TIPTON, MICH. (WWJ) Investigators have found human remains on the property of the husband of a Lenawee County mother of five who went missing in April 2021, State Police said.
In a statement on X, State Police First District said on Sunday morning they continue to investigate the disappearance of Dee Warner, then 52, whose family first reported her missing on April 25, 2021.
The execution of a search warrant on the property of Dale Warner, 56, led to the discovery of human remains, State Police said.
“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,” the statement read.
Dee’s family has been notified of the findings, according to State Police.
She was last seen at her home on Munger Road that she shared with Dale in Franklin Township-- about 10 miles north of Adrian.
Her adult daughter from a previous marriage, Rikkell Bock, told reporter Josh Mankiewicz of the day her mother disappeared. She said they were supposed to go grocery shopping together, along with Rikkell’s sister and Rikell's children, a Sunday tradition.
When she arrived at her mother’s house, no one was there.
“I texted her, she didn’t answer. I called her. Her phone went straight to voicemail. I just had a feeling in my gut…” she said during an interview for Dateline: Missing in America.
The search for Dee spanned hundreds of acres of farmland. About six months after her 2021 disappearance; the FBI, Michigan State Police and the Lenawee County Sheriff’s Office conducted a series of searches using digging equipment and ground-penetrating radar.
In November of last year, authorities arrested Dale and charged him with Open Murder and Tampering with Evidence. He was ultimately given a $15 million bond. In June, a Lenawee County judge bound him over for trial.
During a probable cause hearing, the prosecutor revealed text messages Dee sent to a friend saying how her husband pushed her into a dresser and feared he would kill her, according to a report from WDIV.
Dale pled not guilty. He told authorities she had left home to start a new life, WDIV reported, but her phone had gone dead and her credit cards went unused.
In March of 2024, a judge declared Dee legally dead--months after the family’s original request.
In the Dateline: Missing In America report, Bock remembered her mother as a “fierce” businesswoman who loved her family dearly.
“She was full of life, always the life of the party, very spunky, very caring about anybody she came across,” Bock told reporter Josh Mankiewicz. “Always wanting to help anybody she could. She was a great Mom, and an even better grandma.”