On April 25, 2021, Dee Warner did not show up for Sunday breakfast at the Lenawee County farm where she lived with her husband, Dale. Family members found her vehicles parked, her phone and passport missing, and personal items like her makeup bag and curling iron gone. Dee’s nine-year-old daughter Lena had stayed elsewhere the night before and had not been picked up. Her adult children grew alarmed when calls and texts went unanswered and security cameras recorded no sign of Dee leaving the property.
Dale told a deputy that Dee had been sleeping on the couch that morning and that she often spent nights elsewhere when upset. He claimed Dee had a “secret phone” and that she’d left her wedding ring on his desk. Family members noted inconsistencies in Dale’s accounts and in what he told different relatives. Devinces at the farm showed Dale working that day; he drove a sprayer on the road and used a JCB front-end loader near the back of the house, movements corroborated by security footage and equipment records.
Dee and Dale ran multiple businesses from the property—a trucking company, a farm, and an agricultural chemical company—and Dee managed office operations. Family and employees described a volatile marriage and ongoing disputes at work; Dee had been upset after recent arguments with employees. Some family members initially considered that Dee might have left intentionally or harmed herself, but no evidence supported that she’d taken off: no social-media activity, no phone or bank use, no surveillance showing her leaving, and no one who knew her had heard from her.
As searches by the Lenawee County Sheriff’s Office and later the Michigan State Police and FBI turned up nothing, Dee’s brother Gregg grew frustrated with perceived slow progress. He hired Missouri investigator Billy Little. Little and the family pursued independent searches, drone surveys of hundreds of acres, and public pressure—social media and a sarcastic billboard reading “Help Dale Find Dee”—aimed at prompting more scrutiny of Dale’s actions and the property.
Investigators focused on circumstantial and behavioral evidence showing Dee was not alive after April 24–25, 2021. They compiled:
– Absence of any electronic, financial, or social activity by Dee after that date.
– Missing personal items (phone, passport), yet no withdrawal of funds or other steps suggesting a planned disappearance.
– Inconsistent statements by Dale about the timeline and details of the couple’s argument and Dee’s whereabouts.
– Security camera footage of Dale near welding equipment and using farm machinery that could move large objects near the house.
– Tire tracks and other physical indicators noted by family members that suggested heavy equipment had been used at the back of the home.
– Business records and civil filings showing disputed money movements and tensions over the trucking business.
The case proceeded despite the lack of a body. At a May 1, 2024 preliminary hearing, prosecutors sought to show probable cause that Dee had died and that Dale was responsible. Defense counsel emphasized the absence of a body, weapon, blood, or direct forensic evidence and highlighted surveillance corroborating parts of Dale’s account—him operating the loader and spraying equipment that morning and sending a text to Dee. Prosecutors presented the exhaustive negative searches—of phones, social media, bank records, healthcare records, and numerous land searches—to argue there was no evidence Dee was alive. Family members testified that Dee would not have left her young daughter and that she had not behaved like someone planning to disappear.
Judge Anna Frushour ruled there was probable cause to believe Dee died by homicide and that Dale likely caused it, sending the case to trial. The judge cited the absence of evidence supporting Dale’s claims that Dee had a secret phone or had been picked up by someone, and she found the circumstantial case sufficient to proceed.
Two months after that hearing, in August 2024, investigators executing a search warrant at a property owned by Dee and Dale removed a large metal fertilizer tank with an apparent non-factory weld and “out of service” labeling. Scanning the tank revealed human remains. Days later authorities confirmed the remains were Dee Warner’s and ruled her death a homicide. Warrant documents noted security video from the day Dee went missing showing Dale searching for something near welding equipment in a farm building—consistent with access to the tank and tools that could modify or conceal it.
The tank discovery provided the physical evidence that had been lacking, allowing investigators to tie the earlier circumstantial case to Dee’s remains. Prosecutors charged Dale with murder and tampering with evidence. Dale pleaded not guilty and maintained his innocence; his defense argued others could have accessed the barn and the tank and reiterated the earlier lack of direct evidence linking him to harming Dee.
Family members said finding Dee’s body brought a measure of certainty and relief that she had not left willingly. Dee was privately buried after identification. On March 10, 2026, a jury found Dale Warner guilty of second-degree murder and tampering with evidence.
How did investigators build a murder case without a body? They relied on a combination of:
– Absence-of-life evidence: no electronic, financial, social or eyewitness traces that Dee continued to live after her disappearance.
– Inconsistent and suspicious statements and behavior: conflicting accounts by Dale, unexplained items left behind (including a valuable ring), and an apparent lack of concern or urgency that family members found odd.
– Physical and documentary evidence tying Dale to relevant movements and locations: security camera footage, machinery and sprayer records, and observed tire tracks suggesting heavy equipment placed or moved near the house.
– Persistent investigative work and outside pressure that pushed authorities to expand searches and re-examine properties connected to the Warners.
– Ultimately, the recovery of Dee’s remains inside a fertilizer tank on property the couple owned, which converted circumstantial evidence into direct proof of homicide and facilitated a criminal conviction.
The Warner case illustrates that while homicide prosecutions without a body are challenging—because prosecutors must first show the victim is dead—thorough investigation of circumstantial evidence, combined with persistence and targeted searches, can yield the physical evidence needed to secure charges and, ultimately, a conviction.