Lester Holt

Please listen closely to this story because it could be the key to unlocking the mystery.

of what really happened to Dee Ann Warner.

Josh Mankiewicz covered Dee's disappearance as part of our Dateline Missing in America series.

Family members told us they were desperate for answers.

And they told us they suspected Dee's husband, Dale, had murdered her.

Investigators were suspicious, too.

Two years later, in November 2023, even though her body had not been found, Dale was arrested and charged with Dee's murder.

Then in August 2024, investigators found human remains inside a sealed tank on a property tied to the family.

It was D. Now nearly five years after D disappeared, Dale Warner is facing a jury.

He has pleaded not guilty.

Dateline producer Sergei Ivanin has been following the trial closely.

Sergei, thanks for joining us.

Glad to be here, Lester.

Sergey, remind us who Dee was and what happened when she disappeared.

So Dee Warner was a successful 52-year-old mother, grandmother, and business owner well known in the community.

She and her husband, they own a successful trucking company and a fertilizer company, and they lived on this large farming property in Lenawee County.

So on April 25th, 2021, one of her adult children goes to her house to have a Sunday breakfast and cannot find her anywhere.

They cannot reach her.

And that was highly unusual.

Dee was constantly on her phone calling and texting and in regular contact with her family.