Lester Holt

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.

So I'm curious what Dale was telling investigators.

He said that Dee had left home many times before.

There was a pattern of leaving and implying that her disappearance was actually voluntary.

He acknowledged there were some marital issues and said they fought the night before and suggested she probably went to her son's house, as she usually would.

Sergey, at that point, investigators didn't have a body.

So how were they able to build a strong enough case to arrest him anyway?

According to court records and testimony, investigators uncovered a bunch of digital evidence they believed was significant and pointing to Dale.

They found him repeatedly accessing the GPS and OnStar tracking systems that connected to Dee's cars multiple times, hundreds, even thousands of times.

And to them, that was a pattern of him trying to control and keep track of where she was.

Prosecutors claim that that level of monitoring doesn't really line up with the idea that Dale had no idea where Dee was or that she had simply left on her own.

And in fact, the cameras on the farm didn't show Dee leaving anywhere at any time at any point on that weekend.

So Dale was behind bars when investigators made that huge breakthrough in the case and found Dee's body.

How did they find it?

In August of 2024, investigators removed a large anhydrous pneumonia tank from a property that was tied to the family.

It was marked do not use and had suspicious weld marks.

They brought out a portable x-ray machine, and when they looked inside, they found these remains.

And we got to see that X-ray photo for the first time at the trial.