Dale Warner: Expert Says Welding Tank Could Be a One-Man-Job

Dale Warner in court today. Photo by Tracy Stengel.

Six witnesses testified today during Dale Warner’s murder trial in Lenawee County Circuit Court. Dale is charged with open murder and tampering with evidence in the death of his wife, Dee Ann Warner. On August 17, 2024, over three years after she was reported missing, Dee’s remains were found inside an anhydrous ammonia tank on Dale’s property.

Jason Gravelle worked for Dale’s farming business when Dee went missing. A jack of all trades, Jason did whatever was asked of him from mechanic work to driving truck.

On Tuesday, April 27, 2021, Dee had been gone for two days. Upon Dale’s request, Jason moved an anhydrous tank from the burn pile to the Sprayer Barn using the front-end loader.

When asked why Dale wanted it moved, Jason replied, “I think he wanted to clean it up.”

The tank was in poor condition. Photographs showed something green was growing on the top of it and large rust spots littered its sides.

Dee Warner’s nephew, Parker Hardy, testified he last saw his aunt on Friday, two days before her disappearance. The Hardy and Warner farms are about a mile apart, and in one area, they connect. Parker was at the Warner farm to pick up an anhydrous ammonia tank. He and Dee spoke when he pulled up to the scales. Later they texted.

On Sunday, April 25, 2021, Parker’s dad, Gregg Hardy, called in the early afternoon and told him Dee was missing. Then his mother, Shelley Hardy, called to tell him she was out looking for Dee. While they were talking, Parker saw Dale drive by in the fertilizer sprayer.

Parker testified that based on the state he had last seen Dee, he was worried she took her own life. Neither the prosecution nor the defense asked him to elaborate.

Parker went to the Warner farm twice that day. The first time was early to mid-afternoon. Dee’s Hummer was parked at the office which is situated about 100 yards from the house.

Later that day, Parker returned, driving a utility vehicle. Now the Hummer was parked at the house. Parker put on the brakes and threw it in reverse. He noticed there were front-end loader tracks beneath the Hummer that went right up to the brick paver steps that led to the sliding glass doors in the living room.

This gave Parker pause. First, because of the speed the front-end loader must have been doing to throw that much gravel from the tracks, and because it was unusual for the loader to come that close to the house.

Parker said judging from where the tracks were, the bucket on the loader would be up on the porch almost to the door.

Parker opened the door to the Hummer and checked the seat. It was in the position to accommodate a shorter person.

On Tuesday, Dee had been gone for two days. Parker called Dale and asked if he could purchase some fertilizer. At 7:07 PM, Dale met him at the Sprayer Barn, and the fertilizer was loaded into Parker’s 24-row corn planter.

When Parker pulled in, he had to maneuver the planter around an old, rusty tank. He had never seen a tank in the Sprayer Barn before, and this one was in terrible shape. “It was very unusual for an anhydrous tank to be on the Warner farm in that condition,” Parker said.

When Parker questioned Dale, he said that he had his employee bringing in tanks. Dale planned to touch them up with paint during the night. He’d been having trouble sleeping because he was worried about his wife. The employee had brought the wrong tank, though. He didn’t want this beaten down tank that would require a lot of work. Dale told Parker he was going to have the old tank taken out of the Sprayer Barn.

Next on the stand was Jordon Graves, Master Digital Forensic Examiner for the FBI. He was asked in late March or early April 2025, to digitally enhance body cam video for this case. His testimony walked jurors through the process of enhancing video.

Retired Chief Ryan Rank was the Madison Township Fire Chief when Dee went missing. He visited the Warner farm twice on Tuesday, April 27, 2021, as part of the county drone team to assist in the investigation.

The first time, the team set up, did a general overview of the farm, and launched the drone. Minutes later, Dale told them to leave the property.

They returned that evening with a search warrant. They were taking aerial photographs, but when Dale started moving around the farm, they switched over to video mode. Around 9 PM the droned captured footage of Dale moving a tank with the front-end loader into the Sprayer Barn.

The next witness was Detective Dale Sharp of the Lenawee County Sheriff’s Department. He went to school with Dale.

On Tuesday, April 27, 2021, Det. Greca returned to the Warner farm with a search warrant.  

Det. Sharp arrived at 8:30 PM to assist. His role was to photograph buildings on the property.

The prosecution showed body cam footage of Det. Greca at the front door of the house talking to Dale’s daughter, Kamryn. Det. Greca was also on the phone with Dale.

“You can come home or not,” Det. Greca said into the phone, mentioning the dogs and drones were on their way. “This will shut up the other side of the family,” Det. Greca said, and listened to a reply. Then Det. Greca said, “You’re absolutely right, it will NOT shut up the other side of the family.”

Det. Greca joined Det. Sharp in the driveway and began talking to Jaron Warner, Dale’s son. Greca took off his body cam and tossed it into his vehicle. This was the body cam footage the earlier witness, Jordan Graves, was asked to enhance since voices were muffled from being outside the vehicle.

Det. Sharp began taking photos inside the sprayer barn. The rusty old tank was there. Then, he watched Dale moving a tank into the Sprayer Barn with the front-end loader and removing a different tank from the Sprayer Barn.

Justin Schmidt, welding educator and welding engineer, was the last witness of the day. He inspected tank #34 on four different occasions. It was obvious to him the repair weld was made with a large welding machine of 220 volts. The welder Dale was moving around the day Dee was reported missing was a Miller model 252 and 220 volts.

The repair weld had a “sloppy appearance.” Mr. Schmidt said, “No welding codes that I work with would make this acceptable.”

Schmidt noticed there were high ridges that had been ground down to improve the appearance. An angle grinder was probably used.

He determined the person welding had reattached the end cap by working from top to bottom and then switching sides. It’s easier that way and doesn’t require much technique.

Schmidt testified something was used to align the bottom of the tank. Dale’s pallet jack would have worked. Something needed to cradle the tank like the 4 x 4s Dale had in the sprayer barn.

If there was a ½-inch of anhydrous ammonia still in the tank, Schmidt said one end could be slightly lowered to allow liquid to flow away from the welding area and it would not cause a significant problem to keep the two pieces of the tank aligned.

Schmidt determined by the shards and slivers hanging that it wasn’t a plasma cutter or a torch that made the cut. He believed an abrasive cutting wheel was used. The prosecution showed a picture of Dale carrying a corded angle grinder in one hand and a grinding wheel in the other.

Another picture was shown of the top of the tank. There was a spot where something had been attached to the dome and then removed. “It appears a chain link would have been welded there,” Schmidt said. He suggested there probably would have been a hook on the chain so the tank could be hung from something. Dale’s forklift could have been used.

The prosecution showed Schmidt a picture of Dale’s arm. His skin was red from above his wrist to his elbow. Schmidt said it looked like a welding burn when someone was welding with gloves and short sleeves. He estimated that burn could have occurred if Dale had been welding something like the tank for a half hour.

Based on Schmidt’s calculations, the end of the tank could have been cut off with an angle grinder in about 50 minutes. He figured the job would require 6 to 8 grinder wheels. To weld the tank back together would take from 21 to 35 minutes not including stops and starts. He said there were 11 starts and stops on this project.

He also had to take in consideration the limitations of the welding equipment. Dale’s welder can only weld 6 minutes out of every 10 minutes.

The weld would cool quickly. The person welding could have started painting one half of the repair weld as soon as the other half was welded.

Grinding down the high spots of the weld was estimated to take 5 minutes.

In conclusion, Schmidt said, “This job could be done with one person if they had the proper tools and equipment.”

The jury will be going on a field trip tomorrow to the Warner property. The trial will resume in the courtroom at 9 AM on Thursday, February 26, 2026.

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