Husband Convicted After Wife’s Body Is Discovered Hidden in Fertilizer Tank

A man from Michigan has been convicted of murdering his wife and leaving her body in a fertilizer tank on March 10. The man was earlier charged with murder and tampering with evidence.

Dale Warner, 58, was charged with the murder of his wife, Dee Warner, 52. Dee Warner’s body was discovered three years after she was reported missing from the fertilizer tank, as reported by People.

In April 2021, Dee Warner disappeared from the couple’s farm located in the hamlet of Tipton. Her body was discovered three years later, in August 2024, inside a fertilizer tank on the property owned by the family. After the body was recovered, an autopsy revealed the cause of death to be strangulation and blunt force trauma to her head.

As reported by several news outlets, on March 10, the jury convicted Dale Warner of murdering his wife. The verdict came after jury deliberations were paused on March 6, following the beginning of the trial, according to CBS News. Loved ones of the victim cried and hugged each other after the verdict was read.

While discussing the verdict, Dee Warner’s brother Gregg Hardy, who campaigned for Dale Warner's conviction, said the decision was a victory for his sister. “I fought every day for five years,” Hardy told the Detroit News. “It was very difficult to get validation. It took nearly to the very end,” he added.

“It is almost difficult to believe we got it,” Hardy led the “Justice for Dee” campaign.

According to Detroit News, Dee and Dale Warner had been married since 2006.

As reported by WTOL, the night before Dee was murdered, she asked for a divorce. She wanted to file and also planned to sell their business.

The prosecutor read texts sent to Dale Warner by his wife during court proceedings, “I am ready to move out and be done with this,” the prosecutor said. “You treat me as if I am not worthy of anything. I am not going to live like this."

Another text read, “We don't even talk.” Another text read “We are just roommates. Our relationship has gotten so much worse.”

People previously reported that Dee was the mother and stepmother of nine children. Last year, her family filed to have access to her financial estate, according to CBS News.

Dale Warner is scheduled to be sentenced on May 7 2026, and could face life imprisonment.