FRANKLIN TOWNSHIP, MI – During a recent property search in Lenawee County, Michigan, investigators found human remains reported to belong to Dee Warner, who disappeared over three years ago. Investigators have been treating Dee’s case as a homicide, even as her husband, Dale John Warner, who owns the subject property, pleaded not guilty to her murder.
Dee Warner was reported missing in April 2021, leading to the authorities charging her 56-year-old husband, Dale, with open murder and evidence tampering in November of the same year. The human remains discovery coincidentally happened during a continued search of Dale’s property undertaken by the Michigan State Police.
A statement on Sunday by the Michigan State Police revealed that the recovered remains are still awaiting identification. The agency maintained that more work, including extensive testing, would be required to definitively identify the remains. The statement further assured that the Warner family is in the loop regarding this potentially significant development.
Meanwhile, local media stations received family reports confirming that the remains were discovered on Friday in an empty, sealed anhydrous ammonia tank typically used for crop fertilization.
Lt. Rene Gonzalez, a Michigan State Police spokesperson, validated the search timing yet refrained from sharing more details outside the official statement due to the ongoing nature of the investigation.
Dee Warner, who was 52 at the time of her disappearance, was last spotted on the morning of April 25, 2021, near a road in Franklin Township.
Dale Warner is currently held in the Lenawee County Jail and is expected to appear in court for a pretrial hearing on September 4.