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Testimony continues in Dale Warner murder trial
It wasn’t until seven months later that investigators discovered Dee’s body in a sealed fertilizer tank. The autopsy ruled the cause of death was a combination of blunt force trauma to the head and face and strangulation.
LENAWEE COUNTY, Mich. (FOX 2) - Testimony continued on Monday in the case of Dale Warner, the Lenawee County man accused of killing his wife, Dee, and stuffing her body in a fertilizer tank.
The lead detective on the case spent the day being questioned.
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"When detailing what he believed happened to Dee, his wife, Dee Warner — he stated he believed that she escaped to Florida or somewhere near the border and escaped on a secret $10 or $20 boat ride and was living in Mexico or Jamaica with the drug cartel," said the detective.
It turns out that theory was just a figment of Dale Warner’s imagination. His wife, Dee, 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 murder trial: Opening statements detail evidence against husband Dale
Opening statements were delivered Thursday as Dale Warner stands trial for allegedly killing his wife, Dee. Her body was found on his Lenawee County property years after she was reported missing.
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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.
There were two life insurance policies for Dee Warner.
Her husband, Dale, was the beneficiary on both.