The latest headlines from our reporters across the US sent straight to your inbox each weekday
Your briefing on the latest headlines from across the US
Investigators have discovered human remains during a search of home in southeastern Michigan that belongs to a man whose wife disappeared more than three years ago and is presumed dead.
Dee Warner’s family reported her missing in April of 2021. Her husband, Dale John Warner, 56, was charged in November with open murder and tampering with evidence in her disappearance. He has pleaded not guilty.
Michigan State Police said in a statement Sunday that they recently searched Dale Warner’s property in Lenawee County and found human remains.
“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 agency said in a social media post. “The family of Dee Warner has been contacted and advised of the findings. This continues to be an ongoing investigation.”
Family members told WTVG-TV and WTOL-TV that the remains were found on Friday in a sealed, empty tank meant for anhydrous ammonia, which is used as fertilizer for crops. Chemicals were not in the tank at the time, a family member said. It had been sealed with a tag that said: “do not use.”
The woman’s brother, Gregg Hardy, said investigators showed his family an X-ray of the tank with a body inside of it.
“What we’ve now discovered is so far-fetched, who would have thought? You know who could have even dreamed that up,” he told WTVG.
Dale Warner would have been the only person who could have accessed the tank, the brother said.
According to police information and court records, the woman was planning to discuss divorce with her husband before authorities suspect he killed her.
Dale Warner admitted to fighting with his wife about “money and infidelity” but cops said every statement he made on the subject was inconsistent. An autopsy is scheduled for Tuesday.
Dee Warner, a mother of five, was 52 when she was last seen on the morning of April 25, 2021, on a road in Franklin Township, about 110km southwest of Detroit. Since then, she has had no contact with her family or friends. She was declared legally dead earlier this year.
Dale Warner remains held in the Lenawee County Jail. He is scheduled to appear in court on September 4 for a pretrial hearing.
“We believe that a fair and objective review of the evidence – or more precisely the lack of evidence in this case – will show that Mr Warner did not kill his wife,” his attorney, Mary Chartier, told the Associated Press when he was charged in November.
Speaking to the latest discovery, an attorney for Dale Warner told WTVG on Sunday: “This appears to be another tragic turn of events for all those who loved and cared for her.”