Human remains were found on the property of a Michigan man who has already been charged with killing his wife, authorities announced Sunday.
Dee Warner was reported missing on April 25, 2021; her husband, Dale Warner, was charged in November 2023 with killing her and tampering with evidence.
“The remains are currently in the process of being recovered and there will be a great deal of work and testing completed before positive identification is made,” Michigan State Police wrote on social media. An autopsy was scheduled for Tuesday.
Dee Warner’s body was found on a rural property about two miles south of the home the Warners shared in Franklin Township, according to local newspaper The Daily Telegraph.
The remains were located Friday in a sealed tank for anhydrous ammonia, a common crop fertilizer, Dee’s family members told Toledo ABC affiliate WTVG.
The victim’s brother, Gregg Hardy, told The Daily Telegraph he spoke with investigators about how he believed his sister’s body may have been hidden in a tank on the property.
Officers “found a tank that was freshly painted with new hardware on it, and it had a weld seam that didn’t seem professional, and it was locked in a separate room of that building, and had a tag on it that said, ‘Do not use,’ and that’s the tank they took out,” Hardy told the paper.
Investigators believe the Warners had an argument the night of April 24, 2021, and that Dale then killed Dee, 52, and hid her body. However, no arrests were made in the case until more than two years after Dee’s disappearance.
Dale Warner has pleaded not guilty to all charges. He remains held on $15 million bond; his next court appearance is scheduled for Sept. 4.
With News Wire Services