FRANKLIN TOWNSHIP, Mich. — Investigators have discovered human remains during a search of property in southeast Michigan belonging to a man whose wife disappeared more than three years ago and is presumed dead.
Dee Warner’s family reported her missing in April 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 being recovered and there will be a lot of work and testing completed before positive identification is made,” the agency said on social media post. “Dee Warner’s family has been contacted and informed of the findings. This remains an ongoing investigation.”
Family members told WTVG TV and WTOL-TV that the remains were found Friday in a sealed, empty tank intended for anhydrous ammonia, which is used as a crop fertilizer.
An autopsy is scheduled for Tuesday.
Dee Warner was 52 when she was last seen on the morning of April 25, 2021, on a road in Franklin Township, about 110 kilometers southwest of Detroit. Since then she has had no contact with her family or friends.
Dale Warner remains incarcerated in the Lenawee County Jail. He is scheduled to appear in court on Sept. 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 Warner did not kill his wife,” his lawyer Mary Chartier told The Associated Press when he was charged in November.