Dale Warner's Left Middle Finger is Used Against Him
- tracystengel
- 6 minutes ago
- 3 min read
Today was Day 9 of witness testimony in the Dale Warner murder trial. His wife, Dee Ann Warner was found sealed in an anhydrous ammonia tank on his property.
Michelle Ponschke, Forensic Laboratory Manager for Michigan State Police (MSP), examined and analyzed seven paint chips collected from the anhydrous ammonia tank where Dee Ann Warner’s body was found. She compared them with 4 paint sticks, 3 cans of paint, and one garbage can lid seized from Dale’s barn.
The samples came from the outside of the tank, two were within an inch of the repair weld. After thorough analysis, Ms. Ponschke determined the white top layer of the tank was similar to two of the stir sticks and 2 of the cans of Rustoleum white architectural paint.
Amanda Isett, MSP Forensic Scientist, examined the exterior of the tank. She collected four stickers and processed them. A latent fingerprint from Dale’s left middle finger was found on the backside of the ‘AMMONIA’ sticker. It was on the end of the tank that had been cut off, rewelded, and repainted.
Danielle Vandenheuvel, MSP Digital Forensic Analyst, extracted data from Dale’s iPhone and iPad. She couldn’t give precise dates but sometime between 2020 and 5/12/22 Dale had Googled some interesting things, like:
Alkaline liquid bio cremation
What is liquid cremation and why is it illegal?
What to do with a 1,000-gallon propane tank
Widower dating sites
Note: yesterday, testimony from Sgt. Hooper dated the internet search regarding the propane tank as 5/4/21.
Retired Det. Kevin Greca was the last witness of the day, and perhaps the most anticipated. The prosecution tried for 8 months to subpoena him. In December, the U.S. Marshals Service arrested him as a fugitive in Ohio. He was released on a $50,000 bond.
When asked by Dale’s attorney, Mary Chartier, if he wanted to testify, Greca said, “Yes and no.” He explained yes, because he wanted the truth out there and no, because he is retired and being a witness only pays $1.50 an hour.
Greca had a lot of memory issues. Many of the questions asked of him he was unable to answer.
On Tuesday, April 27, 2021, two days after Dee disappeared, Greca began a search of the Warner farm. Just as the drone was in the air and the dogs were on their way, Dale told them to leave. He had work to do. If they wanted, they could come back tomorrow.
Body cam shows Greca trying to convince Dale to allow the drone to fly for 20 minutes. Dee could be unconscious and in need of rescue.
“No, I’m done. I have to get to work, guys,” Dale said.
Greca returned that evening with a search warrant.
Kamryn, Dale’s daughter answered the door. Dale wasn’t home so Greca called him and informed him they had a search warrant. He told Dale he could come home if he wanted.
Greca said this was one of many search warrants and consent searches.
He obtained DNA samples from Dee’s brother, son, and daughter and took Dee’s toothbrush, hairbrush, and razor.
Dale gave Greca full access to his minor daughter. Greca went to her school and had lunch with her.
Neither the prosecution nor the defense asked Greca why he took his body cam off and put it in the vehicle while talking to Dale’s son, Jaron. Before Greca was excused, the jurors asked if the reason he took it off was because he wanted to keep their conversation private. Greca replied, “No.”
Greca retired right after Dee’s body was found. Greca said his retirement was preplanned. His last days were during race weekend and he made, “big money.”
For background on this case, you can start here. For daily trial updates, visit justiceforallmag.com.