FRANKLIN TOWNSHIP, Mich. – A judge on Monday lowered the bond for the husband recently charged with murder in the 2021 kidnapping and believed death of missing Lenawee County woman Dee Warner.
Dale Warner, 53, was charged last week with open murder in the death investigation of his wife Dee that began after the 52-year-old woman went missing from her Franklin Township home in April 2021. Following his arrest on Nov. 21, Dale Warner was given a $20 million bond -- but that bond was dropped to $15 million during a bond hearing on Monday, Nov. 27.
After initially leading the investigation, the Lenawee County Sheriff’s Office brought in Michigan State Police and the FBI to assist with efforts and help lead digs and searches for Dee Warner’s body. MSP announced last week’s arrest, later saying Dale Warner was arrested at his home after one year and eight months of their investigation.
Dale Warner was charged with open murder and tampering with evidence, despite his wife’s body having never been found.
“With incredible determination, [detectives] have pieced together a very difficult case culminating with an arrest,” said Capt. Steve O’Neill, commander of the First District headquarters. “This arrest is another step in our investigation, and we will continue our efforts to bring closure to the family and to find Dee Warner’s remains so that her family can lay her to rest.”
Dale Warner was scheduled to appear in court next on Dec. 4 for a probable cause conference.
In 2021, authorities conducted a thorough search of Dee Warner’s property, from where she was said to run her own trucking company. The missing woman’s body was not found in that two-day search, nor during another search of the property in May 2023.
Dee Warner’s body is still missing more than two and a half years since her disappearance. Her family suspects she was a victim of domestic abuse.
“Our family has suffered a long share [and] there’s one person who could have eliminated all of that, and that’s the person who is in jail tonight,” Dee’s brother Gregg Hardy said last week. “My sister was a very strong person. I do believe that she thought she could handle the task at hand. She suffered from the same thing a lot of battered women have, and that is [thinking] they can change the person that they’re married to.”
Authorities say Dee Warner was last seen at her home on Mugner Road in Tipton -- an unincorporated community in Franklin Township -- either on April 24 or 25, 2021. From then, her cellphone went dead, she had not contacted any family members or used social media, and her bank account activity also ceased, officials said.
Anyone with more information is asked to call the MSP Monroe post at 734-242-3500. Callers can remain anonymous.
---> More: Dee Warner murder: Everything we know about arrest of husband after 20 months