LENAWEE COUNTY, MICHIGAN — On April 25, 2021, family members reported Lenawee County, Michigan, farm owner Dee Warner missing after she failed to return home, respond to calls, or collect her nine-year-old daughter from a relative's house. The Lenawee County Sheriff's Office dispatched Deputy Austin Hall to the family farm that afternoon to speak with Warner's husband, Dale Warner, about her whereabouts.

Earlier that day, Dee Warner's daughter Rikkell Bock drove to her childhood home in Lenawee County looking for her mother. Finding no sign of her, Bock went to the home of Dee Warner's brother and sister-in-law. Dee Warner's youngest daughter, Lena, aged nine, had spent the night of April 24 at her cousin's house, and her mother had not called or come to pick her up.

At the Warner home, blankets were on the couch and tissues were scattered throughout the living room. The Cadillac that Dee Warner often drove was parked in the garage, and a Hummer was at the farm office. Her makeup bag, curling iron, phone, and passport were missing from the house. A fertilizer sprayer usually kept in a barn was also absent; Dale Warner was operating it that day.

One of Dee Warner's children reviewed security camera footage at the farm office and did not see her arrive on foot or by vehicle. Her children gathered and contacted the sheriff's office that afternoon.

In a conversation recorded on Deputy Hall's body camera, Dale Warner said his wife had been sleeping on the couch that morning. He said he got up around 6 a.m., heard her snoring, texted her, and when she did not respond, assumed she was still sleeping. He told the deputy her hair curler, hair dryer, and makeup bag were gone and that he was not concerned. He also said his wife had a second phone but that he did not have the number for it.

Dale Warner told the deputy that when he came home the previous night, his wife had been upset after a disagreement with an employee who had decided to quit. The Warners operated three businesses from their farm — a trucking operation employing about 15 people, a crop farming operation, and a chemical company selling fertilizer and seed. "She's had altercations with quite a few people. She's in your face and tells you how it is." he said of his wife.

Records showed that on April 24 at 4:34 p.m., Dee Warner texted employee Stephanie Voelkle asking how to block a driver who had quit from the company's Facebook page. Voelkle instructed her on the process and texted, "Did you tell Zack?" and "How are you?" Voelkle did not receive any further response after 7:43 p.m. that evening.

"My mom was a very bubbly outgoing person." Rikkell Bock said. "If I didn't respond to a text message in five minutes, I was getting another one, 'Hello?'"