Bombshell update in murder of Michigan wife Dee Warner as cops find human remains at family home

A body believed to be a mother-of-four who has been missing since 2021 has been found and identified in a fertilizer tank during a search of her husband's farm.

Dee Ann Warner, who vanished from her own home in Michigan in the early morning hours of April 25, 2021, was declared legally dead back in March, nearly three years after she was last seen.

Five months earlier, state police announced that Warner's husband, 56-year-old Dale Warner, was arrested in connection with the case, charged with open murder as she remained missing. He was last in court in June for an arraignment, and is expected back for a pretrial hearing September 4. 

Dee's remains, meanwhile, were found during a search warrant on a farm belonging to Dale Friday, three miles from where she went missing.

A family spokesperson added the family was notified late Saturday night that the body was found in an anhydrous tank, similar to a propane tank, and that whoever put the body inside re-welded it shut and painted over it. The remains are now being recovered, cops said.

'The remains are currently in the process of being recovered,' Michigan State Police said in a press release Sunday.

'There will be a great deal of work and testing completed before positive identification is made,' it continued. 

'The family of Dee Warner has been contacted and advised of the findings.

'This continues to be an ongoing investigation.'

The family further stated how the body was found in a secluded area of the Paragon Road property, and that an autopsy is already scheduled.

It will be administered Tuesday in hopes of discerning a cause of death, as cops look to put a close to the nearly three-and-a-half year case.

Back in 2022, before Dale was named as a suspect, the family petitioned for the courts to declare Dee dead, in part to control the woman's assets, and also in hopes of filing a wrongful death suit against him - as he was the person she was set to meet before suddenly disappearing.

Dale, who owns several farms near the family home in Franklin Township, maintained his innocence the entire time. 

Cops were at two of his Lenawee County properties on Friday, before making the discovery.

The fertilizer tank bearing the name of War-Ag Farms was seen being towed from one of the properties Sunday, as family members confirmed to WTOL11 the remains were inside.

War-Ag Farms is a business registered to Dale, records show. Several migrants in 2019 sued the business for allegedly cheating some of them out of their due pay and creating 'unsafe working conditions.'

The company was founded by Dale in 2005.

One relative, in turn, told WTOL11 Sunday, 'I would like to see this come to a resolution as soon as possible.'

Warner was last seen at the family home on Munger Road, after which she had no contact with relatives via phone or social media, spurring a search.

Back in June, during her husband's arraignment, prosecutors revealed text messages from the woman sent before her disappearance, including one she sent to a friend where she described being pushed into a dresser by Dale. 

She went on to express fear Dale would kill her, leading the defense to shoot back that there was no physical evidence Dee was murdered. 

They also said there was nothing physical linking him to the crime, something that will no longer be the case if the remains are found to be Dee's. She was 52 when she went missing.

DailyMail.com has reached out to the Michigan State Police for more information.