Dale Warner, the Tecumseh farmer convicted of murdering his wife and hiding her body in a fertilizer tank in 2021, was sentenced Thursday.
He was given 375 months to 60 in prison by a Lenawee County Circuit Court judge for murder and 17 months to 10 years for tampering with evidence, to be served consecutively.
Warner was accused in 2023 of killing his wife, Dee Ann Warner, 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.
cramirez@detroitnews.com
@CharlesERamirez
This article originally appeared on The Detroit News: Dale Warner sentenced in wife’s murder
Reporting by Charles E. Ramirez, The Detroit News / The Detroit News
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