(WXYZ) — Michigan State Police said detectives are executing search warrants at properties in Lenawee County as part of the investigation into the disappearance of Dee Warner.
One location, we're told, is at Shanks Golf Course in Tipton, Mich., west of Tecumseh.
Warner was last seen on April 25, 2021, at her home near Tecumseh. In August 2022, Michigan State Police took over the case.
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Having the Michigan State Police take over the Dee Warner Case is in the best interest of the investigation, best for the family, and is the right thing to do,” said Lenawee County Sheriff Troy Bevier, who requested the state police take over the case.
Family members say Warner never would have missed her granddaughter’s first day of kindergarten.
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“I just can't wrap my head around it,” said Rikkel Bock, one of Dee’s five children. “My mom would be the one to blow up my phone, send me pictures. How did her first day go?”
“It's horrible. But at this point, I'm so much more frustrated than I am sad, because it's gone on for so long. And for me to have to feel like I have to convince people that my mom would never run away from us is so frustrating,” said Bock.
Detectives say Warner’s husband was the last person to see the 52-year-old alive, and the Lenawee County Sheriff has said Dale Warner is a person of interest.
Dale Warner’s lawyer, Larry Leib, previously told the 7 Investigators that his client has cooperated with law enforcement; he also said Dale Warner did not kill his wife, nor did he have anything to do with her disappearance.
Warner's children, brother and close friends filed sworn affidavits in 2022 detailing their fears that something went terribly wrong when Dee tried to tell her husband Dale that she wanted a divorce the night she vanished.
“She expressed that to almost everybody she spoke to and her friend, knowing that that was the intent, knowing that this was not going to be a good conversation because of the two personalities offered to take the minor child, who was nine years old at the time, and keep her overnight so that they could have this conversation about her leaving,” said Billy Little, a former military investigator and attorney who’s been hired by Dee’s family.
Leib maintains his client had nothing to do with Dee’s disappearance,
“He feels horribly about his wife’s disappearance, he had nothing to do with it. Over the course of a year, there’s been no evidence to suggest that he did, but he was a loving husband,” said Leib. Leib said Dale believes Dee left the country, and he wants to find his wife. He also said Dale misses her.
If you have any information about this case, the Michigan State Police want to hear from you: 855-MICH-TIP or www.michigan.gov/MICHTIP
