Dee Ann Warner's Son Testifies: Preliminary Exam Day 2

Dee and Zack. Photo courtesy of Parker Hardy.

Today was the second day of the preliminary exam to determine whether Dale Warner, charged with the murder of his wife, Dee Ann Warner, will face a murder trial.

Zack Bock, Dee’s son, took the stand today and testified he had worked and lived with Dee and Dale multiple times beginning in 2015 -16 when he was 16 years old and ending his employment shortly after he and his siblings reported their mother missing April 25, 2021.

After Dee fired their accountant, Mark Weisberg, an ex-con convicted of embezzlement, Zack stepped in to help Dale and Dee’s various businesses out. They all were in financial crisis. Zack said of Mark, “He called himself the controller, but essentially he was the accountant.”

When Mark Weisberg was dismissed, Dale and Dee farmed 3000 acres. Zack estimated 50% of the land they owned, 50% they rented. They owned 4 businesses. DDW Investments was a trucking company, War-Ag Farms was a farming company, War-Ag Services was a fertilizing company, and DuRussel Potato Farm was a vegetable farm. According to Zack, DDW Investments kept the other companies afloat.

Zack adamantly claimed DDW Investments was a company owned solely by his mother, an achievement Dee was proud of. The defense countered his claim and said Judge Olsaver held the company as 50/50 between Dale and Dee in October of 2023.

When foreclosure was imminent in 2018 – 2019, things appeared dire. To stave off foreclosure, Dale and Dee sold land. But the local John Deere dealership were also owed money and were poised to collect their equipment and sue them. Zack estimated they were in debt to John Deere, “just over 4M.”

Zack stated DuRussel Potato Farm was a cancer bringing the other businesses down. He also noted War-Ag Farms was failing, and War-Ag Services was not profitable either. They had trouble making payroll and prioritized their employees while holding off paying taxes and vendors until there was sufficient funds.

In 2018, Dee and her son, Zack, bought a house on Sand Lake. “It was going to be both an investment as well as a safe haven when her and Dale got into a fight,” Zack said.

Dee stayed at the lake house an average of once a month, sometimes more, sometimes less, when she wanted to escape Dale. Always with their minor daughter.

Dale and Dee had several safes in their house and on their property. One was in the bedroom Zack had stayed in years ago. He said he and his mother were the only ones who had the combination and a back up key, yet Dee told Zack 50K was missing. There was testimony yesterday about Dale replacing a safe so he could get into the contents of the original one. You can read about it here.

On the day before Dee disappeared, Zack stopped by his sister’s house. Dee and his little sister were visiting as well. Zack said Dee was obviously distressed. “Her face was red. Her eyes were puffy. You could tell she’d been crying.” Later that day, Dee texted Zack that she was done and he could have everything.

On April 25, 2021, Zack’s sister, Rikkell Bock, call him because she was at their mother’s for their usual Sunday breakfast and Dee was nowhere to be found. When Zack arrived at Dale and Dee’s residence, he headed to their office building. The night before, an truck driver, Terry Neyrinck had quit and Dee had told him to get his truck cleaned out. Zack checked the truck. Terry’s contents were still inside.

Then, Dale joined him. They were standing outside the dry fertilizer barn. Dale asked Zack, “You really don’t know where your mom is?” Then, he proceeded to tell Zack about his argument with Dee the night before.

They both headed back into the office and once inside, Dale let out an expletive. Zack turned and Dale had Dee’s wedding ring in his hand. “This was on my desk!” Dale told Zack.

Zack was skeptical. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen my mom take her wedding ring off,” he said.

As Zack checked the surveillance cameras from Dee’s computer, Dale hovered over his shoulder. The cameras were activated by motion. None of the cameras showed Dee. Dale left the office to go back to the fields but returned several times to find out if Zack discovered any trace of Dee.

Zack checked Dee’s desk drawers, knowing she kept cash in an envelope. The $700 was still there.

Zack went home to see if his mother was there. She wasn’t. He said, “I went to any property they [Dale and Dee] had with a structure.”

Eventually, that evening, he met up with his siblings at the lake house and they reported their mother missing.

The next day, Zack returned to the office and entered Dale and Dee’s home. Dale’s daughter, Jennica, was cleaning the house and cooking a roast. “The house was spotless,” Zack said.

That evening, Zack tried to access the surveillance cameras from his phone to look for his mother again. He was denied access. Dale had changed the password.

About two weeks after Dee disappeared, Dale instructed Zack to stop writing paychecks for Dee. She had been collecting a yearly salary of 50K.

The second and witness to testify today was Devin Newell, a General Motors Senior Technical Expert. He had generated a report of approximately 600 pages regarding the Onstar Advanced Driving System on Dee’s Cadillac Escalade. The report encompassed the time between January 2020 and April 27, 2021. During that time period, there had been over 2000 vehicle location requests made from Dale’s cellphone or iPad.

Danielle VanDenHeuvel, a Digital Forensic Analyst for Michigan State Police, was the last to testify today. She extracted data from Dale’s iPhone 12 Pro Max and found he had used the Find My Phone app 3 times the day Dee vanished, the Milestone app 3 times, and the My Cadillac app once.

The preliminary exam continues tomorrow at 8 AM at Lenawee County Courthouse. If you would like a recap of the first day of the preliminary exam and the testimonies of the five people who took the stand, you can go here.

If you’d like background on Dee’s disappearance you can start here. Join the Justice for Dee page for all the latest updates.

If you’ve been following Dee’s case, I’d love to read your opinions in the comments!