Dee Warner murder case can advance toward trial, judge rules

ADRIAN — Evidence presented in Lenawee County District Court shows Dee Ann Warner is dead and the open murder and evidence tampering charges against her husband, Dale Warner, should advance to circuit court for further proceedings, a judge ruled Friday.

Visiting Judge Anna M. Frushour's ruling came at the conclusion of the preliminary examination in the case against Dale Warner, 56, of Franklin Township. He was arrested in November, accused of murdering his wife, who was reported missing by her adult children on April 25, 2021. She was last seen alive by any of her friends or family on April 24, 2021.

The ruling is not a conviction. It is a finding that the prosecution has shown it has enough evidence to support the charges against Dale Warner. The standard of probable cause at a preliminary exam is lower than the beyond reasonable doubt standard that is required to convict someone at a criminal trial.

The open murder charge allows a jury to decide the degree of murder, first or second, should the case go to trial. First-degree murder involved premeditation and has a mandatory life sentence without parole. Second-degree murder is punishable by up to life in prison with the possibility of parole.

Statements made by Dale Warner presented during the hearing showed he told police and others that he and Dee had an argument late that night, he calmed her down, and she fell asleep in the living room while watching TV. He said he last saw her sleeping on a couch when he went out to work their fields at about 6 the next morning.

Dee was not at their Munger Road home when her adult daughter, Rikkel, stopped by at about 9 a.m. for their usual Sunday breakfast. Dee and Dale's young daughter had spent the night with a family friend, who said she offered to host the girl so Dee could tell Dale she wanted to end their marriage and sell their farming and trucking businesses.

Reviewing testimony given during the four-day hearing, which began May 1, Frushour said the prosecution had met its burden of showing a crime had been committed and that there is probable cause to believe Warner committed it. In particular, she noted the timeline of cellphone data and Dale's statements to police do not line up. Dale's phone was used to unlock Dee Warner's Cadillac Escalade, access the Warners' farm's security cameras and look for Dee's iPhone between 7:14 a.m. and 8:49 a.m. April 25, 2021, Frushour said.

"When Dale was asked about these searches, he told the police he was looking for Dee, but according to his other statements, she wasn't missing yet," she said.

Dale told investigators he learned Dee was missing when Dee's assistant at her trucking business, Stephanie Voelkle, called him at about 10:31 a.m., Frushour said.

Text messages from Dee and statements by relatives and friends about the Warners' deteriorating marriage, abuse and controlling behavior by Dale also support probable cause to believe Dale murdered Dee, Frushour said.

"The prosecutor has shown Dee Warner could not be located, has not been heard from by anyone in over three years, has had no activity or signs of life anywhere," Frushour said. "This was a woman who had a very active lifestyle, filled with family, friends and work. She was in constant contact with the people in her life. There was nothing in the evidence that suggested she would disappear intentionally, especially from her children, which included a minor child who Dee specifically said in her text message to (friend Amy) Alexander that she didn't want to leave her minor child with Dale, not even for a weekend."

The evidence presented did not support theories that Dee died by suicide, that someone picked her up from their home or she had traveled anywhere, Frushour said.

While there was testimony about financial problems, it was not flushed out enough for the court to ascertain any financial motives to kill Dee, Frushour said, but she did not need to make a determination on that.

In arguing for the charges to be dismissed, Dale's lead attorney, Mary Chartier, said there was an absence of evidence that Dee was murdered or that Dale killed her. She cited a Michigan Court of Appeals case where a murder conviction was reversed in a case where the body was not found because there wasn't enough evidence to convict. That case also had allegations of domestic violence and a victim who had a close relationship with her family and devotion to a minor child.

There is another similar "no body" murder case where the Michigan Supreme Court upheld a murder conviction, Lenawee County Prosecutor Jackie Wyse countered.

Chartier said that case was ultimately reversed and remanded to the circuit court for a new trial.

According to the Michigan Court of Appeals ruling in Michigan v. Nelson from 2014, both the prosecution and defense in that case asked to have a new trial due to new evidence being found.

In the Warner case, Chartier said, there were ample police searches of the Warners' property and other properties they had access to, and no evidence of Dee's death or her being murdered had been found. A video compiled by the FBI from the farm's security cameras corroborated statements Dale made to the police about what he did on the morning of April 25, 2021. She said there is no evidence to support the prosecution's assumptions.

"Whatever happened to Mrs. Warner, it was not at the hands of Mr. Warner," Chartier said.

After the hearing, Chartier said the judge made the wrong decision.

"In this case, the prosecutor presented no view of what they think happened to Ms. Warner's body," she said. "Moreover, the timeline just does not match. …

"We believe he's innocent. We believe he's been wrongfully accused. He's wrongfully in jail, and we'll keep fighting for."

Warner is being held on a $15 million bond. He was required to give his and his young daughter's passports to the court in case he posts bond and is released.

The next step is an arraignment in Lenawee County Circuit Court. Chartier said she intends to file a motion to quash the bindover.

"We believe the court improperly bound Mr. Warner over, and then, if we win that, that's great. He will be released," she said. "If we lose that, then we'll keep fighting and we'll keep getting ready for trial. There's a lot more evidence to exonerate Mr. Warner that obviously isn't applicable at an preliminary examination but that will be brought up at trial."

Frushour, a Washtenaw County district judge, was appointed to hear the case after Lenawee County's judges disqualified themselves. The case's original judge, Lenawee County District Judge Laura J. Schaedler, removed herself after disclosing past professional and personal contact with the Warners and their families over the years. The county's probate and circuit judges also disqualified themselves, using the standard disqualification form provided by the Michigan State Court Administrative Office and selecting the option that states, "based on objective and reasonable perceptions, my continued assignment would create an appearance of impropriety."

Two witnesses testified Friday. Michigan State Police Detective Sgt. Daniel Drewyor completed his testimony about the investigation. It including the playing of portions of video recorded during two interviews of Dale Warner, one on April 29, 2021, at the Warners' home by Detective Kevin Greca of the Lenawee County Sheriff's Office and another in December 2022 by Drewyor and another detective at the state police post in Monroe. Warner was not represented by an attorney at the April 2021 interview. He had one at the 2022 interview. He reviewed what happened April 24-25, 2021, in both interviews.

The other witness was Ryan Heethuis, a U.S. Secret Service agent assigned to an international cybercrime task force based in the Netherlands. He appeared by video and described his work in doing periodic reviews of commercial and government databases, including facial recognition, looking for any signs that Dee Warner might be alive. He said one address appeared after April 25, 2021, but it was because it was associated with Dee's son. They also identified a domestic airline passenger named Dee Ann Warner, but she turned out to be a different woman with the same name.

The prosecution called 14 witnesses, including relatives and friends of Dee and Dale, former Warner employees, the Warners' information technology consultant, state police data analysts, and an expert from General Motors who reviewed data related to the OnStar system. The defense did not call any witnesses.

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

This article originally appeared on The Daily Telegram: Judge binds over murder case against Dale Warner to circuit court