A Michigan farmer who insisted for years that his missing wife would eventually return home was convicted Tuesday of murdering her and hiding her body in a sealed fertilizer tank on their own property. Dale Warner, 58, showed little emotion as a Lenawee County jury found him guilty of second-degree murder and tampering with evidence in the death of 52-year-old Dee Warner.
The verdict caps a five-year journey for Dee’s family, who watched her disappear in April 2021 only to learn three years later that her remains had been just miles away the entire time, wrapped in tarps, bound with duct tape, and sealed inside a tank marked “out of service” and “do not fill”.
Dee Warner was last seen on April 25, 2021, at the couple’s farm in Franklin Township, about 70 miles southwest of Detroit. In the days following her disappearance, Dale Warner acted nonchalantly when questioned by police, telling officers it wasn’t unusual for his wife to take off.
But Dee’s family knew something was wrong. Her brother, Gregg Hardy, immediately suspected Dale and launched a “Justice for Dee” campaign that would span nearly five years. Signs and banners popped up across Lenawee County demanding answers.
The trial, which stretched over five weeks with testimony from 35 witnesses, painted a picture of a marriage in its death spiral long before Dee’s body was found. Prosecutors revealed that the night before her disappearance, Dee told Dale she wanted a divorce and planned to sell their trucking business.
Text messages from Dee laid bare her desperation. “I’m ready to move out and be done with this,” she wrote. “You treat me as if I’m not worthy of anything. I’m not going to live like this.” Another read: “We don’t even talk. We are just roommates”.
The marriage had become a battleground over money, children, and infidelity. Dale, suspicious that Dee was having an affair, tracked her obsessively, using a mobile app to check the location of her Cadillac Escalade 2,100 times between January 2020 and April 2021. He asked an employee to clone her phone and bought a GPS tracker for her Hummer.
Dee’s massage therapist testified she observed bruises on Dee’s body eight to 10 times, including one on her hip that resembled a handprint.
For more than three years, investigators searched for Dee without success. Dale was charged with murder in November 2023, before her body had even been found. Prosecutors believed they could prove Dee was dead and Dale was responsible based on circumstantial evidence alone.
Then, on August 16, 2024, Michigan State Police made the grim discovery. Using a drone, they had captured footage of Dale using a backhoe loader to move a rusted fertilizer tank from a burn pile after learning police planned to bring in cadaver dogs. Inside a storage building on the Warners’ Tipton property, several miles from the family farm, investigators found the tank. It had been resealed and repainted.
Inside, clad in pajamas and wrapped in two blue tarps, was Dee Warner. Her arms and legs were bound with duct tape. An autopsy later determined she died by strangulation and blunt force trauma to her head and face.
Prosecutors presented chilling evidence of Dale’s state of mind after his wife’s death. A review of his electronic devices revealed searches for “What to do with 1000-gallon propane tank,” “chemical cremation,” and “what is liquid cremation and why is it illegal.” He also searched for “10 Widow Dating Sites”.
During closing arguments, Prosecutor Jackie Wyse painted a picture of conscious choices. She told jurors that Dale could have called 911 and said “I screwed up” when he realized what happened, but instead taped Dee’s mouth and nose so she couldn’t breathe. “Those were all conscious decisions,” Wyse said.
Defense attorney Mary Chartier argued there was no physical evidence directly linking Dale to the killing. She pointed to the timeline, arguing that farm cameras showed Dale’s whereabouts throughout the day and that he wouldn’t have had enough time to kill Dee, move her body, open and reseal the tank, and repaint it.
Chartier also noted that extensive searches of Warner properties never found blood stains or signs of a struggle in the home. “You are not here to judge Mr. Warner as a husband,” she told the jury. “You may think he was a bad husband, a not-very-attentive husband, whatever you may think of him”.
After nine hours of deliberations over two days, the jury of seven men and five women disagreed with the defense. As the guilty verdicts were read, Dale Warner looked down, buckling slightly before his attorney patted his arm. In the gallery, Dee’s loved ones cried and hugged each other.
For Gregg Hardy, who fought for five years, the moment was overwhelming. “I fought every day for five years,” he told The Detroit News. “It was very difficult to get validation. It took nearly to the very end”.
“It’s obviously bittersweet,” Hardy said. “There’s nothing that replaces her, but it is as close to justice, and like I kinda say, we can almost change this from Justice for Dee to Victory for Dee”.
Dale Warner is scheduled to be sentenced on May 7, 2026, and could face up to life in prison. His attorney has indicated they will appeal the conviction.
The Warner estate, which includes multiple businesses and 4,000 acres of land, remains entangled in legal proceedings. Dee’s family previously filed to have access to her financial estate under Michigan’s Wrongful Death Act, arguing Dale was not entitled to her assets.
For the Lenawee County community, the case has left an indelible mark. As resident Michael Lehr put it, “I’m sad that our city became noted because of this murder. It’s unfortunate because it’s a small town in southeast Michigan with lots of things going on here that are wonderful for our community”.
