The brother of a Lenawee County woman murdered by her husband didn’t hold back at the husband’s sentencing on Thursday, calling Dale Warner “a narcissistic, psychopathic, liar and murderer.”
“You are a spineless piece of human debris,” said Gregg Hardy, the brother of Dee Warner, said to Dale Warner, which drew a small rebuke from the judge, who reminded Hardy to address the court and not direct any comments to Warner.
Hardy apologized and added that he hoped the court would impose the maximum sentence allowed by law on Warner.
“I hope that the only way Dale Warner is able to leave prison is in a small, dark box,” he said. “May God absolutely have no mercy on him whatsoever.”
Minutes later, Lenawee County Circuit Judge Michael Olsaver sentenced Dale Warner, the Tecumseh farmer convicted in March of murdering his wife, Dee, and hiding her body in a fertilizer tank in 2021, to a minimum of 31 years in prison and up to 60 for second-degree murder.
He was also sentenced to 17 months to 10 years for tampering with evidence, consecutively.
“Mr. Warner welded his wife’s deceased body into a fertilizer tank, where it remained for more than three years,” Olsaver said. “Ms. Warner’s loved ones and friends were deprived of their opportunity to properly grieve and mourn her loss for more than years … all the while she was sealed in that crude tomb and left in a barn, an act of which Mr. Warner was aware, and had the ability to end that suffering at any time but chose not to.”
Warner’s attorney says ‘he maintains his innocence’
Before the judge sentenced Warner, his defense attorney, Mary Chartier, told the court her client had elected not to speak at Thursday’s hearing. She also said Warner plans to appeal his conviction.
“He asked me to say that he loved his wife, he maintains his innocence, and he did not kill his wife,” Chartier said.
Warner sat next to his attorney in court, shackled and dressed in orange scrubs that had the words “Lenawee County Jail” in black letters on the back. Warner was silent during the hearing.
“There’s no doubt that this case is a tragedy because Ms. Warner’s life was cut short,” Chartier said in court on Thursday. “She is mourned by people who loved and cared for her, and they always will. Her death has devastated the lives of so many.”
However, she pointed out her client has no previous criminal record, and those who know him best describe Warner as being “a kind and even-tempered man” who gave a lot to his community. She asked the judge to impose a sentence at the lower end of state guidelines.
The day of judgment for Dale Warner
Dee Warner’s sister-in-law, Shelly Hardy, also addressed the court before Dale Warner was sentenced Thursday.
“Here we are, finally, the day of judgment for Dale Warner,” she said, fighting back sobs as she spoke. “Dale, you have taken Dee from us. You not only destroyed all of our lives, but also the lives of your children and their families. We will keep her alive in our hearts.”
Hardy then removed a bracelet from her wrist that she had worn since Dee Warner was first reported missing, placed it on the podium, and said she was doing it “because we got justice.”
Dee Warner’s daughter, Rikkell Bock, also spoke.
“He brutally beat her, strangled her, and as if that was not enough, he duct-taped her hands and mouth,” she said. “He wrapped her in a tarp and hid her in a tank and tried to conceal who he really was. He took away a beautiful soul.”
Bock added: “Throughout his trial, he has shown no remorse and has taken no accountability for his actions. He deserves no mercy now. My mom does not get a second chance at life, and neither should Dale.”
The story of Dee Warner’s disappearance
Warner was accused in 2023 of killing his wife and putting her body in a sealed fertilizer tank.
Dee Warner was last seen in April 2021 at her Munger Road home in Franklin Township. She was 52 at the time. Police said the day before she vanished, she, her husband, and one or two of their workers had argued about the finances of the Warners’ farming businesses.
Lenawee County Sheriff’s deputies initially investigated her disappearance with the help of the FBI. In 2022, the sheriff’s office requested that the Michigan State Police take over the search.
Dale Warner was ordered in June 2024 to stand trial in connection with his wife’s death.
Dee Warner’s remains were found on her husband’s property and identified two months later.
His trial in Lenawee Circuit Court in Adrian began in January.
A jury in March found Warner guilty of second-degree murder and tampering with evidence after deliberating for nine hours over two days.
“Unfortunately, this is one of those tragedies where the chapter doesn’t always end,” Olsaver said before sentencing Warner. “Some will never recover from the injuries and psychological harm they experienced as a result of these crimes.”
cramirez@detroitnews.com
@CharlesERamirez
This article originally appeared on The Detroit News: Dale Warner sentenced in wife’s fertilizer tank murder
Reporting by Charles E. Ramirez, The Detroit News / The Detroit News
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
