LENAWEE COUNTY, Mich. (FOX 2) - Opening statements were delivered Thursday in the murder trial for a man accused of killing his wife in Lenawee County.
Dale Warner was ordered to stand trial for the death of his wife, Dee Warner.
Opening statements:
During opening statements, the prosecution opted to present a condensed version of evidence the jury would see from witnesses, including a timeline. Dale's attorney, on the other hand, gave a brief opening statement that urged the jury to be wary of holes in the prosecution's timeline.
According to Prosecutor David McCreedy, the Warners' relationship was rocky leading up to the day Dee disappeared.
The prosecutor said that investigators found evidence that Dale allegedly stalked Dee's vehicle through OnStar, added a tracking device to another vehicle she used, and was planning to add cameras to the inside of their home. The couple's relationship also included fighting that increased and came to a head the weekend Dee was last seen alive.
McCreedy said the couple owned several businesses, including a farm, a company that supplies equipment to other farms, and a trucking business. That Saturday of the weekend Dee disappeared, she told Dale she was leaving him and they needed to sell the businesses after he allegedly told some of their farmworkers that Dee took Xanax and was "a mess."
According to McCreedy, Dale told authorities that Dee was upset the night of April 24, 2021, but she calmed down and fell asleep in the living room. He said he woke up Sunday to do some work on the farm, and last saw her sleeping on the couch. He even sent a text to Dee's phone telling her that he was going to work on the farm.
While he was gone, Dee's children came to the house for breakfast because they had an open invitation for Sunday breakfast. When they arrived, Dee was not there, leading to a search of areas where she might go.
After an unsuccessful search, McCreedy said they called police secretly to report her missing because Dale allegedly did not want to contact police.
This led to numerous searches, including one that led to Dee's body being found in a tank that had been welded shut.
Defense attorney Mary Chartier-Mittendorf told the jurors that she did not want to give them the evidence they would hear during testimony in her opening statement. Instead, she urged them to take a critical look at the prosecution's timeline because, she claims, all occurrences do not fit into the timeline.
She also urged jurors to pay attention to other activity on the farm, including other people who she said were present on the property at the time that the alleged murder happened.
According to Chartier-Mittendorf, the evidence will show holes that the prosecution cannot fill, presenting a reasonable doubt that Dale may not have killed Dee.
The backstory:
Dee Warner, 52, was reported missing in April 2021. In 2023, her husband was arrested and charged with murder before her body was even found. The following year, police found Dee's body in an anhydrous ammonia tank on her husband's farm.
Despite extensive searches of the property surrounding Dee's Munger Road home in Franklin Township, it took years for her body to be found.
Even without a body, Dale was arrested in November 2023, and charged with tampering with evidence and murder.
Dee Warner
Attorney Todd Flood said that in order for that to happen, a declaration of death trial was held.
"During that timeframe, Dale knew where the body was, knew how he strangled her," Flood said. "We had to have a judge and a trial to show that she in fact was dead and not just missing."
In August 2024, Michigan State Police discovered remains on property owned by Dale found to be the missing grandmother.
Dig deeper:
Last March, Dee's 28-year-old stepson was charged with tampering with evidence and accessory after the fact to a felony, but those charges were later dropped.
Details surrounding what led to the charges and the subsequent dismissal of them are unclear.
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