The “No Body” Case of Dee Warner | Full Episode | Forensic Files

[Music] where's mom I called her phone and it went straight to voicemail I've never seen my
mom not answer her phone where are you what are you doing no response something's not right something wasn't
right my name is Zach Bach I am Rael my mom was the Warner she was my mom Rael called me she was at Mom's
house and she couldn't find her her cars were there she wasn't there there's no chance that she would not drive the
Escalade to wherever the hell she was going not my sister my mom was a very bubbly outgoing
person she made you laugh there wasn't a day that I was in the office where we weren't laughing she's a very very good
businesswoman she's very smart she could be very tough you didn't want to be on her bad side she was good sister-in-law
she spoke the truth you knew where you stood with her she was always done up her nails were done her hair was done
her eyelashes were done always ready to go and beautiful we reported her missing at
night Sunday night hello are you D than I hear your wife is missing well I don't know if she's missing or she
just left that was not unusual for your mom to pack her bags and disappear for a day
right right this isn't the first time she's done this guys the first time why is this so different because nobody knew
where she was at I don't know until another day goes by right I'm concerned but I'm not you know alarmed yet I began
searching and searching we were running around looking at the credit cards to see if there was a charge on it D Warner
hasn't been seen since late April she had an alteration two of them she just really
upset she's just a mess that day a complete mess hyperventilating and throwing up and crying the FBI searched
Warner's Franklin Township property we've looked everywhere 56 700 Acres we all went on foot
the first year was a struggle authorities say they are constantly following up on tips it's
been more than 2 years since D Warner's disappearance there's not a day since she left that I don't wonder what
happened to her when you're driving through here are you still wondering where D is yeah you know it sort of
haunt you she was reported missing more than 3 years ago she never would have have left
like this never never never when do you miss your mother the most when life gets
hard do you think D Warner was murdered yes wholeheartedly absolutely we had been struggling
because everybody said you don't have a body you don't have a body I know a no body homicide is very hard
maybe you'll find the body maybe you won't but don't sit around wait for Santa Claus to come you got to solve
this case [Music] [Music] I remember riding my bike or around there riding the four-wheelers around
there just being a kid that was where I I grew up so it's home it'll always be home to me but it's home in a different
way now it was Sunday April 25th 2021 a spring morning in the Farmland of lenaway County Michigan Raquel Bach
drove the short distance from her house to her childhood home for her weekly breakfast with her mother D Warner
Sundays we would go to my mom's first thing Rael says that when her mom was not there and not answering calls or texts
it just didn't feel right if my mom could glue her phone to her hand she would if I didn't respond to a text
message in 5 minutes I was getting another one hello one of de's cars a Hummer was parked at the Farm office
just down the road what about your mother's car that she drove all the time the Cadillac it was parked in the garage
so all your mother's cars are there yes and she's not responding to any kind of calls or texts
no the fertilizer sprayer usually parked in a barn was gone and Raquel's stepfather Dale Warner was out on it
working was that normal yeah it was pretty normal for him to work any day any time of day Raquel went
down the road to de's brother Greg and his wife Shell's house she said we can't find her and I'm like what do you mean
you can't find her they said her car is here we have called everybody we don't know where she's at the first thing I
did was call her number if she was somewhere she would answer my phone call and then I text her and did you and
nothing Rael and her Aunt Shelly went driving to look for D they returned to her house with only more questions there
were blankets laying on the couch couch and tissues tissues everywhere everywhere there was these
tissues they looked upstairs in the bedroom and bathroom for Clues her makeup bag was gone her curling iron and
all of that stuff was gone later they learned de's phone and passport were missing too the feeling that I had in my
stomach was nothing but fear Zack boach another of D's four children from her first marriage soon
came over to join the surge he went down to the Farm office to look for any sign
of his mom there's cameras here in the office I'll look at the cameras there was a security camera inside the office
and a few more outside I never saw her walk to the office and never saw her drive a vehicle I didn't see
her and there was something else out of the ordinary their 9-year-old sister Lena de and Dale's only child together
had stayed at at her cousin's house the night before and D hadn't yet called or come to get her Lena went everywhere
with my mom they were very very close and would she ever leave Lena behind with Dale
never I called my siblings we met up at my house and we called the sheriff's department by now it was late in the day
on Sunday and the lenaway County Sheriff's Office sent a deputy to talk to Dale the conversation was recorded on a
body camera I am count sh was how are you sir good this and other body cam footage has been adjusted at times for
clarity she was sleeping on the couch Dale told police he had last seen D that morning before he went out to work and
then this morning around 6:00 I got up and you know she was snoring away I texted her and she didn't answer so I
figured well she still asleep Dale seemed to believe his wife was alive and well and that she left
intentionally while her hairc was gone her um hair Dryer's gone her makeup bag's gone I went and see all that stuff
was a real concern he said she might be using another phone I told the other kids she's got a second phone you even
have a phone number no it's a secret phone that she doesn't know that I know she has it Dale also told police that de
had been upset and suffering from a migraine the night before after an argument with two of her employees I
came home last night and she was really upset she was talking bad things far as employees and one employee decided to
quit we got three different businesses here so the attentions are high all the time Dale and D ran three main
businesses from their Farm Zach was their bookkeeper my mom ran essentially the office for all three businesses
there was a trucking business with about 15 employees that Dem managed she always
referred to it as her trucking business and there was the farm itself and a chemical company that sold fertilizer
and Seed which was the most successful which did the best 100% the trucking company Stephanie vocal worked for Dale
and D in describes d as a good business person tough generous and hardworking but Raquel says that running that
trucking business was not easy for D I know that she had a hard time getting respect from some of the farmers because
she was a woman and younger and pretty Dale told Poli that conflict between de and their employees was nothing
new had all vacation with quite few people she's pretty W if you know my wife I I don't know
she's in your face and tell you how it is on Saturday the day before she went missing di you texted Stephanie asking
her how to block the driver who had quit from the company's Facebook page I told
her how to do it that was at 4:34 on Saturday afternoon April 24 yep and then at 4:44 I said did you tell
Zach at 7:43 I said how are you and she never answered that's the very last time you ever heard from D
[Music] Warner D's sister-in-law Shelly wondered if the pressures had just become too
much for D you're thinking at that point she might have taken her life I did we were worried because of everyone's
report of her emotional Behavior she had been upset and had an argument on Friday
and Saturday the crescendo was building up there might have been a Breaking [Music]
Point can you think of a day when no one knew where your mother was was a full day
no after hearing nothing from D Warner some of those closest to her feared she may have harmed
herself and they noticed that Dale her husband didn't seem very worried she'll cool off come back
home D told police that D when upset had a history of spending the night elsewhere she took all her bags so
somebody picked her up and he said he thought she come back eventually I mean I don't know what else to do other wait
a day or so and see what she shows up but the Sheriff's Office did not wait for D to show up they came out on Monday
and Tuesday to conduct interviews and search the property on Thursday 4 days after de disappeared they searched the
farm again and Dale agreed to talk to them at length at the kitchen table start went out on Saturday morning
Dale now told investigators that he and D had had a fight on Saturday he said she had accused him of talking about her
behind her back to the employees she had fought with which Dale denied and she hang up the phone and I had no more
contact with her the rest of the day I tried calling her several times and she wouldn't answer he said he didn't talk
to D again until that evening at home when their fight continued she says you don't care about me nobody
cares about me what does it matter if I'm even here Dale and D have been Partners in
life and business since they started their first company together in 2005 the year before they got married was this a
love match did you feel that way no she had a desire for Success yes I believe that's what her attraction was I really
do they weren't an obvious pair de's family and friends say she loved to have fun dress up go out and dance Dale
they say just seemed to work a lot I don't know what she's seen in him I really don't he doesn't like to do things with
her I went on a cruise with her because he didn't want to go Dale was fairly quiet kind of distant from all of us
kids when he did communicate it was usually he kind of likeed to poke at people where he knew would hurt the
worst Rael says Dale help feed de's insecurities I don't think she ever felt good enough like she felt like she had
to prove constantly everything in her life her looks her her money her businesses everything de's family later
learned she had been having an affair it didn't surprise them they said given the
state of her marriage but police say her Affair partner was out of town the weekend she went missing
and could not have had anything to do with the case a week after her disappearance de's
brother Greg organized a search of the land around her home we all went on foot and we walked
probably 5 six 700 Acres wow we we came up with zero by now de's family was growing
suspicious of Dale on the day D went missing Dale told each of them what happened but they say
they all heard slightly different versions she had a bad migraine headache she was laying on the floor he gave her
massage she went to sleep he picked her up and put her on the couch about 12:30 he got up around 6 6:30 he left but she
was snoring on the couch Zach says Dale told him he had had a fight with d he said that they had a
really big fight the night before but Raquel says Dale told her the fight was no big deal he said that they had a
little fight the night before and she was all mad and she won't answer him now and there was another odd detail in the
story Dale told de's family and police that Sunday the only thing that's really strange too is this time
she put her wedding ring in my desk yeah she's never done that before Rael Zach and Greg all say he
showed them that ring on Sunday too seeming to offer it as proof that D had left intentionally and maybe for
good but Greg says that ring is worth as much as $40,000 and leaving it behind didn't
sound like d That's Not my sister Not only would she not give him the wedding ring back she probably would have thrown
a Molotov cocktail in the house on her way out as time passed the family's suspicions that Dale had harmed his wife
only grew about 6 weeks after d went missing Greg says he confronted Dale about how
he thought the investigation was progressing I asked him Point Blank Dale what do you think about your wife
still missing she just disappeared under thin air and he said to me well it it could be a little faster but I think
they're doing a good job and that's when I I told him I said you know what you're
a liar and uh and I told him I'll get you you told him that yeah but believing d had something to do
with D's disappearance was very different from being able to prove it the Michigan State Police and the FBI
helped the county sheriff conduct a large scale search of their properties again in October but there was still no
sign of D alive or dead we had been struggling because everybody said you don't have a body you don't have a body
in February 2022 10 months after dia missing Shelly was watching an episode of 48 Hours featuring an investigator
named Billy little you don't have a body so what you don't get to get away with murder because you're good at disposing
of bodies so I thought oh my gosh I I got to have Greg see this so he watched it and immediately when he said that he
said give me that guy's number [Music] [Music] every time you go by here does it hurt a
little bit it hurts a lot every time Greg Hardy was convinced Dale Warner was behind his sister's disappearance
did she love living here she did although the Sheriff's Office had conducted at least seven searches and
interviewed Dale several times Greg was growing impatient by what he saw as a lack of progress Authority says Greg
told him that without a body it would be difficult to charge Dale with murder which is why Greg called Billy little
maybe you'll find the body maybe you won't but don't sit around wait for Santa Claus to come you got to solve
this case Missouri based attorney and investigator Billy little made his first trip to lenaway county in the spring of
2022 my goal is always to just discover the truth find out what happened the nice thing about the truth is it doesn't
have a side Billy little got to work on his own investigation and learned from de's family that the couple argued
frequently especially about money this was not a happy marriage a marriage of Endless
Love de's adult children told him their mom had often talked about divorce but that she didn't want to split custody of
their little sister Lena with Dale still the day before de disappeared they say something had changed had you really
seen your mother like that before upset yes but this was just very different she was like almost calm
de's kids say that she had finally had enough and was going to tell Dale that night she wanted to sell the profitable
trucking business and end her marriage this was de's life why did she want to sell the business because it had become
too difficult emotionally and personally for her that's how bad the marriage had
gotten Greg told Billy little that he thought Dale was moving money between the businesses after d disappeared Greg
had already filed a civil suit to protect D's interests and to get more information about what Dale was doing
call it gut feeling if you'd like whatever you'd call it in court documents Dale says he did move money on
the advice of professionals the more Billy little learned he says the more he liked the
family became convinced that D was no longer alive the evidence that she's dead is the absence of evidence that
she's alive no surveillance cameras No Electronic signature her phone's not found her bank accounts were never
accessed cash wasn't taken from the house even the ring she didn't even take that Greg and Billy little tried to
increase the pressure on Dale friends had started a social media campaign called Justice for D and Greg
paid for this billboard that he says he wrote sarcastically saying Help Dale find D it went up at a big intersection
near Dale's Farm where Greg says drivers from the trucking company would be sure
to see it every day helped Dale find D um it was part of almost psychological operations but little says he and Greg
were mostly focused on trying to find EV to help build a murder case without a body you got a lot of equipment you got
a lot of chemicals there are a lot of ways to dispose of a body on a farm and they continue to search
relentlessly for any trace of D you can see there's a silo right over there that's the location of where the
buildings were this property about 3 miles from D and's home is one of the places that
stood out to Greg 6 months after d disappeared there was a fire where the old farmhouse used to be and Greg says
the neighbors told him they thought Dale who owned the property with d had set that fire the fire was determined to be
a controlled burn which are common in the area police searched this site in October
2021 just a few days after that fire it's not known what if anything they learned Greg and Billy little came here
themselves the next year we use a drone to fly not only this site but every site
we could find around here we flew a couple thousand acres of Drone footage they found nothing conclusive
but that Old Farm was just one site they thought was suspicious there's basically three or
four major sites that bother me there was a field near rael's house that Dale had farmed which one where it's right
around the corner here and another field Two Towns over that Dale had access to and many more places Greg wanted
police to check further and isn't the really hard part about this Greg is there's just so many places there are so
many places in August 2022 the Michigan State Police took over D's Cas Greg and Billy little had pushed for this because
they say the state police had more experience and resources than the county sheriff okay and uh what do you do after
that the house after the state police took over the case they interviewed Dale again and
pressed him on his story Dale told them that the argument with that employee just before D disappeared was partly
about D taking money from the business he said he called her out I know which you knew him it's been taking this money
to know you a new this she been hang she inv anymore but police did not have evidence
that D had stolen money in September the family filed another suit to have D Warner declared legally dead Greg says
he wanted to be able to file a wrongful death suit against Dale one day the family waited for news on the criminal
case and then it was pretty crazy because we had a meeting with the prosecutor the same day
and she gave me no indication on November 21st 2023 2 and a half years after d Warner went missing
the news came that her husband Dale was under arrest Stephanie Was preparing for her
mother's funeral when she got the call rael's boyfriend called me and he said Dale was arrested for
murder and I fell to my knees at the funeral home just so happy Dale Warner was charged with the
murder of his wife de Mr Warner does enter plead not guilty he pleaded not guilty and de's family BRAC themselves
for a long legal battle ahead however long it took we wouldn't stop stop fighting you had to
testify were you nervous yeah I mean all you do is tell the truth so that's what
I kept telling myself I'm May 1st 2024 just a little more than 3 years after d Warner
disappeared her friends and family gathered here at the lenaway County District Court for the first day of Dale
Warner's preliminary hearing all right it would be up to judge Anna fresh hour to decide if the case should move to
trial I was worried because there is so little physical evidence there is nobody there are no
body parts been recently declared dead in civil court but Dale Warner's defense attorney Mary sharder said this was a
fact prosecutors would need to establish themselves in the criminal case whether
Miss Warner is dead is something that the the government needs to prove raise your right hand please do you swear to
tell the truth but the state was determined to show that while there was no body there was also no evidence that
D was still alive since April 24th 2021 one have you seen D Warner no have you heard from D Warner no in the months
leading up to D going missing and prosecutor Jackie wise worked to show there was no evidence that D had taken
off on her own she's got a second phone she asked Stephanie vocal about that secret phone that Dale claimed his wife
had did she ever discuss getting a second phone with you she did if she had asked me to look uh into pricing and
trying to find one for her yes okay so up until April 25th 2021 did you ever purchase that phone no could she have
bought the phone on her own yeah she could have bought it on her own but she would have had somebody else set it
up she was not techsavvy people would call Daniel Jor Michigan state police detective Daniel dror is the lead
investigator on this case you swear to tell the truth he testified about the exhaustive searches law enforcement did
to find any trace of activity from D over the three years she had been missing we did search warrants for uh
Healthcare Records phone records we searched numerous Vehicles we got records for social media we did uh
several land searches all their searches came up empty but de's daughter Raquel had noticed something curious at the
Warner home on the the stand she said that on the day her mother disappeared she saw tire tracks by the back of the
house there were two tracks that led up to the side and glass door there were no security cameras
pointed at this part of the property but the prosecution suggested that the tracks Raquel saw were left by Dale
using the Farm's JCB front end loader to remove de's body from their home when parking the front end loader the JCB in
this spot the bucket attached to it fits between those two pillars and you can set it on the deck up against the back
door remember Dale said his wife was asleep in the living room when he left that morning close to those sliding
doors didn't see any house you still sleeping okay in his 2022 interview with police Dale had an explanation for those
tracks he said he thought he used the loader to go back to the house and get his worksheet for the sprayer at around
6:30 a.m. I think I had to run and grab my dam sheet my load sheet I don't remember for sure I come got to uh jcv
the loader pull her on by the house and I run in I had to grab something out of the house I R back out got Lo back back
up no evidence that Miss Warner is dead and no evidence that she was murdered was found correct yes ma'am the defense
emphasized there was no evidence Dale Warner had anything to do with these disappearance and in fact his statements
about what he was doing that morning were supported by security videos around the farm the videos played in court show
Dale at 700 a.m. using that frontend loader at 7:45 a.m. police say he text D going to be sprain call you later he is
seen 3 minutes later driving a sprayer onto the road and returning at 8:13 a.m. so you had the sprayer records for the
John Deere and then did you actually even do a sprayer reenactment we did yes ma'am consistent with what Mr Warner
said right consistent with the time that occurred on that morning yes the defense also argued that Dale
had not acted like a guilty man are you Dale he allowed police to search his properties and spoke to them many times
after de disappeared only parts of a few of those interviews were played in court but his
attorney said that Dale had repeatedly denied harming D of all the phone calls and interviews
with Mr Warner he never once said I he harmed his wife correct correct he was always adamant that he did not
correct yes over and over the defense underscored the lack of physical evidence in the case do you have a
murder weapon in this case no ma'am big pool of blood anything like like that no
we have no forensic evidence of that nature no me they hone in on Mr Warner from the beginning in her final
statement to the judge Mary chartier argues that there is no basis for the charges if he murdered his wife where on
Earth is Ms Warner since 425 2021 nobody has heard from or seen D Warner prosecutor Jackie wise maintain
that the state's case was strong all we're required to prove at this stage is pro cause to believe that Dale Warner
killed D Warner and probable cause standard has been met the decision was now with the judge and D's supporters
were worried would Dale now face the murder charge at trial or would he walk out as a free
man the thought of him getting out was just scary do we have enough [Music] rise please how nervous were you before
the judge issues the ruling so it was horrible it was so horrible I felt like I could just
curl open a ball and GH on June 7th 2024 judge Anna fresh hour returned to court with her decision she first spoke
about d d Warner was a woman with a big heart and a temper she cared for her children and grandchildren and
employes there was nothing in the evidence that suggested she would disappear intentionally especially from
her children and there was nothing she heard the judge said that made her feel differently the statements by Dale
Warner of a secret phone she's got a sa phone and someone coming to pick up D Warner she's with someone somewhere
we're not supported by any facts or evidence in this case but there was enough evidence she said to believe that
D Warner was dead and that her husband was likely the one behind it there's probable cause that D Warner died by
homicide at the hands of the defendant Dale Warner all right this is reality they think
that there's enough evidence that he killed our mom to go to trial Dale Warner has been ordered to stand trial
for the murder of his wife but Billy little knows the real work is still ahead my fear for getting past a
preliminary hearing was probably a one out of 10 um my fear of getting a conviction at trial is probably an eight
out of 10 it's a by bar yeah law enforcement was still searching for physical evidence and in August 2024
2 months after that preliminary hearing concluded that's exactly what they found breaking news in the case of D
Warner D's family heard about it first I received a a message that said we need to have an emergency meeting with the
detectives they met detectives at Greg and chell's farm police told them they had gone back to a property that Dal and
de owned and taken away a large metal tank that was used to store fertilizer according to a search warrant
that tank had a non-factory weld on the back and a sign on it that said out of service do not
fill when the tank was scanned investigators finally found what they had been looking for it was my mom well
it was a body in a tank it took just days authorities say to confirm that the body inside that tank was D
Warner her death was ruled a homicide and how did she die uh they're not sharing that with me authorities are not
granting any interviews about this case before the trial but that warrant also says that security video from the day D
was reported missing showed Dale in one of the farm buildings searching for something near the welding equipment for
3 years police have been looking for de's body underg ground and now they had come to believe that she might have been
concealed above ground the tank was in this agricultural storage building right behind
me and was the cylinder right in here yeah it was parked here so Dale would have access to all this he
did Greg says he has no doubt now that Dale killed D and hit her body all these things point in one single Direction
clearly without any question and that's a Dale that's correct Dale's defense attorney declined to speak to 48 Hours
on camera but she told us that Dale maintains his innocence and said in this email they're prepared to vigorously
fight for him in court and present his defense isn't it likely that Dale's going to argue well that was a cylinder
sitting out in a barn anybody had access to that cylinder someone could have come
into his own barn and put your mom absolutely I mean he he can say anything Raquel says finding her mom's
body after these three long long years gave the family A sense of peace I wanted to shout from the rooftops to
everybody that she didn't leave us willingly de's family laid her to rest in a private burial soon after her body
was identified her daughter Lena now 12 was with them the one thing that she knows for sure that was her mother there
that her mother didn't leave her it was real it's like you get hit in the stomach every time I miss her laughter
and her comfort you miss her very much I miss her every day Raquel and Zach say they miss their
mother deeply and that her death has changed them in profound ways I now three years
sober and shortly after she went missing I started my own real estate company I stopped being scared of failing on
something cuz there was nothing left to lose he's my mom's Spirit very hardworking and driven
and determined your children will grow up hearing about D yeah what will you tell
them about your mother oh my mom enjoyed being a grandma so [Music] much they will always remember how she
would have been there my mom would have been there for everything [Music] CBS next Saturday a young girl found
dead in a swamp did this look like an accident or something else something entirely different a decades old mystery
with a surprising answer oh no oh no I never would have guessed how this ended 48 hours is all new CBS next Saturday
109 Central and streaming on Paramount Plus [Music]

When a woman disappears, her children are certain she’s been murdered. But without a body, they know it will be hard to get justice. "48 Hours" correspondent Erin Moriarty reports. Watch more full episodes of "48 Hours" on Pluto TV.

CASE UPDATE: On March 10, 2026, a jury found Dale Warner guilty of second-degree murder and tampering with evidence in the death of Dee Warner.

True crime. Real justice. "48 Hours" investigates the most intriguing crime and justice cases that touch on all areas of the human experience including greed and passion. "48 Hours," which premiered in 1988, has developed a rich history of original reporting and impact journalism that has helped exonerate wrongly convicted people, caused cold cases to be reopened and solved, and along the way changed lives.

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Brief Summary

D Warner's disappearance leads to her husband's arrest for murder after her body is found in a tank on their property.

Key points

A Mother's Disappearance. Zach is alarmed when his mother, D Warner, goes missing without a trace.
Growing Concerns. As days pass, the family grows increasingly worried about D's unusual absence.
The Investigation Begins. Authorities conduct searches and interviews as suspicions about Dale grow.
A Disturbing Discovery. D's family learns about her emotional struggles and the state of her marriage.
Justice for D. The family launches a campaign to raise awareness and pressure authorities.
Dale Warner Charged with Murder. Dale Warner is charged with the murder of his wife, D Warner, after her disappearance.

Episode highlights

Episode quotes

She never would have left like this, never, never.

Zach reflects on his mother's character and how unusual her absence is.

2:58WatchFeb 6, 2025

Tension

85/ 100High tension

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