Dale Warner: Took Notes on His Wife

Dale Warner. Photo by Serge Ivonin

The Dale Warner murder trial continued today in Lenawee County Circuit Court. Dale is charged with open murder of his wife, Dee Ann Warner, and tampering with evidence. After being reported missing over 3 years, Dee’s body was found in an anhydrous ammonia tank on Dale’s property August 17, 2024.

The first witness was Jack Taeff, a canine handler for Michigan State Police. He arrived at the Warner farm Tuesday, April 27, 2021, two days after Dee’s disappearance, to assist in the investigation.

It was decided a cadaver dog needed to be brought in as opposed to the narcotics/tracking dog Taeff had. While he waited, Taeff searched the dry fertilizer barn and by the semi-trucks used in Dee’s trucking business.

Det. Greca, lead investigator on the case, asked when the dog was coming. Dale stood mere feet away. Soon after, Dale revoked consent of the search. Law enforcement had to leave the property.

They returned after dark with a search warrant.

On Thursday, April 29, 2021, Taeff returned to search again. Dale warned him not to take dogs in the Sprayer Barn. The chemicals on the floor would get sucked up though their paws. Taeff said Dale’s warning did not sway him not to go in the Sprayer Barn. He searched wherever Det. Greca told him to and that did not include the Sprayer Barn.

Cadaver dogs are better trained to search for bodies than narcotics/tracking dogs. Cadaver dogs are trained to smell blood, bone, and tissue. They can pick up on the scent years later.

Even if Taeff would have taken the cadaver dog into the Sprayer Barn, it would not have smelled Dee sealed in a tank unless there was blood splatter on it. He said he would not have taken a dog near a chemical tank until it was pulling in that direction.

Taeff was a part of numerous searches of the Warner farm and home, although he never brought a dog inside the home. The dogs never hit on the scent of a body.

Sgt. Jeff Hooper of Monroe County Sheriff’s Office was a detective at the time Dee went missing. He assisted in the investigation by extracting data off Dale’s phone using a universal forensic extraction machine.

At 7:08 AM on the day Dee was reported missing, Dale used the MyCadillac app on his phone which was connected to Dee’s locked Cadillac Escalade parked in the garage. At 7:45 he texted Dee a message: Going to be spraying call you later. A smiley emoji was added.

At 8:48 AM, Dale used the FindMyiPhone app. At 10:02 AM he texted Dee again: Are you up yet? Is your migraine better? A smiley emoji was added. At 10:29 AM he used the FindMyiPhone app.

Sgt. Hooper also extracted data from Dale’s iPad.

On May 4, 2021, at 10:28 PM, nine days after Dee vanished, an internet search was done asking what to do with a 1,000-gallon propane tank.

After Sgt. Hooper was excused, the prosecutor, Jacqueline Wyse asked Judge Olsaver to declare former Detective Greca a hostile witness. There has been a struggle to get Greca to testify. After 8 months of evading a subpoena, U.S. Federal Marshals arrested him as a fugitive in Ohio in December. Greca’s attorney said he had not been evading anyone. He was simply out for dinner.

Mary Chartier, defense attorney, argued it was, “too soon under established case law,” to declare Greca a hostile witness.

Judge Olsaver determined that Greca should take the stand and, “we’ll see how the testimony goes.”

Henrik Impola, FBI agent, was a search team leader when numerous law enforcement agencies joined together to do an extensive search of Warner properties. His main task was to search the vehicles and outbuildings on Munger Road. Any equipment on wheels was considered a vehicle. There were 37 vehicles listed on the report.

Impola searched a black Chevy truck. There was a calendar, journal, notebook and loose paper believed to have been used by Dale. The handwriting seemed to correspond with what was written on the calendar. Most of the handwriting consisted of short notes regarding Dee’s whereabouts or demeanor.

For example one said: Was having night nightmares. Started several weeks prior. Wake up soaking wet in a panic. All jewelry would be in bed pulled off in nightmare. Her watch never made it all night on her arm. Talking in her sleep. You can’t protect me from them. I will get you the money.

Another said: Don’t know where her other large diamonds are! All I see is small one in safe. On dresser costume stuff.

In other notes he said she lied about where she was going and snuck out in the middle of the night. He questioned whether she was seeing another man or a drug dealer.

Retired Det. Sgt. Scott Singleton was the last to testify. He started working on Dee’s case in March 2022 when LCSO, MSP, and the FBI formed a task force. When MSP took over the case in August 2022, he worked closely with lead detective, Det. Lt. Drewyor.

He was part of an extensive search of 3,000 acres of property leased or owned by the Warner’s in May 2023. It wasn’t long after MSP started digging up a pit on Paragon Road that Dale showed up. He offered to use his own equipment and help them dig. Out of all the properties that were searched, this was the only time that Dale showed up or offered to help.

Dee’s body would later be found in a tank stored in a fertilizer barn on Paragon Road.

Det. Singleton estimated he spent hundreds of hours looking at surveillance video from the Warner farm.

The day Dee disappeared, Dale gathered together an angle grinder, a hook, and a chain. There were multiple welders on property, but one stood out. The one in the New Shop was to the left of a green toolbox at 3:12 PM. At 6:43 PM it was in front of the green toolbox.

Dale had 20 minutes alone in the Sprayer Barn from 1:26 PM to 1:46 PM after he gathered the angle grinder and wheel. He was alone in the Sprayer Barn 48 minutes from 3:41 PM to 4:29 PM. Dale spent 59 minutes alone in the Sprayer Barn from 5:07 PM to 6:06 PM.

Det. Singleton also noticed that at 6:07 PM there was not a tank in a certain spot by the burn pile. At 6:39 PM the tank is there.

In between times, Dale was in and out of the office and all over the farm. He would leave for short periods and return.

Witness testimony will resume tomorrow at 9 AM.

For background on the case, you can start here. For daily trial updates, go to justiceforallmag.com.