Dateline: True Crime Weekly
Round two of Karen Read's defense. Josh Mankiewicz on Dee Warner. Plus, a courtroom sketch artist.
Thu, 5 Jun 2025
In Massachusetts, tension on the witness stand as Karen Read's defense team makes its case for a second time. Dateline correspondent Josh Mankiewicz shares updates on the case of Michigan grandmother Dee Ann Warner ahead of her husband's murder trial. And a courtroom sketch artist covering the Sean Combs trial on capturing what cameras can't.
Chapter 1: What is the status of Karen Read's retrial?
Dee's body still hadn't been found until nine months later, investigators removed a large metal tank from a barn on Dale's farm, X-rayed it, and discovered a body stuffed inside. It was Dee. The developments didn't stop there.
A lot has happened in just the past few weeks, including the filing of a new multimillion-dollar civil suit and some key decisions in the courtroom as lawyers gear up for trial. Here to bring us up to speed is my friend and colleague, Josh Mankiewicz. Hey, Josh. Josh, this is the first time you and I have talked about this case since Dee's body was found last fall.
What have you learned since then?
The case is proceeding and it's going to go to trial. You know, there is some evidence of Dale being in the barn where the tank was around the time she disappeared. He's pleaded not guilty. But there have been a few things that have happened since then. Her kids have filed a lawsuit. You know, Dee was a businesswoman and owned a trucking company and a lot of property.
So, I mean, she had some significant assets. And her kids have now filed a $100 million lawsuit against Dale.
Dee's adult children from a previous marriage filed the suit in part because they want to stop Dale from using money from Dee's estate for his defense.
Yeah, look, I don't know how much money is in Dee's estate, but it's significant. What her kids want to do, and I haven't spoken with them, but I think what they're doing is trying to make sure that if money was the motive, if getting out of that marriage and getting all of her money was Dale's motive, if he is convicted or if he's acquitted, they want to make sure that he does not get that money.
If you listen to the attorney for this wrongful death lawsuit, Todd Flood, he is suggesting that Dale might not be the only one named in this lawsuit, that there are other people at play here possibly.
They're hinting at other people, but we don't really know who that is at this point.
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Chapter 4: What were the key developments in the courtroom for Karen Read's defense?
Oh, you have binoculars in court?
Yes, ma'am.
Oh, wow.
And I will use them even if somebody is not sitting terribly far away from me because I want to see as much as I can see. So anyway, I had my binoculars on him and I see him looking straight at me. So it sort of feels like a social faux pas. I put him down like almost comically quickly and he went...
So, Christine, you can't see this, but she's waving. So, he was waving at you. He did. Well, thank you so much for doing this interview. You're a sweetheart. Thank you. Oh, thanks. Just super interesting. If you want to take a look at some of Christine's sketches, you can find them on our website at dateline truecrimeweekly.com.
And if you want to catch up on the Sean Combs trial, check out our daily podcast, On Trial. Every day after court, I'll be talking to NBC News correspondent Chloe Malas about what she's seen, the witnesses, the evidence, and what it all means. That's it for this episode of Dateline True Crime Weekly. To get ad-free listening for all our podcasts, subscribe to Dateline Premium.
Coming up this Friday on NBC, Keith Morrison has a classic dateline for you. In 1997, a 21-year-old electrician was found shot to death on his bedroom floor. Investigators quickly zeroed in on three teenage girls. I was still in high school, so everyone was saying who they thought did it and everything.
The detective called and asked you to look in the yearbook?
Yes, I said, oh my gosh. But it would take years before the plot unraveled. Watch Keith's episode, Killing Time, this Friday on NBC at 9, 8 central. Thanks for listening. Dateline True Crime Weekly is produced by Frannie Kelly and Katie Ferguson. Our associate producers are Carson Cummins and Caroline Casey. Our senior producer is Liz Brown-Kurloff.
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