Bradly Rex Nielsen
Bradly Rex Nielsen, 25, of Downey and longtime Malad resident, died Wednesday, October 7, in Stockton, California, victim of a homicide. He was born June 27, 1967 in Fort Knox, Kentucky, a son of Rex and Janet Coburn Nielsen. He grew up and was educated in Malad and was a graduate of Malad High School class of 1985.
He had joined the National Guard and had served for eight years. Since high school, he had driven a truck for several area trucking companies. At the time of his death he was employed by Moss Trucking Company of Malad.
He married Cindy A. Harmon, January 20, 1990, in Fallon, Nevada. Since their marriage, they had lived in Pocatello, Blackfoot and Downey. He was a member of the LDS Church. He enjoyed hunting, fishing, golfing and rodeoing and was an excellent dancer.
He is survived by his wife of Downey; three daughters, Mauvia, Taryan, and Dwan Jean “DJ”, all of Downey; two brothers, Todd L. Nielson of Malad, and Dustin Deschamps; one sister, Brittany Lee Nielsen of Malad; parents, Rex and Joleen Nielsen of Malad; Tom and Janet Deschamps of Malad; grandparents, Mrs. Fawn Luna of Nyssa, Oregon, and Rene and Melba Deschamps, and several aunts and uncles.
Funeral services were held Monday at noon at the Malad LDS Fifth Ward Chapel. Burial was in the Malad City Cemetery with military rites by the American Legion, Ernest W. Jones, Post No. 65.
Homicide charges filed in death of Brad Nielsen
Four men, one of them a juvenile, have been arrested in Stockton, California, and charged in the October 7 shooting death of Bradly Rex Nielsen, long-time resident of Malad, now residing in Downey.
The 25-year-old Nielsen, an employee of Moss Trucking Co., was delivering a load of flour from Salt Lake City to northern California last Wednesday and had stopped at a pull-off on southbound Interstate 5, six miles south of Stockton at about 1:15 a.m.
According to the investigating detective, Xavier Ordez, with the San Joaquin County Sheriffs Department, Nielsen was parked about thirty minutes when the four suspects appeared at his truck, knocked on the door, and engaged in a conversation. It is not known how the truck driver was persuaded to open his door, but when he did, Ordez said, the juvenile apparently shot Nielsen three times and robbed him of his wallet.
Nielsen tried to summon help, and a passing motorist called the sheriff’s department to report a man was kneeling alongside the interstate with blood on him. By the time police officers arrived, however -about ten minutes later – the former Malad man was dead.
Ordez said the four armed bandits had allegedly committed a robbery before they came upon Nielsen, and they apparently committed another robbery after they left their wounded victim. When the four stole a car following the second robbery, they were pursued and apprehended by the Stockton Police Department and booked into separate jail facilities.
The juvenile was housed in a juvenile detention cell and was subsequently visited by a juvenile counselor. During this visit, Ordez said, the youth muttered a reference to shooting a truck driver during the crime spree.
Subsequently, the counselor contacted the San Joaquin County Sheriffs Department upon hearing news reports of a trucker found shot to death near Stockton.
Ordez said there is no question evidence puts the four suspects at the scene of the crime.
Charged with 1st degree homicide and armed robbery is one 16-year-old white male.
Also charged is Christian Willis, a black male, age 24; Jesse Vargas Rodriguez, a Hispanic male, age 25; and Daniel Rongel, a Hispanic male, age 21. Investigators said all of the suspects had been drinking alcohol.
Funeral services were held Monday in the Malad 2nd/5th Ward Chapel for Brad Nielsen.
The son of Janet and Tom Deschamps and Rex and Joleen Nielsen, all of Malad, he was a graduate of Malad High School with the Class of 1985. He leaves behind a wife and three daughters of Downey. A full obituary appears in this edition of The Idaho Enterprise.
Jury finds California pair guilty of murdering Malad truck driver Brad Nielsen
(Taken from The Stockton Record)
A Superior Court jury in Stockton, California, found two men guilty September 3 of first-degree murder in the killing 11 months ago of Malad truck driver, Bradly Rex Nielsen.
The jury also found Payton Daniel Erbaugh, 17, and Christian Enrique Willis, 25, guilty of robbery, possession of a firearm and a separate robbery.
Superior Court Judge Nels B. Fransen set sentencing for October 1.
Erbaugh and Willis are two of the four men charged in Nielsen’s slaying during an alleged crime spree that spanned several hours. Erbaugh was the triggerman in the killing, according to a probation report.
Although only 16 at the time of the murder, he was ordered to stand trial as an adult and faces a possible sentence of life in prison without parole. Another probation report said that he often hit and kicked his mother, was abusive to her husband and had set a field on fire and tried to burn a building.
The other men charged in the case are Jesse Vargas Rodriquez, 26, who escaped in June from the San Joaquin County Jail and is still at large, and Daniel “Little Man” Rontal, 22, who testified against Erbaugh and Willis in return for leniency in sentencing. All are from Stockton.
Law officers said the four robbed a man of his car in central Stockton about 9:20 p.m. October 6 and fired gunshots at another motorist who tried to chase them.
About 1 a.m. the four allegedly accosted Nielsen as he was sleeping in his parked truck at the Lathrop Road off ramp of 1-15. Erbaugh admitted shooting Nielsen in the wrist when the trucker awoke and appeared to reach toward the dashboard, then shot him four times, killing him, when Nielsen came at him, according to the probation report.
Erbaugh and Willis were arrested by police about 2 a.m. after a stolen car in which they were riding crashed. The other two were apprehended later.
Deputy District Attorney Gerald Wall said jurors praised Deputy District Attorney Thomas Testa, who prosecuted the case.
Testa said Cindy Nielsen, widow of the slain truck driver, and Ken Moss, Nielsen’s employer, were both present at the trial. He said Moss brought the truck that Nielsen was driving to the courthouse lot, where jurors were allowed by the judge to view it and be shown how the crime took place. He said this was a great help to prosecutors.
