Shivangi Sinha
When Dee Warner went missing from Franklin Township, Michigan, it was her family members who were the first to raise the alarm. At the time, she had been living with her husband, Dale Warner, and their then nine-year-old daughter. As the investigation progressed, suspicion gradually fell on Dale, who insisted that his wife had left of her own accord but gave conflicting accounts of the day she was last seen. He was ultimately arrested even before Dee’s remains were discovered, and the case against him grew significantly stronger once they were found. CBS’ ’48 Hours: The “No Body” Case of Dee Warner’ presents a detailed timeline of the investigation and the evidence that ultimately led to Dale’s conviction for his wife’s murder.
Dale Warner Was Running Three Businesses With His Wife When She Went Missing
Dale Warner was well known in his community as a farmer and businessman from Tipton, Michigan. He had spent most of his life in the area, where he had deep roots and built both his personal and professional life. At the time, he was married to Julie Warner and worked at a custom fertilizer application company to support his family. The couple also had a son, Jaron, and from the outside, Dale appeared to be living a stable life. One of the biggest controversies he became involved in arose in the early 2000s, when he and his co-worker, Dee Hardy Bock, began growing close to one another. Like Dale, Dee was married at the time and was the mother of four children.
In 2003, Dale and Julie divorced, and Dee’s marriage also eventually came to an end. Julie later married Dee’s former husband, Tim Bock, while Dale and Dee became a public couple shortly afterward. In 2006, they tied the knot and decided to build a business together. Over the years, they established a trucking company, a farm, a chemical company, and a crop farming business. They also welcomed their daughter, Angalena Warner, in 2012. All of their ventures performed well, with the trucking company proving especially successful. On April 25, 2021, Dee’s daughter, Rickell Bock, arrived at their home for their usual Sunday breakfast, only to find that her mother was missing. Dale told her that he had seen Dee asleep when he left the house that morning. He added that he had texted her a few hours later without receiving a reply and that she was no longer at home when he returned.
Dale Warner Confessed to Having an Argument With His Wife a Day Before She Disappeared
It was not Dale Warner who reported his wife missing, but Dee’s family members, who quickly realized that something was wrong. When police questioned him, Dale said there had been stress surrounding their businesses and claimed that Dee had been worried about those issues on the night of April 24, 2021. He also alleged that his wife had a second cell phone that he had only recently discovered, but when detectives asked for the number, he said he did not have it. Dale further told investigators that Dee’s makeup bag, hair dryer, and a few other personal belongings were missing from the house, although she had left her engagement ring behind. As Dee’s family continued to insist that she would never have walked away of her own free will, police obtained and executed a search warrant at the family farm.
The initial search of the property did not uncover anything suspicious, but Dale’s account began to change. He later told investigators that he and Dee had argued on April 24, 2021. To Dee’s family members, he claimed that the argument had triggered one of her migraine headaches and she had lain down on the living room sofa. According to Dale, he gave her a head massage the following morning before leaving the house, and when he returned later that day, she was gone. However, detectives found that he had given slightly different versions of the same events to different people. Investigators also noticed tire tracks in the mud leading to the driveway outside the entrance to the living room. In November 2023, Dale was arrested and charged with open murder and tampering with evidence, and his bond was set at $15 million.
Dale Warner is in a Michigan Prison Today
Dale Warner consistently denied any involvement in his wife’s disappearance and killing. However, on August 17, 2024, Dee Warner’s remains were discovered on Dale’s Paragon Road property, concealed inside a resealed anhydrous ammonia fertilizer tank that had been marked “out of service” and “do not fill.” Three days later, the remains were positively identified as Dee’s through dental records. Prosecutors argued that Dee had been planning to leave Dale and that, following an argument in what they described as an abusive relationship, he killed her that night before hiding her body. In March 2026, a jury found Dale guilty of second-degree murder and tampering with evidence. He received a sentence with a maximum term of 70 years and will become eligible for parole after serving 33 years. Dale is now incarcerated at the Alger Correctional Facility in Wetmore, Michigan, with his earliest parole eligibility set for 2056.
Read More: Bryan Kohberger: Where is the Killer Now?
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