LENAWEE COUNTY, Mich — A trial date in the death declaration case for a missing Lenawee County woman has been pushed back following hours of arguments Thursday.
Just after 10 a.m. in downtown Adrian, Dee Ann Warner's family gathered at the courthouse with attorney Todd Flood, the managing partner of Detroit-based law firm Flood Law, PLLC. The family hired Flood to lead the legal fight to declare Warner dead.
Warner, 52, has been missing since April 2021. According to an affidavit from a friend, Amy Alexander, Warner was last seen on April 24, 2021, when she dropped off her young daughter with a friend before going to meet her husband, Dale Warner.
In August 2022, Michigan State Police took over the investigation into Warner's disappearance.
Warner's daughter, Rikkell Bock, 28, of Tecumseh, filed a petition with the Lenawee County Probate Court in September 2022, asking that a jury be empaneled to consider whether Warner can be declared legally dead.
"It plays an important role in a number of things," Gregg Hardy, Warner's brother, said. "On the civil side, which really is the only part of this case that we can control, before we can take any action against the defendant (Dale Warner) for causing the death of my sister, we have to have her declared dead."
Dale Warner has not yet been charged with any crime related to Dee Warner's disappearance. His attorneys say there is no evidence that his wife is dead and that she is still alive.
Her family said Dale Warner claims Dee Warner is somewhere in "Jamaica, Mexico or Cancun," but they disagree. Her siblings and family friends who contributed affidavits all said that it is out of character for her to fall out of contact, and entirely out of character for her to leave her daughter.
"Because of the circumstantial evidence involved and the number of witnesses involved, I think it's important this be heard by the peers of our society," Hardy said.
The case will return to court on June 20 and 21 at 9 a.m. A pretrial is scheduled for May 12.
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