Latest / NO FILTER / He Thought No One Would Find Her_ The Murder of Dee Warner [True Crime Documentary]

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He Thought No One Would Find Her_ The Murder of Dee Warner [True Crime Documentary] · NO FILTER

0:02
Speaker 1: Dianne Warner went missing in April twenty twenty one. For years,
0:06
Speaker 1: her disappearance was a source of mystery and heartache for
0:10
Speaker 1: the community she had been a part of her whole life.
0:13
Speaker 1: Dee's last sighting had been at her home, at the
0:16
Speaker 1: farmhouse where she and her family lived and worked. It
0:20
Speaker 1: was there that search efforts focused. Just as authorities began
0:25
Speaker 1: to accept that they may have to pursue justice without
0:28
Speaker 1: all of the answers, they made a shocking discovery. Hi there,
0:38
Speaker 1: I'm Kevin, and welcome to just Thatt Lounge. Today's case
0:42
Speaker 1: has been years in the making. It's a fascinating one
0:45
Speaker 1: that begins with nothing but suspicion and clever deduction, then
0:49
Speaker 1: builds peace after peace before finally reaching an undeniable conclusion.
0:56
Speaker 1: Let's take a look. The Warner family farm is based
1:13
Speaker 1: in the small community of Tipton in Lenaway County, Michigan.
1:18
Speaker 1: In early twenty twenty one, the operation off of Munger
1:21
Speaker 1: Road was a large one. Friends and employees worked roughly
1:25
Speaker 1: three thousand acres, some land directly owned by the Warner
1:29
Speaker 1: family and some rented. Dale and Dan Warner were not
1:34
Speaker 1: just a farming family. Over the years They had established
1:37
Speaker 1: multiple companies, the most notable a successful trucking business which
1:42
Speaker 1: pulled in millions in revenue each year. The couple had
1:45
Speaker 1: come to enjoy many of the finer things in life,
1:49
Speaker 1: including foreign vacations in high end vehicles. D had even
1:53
Speaker 1: invested in a second home on sand Lake along with
1:56
Speaker 1: one of her adult sons, which they affectionately called the
1:59
Speaker 1: Lake House or the Cedar Point Property. Dale and d
2:03
Speaker 1: lived at the Munger Farmhouse with their nine year old daughter,
2:06
Speaker 1: Angelina or just Lena for short. They both had adult
2:10
Speaker 1: children from their previous marriages who visited frequently. A few
2:15
Speaker 1: even worked with them on the property. On Sunday, April
2:20
Speaker 1: twenty fifth, twenty twenty one, De's daughter Raquel arrived at
2:24
Speaker 1: the farmhouse to meet her mother for their regular Sunday
2:27
Speaker 1: brunch and shopping date. Except when Raquel arrived, D wasn't
2:32
Speaker 1: at home. Calls to her cell phone went straight to voicemail.
2:36
Speaker 1: Text messages went unanswered. That morning, Raquel and her brothers
2:42
Speaker 1: TJ and Zach searched the farm for signs of their mother.
2:46
Speaker 1: They contacted her personal assistant, Stephanie, who had not heard
2:50
Speaker 1: from her either. When Dale was contacted He suggested that
2:54
Speaker 1: de was taking some time to herself. The night before,
2:57
Speaker 1: she had a disagreement with two of the truck drivers,
3:00
Speaker 1: one of whom subsequently quit and the other she had fired. Traditionally,
3:05
Speaker 1: when D needed space, she went to the lake house,
3:08
Speaker 1: but Zach had already checked his mother was not there.
3:12
Speaker 1: Even more concerning was that d was rarely separated from
3:16
Speaker 1: her youngest daughter, Lena. The evening before, D had made
3:19
Speaker 1: arrangements for Lena to stay with her cousin, and she
3:22
Speaker 1: had not picked her up the next morning. Growing more
3:25
Speaker 1: and more worried, Raquel and brother TJ. Contacted the police.
3:34
Speaker 1: It was a Lenaway County Sheriff's deputy who arrived at
3:37
Speaker 1: the property to speak with Dale. As far as it
3:40
Speaker 1: could be ascertained at that point, the fifty three year
3:42
Speaker 1: old farmer was the last person to see or speak
3:46
Speaker 1: with d.
3:51
Speaker 2: Deal nice one. I saw, well, she's missing her. She
4:01
Speaker 2: just left so fat. She had an altercational employees, two
4:06
Speaker 2: of them last night.
4:08
Speaker 3: She was upset.
4:11
Speaker 4: She's sucking a lot of bad things employees.
4:16
Speaker 2: One employee decided to quit.
4:19
Speaker 1: Dale further explained how he came to discover that many
4:22
Speaker 1: of these personal items were missing. These included her wallet,
4:26
Speaker 1: cell phone, makeup, and what he called her go bag,
4:29
Speaker 1: a prepacked bag that she kept ready to leave for
4:32
Speaker 1: overnights days.
4:35
Speaker 4: Stephanie Colleen E said her call callers can't find her mom,
4:38
Speaker 4: and I says, no, she's at the house she's in
4:40
Speaker 4: near Atlanta.
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Speaker 2: The puenge excuse me so she could invite her. And
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Speaker 2: I called her call and I says, your mom's not there.
4:47
Speaker 2: She was just there, you know when I was there
4:49
Speaker 2: an hour two go, So no she's not here. I says, well,
4:52
Speaker 2: I'll be non spraying here shortly and I'll be back.
4:55
Speaker 5: So I don't have an offer if I'm miss later
4:58
Speaker 5: right now back here now, in and out, And she
5:00
Speaker 5: was gone.
5:02
Speaker 2: And I walked around the house on the bathroom while
5:06
Speaker 2: her character was gone. Her paradise. The naga bag's gong.
5:13
Speaker 5: And she has a gold bag half all the time,
5:18
Speaker 5: for she's a last Usually she takes off those her
5:22
Speaker 5: son's house and stays, yeah.
5:28
Speaker 2: She takes off there for day those times of differences.
5:36
Speaker 1: Anymore, it was unclear how D may have left the property.
5:41
Speaker 1: The Cadillac, which she usually drove, was still in the garage.
5:46
Speaker 1: The second vehicle, a Hummer was parked at the office
5:49
Speaker 1: building a short distance from the house. In the office,
5:52
Speaker 1: resting on the top of his desk, Dale came across
5:55
Speaker 1: one item that d had left behind, her fifty thousand
5:59
Speaker 1: dollars wedding ring.
6:02
Speaker 4: You know anybody who they call everybody and you know,
6:06
Speaker 4: like I said, I could choose a sack her.
6:11
Speaker 2: I don't know what else to do on the way today,
6:13
Speaker 2: your soul and see what sure?
6:15
Speaker 6: Yeah?
6:16
Speaker 2: I mean, I don't fired up, the kids are all
6:19
Speaker 2: fired up. The complice to finish. This is the first
6:21
Speaker 2: time she's done this guy. But the only thing that's
6:24
Speaker 2: really strange too, is this time she put her wedding
6:28
Speaker 2: into that. Yeah, she's never done that.
6:33
Speaker 6: Yeah.
6:36
Speaker 1: Dale told the deputy that he was concerned, but not
6:39
Speaker 1: yet alarmed by D's absence. Those who knew the fifty
6:43
Speaker 1: two year old mother and business owner described her as
6:46
Speaker 1: warm hearted but tempestuous. D could be quickly angered and
6:51
Speaker 1: had a tendency to overreact. It may not have been
6:55
Speaker 1: typical for her to disappear, but it was not unheard
6:58
Speaker 1: of for her to seek out tension. What's more, Dale
7:02
Speaker 1: suggested that she was in fact in contact with someone.
7:07
Speaker 2: Did she phone out her head or she said, never
7:10
Speaker 2: revolve it never. Well, I told the other kids, she's
7:13
Speaker 2: got a second phone. She doesn't anybody know she's got
7:17
Speaker 2: the phone. You even have a phone her? No, that's
7:20
Speaker 2: a secret phone that she doesn't know that I know.
7:22
Speaker 7: She has it.
7:23
Speaker 2: Why would she hear her? I had no idea I
7:25
Speaker 2: had in front of her about it because I didn't
7:27
Speaker 2: want that confirmation. But I know she has phone.
7:31
Speaker 5: The way she left, she doesn't want to be she
7:34
Speaker 5: doesn't want any money to know where she'd act.
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Speaker 8: So I mean, yeah, obviously she knows she can't find
7:41
Speaker 8: it right right, all.
7:45
Speaker 2: Right, I will out there, I heard. If she does
7:48
Speaker 2: show up, please give us a call.
7:54
Speaker 1: While her husband speculated that her absence was due to
7:57
Speaker 1: nothing more than another attention seeking emotion outburst, D's children
8:02
Speaker 1: felt differently, days passed and there was no sign of
8:05
Speaker 1: her whereabouts. Her bank accounts were inactive, her social media silent.
8:10
Speaker 1: D's passport was found to be missing, along with her
8:13
Speaker 1: driver's license. There was no activity on her missing cell phone.
8:17
Speaker 1: Investigators could find no record of her owning a second one.
8:21
Speaker 1: Dale claimed that up to one hundred thousand dollars that
8:24
Speaker 1: had been tucked away in one of their family's safes
8:27
Speaker 1: was now missing. However, a large quantity of cash that
8:31
Speaker 1: d had kept hidden in the drawer of her desk
8:33
Speaker 1: in the office, which her husband had not been aware of,
8:37
Speaker 1: was still there. Her son, Zach, who worked as the
8:40
Speaker 1: family's bookkeeper, was the only other person who knew she
8:43
Speaker 1: kept it there. With Dale's consent, searches were undertaken at
8:50
Speaker 1: the farm. At the house, investigators saw nothing further to
8:54
Speaker 1: raise red flags except a single potentially incriminating observation outside
9:01
Speaker 1: a rear door of the farmhouse which led from the
9:03
Speaker 1: living room. Investigators noted large tire tracks. They were a
9:07
Speaker 1: match to the JCB front loader that Dale had been
9:11
Speaker 1: driving around on the morning of D's disappearance. It appeared
9:14
Speaker 1: that the JCB had been parked directly in front of
9:17
Speaker 1: the wall of the house, such that the loader sat
9:20
Speaker 1: in front of the living room door, an odd way
9:22
Speaker 1: to park unless one plan to move a heavy object
9:25
Speaker 1: from the house. Indeed, it was odd to park that
9:28
Speaker 1: piece of equipment next to the house at all. This
9:32
Speaker 1: was the area usually reserved for the family vehicles. The
9:36
Speaker 1: hummer was usually there since the home was also a
9:41
Speaker 1: large working farm and the headquarters to a substantial trucking business.
9:45
Speaker 1: There were employees coming and going at all hours. As
9:49
Speaker 1: investigators inquired, they found one employee who was on the
9:52
Speaker 1: property in the early morning hours of April twenty fifth,
9:55
Speaker 1: the day D went missing. That witness said they saw
9:59
Speaker 1: the Hummer park by the living room door, as it
10:01
Speaker 1: always was. They did not go to the house, but
10:05
Speaker 1: noticed curiously that the lights were on inside. That was
10:09
Speaker 1: at roughly three forty five am. As teams combed to
10:15
Speaker 1: the property, Dale sat down to speak with police once again.
10:19
Speaker 1: At length, he explained that the night before she allegedly
10:22
Speaker 1: left him, D had been itching for an argument.
10:27
Speaker 8: She said, well, I'm all done, we're selling everything.
10:30
Speaker 3: We're done, and she hang up the phone and I
10:33
Speaker 3: had no more that she would take several times, and
10:39
Speaker 3: she went over to her daughter Anderson.
10:45
Speaker 1: Dale was not the only person to tell police that
10:48
Speaker 1: D had been visibly upset that weekend. When her sister
10:52
Speaker 1: in law Amy arrived at the house to collect Lena
10:54
Speaker 1: on Saturday, she found D disheveled, her face red and
10:58
Speaker 1: swollen as though she had and crying. She was planning
11:01
Speaker 1: to have a serious talk with her husband that night,
11:04
Speaker 1: and that was why she wanted her young daughter out
11:06
Speaker 1: of the house. Dale conceded that they did indeed argue
11:10
Speaker 1: that night. In his view, this was why his wife
11:14
Speaker 1: chose to leave.
11:16
Speaker 2: I was trying to get where we're both, screamed design.
11:22
Speaker 4: Since she was very bad with this, she was hinds
11:28
Speaker 4: had to look back.
11:28
Speaker 2: I think she was trying to do the mad as
11:30
Speaker 2: she could have five, so she did her leave.
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Speaker 1: Dale recounted again how he discovered the wedding ring on
11:38
Speaker 1: his desk that morning. Then he speculated that d had
11:41
Speaker 1: awoken that morning, grabbed her bags and other personal items,
11:45
Speaker 1: driven over to the office in the hummer, and left
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Speaker 1: her ring. There was a tracker on the vehicle, however,
11:51
Speaker 1: one that had been installed ostensibly to track diagnostics, but
11:55
Speaker 1: that could also be used to trace the vehicle's location
11:58
Speaker 1: on GPS through an hour, which was linked to Dale's phone.
12:02
Speaker 8: I think she thought her steel tracker, and yeah, I
12:07
Speaker 8: think she knew that this one would be tracks.
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Speaker 3: Went on this one that she pulled out, went down there,
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Speaker 3: put the ring in my desk, went back out and
12:15
Speaker 3: set off off.
12:21
Speaker 2: I'm talking off the cop I guess, I mean, I
12:23
Speaker 2: don't know any of this.
12:26
Speaker 1: When Dale found his ring. He was with Zach in
12:29
Speaker 1: the office, accessing the farm's security cameras to check for
12:32
Speaker 1: any sign of d. These cameras were arranged around the property,
12:37
Speaker 1: mostly to capture employees's movements. The cameras did not show
12:41
Speaker 1: d leaving, nor did they show her at the office.
12:45
Speaker 1: They did not show her movements at all, including any
12:48
Speaker 1: vehicle that may have arrived to collect her. The cameras did, however,
12:52
Speaker 1: offer some insight into Dale's movements the day his wife disappeared.
12:58
Speaker 1: Dale was certain that he awoke and left the house
13:00
Speaker 1: for work at around six to six thirty am. At
13:03
Speaker 1: that time, De was asleep on the couch downstairs, where
13:07
Speaker 1: she had been all night. Dale is shown moving liquid
13:10
Speaker 1: fertilizer around seven. He used the JCB front loader to
13:14
Speaker 1: move the fertilizer, taking a couple of trips from one
13:18
Speaker 1: outbuilding to another area. When Dale finished with the loader
13:22
Speaker 1: that morning, he parked it by the house. When he
13:25
Speaker 1: did so, he told detectives that he walked through the
13:27
Speaker 1: living room and saw d still fast asleep on the couch.
13:32
Speaker 1: Based on the time stamp of the footage, he was
13:34
Speaker 1: done with the loader just before seven thirty am. Then
13:38
Speaker 1: he performed some standard chores around the property. Driving around
13:42
Speaker 1: the small orange caboda, Dale left in the sprayer before
13:46
Speaker 1: eight a m. Then he returned and left again in
13:51
Speaker 1: the same piece of machinery. At about eight forty. He
13:54
Speaker 1: was spraying afield a short drive away when Raquel arrived
13:57
Speaker 1: at the house to meet her mother. According to his
14:01
Speaker 1: version of events, Dale first became aware that his wife
14:04
Speaker 1: was missing at around nine thirty or even ten, when
14:07
Speaker 1: a call from Stephanie D's assistant informed him that D's
14:11
Speaker 1: children were gathering at the house because no one could
14:15
Speaker 1: reach her. At this stage, there was no concrete evidence
14:23
Speaker 1: linking D's disappearance to her husband, but they were working
14:27
Speaker 1: on it. The Lenway County Sheriff's office called in the
14:30
Speaker 1: Michigan State Police, who took the lead in the investigation.
14:34
Speaker 1: While Dale maintained that d had up and left, her
14:37
Speaker 1: family insisted that there was simply no way that she
14:40
Speaker 1: would choose to do so. The two sides of this
14:43
Speaker 1: blended family, both with long roots in the farming community,
14:47
Speaker 1: had always been at odds with each other, but now
14:50
Speaker 1: that rift had widened into a golf Dale took over
14:54
Speaker 1: operation of the businesses, including the profitable trucking company that
14:58
Speaker 1: had been solely in D's name. He instructed Zach to
15:01
Speaker 1: stop issuing a paycheck to his mother. In his efforts
15:05
Speaker 1: to move on, Dale was supported by his adult children,
15:09
Speaker 1: in particular his then twenty four year old son Jaren,
15:13
Speaker 1: to whom he gave power of attorney and temporary custody
15:16
Speaker 1: of Lena should the need arise that would be required,
15:20
Speaker 1: of course, should he be arrested for his wife's murder.
15:25
Speaker 3: Obviously, as time goes on, we are more and more
15:29
Speaker 3: concerned about her safety, as obviously Mother's Day passed and.
15:37
Speaker 2: She was not around and didn't make contact with anybody.
15:40
Speaker 7: Well, I think they're lying one hundred percent. I think
15:44
Speaker 7: that's their only possibility of a narrative that they think
15:48
Speaker 7: they can try to turn the public on to think
15:50
Speaker 7: that the story of theirs about her vanishing was anywhere
15:55
Speaker 7: even possibly something that logical people could believe.
16:01
Speaker 1: In October twenty twenty one, further extensive searches took place
16:05
Speaker 1: at the Munger farm under the supervision of the MSP
16:08
Speaker 1: and with the assistance of federal agencies, including the FBI.
16:14
Speaker 1: They brought in police dogs and used ground penetrating radar
16:17
Speaker 1: technology to mark off areas to perform more invasive searches.
16:22
Speaker 1: Areas of the fields were dug up. Teams appeared to
16:25
Speaker 1: concentrate for a time on the land adjacent to the
16:29
Speaker 1: farmhouse plot, but ultimately nothing of value to the investigation
16:33
Speaker 1: was uncovered. The following spring, in March twenty twenty two,
16:42
Speaker 1: new search warrants were issued. This time they came alongside
16:45
Speaker 1: the announcement of an award offered by Dee's brother, Greg
16:48
Speaker 1: Hardy fifty thousand dollars for any information that led to
16:52
Speaker 1: his sister's location. Dale Warner was once again questioned by police.
16:58
Speaker 1: He began by implying that UD's children were the ones
17:01
Speaker 1: acting suspiciously, where he spent.
17:06
Speaker 2: One hour, two hours, and you're all of pain, and.
17:12
Speaker 3: She left Colonel Simes, this is speed and then Zachson
17:17
Speaker 3: the office gassam.
17:22
Speaker 2: Dad to be shot. No tracks.
17:32
Speaker 1: MSP investigators seemed to disregard Dale's speculation against his step children.
17:38
Speaker 1: They believed they had caught him in a lie, a
17:41
Speaker 1: big one, so once again they went through his timeline
17:44
Speaker 1: from the morning of April twenty fifth. Dale said that
17:48
Speaker 1: when he parked the JCB front loader at the house
17:51
Speaker 1: around seven thirty am. D had been inside sleeping. It
17:55
Speaker 1: was clear where the loader had been parked. He was
17:58
Speaker 1: viewed driving up at that time on camera. Witnesses saw
18:02
Speaker 1: it there. Tire tracks had been visible. Dale himself stated
18:07
Speaker 1: that that is where he had placed it. It was
18:09
Speaker 1: also well established that this was the exact location where
18:12
Speaker 1: the hummer had sat for days until it was moved
18:16
Speaker 1: that morning. During the interview in his kitchen, Dale stated
18:19
Speaker 1: that he believed it was D that had driven the
18:22
Speaker 1: hummer to the office, where she dropped her wedding ring
18:24
Speaker 1: on his desk before leaving. But if D was the
18:27
Speaker 1: one who moved the hummer, how could she have been
18:30
Speaker 1: on the couch still sleeping when he parked in its
18:33
Speaker 1: vacated space. If the hummer had been moved at that time,
18:37
Speaker 1: which it had, D must have already left or not
18:41
Speaker 1: been the person who drove it to the office.
18:45
Speaker 2: When did you see the house one day? Because you
18:50
Speaker 2: so sick? Okay, she's so sleep And at this point
18:52
Speaker 2: it seemed like some question for anyone else on the
18:54
Speaker 2: track of your house. Okay, okay, hear that. And where
19:14
Speaker 2: was the JCB mark inside right here?
19:16
Speaker 6: Okay?
19:17
Speaker 2: And you said he pulled out of the house.
19:19
Speaker 8: You show pull up and pulled out here, and pulder
19:20
Speaker 8: on the site pulled up over here.
19:23
Speaker 2: I need the house back back here here. Okay, okay.
19:33
Speaker 1: Dale was presented with an aerial image of the property.
19:36
Speaker 1: He placed an X on the spot where he pulled
19:38
Speaker 1: in the loader, then went inside and claimed to have
19:41
Speaker 1: seen be still fast asleep. The cameras had also revealed
19:46
Speaker 1: that the hummer was moved from the spot by an
19:48
Speaker 1: unnecessarily longer route around the house than the more direct
19:52
Speaker 1: one between the house and the office. They revealed this
19:56
Speaker 1: by not capturing the hummer move at all. Whoever drove
20:00
Speaker 1: it had avoided the cameras entirely. It was not only
20:06
Speaker 1: Dale's movements that betrayed him. Investigators had also analyzed his
20:11
Speaker 1: phone in vehicle data. They knew that Dale had attempted
20:14
Speaker 1: to access the camera system through an app on his
20:16
Speaker 1: phone that morning before nine am, and before receiving the
20:20
Speaker 1: call from Stephanie that d was missing.
20:25
Speaker 2: Under access. You know, yeah, when you get access to
20:29
Speaker 2: cameras before out the sec question that I was looking
20:32
Speaker 2: to see, you know, falls where.
20:35
Speaker 9: They moved to.
20:37
Speaker 8: I didn't look at it, think other than those accessory
20:39
Speaker 8: because they hadn't.
20:39
Speaker 2: Locked up a game. Okay, Well, let's actually know about
20:43
Speaker 2: the access cameras that morning.
20:44
Speaker 10: I'm just asking what you rove for. Basically, the game
20:48
Speaker 10: was trying to leave the Shriff's department, so we sent
20:50
Speaker 10: you explain everything and stilly get this outs. You know,
20:53
Speaker 10: they were looking to see what casual that would give
20:55
Speaker 10: you up.
20:56
Speaker 2: Okay, and that's what he did. When you access them
20:59
Speaker 2: access that our headline the screen they are promised at
21:02
Speaker 2: each other.
21:03
Speaker 10: There's absolutely no doubt an access to camps.
21:07
Speaker 2: If you were just looking for your wife. I just say,
21:09
Speaker 2: he's looking for your wife. I was looking for my life,
21:11
Speaker 2: but I didn't access to the ship security camps anymore.
21:16
Speaker 2: You you had access to your fault cracked. Yes, different
21:19
Speaker 2: work and then would not work. Okay, So when you
21:22
Speaker 2: try to access the camps, are you doing I was
21:25
Speaker 2: looking to see who was in the office, and he
21:26
Speaker 2: was on the kings.
21:28
Speaker 11: Okay.
21:28
Speaker 2: See just literally was trying to looking for You'll see
21:32
Speaker 2: where she's at. I heard you came here. She's in
21:35
Speaker 2: Zax hospital.
21:36
Speaker 10: Okay, and that's specifically from your fat you're telling me
21:39
Speaker 10: to do right, okay.
21:41
Speaker 1: Can Investigators also found that Dale had accessed the doors
21:45
Speaker 1: to the Cadillac, the vehicle d always drove. Eight minutes
21:49
Speaker 1: after he parked the loader and left the house.
21:52
Speaker 2: Stephanie Apology had asked for he was if it was
21:58
Speaker 2: around nine o'clock nine thirty. Okay, and until that point,
22:03
Speaker 2: as far as you get, she was at home right
22:05
Speaker 2: back the text her tell her about spring so that
22:08
Speaker 2: you don't, okay, But until then things are normally don't
22:11
Speaker 2: know when you do essentially something. Why does you access
22:15
Speaker 2: to cadi like that one? What did you want the
22:17
Speaker 2: catllite for in the grash? This is the camel for
22:28
Speaker 2: I don't remember. I'm your access the Cadillac. You've beniven
22:40
Speaker 2: wt MO than that? No, thanks the cad What are
22:46
Speaker 2: you DoD for. I'm not saying you drove it.
22:48
Speaker 12: I'm just saying you have accessed for some reason. You
22:51
Speaker 12: don't call out, ok access, I mean like that anything.
22:56
Speaker 12: I looked at it on my hand on my phone.
22:58
Speaker 8: I did you.
23:01
Speaker 10: I'm not starting when you did physically with the vehicle,
23:03
Speaker 10: but we had access to the car. No, because I
23:05
Speaker 10: probably looked down on my phone to see where it
23:06
Speaker 10: was at. Okay, that would get accessing. Okay, I'm not
23:10
Speaker 10: familiar with where you can do her that I'm.
23:12
Speaker 8: Start on my phone and tells me where it's at.
23:15
Speaker 2: Okay, tell us about that, tells about that that just
23:19
Speaker 2: be on story. I mean sorry, app on your phone.
23:21
Speaker 7: You can start your car, you.
23:22
Speaker 2: Can lock it and do your phone okay, okay. She
23:27
Speaker 2: would have accessed that, and it tells you where the
23:30
Speaker 2: car is, and that's why you would have done.
23:31
Speaker 12: To see where she was and see if the cars
23:34
Speaker 12: almost will see on your phone, okay.
23:36
Speaker 2: And what about when you try to locate your iPhone?
23:40
Speaker 2: For what purpose was at see where she's at, the
23:43
Speaker 2: same thing.
23:43
Speaker 8: Everybody's trying to find your iPhone, okay, okay.
23:47
Speaker 10: And they didn't decide to us that with things more
23:51
Speaker 10: comfortable because she didn't like you knowing what she wants.
23:54
Speaker 2: Does she know you had access to those things at
23:56
Speaker 2: the time.
23:57
Speaker 1: Gale may not have recalled if or what he had
24:00
Speaker 1: accessed D's car that morning, but the implication drawn by
24:04
Speaker 1: investigators was clear. D was known to always keep her
24:08
Speaker 1: purse with her keys, wallet, id, and other personal items
24:12
Speaker 1: on the passenger side of the Cadillac. Many of the
24:16
Speaker 1: items that were now missing, and it was not her
24:20
Speaker 1: phone that unlocked the car that morning. By the autumn
24:27
Speaker 1: of twenty twenty three, the Michigan State Police believed that
24:30
Speaker 1: d Warner was deceased, but they had made no arrests.
24:35
Speaker 1: Would it help to have answers?
24:38
Speaker 5: Absolutely, even if they're bad, Even if.
24:41
Speaker 13: They're bad, At this point, we've gone a year not knowing.
24:45
Speaker 14: Not knowing is so much worse than knowing.
24:47
Speaker 13: Do you think there's any chance she's still alive?
24:50
Speaker 11: No, I don't.
24:54
Speaker 2: It will be hard, but she's still would think so,
25:05
Speaker 2: I'll be okay.
25:08
Speaker 1: The family petitioned to have D declared officially dead, though
25:12
Speaker 1: that process would take some time. If successful, this declaration
25:16
Speaker 1: would allow them to take back control of D's estate
25:19
Speaker 1: and file a wrongful death suit against Dale Warner. Before
25:24
Speaker 1: this could take place, however, Dale started selling off assets.
25:30
Speaker 1: A private investigator, Billy Little, hired by the family, began
25:34
Speaker 1: to uncover a paper trail of fraudulent behavior undertaken by Dale.
25:38
Speaker 1: In the wake of D's disappearance. In the autumn of
25:41
Speaker 1: twenty twenty one, Dale applied for a one point four
25:45
Speaker 1: million dollars loan through D's trucking company. For the application,
25:49
Speaker 1: he required D's signature on the loan documents as well
25:52
Speaker 1: as a copy of her ID. Somehow, her signature was
25:56
Speaker 1: provided on this loan application, along with a photocoon of
26:00
Speaker 1: her driver's license, despite the fact that her wallet, including
26:04
Speaker 1: her ID, was never located. Then, when the last of
26:08
Speaker 1: the loan payments were received to the business in March
26:11
Speaker 1: twenty twenty two, Dale lent himself the full amount, converting
26:16
Speaker 1: almost a million dollars for his personal use. In September
26:22
Speaker 1: twenty twenty three, Dale Warner was found guilty of contempt
26:26
Speaker 1: of court for ignoring a previous ruling freezing these estate.
26:31
Speaker 14: Judsala found Dale Warner in contempt of court, stating he
26:35
Speaker 14: intentionally and deliberately sold his wife's assets after being instructed
26:40
Speaker 14: by the court not to. She marked several examples of
26:43
Speaker 14: Dale's contempt, the most egregious being the selling of D's
26:47
Speaker 14: trucking company, which was the most profitable portion of her estate.
26:52
Speaker 1: Dale was sentenced to ninety three days in jail and
26:55
Speaker 1: ordered to pay substantial financial penalties back to dees estate.
27:03
Speaker 1: It would take another year before Michigan State Police would
27:06
Speaker 1: issue an arrest warrant for murder, without ever locating D's body.
27:11
Speaker 1: State prosecutors nonetheless believed they had enough to prove Dale
27:15
Speaker 1: Warner's guilt beyond a reasonable doubt. In response, Dale's lawyers
27:20
Speaker 1: continued to argue that d had simply run off to
27:24
Speaker 1: start a new life.
27:26
Speaker 7: Easy ways to get identification from the Internet, from resources overseas,
27:34
Speaker 7: you can get identification.
27:36
Speaker 2: You can even get a different identity.
27:39
Speaker 7: It's possible today, I guess, to even get a new
27:41
Speaker 7: Social Security number.
27:43
Speaker 1: The next step to get Dale to trial was proving
27:46
Speaker 1: that there was probable cause for the indictment. In Michigan.
27:49
Speaker 1: This meant holding an extensive hearing in front of a judge.
27:53
Speaker 1: Dale's team argued that there was zero physical evidence that
27:56
Speaker 1: Dale had committed murder. Indeed, because there was no there
28:00
Speaker 1: was no physical evidence that d was even dead.
28:04
Speaker 15: There is nobody, there are no body parts, there's no decomposition,
28:10
Speaker 15: massive pool of blood. Whether Miss Warner is dead is
28:14
Speaker 15: something that the government needs to prove, not just submit
28:17
Speaker 15: a death certificate and check mark that box off.
28:20
Speaker 1: But the circumstantial case was overwhelming. In addition to what
28:24
Speaker 1: Billy Little had uncovered of Dale's alleged financial motive, there
28:28
Speaker 1: was also an abundance of evidence suggesting a history of
28:32
Speaker 1: abuse in the relationship. Family, friends, and employees of the
28:36
Speaker 1: couple testified that the marriage was toxic. Dale and D
28:40
Speaker 1: argued loudly and frequently. Raquel told the court that her
28:44
Speaker 1: mother expressed fear of her husband.
28:49
Speaker 11: There was a lot of yelling, There was a lot
28:50
Speaker 11: of cussing, slamming things.
28:56
Speaker 13: Maybe irritation was your mount head in the marriage.
29:01
Speaker 2: No.
29:04
Speaker 11: One of the last things that my mom said to
29:06
Speaker 11: me was I watched Dateline like every night and he
29:10
Speaker 11: could do something like that to me.
29:12
Speaker 13: And what did she mean? What did you take that
29:14
Speaker 13: to me? He could do something like that to me?
29:16
Speaker 2: Objection, speculation, if you know, make her disappear.
29:22
Speaker 1: While at the house searching for her mother, Raquel recalled
29:25
Speaker 1: Dale making statements about how d had ruined his life.
29:30
Speaker 11: Something about how my mom is ruined his life. She's
29:39
Speaker 11: always trying to ruin his life. He said, everything I've
29:41
Speaker 11: worked for is gone.
29:43
Speaker 13: And did you know what that meant at that time?
29:45
Speaker 3: No.
29:47
Speaker 1: Sister in law, Amy, who collected Lena from the house
29:50
Speaker 1: on the last day D was seen alive, testified that
29:53
Speaker 1: she planned to Asdale for a divorce that evening. A
29:56
Speaker 1: few hours later, Amy texted D to see how the
29:59
Speaker 1: conversation was going. The text she received back was unusual.
30:04
Speaker 1: It was just a single k. Some of these cell
30:07
Speaker 1: phone data was retrieved despite the missing device. This showed
30:11
Speaker 1: that after sending that message to Amy, the cell phone
30:14
Speaker 1: was powered off and never turned back on. The most
30:18
Speaker 1: likely explanation was that the killer, not D, had sent
30:22
Speaker 1: that final message.
30:25
Speaker 11: She had been crying a lot.
30:27
Speaker 13: Okay? Was this a usual or unusual appearance from your perspective?
30:33
Speaker 11: Unusual?
30:36
Speaker 13: But how did she say that she was feeling or
30:38
Speaker 13: doing it that moment in time? Did she tell you
30:45
Speaker 13: how her day was going?
30:46
Speaker 11: She did on text message? What did she tell you
30:50
Speaker 11: that she had been hyperventilated in vomitine all day?
30:58
Speaker 13: Did she tell you why she wanted you to pick
31:03
Speaker 13: Lena up?
31:06
Speaker 11: She said that her and Dale were going to have
31:07
Speaker 11: a talk.
31:09
Speaker 13: Did she say what her plan was in regards to
31:11
Speaker 13: this talk with Dale?
31:17
Speaker 11: She said she wanted to sell a trucking company and
31:20
Speaker 11: be done?
31:21
Speaker 13: Okay, be done with what?
31:23
Speaker 11: The marriage.
31:28
Speaker 1: Text messages from D painted a picture of Dale as
31:31
Speaker 1: a controlling and at times violent husband. In December twenty twenty,
31:36
Speaker 1: D wrote about an argument that became a physical altercation
31:40
Speaker 1: in which he turned into the devil. She texted, I
31:44
Speaker 1: literally thought he could kill me. Her massage therapist testified
31:48
Speaker 1: that she saw bruses on D on two occasions, one
31:52
Speaker 1: of which was tied to the same incident she texted
31:54
Speaker 1: another friend about D. Told family that she stayed in
31:57
Speaker 1: the marriage in part because of her Some speculated that
32:02
Speaker 1: she was reluctant to divorce for a second time. Still,
32:05
Speaker 1: others close to her believed that despite D's strong personality,
32:10
Speaker 1: she had fallen victim to the abuse cycle, and she
32:13
Speaker 1: believed at some point it would get better. But by
32:17
Speaker 1: all accounts, in April twenty twenty one, D was reaching
32:20
Speaker 1: the end of the line. Her messages showed her threatening
32:24
Speaker 1: to leave Dale if he did not cease his controlling behavior.
32:33
Speaker 1: Data from the two vehicles that D drove, the Cadillac,
32:37
Speaker 1: her primary vehicle, as well as the Hummer, showed the
32:40
Speaker 1: extent to which Dale was keeping tabs on his wife.
32:43
Speaker 1: The in vehicle tracking on the Cadillac showed that someone
32:46
Speaker 1: else with access requested location data more than two thousand
32:50
Speaker 1: times over a sixteen month period, averaging four location checks
32:55
Speaker 1: per day leading up to her disappearance. In addition, Dale
32:59
Speaker 1: had a GP YES tracker secretly placed on De's secondary vehicle,
33:03
Speaker 1: the Hummer, because he was worried she was having an affair.
33:07
Speaker 1: That data was accessed one hundred and seventy six times
33:11
Speaker 1: before D found the device. It turns out d was
33:16
Speaker 1: in fact having an affair. This development did not come
33:20
Speaker 1: as a shock to family when it was discovered, given
33:22
Speaker 1: that her marriage had been on the rocks for years.
33:25
Speaker 1: The identity of her lover has not been disclosed, and
33:28
Speaker 1: police say that man has an airtight alibi for the
33:32
Speaker 1: time that she went missing. Whether his paranoia was justified, however,
33:36
Speaker 1: was irrelevant to the steps that Dale took to track
33:39
Speaker 1: and control his wife. He allegedly had secret cameras installed
33:44
Speaker 1: inside the house. He attempted to have an employee download
33:47
Speaker 1: all of the data off of her phone. He obsessively
33:50
Speaker 1: checked the location of her vehicles and her cell phone.
33:54
Speaker 6: Based on the testimony of the witnesses and the evidence admitted,
33:58
Speaker 6: the people of Meta burden for the subplinary examination that
34:01
Speaker 6: there's probable cause that d Warner died by homicide at
34:04
Speaker 6: the hands of the defendant Dale Warner. The evidence presented.
34:08
Speaker 1: As Dale awaited trial. Searches for D's body continued on
34:13
Speaker 1: August sixteen, twenty twenty four, two more search warrants were
34:17
Speaker 1: issued for the farm on Monger Road and the adjacent property.
34:23
Speaker 1: Two days later, authorities confirmed they had located the remains
34:27
Speaker 1: of d Warner. She was found inside an anhydrous ammonia
34:33
Speaker 1: tank used for the family's chemical fertilizer business. Police seized
34:37
Speaker 1: the tank from a barn located on property owned by
34:41
Speaker 1: Dale On It was a handwritten tag with an aluminum
34:45
Speaker 1: wire to notate that the tank was out of service
34:48
Speaker 1: due to a bad dip tube. It was then X rayed,
34:51
Speaker 1: revealing remains inside. The tank had been spotted near to
34:56
Speaker 1: a trash pile next to a barn two days after
34:59
Speaker 1: desail disappearance. Witnesses reported seeing Dale mending and then painting
35:04
Speaker 1: it over this period of time. According to surveillance video
35:08
Speaker 1: and officers observations, the tank was relocated after two days
35:14
Speaker 1: on it. They found a non manufactured weld, meaning it
35:18
Speaker 1: showed signs of being manually welded shut.
35:21
Speaker 3: These are the.
35:22
Speaker 7: Type of tanks they are. And as you'll notice, there's
35:25
Speaker 7: a seam right here, okay, and that appears to be
35:32
Speaker 7: where the scene was cut. And then this cap taken
35:37
Speaker 7: off and then her body put in that way.
35:44
Speaker 1: There was no liquid found inside the tank with D.
35:48
Speaker 1: The Medical Examiner's Office determined she died from strangulation. Greg
35:55
Speaker 1: Hardy and Son Parker witness Dale working on a tank
35:59
Speaker 1: over a few days after d went missing. This was
36:02
Speaker 1: odd for a few reasons, they said. The first because
36:05
Speaker 1: it was not logical to spend time repairing rusted out tanks.
36:09
Speaker 1: Commonly they would simply be replaced. Second, they did not
36:13
Speaker 1: believe that Dale had the welding skills required to properly
36:17
Speaker 1: repair it.
36:19
Speaker 16: My father and I were the ones that originally saw
36:22
Speaker 16: him about three days after two days after working on
36:26
Speaker 16: that very tank, and it was always a weird thought
36:29
Speaker 16: to me on why he was doing that. We questioned him.
36:31
Speaker 16: We've been talking as a family that she wasn't in
36:34
Speaker 16: that tank when I was there. She was in that
36:37
Speaker 16: tank when my dad was there the next day, and
36:39
Speaker 16: he remembers the look on his face. I mean, he
36:42
Speaker 16: was he had not slept all night. There's no doubt
36:46
Speaker 16: he had been up all night working, which it takes
36:48
Speaker 16: a lot of work to remove that cap, place her
36:50
Speaker 16: in there, get her from wherever he had her at,
36:53
Speaker 16: place her in there, weld the tank back up and
36:55
Speaker 16: begin painting it. He wanted to get it painted far
36:58
Speaker 16: enough where you couldn't see the new welds. After you
37:02
Speaker 16: got past that, he was home free because people would
37:04
Speaker 16: just think, oh, he's just working on a tank.
37:05
Speaker 2: It's taking him a long tank. They didn't want anybody.
37:08
Speaker 16: He didn't want anybody to see that he'd been welding
37:09
Speaker 16: on it. There would never be a reason to weld
37:11
Speaker 16: out a tank. You get rid of it if there
37:13
Speaker 16: was something wrong. It was such a all these years,
37:16
Speaker 16: it's always been in the back of our head. What
37:18
Speaker 16: if he My mom actually always said, what if he
37:21
Speaker 16: could he cut that tank open and put her in
37:23
Speaker 16: it and weld a backup. And I'm like, that's a
37:26
Speaker 16: lot of work. He's not that good of a welder.
37:29
Speaker 1: Dale Warner may not have been a great welder. His son, Jaren, however,
37:33
Speaker 1: was rumored to be. In March twenty twenty four, Jaren Warner,
37:38
Speaker 1: now twenty six years old and Lena's temporary guardian, was
37:42
Speaker 1: charged with tampering with evidence and being an accessory to murder.
37:46
Speaker 2: After the fact.
37:49
Speaker 13: Been leaning here with you.
37:53
Speaker 17: We got a war fear of rest, but hey, what's
37:54
Speaker 17: your hands behind your back?
37:55
Speaker 13: Are you serious?
37:56
Speaker 2: Yeah?
37:57
Speaker 13: Hey, serious right now that I'll explain everything, so you
38:01
Speaker 13: just give us a minute, okay.
38:04
Speaker 1: There were no publicly released statements detailing the evidence against Jaron.
38:08
Speaker 1: There was only speculation that Dale must have had assistance
38:12
Speaker 1: in hiding thee's body and disposing of her personal belongings.
38:16
Speaker 17: Jared, your warrant is for accessory after the fact of
38:19
Speaker 17: a homicide and for tampering with evidence. What's that, buddy?
38:24
Speaker 17: I guess so essentially, you took actions after the homicide
38:29
Speaker 17: that you now know and should have known, likely that
38:37
Speaker 17: it was after a crime occur. I've been truthful with you.
38:44
Speaker 17: Your dad has put you in really shitty spots about this,
38:46
Speaker 17: and unfortunately you continue to let him do that. And
38:49
Speaker 17: it's not a position I envy you for, that's for sure,
38:51
Speaker 17: but those are the cards you were dealt. But again,
38:54
Speaker 17: in short of begging you, I've done everything I could
38:56
Speaker 17: for you to talk to me and explain this part
38:59
Speaker 17: of the story, and unfortunately you didn't want to do that.
39:05
Speaker 1: In May twenty twenty five, the prosecutor's office, having never
39:09
Speaker 1: detailed how exactly they believed Jaren had been involved, dropped
39:13
Speaker 1: the charges against him. They stated only that a witness
39:16
Speaker 1: could not be located, but should that individual be found,
39:20
Speaker 1: they could refile the charges. Before the discovery of these remains.
39:27
Speaker 1: Dale Warner's trial for first degree murder had been scheduled
39:30
Speaker 1: to commence in September twenty twenty five. However, court records
39:34
Speaker 1: now show that it has been pushed to a start
39:37
Speaker 1: date of January twenty seventh, twenty twenty six. De Warner's
39:43
Speaker 1: family have filed a wrongful death lawsuit in the amount
39:46
Speaker 1: of one hundred million dollars against Dale. It's unclear how
39:50
Speaker 1: much her estate is actually worth, certainly not that amount,
39:54
Speaker 1: nor is it clear how much Dale has already siphoned
39:57
Speaker 1: off of it. Since her body has been found, the
40:00
Speaker 1: family has been offered some closure. They look forward to
40:03
Speaker 1: seeing Dale Warner receive the sentence that he deserves, and
40:07
Speaker 1: they want d to know that she is still very
40:10
Speaker 1: much loved.
40:15
Speaker 7: You know, this is totally premeditated, in my opinion, to
40:20
Speaker 7: kill your wife and tumor in a steal, to attempt
40:26
Speaker 7: to hide her forever from not only the public and others,
40:30
Speaker 7: but maybe from some of his family members who may
40:32
Speaker 7: or may not have knowledge. That's insane. I mean, that's
40:36
Speaker 7: a huge, huge, very very evil person to do that.
40:41
Speaker 7: I mean, you obviously have no remorse if you can
40:43
Speaker 7: do that. So I think it'll be a pretty strong
40:47
Speaker 7: trial and I can't wait. We certainly like to tell
40:49
Speaker 7: her we love her very much. I think that covers
41:01
Speaker 7: say we love very much.
41:06
Speaker 1: And that was the tragic case of d and order.
41:10
Speaker 1: Thank you for joining me, and a special thanks this
41:12
Speaker 1: week to Nurse Severa and Heidi Betrock for joining our
41:15
Speaker 1: members lounge. I'm Kevin. This is just hot lounge and
41:19
Speaker 1: I'll see in the next one.
41:22
Speaker 7: When to see.
41:23
Speaker 13: Please tell me who the screen saves.
41:25
Speaker 9: I can hear the crimes repeat. Gotta take my time
41:27
Speaker 9: because these crimes get deep, but these stories can't hide.
41:29
Speaker 9: Let me find my seat, Kevin, go ahead and settle in.
41:32
Speaker 9: Gotta be selective, do an other research. Keeping it objective
41:35
Speaker 9: always been effective. Can say he got a neck pick
41:38
Speaker 9: it a litter. You see how Newton got his back? Yeah,
41:40
Speaker 9: the content that you need.
41:41
Speaker 13: This could be a new sign. The comments
41:46
Speaker 4: Like that