2023 in review: Year's most-read stories include untimely deaths, business developments

ADRIAN — Some years, individual stories dominate the headlines. That wasn't the case this year.

Instead, certain topics stood out in a review of the most-read stories on The Daily Telegram's website, lenconnect.com. The following are a summary of those topics and the stories that drew readers' attention.

Fatal crashes

When people see or hear about a bad crash, many want to know what happened. Among the most-read stories on lenconnect.com were those about fatal traffic crashes, such as the Labor Day crash that claimed the lives of four K&B Asphalt Sealcoating employees. That was the most-read story on lenconnect.com in 2023 with about 19,000 pageviews. Others included a crash in February at the intersection of M-50 and Matthews Highway, a crash in February on Carroll Road, a crash on U.S. 12 that killed a motorcyclist in July, a collision on U.S. 223 in April, a crash in May on Occidental Highway, a teenage dirt bike rider who died after being struck by a car near Morenci in May, a pedestrian who died in October after being struck by a school bus near Tecumseh, and a moped driver who died after a collision on U.S. 127 near Addison.

Other police matters

Law enforcement situations always draw attention, particularly untimely deaths. A domestic violence shooting in which a Madison Township man is accused of killing his wife in February was the second-most-read local story of 2023. Stephen Sevedus Maples has a pretrial hearing scheduled in January. The death in May of a woman whose body was found in Tecumseh, a hunter who died after being shot in western Lenawee County in November, arrests being made in a 1997 murder case, and a shooting death in February in Adrian were well-read stories. A drowning on Silver Lake in August and two alleged sexual predators being arrested in April also were among the top 25 stories.

Business developments

Readers always want to know what’s happening in the local business community, whether it's a long-time business changing owners, a new shop opening downtown or the prospects for new developments that could lead to more job opportunities. Lenawee County readers have a lot of interest in what might happen with the Adrian Mall. That interest led to a story in January about proposed redevelopment plans for the mall being the third-most-read article of 2023. The follow-up story about the Adrian Planning Commission supporting phase one of those plans landed at No. 16. The ongoing effort to eliminate odors coming from the Crimson Holdings egg-processing plant in Adrian also was a top story as were stories about new businesses, Mammoth Distilling looking at opening a production site in Adrian and the former ProMedica Herrick Hospital in Tecumseh being sold to become a behavioral health solutions center.

Dee Warner

The Dee Warner missing-person case officially turned into a homicide case in November when Dee’s husband, Dale Warner, was charged with her murder and tampering with evidence. The 2-year-old case generated headlines earlier in the year when Michigan State Police conducted searches in the Tipton area and when Dale Warner was jailed twice for contempt of court during proceedings in Lenawee County Probate Court to declare Dee deceased.

School matters

Readers usually are interested whenever changes happen at schools. That was made clear just this month when readers clicked on the stories about Joshua Lindeman announcing that he would resign in January as Addison High School’s football coach, assistant principal and athletic director. A story that rolled out at a more deliberate pace — the reconfiguration of the Tecumseh school district that involves closing two elementary schools — also ranked highly in the year-end pageview count.

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Things to do

Lenawee County residents turned to the Telegram when looking for information on upcoming events. The Devils Lake Tip-Up Festival is usually a big draw but was of even more interest last year when “The Voice” finalist Brayden Lape of Grass Lake was announced as a headlining performer. The story about the Deerfield American Legion’s Testicle Festival also drew readers, as it has for years, probably because of the event’s unusual menu. Stories about Halloween trick-or-treating times, the Appleumpkin Festival and Kapnick Orchards Apple Festival, Chico's Annual Cinco de Mayo parade and festival, and Christmas events were well-read, too.

Big story, few readers

Perhaps the event that affected the most people in Lenawee County in 2022 was the ice storm in February with its widespread power outages and damage to trees and other property. The Telegram provided regular updates on power restoration and storm cleanup efforts, but readers did not seem to find them, based on pageviews. Maybe people couldn’t get online because the power was out.

Old stories found by readers

Every year, there are some old stories that find a new audience. One of those this year was a history column about serial killer Aileen Wuornos, written by Bob Wessel of the Lenawee County Historical Society in 2021. Readers interested in true crime stories were brought to the column through Google searches.

Another old story that drew a large number of readers this year was a 2013 baby murder case. It was posted three months ago to the “Morbid Reality” channel of the Reddit social media site. A 26-year-old Ypsilanti man was sentenced to life in prison after admitting to throwing his girlfriend’s 1-year-old boy against a wall at her home in Hudson when the baby wouldn’t stop crying.

Readers also put into the top 50 a 2021 story about a Florida man being convicted of the strangulation death of his wife in 2018 in Tecumseh.

— Contact reporter David Panian at dpanian@lenconnect.com or follow him on X, formerly Twitter: @lenaweepanian.

This article originally appeared on The Daily Telegram: 2023 in review: Lenawee County's top stories