WEBVTT
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Kalaroga Shark Media, Thursday, March nineteenth, twenty twenty six. I'm
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Garrett Fisher. This is Daily Crime and Justice. We have
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two verdicts today. One came down Monday. One came down
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nine days ago in a Michigan courtroom in a case
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I need to walk you through from the beginning because
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if you haven't been following it, you've been missing one
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of the most methodical, chilling spousal murder cases this country
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has seen in years. First Koori Richins, the Utah Mom,
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the grief book author, the Moscow Mule. On Monday, a
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jury of six men and six women deliberated for exactly
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three hours before coming back with five words for five counts. Guilty, guilty, guilty, guilty, guilty.
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We brought you up to speed on Monday's testimony. Today
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we have the verdict, we have her face when she
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heard it, and we have of what comes next. Then
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Dale and Dee Warner to comes Michigan. April twenty fifth,
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twenty twenty one. Dee Warner tells her husband the marriage
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is over, that she's selling the trucking company, that she's done.
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She says it the night before she disappears the morning after.
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Her body wasn't found for three years. When investigators finally
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located her, she was wrapped in two blue tarps, bound
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in duct tape, stuffed in a tank that had been
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cut open and welded, shot sealed inside a fertilizer vessel
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on the property she and her husband shared. Dale Warner
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checked her GPS location over two thousand times. He searched
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chemical cremation on his phone. He searched widower dating sites
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eleven days after she vanished. On March tenth, twenty twenty six,
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Dale Warner was convicted of second degree murder and tampering
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with evidence. He will be sentenced May seventh. Let me
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walk you through both cases, start to finish. We've been
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following Coury Richards since jury selection began in February. We
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covered the opening statements, the housekeeper who sold her fentanyl,
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the lover who broke down on the stand, the internet
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searches she thought she deleted. On Monday, it was time
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for the jury to decide. They didn't take long. Three
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hours of deliberations at the Summit County Courthouse in Park City, Utah,
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six men, six women, thirteen days of testimony, and then
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Judge Richard Morezak called the room to order before the
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jury entered. The judge issued a specific instruction no outward
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reactions to the verdict. Coury Richins stood at the defense
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table in a floral patterned shirt, hair pulled back in
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a neat bun. She was visibly shaking, taking deep, deliberate breaths,
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trying to compose herself for what she already seemed to
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know was coming. The judge read the first count, aggravated murder, guilty,
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gasped hung her head. She kept it bowed as the
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word guilty rang out four more times, aggravated attempted murder
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related to the Valentine's Day fentanyl sandwich she allegedly gave
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Eric three weeks before she killed him. Two counts of
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insurance fraud and forgery for the life insurance policy. A
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handwriting expert testified appeared to have been signed by someone
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other than Eric. Five counts, five guilty verdicts three hours.
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Eric Richins's family had filled at least a row of
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seats every single day of that trial. His sister Amy
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silently dabbed tears from her eyes as the verdict was read.
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Richins's mother, Lisa Darden, who stood by her daughter throughout
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stony faced, lips pressed together, not a tear, not a word.
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Outside the courthouse, Amy spoke to reporters four years ago,
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our family lost the brightest light, she said. Eric is
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deeply loved and missed every single day. We are grateful
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for everyone who is worked tirelessly to bring justice for Eric.
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Our focus is now on honoring Eric's life and supporting
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his boys. His boys, three of them growing up without
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their father because their mother allegedly killed him for money,
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and a fresh start with her handyman boyfriend. Let's recap
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the case for anyone coming in late. Eric Richins, thirty
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nine years old, successful Stonemasonry businessman commas Utah March fourth,
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twenty twenty two, found dead in his bed in the
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early morning hours. Coury called nine one one, saying she'd
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come back to their room and found him cold. She
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told the dispatcher they'd been celebrating her closing a deal
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on a two point nine million dollar mansion in Midway
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with homemade moscow mule cocktails and a lemon drop shot.
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An autopsy found more than five times the lethal limit
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of fentanyl and Eric's system for the next year and
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two months, Coury Richins played the grieving widow. She wrote
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a children's book, Are You with Me? An angel wingfather
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watching over his son from heaven. She went on local
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TV to promote it. She was not at that point
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charged with anything. In May twenty twenty three, she was arrested.
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Here's what prosecutors laid out a trial. At the time
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of Eric's death, Corey was seven point five million dollars
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in debt to more than twenty high interest lenders. Her
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real estate business was in free fall. She was having
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an affair with a handyman and military veteran named Robert
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Josh Grossman, and in text before Eric died, she talked
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about her dream of being with him. In the days after,
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she messaged Grossmand about making him her new husband. She
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booked a luxury Caribbean resort vacation under the prenup. Coury
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got nothing from Eric's stonemasonry business in a divorce, but
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if he died, she believed she'd inherit his four million
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dollar estate. There was one problem Eric didn't know she
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was counting on. He had quietly placed his money in
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a trust for his sons and appointed his sister as trustee.
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Coury did it. No, she was planning to spend money
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that was never going to be hers. The state's star
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witness was the housekeeper Carmen Lauber, who testified she sold
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drugs to Kouri four times around the time of Eric's death,
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including the fentanyl that prosecutors say ended up in that
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Moscow mule. The Valentine's Day attempt came first a fentanyl
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lace sandwich from a local diner. Eric fell Ill allegedly
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told friends he feared his wife was poisoning him. After
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that failed attempt, prosecutors say Kouri went back to Lauber
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and asked for the Michael Jordan's stuff, more powerful, something
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that would actually work. As prosecutor Brad Bludworth put it
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in closing, she learned from her mistake. Days later Eric
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was dead. Richan's lover, Grossmann, took the stand and broke
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down in tears. He testified that just days after Eric's death,
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Courry asked him what it felt like to kill someone.
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He wiped his eyes and rested his head on the stand, and,
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as he recalled it, the internet searches Koori thought she'd
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deleted women Utah Prison how to delete cell phone data
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if someone is poisoned? What goes down on the death certificate?
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As she tried to wipe her phone and internet history
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before her arrest, she didn't get it all. Bloodworth told
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the jury in closing, the first minute is not the
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sound of a wife becoming a widow. The first minute
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is the sound of a wife becoming a black widow.
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The defense argued Richand's world had collapsed when Eric died,
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that the investigation was sloppy, that Eric may have had
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his own drug history, and that Coury was being scapegoaded
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by Eric's family for not grieving properly. They called zero witnesses.
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Three hours later, the jury had heard enough. Coury Richins
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faces life in prison. Her sentencing date May thirteenth, twenty
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twenty six, that would have been Eric Richards's forty fourth birthday.
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She also faces a civil case with Eric's family over
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the estate she tried to steal and separate financial fraud
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charges for the seven point five million dollar debt she
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was allegedly running while playing the Grieving Widow on TV.
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Eric Richards was thirty nine years old. He had three
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sons and a business he built himself. He trusted the
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person who was supposed to be his partner. Someone has
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to say his name, Eric Richards, remember him. I want
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to take you to Lenowe County, Michigan farm country, about
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thirty miles southwest of ann Arbor, the town of Tecumsa,
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and a couple named Dale and Dee Warner. Dee Warner
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was a businesswoman. She and Dale ran several operations on
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their Monger farm, a trucking company and Annehydris ammonia fertilizer business,
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a hand full of other ventures, employing a small team
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of workers who saw them both nearly every day. By
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all accounts, d was the one who kept things running.
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She was intense, She was demanding. She was also someone
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her children, her employees, and her friends clearly loved. She
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had children from before her marriage to Dale, Zachary Rickle Amber,
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her daughter, and their extended family, including her nephew, Parker Hardy,
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who lived next door to the property. They were close.
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Dee's son, Zachary, testified that the only time she ever
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didn't respond to him was when she disappeared. The marriage
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to Dale had been deteriorating for years. De's personal assistant,
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who had worked for the family since she was sixteen,
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testified that what started as a real marriage had become
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more like a business arrangement. Dale made degrading comments about
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D's cooking, her clothing loud enough for her to hear
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Dee's massage. Therapists saw bruises on her eight to ten times.
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A bruise on her hip looked like a handprint, mark's
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consistent with being grabbed. The last time the therapist saw
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d the Wednesday before she disappeared, D was shaking, distraught,
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said she was tired of her situation. Said she wanted
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to consult a lawyer. D had been talking about divorce
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for at least three years, but in April twenty twenty one,
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something shifted. She wasn't just talking anymore. Saturday, April twenty fourth,
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twenty twenty one, D has an eyelash extension appointment. She
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arrives crying. She's on the phone during the appointment at
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least two calls, including one from her husband. She's upset.
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That night, De's daughter Rickle sees her. D tells her
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she's going to leave Dale and divorce him. She's going
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to sell the trucking company. She's done. She'd said this before,
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but not like this. This time felt different. This time
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she seemed like a woman who had made up her mind.
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Later that night, Dale's sister in law, Amy, arrives at
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the property to pick up a child for a sleepover.
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Amy sees D on the deck. D has red, blotchy
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spots on her neck, puffy eyes, makeup not perfect, which
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was unusual for D. Amy testifies that d tells her
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I'm done. I'm selling the trucking company. I'm asking Dale
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for a divorce. That was April twenty fourth. D was
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last seen the morning of April twenty fifth. Her phone
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made its last Internet connection at seven o five am.
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Its final ping off a cell tower came at seven
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fourteen am. After that, nothing no calls, no texts, no
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credit card activity, no bank withdrawals, no passport use. Nothing.
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When Rickle and Dustin, her daughter and son in law,
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came over for breakfast that morning, no one was home.
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Dee's hummer was parked at the farm. The door was unlocked.
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They searched property, They couldn't find her. They checked surveillance cameras.
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They saw Dale on video, not d. Dale told them
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she must have left during the night. That the last
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time he saw her she was asleep on the couch.
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He discouraged them from calling the police. Let's not get
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ahead of ourselves, he reportedly said. They called the police anyway.
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Here's what investigators would eventually piece together about what Dale did.
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On April twenty fifth, while people were looking for his wife,
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surveillance cameras placed on the property by D herself. She
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had wanted them, she had chosen the locations she had
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managed access, caught Dale moving equipment throughout the morning, a
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JCB front loader moving tanks, operating machinery around the spray barn,
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a building where an hydros fertilizer tanks were stored. One
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of D's daughter's witnesses noticed that the JCB had no
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reverse tracks visible in the gravel near the house. The
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hummer had been moved between visits, and the driver's seat
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was adjusted for someone's than Dale. A rusty tank appeared
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in the spray barn that family members said they'd never
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seen there before, and later Dale told family he was
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painting tanks in the spray barn in the middle of
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the night because he couldn't sleep after d went missing.
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You know, it's hard to paint in the dark. The
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inside of a welded tank you've just sealed shut. Investigators
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searched more than three thousand acres over the following years.
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They used cadaver dogs, ground penetrating radar, one hundred and
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thirty Michigan State Police officers. In one search alone, they
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found nothing. One reason the search was so difficult cadaver
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dogs can't detect a body sealed inside a tarp inside
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a welded tank. They're trained for scent. If there's no
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scent escaping, there's no alert. In August twenty twenty four,
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three years and four months after D vanished, investigators acted
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on a theory they had developed from evidence and tips
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that D might be welded inside a tank and buried
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on the property. They X rayed a tank on property
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in Lenawe County belonging to Dale. They cut it open.
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Inside human remains wrapped in two blue tarps, bound with
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duct tape, wearing pajamas and underwear, no shoes, no socks,
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no purse, no phone, no passport. There was half an
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inch of brown ammonia sludge in the bottom of the tank.
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The body was preserved, likely due to the oxygen deprived environment.
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It had been sealed in there. D Warner had been
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sealed in there The medical examiner identified her through dental records.
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The cause of death strangulation and blunt force trauma, the
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manner homicide. Both causes could independently have killed her. She
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had contusions on her cheeks, her eye, the back of
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her head. Internal injuries including blunt force trauma to her temples,
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bruising of the tongue and epiglottis consistent with strangulation. D Warner,
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based on the evidence, was strangled and beaten on the
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morning she told her husband she was leaving him. She
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was fifty four years old. Dee Warner remember her. Dale
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Warner was arrested in November twenty twenty three, charged with
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first degree murder and tampering with evidence. He rejected a
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plea deal for second degree murder. He wanted a trial.
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He got one. Fourteen trial days beginning February twelfth, twenty
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twenty six. The jury heard from more than thirty witnesses
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over two weeks. They visited key locations on the property
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and began their deliberation, only to have a juror suffer