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The legal proceedings have commenced for a Michigan farmer accused of murdering his wife and concealing her body within a fertilizer tank for several years.
Dale Warner is charged with murder and evidence tampering following the disappearance of his wife, Dee Warner, who was last seen at their Tipton farm in April 2021 when she was 52 years old.
Her body was unearthed over three years later, in August 2024, inside a sealed tank designed for anhydrous fertilizer storage on the couple’s property in Lenawee County, as reported by Court TV. She was discovered in her pajamas, having been strangled. Her head was encased in duct tape and bore blunt force trauma, according to the prosecution.
Dee Warner Had Been Planning to Leave Marriage, Prosecutors Said
During the opening statements, prosecutors revealed that Dee vanished shortly after informing her husband of her intention to end their marriage and sell their business.
Assistant Prosecutor David McCreedy addressed the jury, stating as reported by WDIV-TV, “She was never seen or heard from again.”
To support their theory, prosecutors pointed to text messages Dee had allegedly sent Dale before she disappeared, expressing her unhappiness with the relationship.
“I’m ready to move out and be done with this,” Dee allegedly texted in one exchange, according to texts prosecutors showed at trial per WTOL. “You treat me as if I’m not worthy of anything. I’m not going to live like this.”
In another, Dee said the couple was more like “just roommates,” adding, “Our relationship has gotten so much worse.”
Dale is also accused of stalking his wife, tracking her vehicles over 2,000 times and installing cameras inside their home, prosecutors said.
Dee Warner Had Been Upset Before She Disappeared in 2021
When Dee disappeared on April 24, 2021, Dale told her family, according to comments they made in a Dateline: Missing in America podcast, that the pair had gotten into an argument, but later made up. He claimed that Dee had fallen asleep on the couch as he was giving her a massage, adding that when he woke up the next morning, she was gone.
That morning, Dee’s daughter Rikkel Bock arrived for the family’s usual Sunday breakfast and discovered her mother was missing.
She testified in court Feb. 12, per CourtTV, that the last time she saw her mother on April 24, 2021 she had been visibly upset and that Dee told her she planned to get a divorce.
Her other daughter Amber Million also testified, per WDIV, that Dee had been upset and crying the last time she saw her mother, adding, “She said, ‘We are selling everything. I’m done.’”
Dee’s friend Amy Alexander told jurors that she had agreed to watch the couple’s 9-year-old daughter the night Dee disappeared so that she and Dale could talk about divorcing.
After Dee disappeared, prosecutors said surveillance footage showed Dale moving equipment and using welding materials. His finger print was also found on the tank where her body was found welded inside, prosecutors said at trial according to CourtTV.
Dale Warner’s Defense Attorney Says Case is Based on “Speculation”
In defense attorney Marisa Vinsky’s opening comments to the jury, she called the prosecution’s case “built on speculation, assumption and innuendo.”
She urged jurors to focus on the prosecutor’s timeline of events and others who had access to the property.
The trial against Dale continues this week.