By Sarah Prior
Updated on: April 5, 2026 / 1:10 AM EDT / CBS News
Dee Warner vanished on the morning of April 25, 2021, from the farmland of Lenawee County, Michigan. She was 52 and living on the family farm with her second husband, Dale Warner, and their 9-year-old child. The Warners ran three businesses from the property — a trucking company with about 15 employees, a farm, and a chemical company selling fertilizer and seed. Dee also had four adult children from a previous marriage.
Her daughter Rikkell Bock, who lived roughly a half-mile away and could see her mother’s house from her front yard, discovered Dee missing when she went over for their weekly Sunday breakfast. Both of Dee’s cars were at the farm and she wasn’t answering calls or texts — behavior Bock described as highly unusual. Bock told “48 Hours” that “if my mom could glue her phone to her hand, she would.”
Bock and Dee’s siblings said they had seen her the day before she disappeared. Dee had told them she’d had a fight with two trucking company employees that Saturday and seemed upset. That prompted the family to report her missing the following day.
A Lenawee County deputy visited the Warners’ home after the missing-person report. Dale told the deputy about the Saturday altercation and said he wasn’t too worried because he’d noticed his wife’s makeup bag, hair dryer and curling iron were gone — and that Dee had been known to leave when upset. Dee’s brother Gregg Hardy and his wife, Shelley, feared she might have harmed herself and organized a foot search of the farmland with about 50 people; they found no trace.
Hardy said he became suspicious of Dale during that first search, noting that Dale arrived on a four-wheeler and “doesn’t really participate.” Over weeks, Gregg said his suspicions deepened. He recalled asking Dale about the investigation six weeks after Dee disappeared; according to Gregg, Dale said the search was “a little slow.” Gregg later publicly accused Dale of lying about what happened to his sister.
Police repeatedly searched the property and questioned Dale, who spoke to investigators voluntarily several times and allowed searches of his land. Authorities initially found no evidence of violence or of Dee’s whereabouts. The county prosecutor cautioned family members against hastily making arrests without physical evidence, stressing the difficulty of prosecuting a murder case without a body.
In the fall of 2021, Gregg organized a public vigil to press for answers. After seeing a “48 Hours” episode about a no-body case that featured attorney and investigator Billy Little — who said, “You don’t get to get away with murder because you’re good at disposing of bodies” — Gregg and his wife sought Little’s help. Little began assisting the family, interviewing witnesses, walking properties, flying drones, and advising on media strategy.
As part of that strategy, Gregg paid for a billboard near a busy intersection close to the Warners’ businesses that read “Help Dale Find Dee.” He and Little say the message was sarcastic, intended to shame Dale publicly and pressure him because they believed he wasn’t acting like a concerned husband. The billboard was aimed at the trucking company’s drivers and the local community.
Local supporters held rallies and vigils and pushed for state police to take over the case. Michigan State Police began assisting before formally taking over the investigation in August 2022; the FBI also assisted. In November 2023, state police arrested Dale Warner and charged him with Dee’s murder. He pleaded not guilty.
Dale and his attorney declined interviews before trial. His attorney told “48 Hours” that “Mr. Warner maintains his innocence, and we are prepared to vigorously fight for him in court and present his defense.” Authorities said they had not located Dee when they filed charges. In August 2024, investigators reported finding a major piece of physical evidence in the case.
Dale Warner was bound over for trial in June 2024; his trial had been scheduled to begin Sept. 2, 2025. On March 10, 2026, a jury found him guilty of second-degree murder and tampering with evidence in the death of Dee Warner.