Would Michigan investigators be able to prove murder in Dee Warner’s case without a body?

It used to be Sunday April 25, 2021, a spring morning within the farmland of Lenawee County, Michigan. Rikkell Bock drove the fast distance from her area to her formative years house for her weekly breakfast together with her mom, Dee Warner.

Rikkell Bock: Sundays … we’d … cross as much as my mother’s very first thing. 

Rikkell says that once her mother used to be no longer there, and no longer answering calls or texts, it simply did not really feel proper.

Rikkell Bock: If my mother may glue her telephone to her hand, she would … If I did not reply to a textual content message in 5 mins, I used to be getting every other one, “Hi?”

One in every of Dee’s automobiles, a Hummer, used to be parked on the farm place of job, simply down the street.

Erin Moriarty: What about your mom’s automotive that you simply drove at all times, the Cadillac?

Rikkell Bock: It used to be parked within the storage.

Erin Moriarty: So, your whole mom’s automobiles are there?

Rikkell Bock: Sure.

Erin Moriarty: And he or she’s no longer responding to any more or less calls or texts?

Rikkell Bock: No.

The fertilizer sprayer, in most cases parked in a barn, used to be long gone, and Rikkell’s stepfather, Dale Warner, used to be out on it — operating.

Erin Moriarty: Used to be that ordinary?

Rikkell Bock: Yeah. … it used to be beautiful customary for him to paintings any day, any time of day.

Rikkell went down the street to the house of Gregg and Shelley Hardy — Dee’s brother and sister-in-law.

Shelley Hardy: She stated, “We will be able to’t in finding her.” And I am like, “what do you imply you’ll be able to’t in finding her?” They stated, “Her automotive is right here. We now have known as everyone. We do not know the place she’s at.”

Gregg Hardy: The very first thing I did used to be name her quantity … If she used to be someplace, she would resolution my telephone name … after which I textual content her.

Erin Moriarty: And did you —

Gregg Hardy: And not anything.

WHERE’S DEE WARNER?

Rikkell and her Aunt Shelley went riding to search for Dee. They returned to her area with simplest extra questions.

Shelley Hardy: There have been blankets … laying at the sofa and tissues, tissues all over the place … In every single place. There have been those tissues. 

They seemed upstairs within the bed room and toilet for clues.

Rikkell Bock: Her makeup bag used to be long gone. Her curling iron, and all of that stuff used to be long gone.

Later they discovered Dee’s telephone and passport have been lacking, too.

 

Rikkell Bock: The sensation that I had in my abdomen used to be … not anything however worry.

Zack Bock, every other of Dee’s 4 kids from her first marriage, quickly came to visit to sign up for the hunt. He went right down to the farm place of job to search for any signal of his mother.

Zack Bock: There is cameras right here within the place of job. I’m going to take a look at the cameras.

There used to be a safety digicam throughout the place of job and a couple of extra out of doors.

Zack Bock: I by no means noticed her stroll to the place of job. I by no means noticed her power a car. … I did not see her.

And there used to be one thing else out of the strange. Their 9-year-old sister Lena, Dee and Dale’s simplest kid in combination, had stayed at her cousin’s area the evening earlier than and Dee hadn’t but known as or come to get her. 

Rikkell Bock: Lena went all over the place with my mother. … They have been very, very shut.

Erin Moriarty: And would she ever go away Lena at the back of with Dale?

Rikkell Bock: By no means.

Zack Bock: I known as my siblings. We met up at my area, and we known as the sheriff’s division.

Through now, it used to be past due within the day on Sunday, and the Lenawee County Sheriff’s Administrative center despatched a deputy, Austin Corridor, to speak to Dale Warner. The dialog used to be recorded on a frame digicam:

DEPUTY HALL (bodycam  | April 25, 2021 ): Hello, I am Deputy Corridor from the Lenawee County Sheriff’s Administrative center. How are you, sir?

DALE WARNER: Just right.

DALE WARNER (bodycam | April 25, 2021): She used to be drowsing at the sofa.

Dale advised police he had closing noticed Dee that morning earlier than he went out to paintings.

DALE WARNER (bodycam | April 25, 2021): After which this morning round 6 o’clock, I were given up and, you recognize, she used to be noisily snoring away … I texted her and he or she did not resolution. So, I figured, neatly, she’s nonetheless drowsing.

Dale gave the impression to imagine his spouse used to be alive and neatly — and that she left deliberately.

DALE WARNER (bodycam | April 25, 2021): Smartly, her hair roller’s long gone, her hair dryer’s long gone, her makeup bag is long gone … I went and noticed all that stuff long gone, I wasn’t actual involved.

He stated she could be the use of every other telephone.

DALE WARNER (bodycam | April 25, 2021): I advised the opposite youngsters she’s were given a 2d telephone …

DEPUTY HALL: Do you’ve a telephone quantity?

DALE WARNER: No. It is a secret telephone that she does not know that I do know she has it.

Dale additionally advised police that Dee have been dissatisfied and affected by a migraine the evening earlier than after an issue with two of her staff.

DALE WARNER (bodycam | April 25, 2021): I got here house closing evening, and he or she used to be in reality dissatisfied. She used to be speaking … dangerous issues so far as staff, the only worker made up our minds to hand over …

DALE WARNER: (bodycam | April 25, 2021): We were given 3 other companies right here. So, the tensions are prime at all times.

Dale and Dee Warner ran 3 primary companies from their farm. Zack Bock used to be their bookkeeper.

Zack Bock: My mother ran necessarily the place of job for all 3 companies.

There used to be a trucking trade with about 15 staff that Dee controlled.

Zack Bock: She all the time referred to it as her trucking trade.

And there used to be the farm itself, and a chemical corporate, that offered fertilizer and seed.

Erin Moriarty: Which used to be essentially the most a hit? Which did the most efficient?

Stephanie Voelkle: 100% … the trucking corporate.

Stephanie Voelkle labored for the Warners and describes Dee as a just right businessperson: difficult, beneficiant and hard-working. However Rikkell says that operating that trucking trade used to be no longer simple for Dee.

Rikkell Bock: I do know that she had a difficult time getting admire from one of the farmers as a result of she used to be a girl and more youthful and beautiful.

Dale advised police that war between Dee and their staff used to be not anything new.

DALE WARNER (bodycam | April 25, 2021): I imply, she’s had altercations with rather a couple of other folks. I imply, she’s beautiful stressed out, if you recognize my spouse. 

DEPUTY HALL: I — I have no idea, however —

DALE WARNER: She’s to your face and tells you the way it’s.

On Saturday, the day earlier than she went lacking, Dee had texted Voelkle asking her the way to block the driving force who had hand over from the corporate’s Fb web page. 

Stephanie Voelkle (studying her texts) I advised her the way to do it. … that used to be at 4:34.

Erin Moriarty: On Saturday afternoon, April twenty fourth.

Stephanie Voelkle: Yep. After which at 4:44, I stated, “did you inform Zack?” At 7:43, I stated, “How are you?” (crying) And he or she by no means spoke back.

Erin Moriarty: That is the very closing time you ever heard from Dee Warner?

Stephanie Voelkle: Yeah.

Shelley Hardy questioned if the pressures had simply turn into an excessive amount of for Dee.

Erin Moriarty: You are pondering at that time, she may have taken her lifestyles?

Shelley Hardy: I did.

Gregg Hardy: We have been fearful on account of everybody’s file of her emotional conduct.

Shelley Hardy: She have been dissatisfied and had an issue on Friday and Saturday …

Gregg Hardy: The crescendo used to be increase … There may had been a verge of collapse …

QUESTIONS FOR DALE WARNER

Erin Moriarty: Are you able to bring to mind an afternoon when nobody knew the place your mom used to be? A complete day.

Rikkell Bock: No.

After listening to not anything from Dee, a few of the ones closest to her feared she could have harmed herself and so they spotted that her husband Dale did not appear very fearful.

DALE WARNER (bodycam): She’ll cool off and he or she’ll come again house.

Dale had advised the sheriff’s deputy that Dee, when dissatisfied, had a historical past of spending the evening somewhere else.

DALE WARNER (bodycam): She took all her baggage. So, someone picked her up.

And he stated he idea she may come again in the end.

DALE WARNER (bodycam): I imply, I have no idea what else to do rather than wait an afternoon or so, and notice what –

DEPUTY HALL: Certain.

DALE WARNER: — she presentations up.

However the sheriff’s place of job didn’t stay up for Dee to turn up. They got here out on Monday and Tuesday to habits interviews and seek the valuables. On Thursday, 4 days after Dee disappeared, they searched the farm once more. And Dale agreed to speak to them, at duration, on the kitchen desk.

Dale now advised the investigators that he and Dee had had a battle on Saturday. He stated she had accused him of speaking about her, at the back of her again, to the workers she had fought with—which Dale denied.

DALE WARNER (bodycam | April 29, 2021): And he or she grasp up the telephone and I had not more touch together with her the remainder of the day. … I attempted calling her a number of instances and he or she would not resolution her telephone.

He stated he did not communicate to Dee once more till that night, at house, when their battle persevered.

DALE WARNER (bodycam | April 29, 2021): She says, “you do not care about me, no person cares about me, and what does it subject if I am even right here?”

Dale and Dee Warner have been companions in lifestyles and trade since they began their first corporate in combination in 2005—the yr earlier than they were given married.

Erin Moriarty: Used to be this a love fit? Did you’re feeling that means?

Gregg Hardy: No. … She had a need for good fortune.

Shelley Hardy: Sure.

Gregg Hardy: I imagine that is what her enchantment used to be, I in reality do.

They were not an evident pair. Dee’s friends and family say she cherished to have a laugh, get dressed up, cross out, and dance. Dale, they are saying, simply gave the impression to paintings so much.

Stephanie Voelkle: I have no idea what she’s noticed in him. I in reality do not. … He does not find irresistible to do issues together with her. I went on a cruise together with her as a result of he did not wish to cross. 

Zack Bock: Dale … used to be rather quiet, more or less far-off from all folks youngsters.

Rikkell Bock: When he did be in contact, it used to be in most cases — he more or less favored to poke at other folks … the place he knew would harm the worst.

Rikkell says Dale helped feed Dee’s insecurities.

Rikkell Bock: I don’t believe she ever felt, just right sufficient … like she felt like she needed to end up continuously the entirety in her lifestyles, her appears to be like, her — her cash, her companies—the entirety.

Dee’s circle of relatives later discovered she have been having an affair. It did not wonder them, they stated, given the state of her marriage. However police say her affair spouse used to be out of the town the weekend she went lacking and may no longer have had anything else to do with the case. Every week after her disappearance, Dee’s brother Gregg Hardy arranged a seek of the land round her house.

Gregg Hardy: All of us went on foot … And we walked up almost definitely 5, 6, 700 acres —

Erin Moriarty: Wow.

Gregg Hardy: We — we got here up 0.

Through now, Dee’s circle of relatives used to be rising suspicious of Dale. At the day Dee went lacking, Dale advised every of them what took place, however they are saying all of them heard reasonably other variations. 

Gregg Hardy: She had a nasty migraine headache. She used to be laying at the flooring. He gave her a therapeutic massage. She went to sleep. He picked her up and put her at the sofa about 12:30. … he were given up about 6, 6:30, he left, however she used to be noisily snoring at the sofa.

Zack says Dale advised him he had had a battle with Dee.

Zack Bock: He stated that they’d a in reality large battle the evening earlier than.

However Rikkell says Dale advised her the battle used to be no large deal.

Rikkell Bock: He stated that — they’d a bit of battle the evening earlier than … and he or she used to be all mad and he or she would possibly not resolution him now.

And there used to be every other ordinary element within the tale Dale advised Dee’s circle of relatives and police that Sunday.

DALE WARNER (April 25, 2021 | bodycam): The one factor that is in reality odd, too, is that this time she put her wedding ceremony ring on my table, within the place of job and left it. and now she’s long gone.

DEPUTY HALL: Yeah.

DALE WARNER: She’s by no means accomplished that earlier than.

Rikkell Bock, Zack Bock and Gregg Hardy all say Dale confirmed them that ring on Sunday too, seeming to provide it as evidence that Dee had left deliberately, and perhaps for just right. However Gregg says that ring is price up to $40,000. And leaving it at the back of did not sound like Dee.

Gregg Hardy:  That isn’t my sister. … No longer simplest would she no longer give him the marriage ring again, she almost definitely would’ve thrown a Molotov cocktail in the home on her means out.

As time handed the circle of relatives’s suspicions that Dale had harmed his spouse simplest grew. About six weeks after Dee went lacking, Gregg says he faced Dale about how he idea the investigation used to be progressing.

Gregg Hardy:  I ask him point-blank, “Dale, what do you take into consideration … your spouse continues to be lacking? … She simply disappeared on skinny air?” And he stated to me … “Smartly, it generally is a little quicker, however I feel they are doing a just right task. And that is the reason after I — I advised him, I stated, “you recognize what? You are a liar” … And I advised him, “I’m going to get you.”

Erin Moriarty: You advised him that? 

Gregg Hardy: Yeah.

However believing Dale had one thing to do with Dee’s disappearance used to be very other from with the ability to end up it. The Michigan State Police and the FBI helped the county sheriff habits a large-scale seek in their houses once more in October, however there used to be nonetheless no signal of Dee alive or useless.

Shelley Hardy: We have been suffering as a result of everyone stated you do not need a frame; you do not need a frame.

In February 2022, 10 months after Dee had long gone lacking, Shelley used to be looking at an episode of “48 Hours” that includes an investigator named Billy Little.

BILLY LITTLE (from “48 Hours”‘ “Searching for Maya Millete“) You do not need a frame. So what? You aren’t getting to escape with homicide since you’re just right at doing away with our bodies.

Shelley Hardy: So I believed, “Oh my gosh, I — I were given to have Gregg see this.” … so he watched it and in an instant when he stated that, he stated, “get me that man’s quantity.”

A BROTHER’S “GUT FEELING”

Gregg Hardy used to be satisfied Dale Warner used to be at the back of his sister’s disappearance.

Even though the sheriff’s place of job had carried out a minimum of seven searches and interviewed Dale Warner a number of instances, Gregg used to be rising impatient by way of what he noticed as a loss of development. Government, says Gregg, advised him that with out a frame it could be tricky to fee Dale Warner with homicide. Which is why Gregg known as Missouri-based legal professional and investigator Billy Little.

Billy Little: Perhaps you’ll be able to in finding the frame, perhaps you will not. However do not take a seat round looking forward to Santa Claus to come back. You gotta clear up this example. 

Little made his first shuttle to Lenawee County within the spring of 2022.

Billy Little (riding with Moriarty in Lenawee County): My function is all the time to only uncover the reality, in finding out what took place … the great factor about in fact it does not have an aspect.

Little set to work on his personal investigation and discovered from Dee’s circle of relatives that the couple argued regularly — particularly about cash.

Billy Little: This used to be no longer a contented marriage, a wedding of … unending love.

Dee’s grownup kids advised Little their mother had ceaselessly mentioned divorce however stated she did not wish to cut up custody in their little sister Lena with Dale Warner. Nonetheless, the day earlier than Dee disappeared, they are saying, one thing had modified.

Erin Moriarty: Had you in reality noticed your mom like that earlier than?

Rikkell Bock: Dissatisfied, sure. … However this used to be simply very other. She used to be, like, virtually calm.

Dee’s youngsters say that she had in any case had sufficient and used to be going to inform Dale that evening she sought after to promote the successful trucking trade and finish her marriage.

Erin Moriarty: This used to be Dee’s lifestyles. Why did she wish to promote the trade?

Billy Little: … As it had turn into too tricky emotionally and in my opinion for her … That is how dangerous the wedding had gotten.

Gregg advised Little that he idea Dale used to be shifting cash between the companies after Dee disappeared. Gregg had already filed a civil go well with to offer protection to Dee’s pursuits and to get extra details about what Dale used to be doing.

Gregg Hardy: Name it a intestine feeling if you need, no matter you’ll name it.

In courtroom paperwork, Dale says he did transfer cash—at the recommendation of pros. The extra Little discovered, he says, the extra he — just like the circle of relatives — turned into satisfied that Dee used to be now not alive.

Billy Little: The proof that she’s useless is the absence of proof that she’s alive. … No surveillance cameras, no digital signature, her telephone’s no longer discovered, her financial institution accounts have been by no means accessed … money wasn’t taken from the home. Even the hoop … She did not even take that.

Gregg and Little attempted to extend the drive on Dale. Buddies had began a social media marketing campaign known as “Justice for Dee.” And Gregg paid for a billboard that he says he wrote paradoxically, announcing “Lend a hand Dale To find Dee.” It went up at a large intersection close to Dale Warner’s farm — the place, Hardy says, drivers from the trucking corporate would you’ll want to see it on a daily basis.

Billy Little  (riding with Moriarty): “Lend a hand Dale To find Dee.”  It used to be a part of virtually mental operations.

However Little says he and Gregg have been most commonly keen on looking for proof to lend a hand construct a homicide case … with out a frame.

Billy Little: You have got a large number of apparatus, you have got a large number of chemical substances, there are a large number of tactics to put off the frame on a farm.

They usually persevered to go looking relentlessly for any hint of Dee.

Gregg Hardy (with Moriarty): You’ll see there’s a silo proper over there. That is the location of the place the constructions have been.

The valuables Gregg confirmed Moriarty, about 3 miles from Dale and Dee Warner’s house, is likely one of the puts that stood out to Gregg. Six months after Dee disappeared, there used to be a hearth the place the previous farmhouse was once, and Hardy says the neighbors advised him they idea Dale—who owned the valuables with Dee—had set that fireside. The fireplace used to be made up our minds to be a managed burn, that are commonplace within the space. Police searched the web site in October 2021, only a few days after that fireside. It isn’t recognized what, if anything else, they discovered. Gregg and Little got here right here themselves the following yr.

Gregg Hardy (with Moriarty on the assets): We used a drone to fly, no longer simplest this web site, however each web site lets in finding round right here. We flew a pair thousand acres of drone pictures.

They discovered not anything conclusive. However that previous farm used to be only one web site they idea used to be suspicious.

Gregg Hardy: There may be mainly 3 or 4 main websites that hassle me.

There used to be a box close to Rikkell’s area that Dale had farmed. And every other box, two cities over, that Dale had get entry to to. And lots of extra puts Gregg sought after police to test additional.

Erin Moriarty: And is it the in reality not easy section about this, Gregg, is there is simply such a lot of puts?

Gregg Hardy: There are such a large amount of puts.  

In August 2022, the Michigan State Police took over Dee’s case. Gregg and Little had driven for this as a result of they are saying the state police had extra enjoy and assets than the county sheriff.

After the state police took over the case, they interviewed Dale once more and pressed him on his tale. Warner advised them that the argument with that worker simply earlier than Dee disappeared used to be in part about Dee taking cash from the trade

DALE WARNER (Dec. 2022 police interview): Dee stated he [that employee] known as her out and stated, I do know what you may have been doing. You may have been taking this cash you recognize you may have been doing this … and he or she’d been had, she could not conceal it anymore.

However police didn’t have proof that Dee had stolen cash. In September, the circle of relatives filed every other go well with to have Dee Warner declared legally useless. Gregg says he sought after so as to report a wrongful dying go well with in opposition to Dale at some point. The circle of relatives waited for information at the felony case after which —

Gregg Hardy: It used to be beautiful loopy as a result of we had a gathering with the prosecutor the similar day … and he or she gave me no indication.

On Nov. 21, 2023, two-and-a-half years after Dee Warner went lacking, the scoop got here that her husband, Dale, used to be beneath arrest. Stephanie Voelkle used to be getting ready for her mom’s funeral when she were given the decision.

Stephanie Voelkle: Rikkell’s boyfriend, known as me … and he stated Dale used to be arrested for homicide. And I fell to my knees on the funeral house. [I was] in order that glad.

Dale Warner used to be charged with the homicide of his spouse Dee. He pleaded no longer to blame, and Dee’s circle of relatives braced themselves for an extended criminal fight forward.

Rikkell Bock: Alternatively lengthy it took, we would not forestall combating.

DEE WARNER’S FAMILY GETS THEIR DAY IN COURT

On Might 1, 2024, just a bit greater than 3 years after Dee Warner disappeared, her family and friends amassed on the Lenawee County District Court docket for the primary day of Dale Warner’s initial listening to.

Erin Moriarty: You needed to testify. … Have been you anxious?

Rikkell Bock: Yeah … I imply, all you do is inform the reality. So that is what I stored telling myself.

It will be as much as Pass judgement on Anna Frushour to make a decision if the case will have to transfer to trial.

Stephanie Voelkle: I used to be fearful … as a result of there may be so little bodily proof.

Dee have been not too long ago declared useless in civil courtroom, however Dale’s protection legal professional, Mary Chartier, stated this used to be a truth prosecutors would want to identify themselves within the felony case.

MARY CHARTIER (in courtroom): There is not any frame. There aren’t any frame portions. … Whether or not Ms. Warner is useless is one thing that the federal government must end up.

However the state used to be made up our minds to turn that whilst there used to be no frame, there used to be additionally no proof that Dee used to be nonetheless alive.

JACKIE WYSE (in courtroom): Since April twenty fourth, 2021, have you ever noticed Dee Warner?

STEPHANIE VOELKLE: No.

JACKIE WYSE: Have you ever heard from Dee Warner?

STEPHANIE VOELKLE: No.

And prosecutor Jackie Wyse labored to turn there used to be no proof that Dee had taken off on her personal. She requested Voelkle about that secret telephone that Dale claimed his spouse had.

JACKIE WYSE (in courtroom): Did she ever speak about getting a 2d telephone with you?

STEPHANIE VOELKLE: She did. … She had requested me to appear into pricing and looking for one for her, sure.

JACKIE WYSE: OK. So, up till April twenty fifth, 2021, did you ever acquire that telephone?

STEPHANIE VOELKLE: No.

Erin Moriarty: May she have purchased the telephone on her personal?

Stephanie Voelkle: Yeah. She can have purchased it on her personal, however she would’ve had someone else set it up. She used to be no longer tech savvy.

Michigan State Police Detective Daniel Drewyor is the lead investigator in this case. He testified on the initial listening to concerning the exhaustive searches legislation enforcement did to seek out any hint of job from Dee over the 3 years she have been lacking.

DET. DREWYOR (in courtroom): We did, seek warrants for healthcare data, telephone data. We searched a large number of automobiles … We were given data for social media. We did a number of land searches.

All their searches got here up empty—however Dee’s daughter, Rikkell, had spotted one thing curious on the Warner house. At the stand, she stated that at the day her mom disappeared she noticed tire tracks by way of the again of the home.

RIKKELL BOCK: There have been two tracks that led as much as the sliding glass door.

There have been no safety cameras pointed at this a part of the valuables, however the prosecution advised that the tracks Rikkell noticed have been left by way of Dale Warner the use of the farm’s JCB front-end loader to take away Dee’s frame from their house.

DET. DREWYOR:  When parking the front-end loader, the JCB, on this spot, the bucket connected to it suits between the ones two pillars and you’ll be able to set it at the deck up in opposition to the again door.

DALE WARNER (Dec. 2022 | police interview): I did not see anything else in the home. Dee used to be nonetheless drowsing.

In his 2022 interview with police, Dale Warner had an reason for the ones tracks — he stated he idea he used the loader to return to the home and get his worksheet for the sprayer at round 6:30 a.m.

DALE WARNER (Dec. 2022| police interview): I feel I needed to run and take hold of my rattling sheet, my load sheet. I do not take into accout needless to say … I come were given the JCB, the loader, pulled round by way of the home and I run in. I needed to take hold of one thing out of the home and I run again out, were given within the loader, sponsored again out.

MARY CHARTIER (in courtroom): No proof that Ms. Warner is useless … and no proof that she used to be murdered used to be discovered, right kind?

DET. DREWYOR: Sure, ma’am.

The protection emphasised there used to be no proof Dale had anything else to do with Dee’s disappearance. And, in reality, his statements about what he used to be doing that morning have been supported by way of safety movies across the farm. The movies, performed in courtroom, display Dale at 7 a.m., the use of that front-end loader. At 7:45 a.m., police say, he sends Dee this article that used to be learn out loud in courtroom, “Going to be spraying. name you later :)” He’s noticed 3 mins later riding a sprayer onto the street and returning at 8:13 a.m.

MARY CHARTIER (in courtroom): So, you had the sprayer data for the John Deere after which did you in fact even do a sprayer reenactment?

DET. DREWYOR: We did. Sure, ma’am.

MARY CHARTIER: In step with what Mr. Warner stated, proper?

DET. DREWYOR: In step with the time that passed off on that morning, sure.

The protection additionally argued that Dale had no longer acted like a to blame guy. He allowed police to go looking his houses and spoke to them again and again after Dee disappeared. Simplest portions of a couple of of the ones interviews have been performed in courtroom, however his legal professional stated that Dale had many times denied harming Dee.

MARY CHARTIER (in courtroom): Of the entire telephone calls and interviews with Mr. Warner, he by no means as soon as stated he harmed his spouse, right kind? 

DET. DREWYOR: Proper.

MARY CHARTIER: He used to be all the time adamant that he didn’t, right kind? 

DET. DREWYOR: Sure.

Again and again, the protection underscored the shortage bodily proof within the case.

MARY CHARTIER (in courtroom): Do you’ve a homicide weapon on this case? 

DET. DREWYOR: No, ma’am.

MARY CHARTIER: Giant pool of blood, anything else like that? 

DET. DREWYOR: No, we don’t have any forensic proof of that nature. No, Ma’am. 

In her ultimate remark to the pass judgement on, Chartier argues that there’s no foundation for the fees.

MARY CHARTIER (in courtroom): They hone in on Mr. Warner from the start.

MARY CHARTIER (in courtroom): If he murdered his spouse, the place on earth is Ms. Warner?

JACKIE WYSE (in courtroom): Since 4/25/2021, no person has heard from or noticed Dee Warner.

Prosecutor Jackie Wyse maintained that the state’s case used to be sturdy.

JACKIE WYSE: All we are required to end up at this degree is, possible reason to imagine that Dale Warner killed Dee Warner. And … possible reason same old has been met.

The verdict used to be now with the pass judgement on—and Dee’s supporters have been fearful. Would Dale now face the homicide fee at trial—or would he stroll out as a unfastened guy?

Rikkell Bock: The considered him getting out used to be simply frightening. … Do we’ve got sufficient?

AN IMPORTANT DISCOVERY CLOSE TO HOME

On June 7, 2024, Pass judgement on Anna Frushour returned to courtroom together with her determination. She first spoke about Dee.

JUDGE ANNA FRUSHOUR:  Dee Warner used to be a girl with a large middle and a mood. She cared for her kids and grandchildren, and staff. … There used to be not anything, within the proof, that advised she would disappear deliberately, particularly from her kids.

And there used to be not anything she heard, the pass judgement on stated, that made her really feel otherwise.

JUDGE ANNA FRUSHOUR: The statements by way of Dale Warner … of a secret telephone … and anyone coming to select up Dee Warner weren’t supported by way of any details or proof on this case.

However there used to be sufficient proof, she stated, to imagine that Dee Warner used to be useless and that her husband used to be most probably the only at the back of it.

JUDGE ANNA FRUSHOUR: There may be possible reason that Dee Warner died by way of murder by the hands of the defendant, Dale Warner.

Rikkell Bock: That is fact. … They believe that there is sufficient proof that he killed our mother to visit trial.

Dale has been ordered to face trial for the homicide of his spouse, however Little is aware of the true paintings continues to be forward.

Billy Little: My worry for buying previous a initial listening to used to be almost definitely a one out of 10. My worry of having a conviction at trial is almost definitely an 8 out of 10.

Erin Moriarty: It is a prime bar.

Billy Little: Yeah.

Regulation enforcement used to be nonetheless looking for bodily proof and in August 2024, two months after that initial listening to concluded, that is precisely what they discovered. Dee’s circle of relatives heard about it first.

Rikkell Bock: I won a message … that stated we want to have an emergency assembly with the detectives.

They met detectives at Gregg and Shelley Hardy’s farm. Police advised them they’d long gone again to a assets that Dale and Dee Warner owned and brought away a enormous steel tank that used to be used to retailer fertilizer. In line with a seek warrant, that tank had a “non-factory weld at the again” and an indication on it that stated, “out of carrier”… “don’t fill.” When the tank used to be scanned, investigators in any case discovered what they’d been in search of.

Rikkell Bock: It used to be my mother. Smartly, it used to be a frame in a tank.

It took simply days, government say, to substantiate that the body inside that tank used to be Dee Warner. Her dying used to be dominated a murder.

Erin Moriarty: And the way did she die?

Gregg Hardy: They are no longer sharing that with me.

Government don’t seem to be granting any interviews about this example earlier than the trial, however that warrant additionally says that safety video from the day Dee used to be reported lacking confirmed Dale in one of the vital farm constructions “looking for one thing close to the welding apparatus.” For 3 years, police have been in search of Dee’s frame underground, and now they’d come to imagine that she may had been hid above floor.

Gregg Hardy: The tank used to be on this … agricultural garage construction proper at the back of me.

Erin Moriarty: And used to be the cylinder proper in right here?

Gregg Hardy: Yeah, it used to be parked right here.

Erin Moriarty: So, Dale would have get entry to to all this?

Gregg Hardy: He did.

Gregg says he has unquestionably now that Dale killed Dee and concealed her frame.

Gregg Hardy: These types of issues … level in a single unmarried route, obviously, with none query.

Erin Moriarty: And that is the reason to Dale?

Gregg Hardy: That is right kind.

Dale’s protection legal professional declined to talk to “48 Hours” on digicam, however she advised us that Dale maintains his innocence and stated in an e-mail they are “ready to vigorously battle for him in courtroom and provide his protection.”

Erin Moriarty: Is not it most probably that Dale’s going to argue, neatly, that used to be a cylinder sitting out in a barn, any one had get entry to to that cylinder, anyone can have come into his personal barn and put your mother?

Rikkell Bock: Completely. I imply, he — he can say — anything else.

Rikkell says discovering her mother’s frame after those 3 lengthy years gave the circle of relatives a way of peace.

Rikkell Bock: I sought after to shout from the rooftops to everyone that she did not go away us willingly.

Dee’s circle of relatives laid her to relaxation in a personal burial quickly after her frame used to be recognized. Her daughter Lena, now 12, used to be with them.

Gregg Hardy (emotional): The only factor that she is aware of needless to say, that used to be her mom there. … That her mom did not go away her. It used to be actual.

Shelley Hardy (crying):  It is such as you get hit within the abdomen each time … I leave out her laughter and her convenience.

Erin Moriarty: You leave out her?

Stephanie Voelkle: Very a lot … I leave out her on a daily basis.

Rikkell and Zack Bock say they leave out their mom deeply, and that her dying has modified them in profound tactics.

Zack Bock: I am now 3 years sober. … And, in a while after she went lacking, I began my very own actual property corporate. … I ended being afraid of failing on one thing ‘reason there used to be not anything left to lose.

Rikkell Bock: He is my mother’s spirit, very hardworking and pushed and made up our minds.

Erin Moriarty: Your kids will develop up listening to about Dee.

Rikkell Bock: Yeah.

Erin Moriarty: What’s going to you inform them about your mom?

Rikkell Bock: Oh, my mother loved being a grandma such a lot … They are going to all the time take into accout … how she would had been there. My mother would’ve been there for the entirety.

Dale Warner’s trial is scheduled to start on Sept. 2, 2025.

Produced by way of Sarah Prior. Cindy Cesare is the improvement manufacturer. Chelsea Narvaez is the sector manufacturer. Doreen Schechter, Diana Modica and Joan Adelman are the editors. Lourdes Aguiar is the senior manufacturer. Nancy Kramer is the manager tale editor. Judy Tygard is the manager manufacturer