In April, a Montana man was sentenced to 32 years in prison for two murders he committed to cover up a cattle rustling scheme. Garland Joseph Nelson pleaded guilty to defrauding Deimel’s Livestock LLC over a contract which required him to care for and eventually sell the company’s cattle. Instead of preparing the cattle for auction, Nelson neglected them, leading many to die of malnutrition or lack of care. However, he continued billing Deimel’s for feed and boarding. When Nelson failed to either sell or return the cattle, Nicholas Diemel demanded payment. Nelson told Diemel to come to his ranch to get the funds, but when Nicholas and his brother Justin arrived, Nelson murdered them. Investigators found that Nelson had previously been involved in multiple cattle fraud schemes.
This would be a great basis for novel.
