Human remains found on property of husband charged in wife's 2021 disappearance

Michigan State Police said they found human remains during a search on property belonging to Dale Warner, the husband of Dee Warner who has been missing since 2021.

According to MSP, police conducted a search warrant on a property in Lenawee County and discovered the remains.

Dee was last seen on April 25, 2021, at her home in Tecumseh, Michigan. In November 2023, Dale was arrested and charged for her disappearance and murder.

“I am extremely proud of the tireless work our detectives have put in to solve this case,” said Captain Steve O’Neill, commander of first district headquarters. “With incredible determination, they have pieced together a very difficult case culminating with an arrest. This arrest is another step in our investigation, and we will continue our efforts to bring closure to the family and to find Dee Warner’s remains so that her family can lay her to rest.”

“It was exhilarating in the fact that finally we had something... and then it was reliving that we finally accomplished something after three-and-a-half years of a really steep uphill climb," said Gregg Hardy, Dee Warner's brother.

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In 2022, Scripps News Detroit spoke with many of Dee's relatives.

“I don’t know how you prepare for the outcome,” said Rikkell Bock, Dee's daughter had told Scripps News Detroit.

At the time, she was desperate to know what happened to her mother, who at that point had been missing for a year.

Also at that time, former military investigator and attorney, Billy Little, had been helping the family.

Little had said several witnesses claimed Dee and Dale had argued about one of their businesses the day before, and they said she was planning to ask her husband for a divorce that night. Little said she even sent their then-9-year-old daughter to stay with a friend for the evening. Little said phone records showed that a friend sent Dee a text at 10:24 p.m. to ask how she was doing. About a half hour later the friend received a text that simply said “K.”

“She was very talkative, very expressive, she texted a lot. Never once, not one single time was her response to the letter ‘K.’ So after the friend said ‘how are you doing,’ no response – half an hour later, the letter K, and the phone gets turned off,” said Little. Little said he believed Dee wasn’t the one that sent the response ‘K.’

This story was originally published by Scripps News Detroit .

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