Farm of Dee Ann Warner's Brother is Vandalized

Gregg Hardy. Photo by Tracy Stengel.

Dale and Dee Ann Warner have been in the news since Dee disappeared April 25, 2021. Both come from generations of farmers. Their house is on a dirt road in Tecumseh, Michigan. Around the corner, Dee’s brother, Gregg Hardy has a dairy farm and grows crops. Last week, Gregg’s farm was vandalized. It wasn’t your typical vandalism. No spray paint, eggs, or toilet paper was used. Instead, 65 straw bales, encased by netting were cut.

Gregg’s son, Parker Hardy explained the baling process to me. “Basically, we take the stalk of the seed crop, so right now it’s wheat, and we use it to bed our cows. It’s called straw. We put the straw down to keep the cows all warm and dry. It’s like giving them a new set of sheets. We go down the rows with this machine called a baler which wraps it up in a big, round ball and puts a coating of netting around it. We leave them out in the field – we have hundreds of them in the field.”

The damage to the straw was not just a nuisance, it cost the Hardy’s time and money. It took over 12 hours to get the straw baled again.

Gregg said, “I called Sheriff Troy Brevier, and to his credit, he got right back to me and had two deputies come out and investigate. Both deputies were very good.”

Sheriff Brevier confirmed he had deputies investigate and they questioned Dale Warner about the cut bales. “I can tell you, in police speak, he said he didn’t have anything to do with it,” Sheriff Brevier said.

When I called Jaqueline Wyse, Lenawee County Prosecutor, she said she was unaware of the vandalism. When asked if there was any progress being made in the case of Dee Warner, Ms. Wyse said, “We are doing everything we can. MSP [Michigan State Police] has done a lot of hard work and we are going through that stuff right now. And that’s all I have to say about Dee Warner.”

Upon more questions, Ms. Wyse hung up on me.

Mothers and grandmothers just don’t vanish from their farmhouses in Lenawee County, Michigan, but that’s what happened to 52-year-old Dee Ann Warner. On the evening of April 24, 2021, she planned to tell her husband, Dale Warner, she wanted a divorce. The next morning, Dee was gone without a trace. She didn’t take a phone, credit card, vehicle, or, most importantly, her nine-year-old daughter.

Dee’s adult children and extended family don’t believe she left of her own accord. Instead, they have publicly said they believe Dee’s husband is responsible for her disappearance and they don’t believe she is alive. Last fall, Dee’s adult children petitioned to declare her dead. This petition, along with numerous charges against Dale Warner, including criminal contempt of court and fraud have been delayed in the Lenawee County Probate Court repeatedly.

To date, there have been no charges or arrests made in relation to Dee’s disappearance.

If you have any information about the vandalism of Hardy Farms, please call Lenawee County Sheriff's Office at (517) 263-0524.

If you’d like to learn more about the disappearance of Dee Ann Warner, you can start here. Join the Justice for Dee Facebook for all the latest updates.