WAUSAU PILOT AND REVIEW
BRAYMER, Mo. — A Braymer, Missouri, man has been charged in connection to the disappearance of two Wisconsin brothers who vanished Sunday in Missouri and police now say the case is a death investigation, not a missing person case.
Garland Nelson, 25, has been charged with tampering with a motor vehicle, a first-degree felony, in Caldwell County. The charge stems from the search for 35-year-old Nick Diemel and 24-year-old Justin Diemel.
According to KCTV, the brothers went to Missouri for their cattle business. Court documents say on Sunday morning the Diemel brothers left a Quality Inn off I-35 in Cameron, Missouri, and drove to an address on Catawba Road in Braymer where Nelson operates his farm.
A few hours later, the truck’s GPS information shows it leaving the farm. It’s later seen on surveillance footage in Polo, and there is no one in the passenger seat.
Just before 1 p.m. later that day, the truck pulls into a commuter lot in Holt, Missouri, which is where officials would later find it on Monday, empty with the keys in the ignition.
Friends and family were unable to contact the brothers after they missed their flight to Wisconsin. A missing person investigation was eventually opened.
The charging documents said Nelson told police Tuesday that he drove the brothers’ rental truck and parked it in the commuter lot. Police received a fax from the rental company that stated Nicholas Diemel was the only authorized person for the rental car.
Clinton County officials said law enforcement conducted searches in both counties. Authorities have searched buildings, ponds and other areas with no results.
Nelson has a conviction for selling cattle that didn’t belong to him and spent two years in a federal penitentiary for that charge.
