of information has been confusing.
“Nobody’s saying anything, so you don’t know what the real story is and what’s not,” he said.
To help the family, Boettcher has promised to donate $50 per game as well as $5 for every hit, $5 for every strikeout he pitches, and $5 for every run the team scores .
Other players have agreed to match his donation, and they raised more than $1,000 last week alone, he said. It’s the one way, Boettcher said, he could think of to help.
“They always supported the Rangers,” Boettcher said. “And I play baseball — that’s all I do.”
In addition to the baseball and you-pick fundraisers, a merchandise sale by Fox Cities Embroidery wraps up Sunday and a local salon is holding a hair-cut-a-thon in support of the family.
“We just wanted a place … to gather up as much love as we could,” said Porter, the you-pick farmer. “Because all the ones that are affected, you can’t give them enough love right now.”
This story was originally published August 4, 2019 at 12:11 PM.
