LENAWEE COUNTY, Mich. – After more than three years, there are finally some answers in the mystery of a missing Michigan woman.
The case of Dee Warner is officially being treated by police as a homicide after human remains found were confirmed by medical examiners as the missing Lenawee County woman.
She was last seen in April 2021 at her home on Mugner Road in Tipton. She told her friend she was going to meet up with her husband and was never seen or heard from again for more than three years.
Dale Warner was charged with open murder and tampering with evidence in the case.
Dee’s remains were found on Sunday, Aug. 18, inside an anhydrous tank during a search of a Lenawee County property that belonged to her husband, Dale Warner. Officials confirmed the remains belonged to Dee Warner on Wednesday, Aug. 21.
Related: The steps family thinks husband followed to hide Dee Warner’s body for years
The family spoke publicly Thursday, Aug. 22. It was the first time since her body was found. While they’re finding some closure, the case remains under investigation.
You can watch the full press conference in the video player above.
“It’s bittersweet at best, but certainly needed, and honestly unexpected after three and a half years,” said Gregg Hardy, Dee Warner’s brother.
Hardy said that police have determined her cause of death, but that it wasn’t something that he personally could reveal. He described Dale Warner as a “very evil piece of human debris,” who “viciously killed my sister with no remorse.”
The family believes Dee was killed in the home she shared with Dale before being stored in an anhydrous tank four miles away. Hardy said his sister’s death was “totally premeditated” and that Dale Warner had stowed her in “a steel tomb.”
Hardy said Dale allegedly schemed to take a large amount of money from Dee which would have happened if it weren’t for someone coming forward about her death.
“Dale Warner forged my sister’s name and used her ID to actually extract one and a half million dollars from all of you taxpayers, and then he put it in the bank and transferred into his own name,” Hardy said. “That was that was proven. This isn’t something I make I’m just talking about that’s not alleged. It’s factual,”
The family said they were grateful for the amount of support the community has given them since Dee went missing.
“We just want to thank everybody for their continued support,” said Rikkell Bock, Dee’s youngest daughter. “We cannot begin to thank you guys enough for sticking by our side and believing in us when we didn’t want to believe in ourselves anymore.”
Hardy urged people to leave bad relationship situations and that his sister had likely stayed because she thought she could change Dale Warner.
“You know my sister was a very strong person, she’s probably dead because she thought she could fix this guy,” Hardy said.
The investigation is ongoing.
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