She vanished from her own farm. Three years later, they found her sealed inside a tank on the property.
On the night of April 24, 2021, Dee Ann Warner went to bed at her home in Franklin Township, Lenawee County, Michigan. She was 52 years old — a mother, a grandmother, and a co-owner of the family’s farming operation. By the next morning she was gone. There was no note and no packed bag. Her phone stopped generating records that night and never generated another one. Her bank accounts sat untouched. Her social media went silent. And no camera on a property covered in cameras ever caught her leaving it.
Her husband, Dale Warner, told investigators she had walked out on him. Her family never believed it for a single day.
A marriage described in court as “extremely toxic”
Dee grew up in Lenawee County farm country and stayed there. Friends and family described her as confident, generous and fearless — her brother, Gregg Hardy, called her a social butterfly who tried to be friends with everybody. But according to testimony given years later, the marriage was in serious trouble. Dee’s daughter, Rikkell Bock, testified that her mother’s relationship with Dale was “extremely toxic.” Witnesses described stalking, a tracking device placed on Dee’s car, and domestic violence.
Three years of searching
Michigan State Police took over the investigation. Volunteers searched fields and farmland across Lenawee County. The family built a public campaign — “Justice For Dee” — to keep the case in front of the public while the searches came up empty. In March 2024, with no trace of her found, Dee Warner was declared legally dead.
What actually broke the case
It wasn’t a witness, and it wasn’t a confession. It was digital evidence — including Dale Warner’s own device search history — combined with surveillance footage showing him gathering welding supplies, and moving a tank with an excavator while police were working the property. Investigators eventually obtained a search warrant for tanks on the property that had been re-welded. One of them, tank #34, had been tagged “bad dip tube, do not use.” Dee Warner’s remains were inside it. The tank had been sitting in plain sight on the family property the entire time.
Trial and sentence
Dale Warner went on trial at the Lenawee County Courthouse in Adrian, with opening statements on February 12, 2026. Prosecutors put surveillance footage, journals, jail calls and forensic evidence in front of the jury. On March 10, 2026, he was convicted of second-degree murder and tampering with evidence.
On May 7, 2026 he was sentenced to 60 years for the murder and 10 years for the tampering charge, to run consecutively — a maximum of 70 years, with parole eligibility in 33 years. He was 58 years old.
Watch the full documentary
Sources
- Lenawee County Circuit Court proceedings (public record)
- Michigan State Police case announcements
- WTVG 13abc (Toledo) trial and case coverage, 2021–2026
- The Detroit News; NBC News; Fox News
- Wikipedia, “Disappearance of Dee Ann Warner”
Related reading
No well-reviewed book has been written about this case specifically yet. If you want to read further around it, here is a search for coverage of the case: Dee Warner / Michigan true crime on Amazon.
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Presumption of innocence note: Dale Warner was convicted at trial on March 10, 2026 and sentenced on May 7, 2026. Guilt is stated here as a matter of court record, not allegation. He retains the right to appeal.