What really happened to missing mom Dee Warner as horrific crime is finally uncovered HIDDEN IN PLAIN SIGHT

Three years after Dee Warner went missing, she was found dead in a fertilizer tank on the Michigan farm she shared with her husband, Dale Warner.

After marrying in 2006, Dee and Dale welcomed a daughter and co-parented their eight other children from previous relationships. They lived on their farm in Michigan, running farming and fertilizer businesses. But all that changed when Dee was reported missing on April 25, 2021.

Dale claimed that he’d last seen Dee sleeping on a couch after the couple had had a fight, per People Magazine Investigates: Vanished in the Heartland. However, years went by with no sign of Dee — and Dale was arrested in connection with her death in November 2023. Her remains were later found in a fertilizer tank on their property.

The tragic case — which NBC’s Dateline unpacked in an episode that aired on July 31 — came to a close when Dale was found guilty and sentenced to up to 70 years in prison for her murder.

“I fought every day for five years,” Dee’s older brother Gregg Hardy told The Detroit News following Dale’s conviction in March. “It was very difficult to get validation. It took nearly to the very end.”

Here’s what to know about Dee Warner’s death and Dale Warner’s murder trial.

Dee and Dale Warner married in 2006

Dee Ann Warner.

Michigan State Police

Dee and Dale met through work as they both came from farming families in Michigan. Dee’s family had been farming in Michigan for generations, raising dairy cattle and growing crops. She became aware of the value in hard work at a young age, according to her brother.

“She wanted to be successful,” Hardy said during the episode of People Magazine Investigates: Vanished in the Heartland. “She wanted people to respect her.”

Dee welcomed four children with her first husband before she met Dale while working in sales for a fertilizer and agricultural-supply company in Blissfield, Mich. Their farming families had a history of rivalry, but they saw through it.

“He was an empire builder, and she was attracted to that,” Hardy said.

The two engaged in an extramarital 𝒶𝒻𝒻𝒶𝒾𝓇, per People Magazine Investigates: Vanished in the Heartland. After leaving their respective spouses, they married in 2006.

Dee and Dale welcomed a daughter, Angalena. Dale also had four children from his previous marriage, which made them a family of 11.

During the marriage, Dee started and managed a trucking company, which was booming. She also managed farming and fertilizer businesses alongside her husband, which struggled to turn a profit, according to the episode.

While their career interests overlapped, they had their differences. Dale preferred to spend time at home and work, while “Dee was a social butterfly,” according to Hardy.

Dee went missing in April 2021

On April 25, 2021, Dee was reported missing from her 1,500-acre farm in Tipton, Mich., where she lived with her husband and daughter.

Dee’s daughter from her first marriage, Rikkell Bock, was the first to raise concern after she arrived at her mother’s house for a regular Sunday breakfast and Dee wasn’t there. Dee’s cars were still parked at the property, but her personal items — including her phone — were missing.

Dale allegedly told family members they had gotten into a fight and that he last saw Dee sleeping on the couch. According to Bock and other family members, Dale thought Dee ran off, but expected her to return.

Hardy gathered 40 people to search the property, to no avail.

Dale was arrested in November 2023

Dale Warner.

Lenawee County Jail

Two years later, Dale was arrested in connection with Dee’s death.

On Nov. 22, 2023, Dale was arraigned in Lenawee County District Court on a charge of open murder and tampering with evidence, according to a press release from Michigan State Police.

Dee’s body was found in a fertilizer tank on the couple’s Michigan farm in August 2024

Warner Farm where Dee Warner’s body was found.

CBS Detroit/YouTube

On Aug. 16, 2024, human remains were discovered on the Warner farm during the execution of a search warrant.

Michigan State Police confirmed that the human remains were Dee’s on Aug. 21, 2024, according to WTVG. Authorities later concluded Dee died by strangulation and blunt force trauma to her head and face, per CBS News.

Prosecutors said Dee was found inside a fertilizer tank wrapped in a tarp in her pajamas and had duct tape around her face and neck, according to WTOL.

Prior to the discovery of Dee’s body, her brother shared a theory with detectives. He received a call from a detective about Dee’s last known location — which had been tracked using electronic data — to a barn on their farm. Hardy recalled seeing Dale painting a rusty fertilizer tank in that barn in the days after Dee vanished.

“He could have cut a hole in that tank, stuffed her body in there and welded it shut,” Hardy said on People Magazine Investigates. “And that’s why he painted it.”

An X-ray image of a well-preserved body inside a tank revealed the result of Hardy’s theory to be spot-on. The body was identified as Dee’s through dental records, and Dee’s family honored her with a burial on Aug. 30, 2024.

Dale was sentenced to up to 70 years in prison in May 2026

Dale Warner in court.

David Panian/The Daily Telegram / USA TODAY NETWORK

Dale’s trial began on Feb. 12, 2026. During the trial, prosecutors said that on the night before Dee’s murder, Dee told Dale she planned to sell their businesses and leave him, according to WTOL.

Dee’s family later learned she had a confrontation over financial issues with two employees of the trucking company a few days before her disappearance, as outlined in People Magazine Investigates. According to Bock, she was angry that Dale didn’t come to her defense.

During Dale’s trial, prosecutors also showed texts Dee allegedly sent to Dale about their relationship status. “I’m ready to move out and be done with this,” one text allegedly read, per WTOL. “You treat me as if I’m not worthy of anything. I’m not going to live like this,” another read.

Other texts included, “We don’t even talk,” “We are just roommates” and “Our relationship has gotten so much worse.”

Dale was convicted of second-degree murder and tampering with evidence on March 10, according to CBS News. On May 7, he was sentenced to up to 70 years in prison, per WILX.

According to WILX, the judge imposed a 375-month to 60-year sentence for second-degree murder and another 17 months to 10 years for tampering with evidence, with the terms to be served consecutively.

Dale is eligible for parole in 33 years. In July 2026, he was transferred to Alger Correctional Facility in Munising, Mich., where he will serve out the rest of his sentence, per WTOL.

After Dale’s conviction, Hardy spoke about the tragedy. “No one should ever consider doing that to a human being, let alone the mother of your child, or your wife, that kind of thing. I mean, it’s impossible to conceive how someone would be that evil,” he said in March, according to WTVG.

He continued, “It’s obviously bittersweet. There’s nothing that replaces her, but it is as close to justice — and like I kinda say, we can almost change this from Justice for Dee to Victory for Dee.”