Talking Dateline: The Day Dee Disappeared

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Hi, everybody. I'm Josh Manko. It's all here in the Play Pass word. Wait. Sorry.

Different program. I'm Josh Manko. We're talking date line. Today with Andrea. Hi Andrea.

Hey Josh.

“So we're talking about Andrea's episode, which is called The Day D Disappeared,”

which is actually one of the very few date line stories that two date line correspondents covered. These two both of us. You, for missing in America and me. For TV. Yes.

Now if you've not seen this episode, you can watch it on peacock. You can listen to it on the date line podcast feed and then come back here. And then later we have an extra clip about a psychics theory about what might have happened to DeWarner. But first, let's talk date line.

Now for anybody who did not see the broadcast.

Here's what you need to know.

The victim was DeWarner and she was a successful farmer and business woman. She was reported missing in April of 2021. Now from very early on, investigators suspected her husband Dale had killed her. And they ended up arresting him in November of 2023.

“Even though they had not found Dees body, her body was found much later.”

And they found it on the property hidden in a fertilizer tank. Dale ended up being convicted of trial. And he was sentenced to 70 years behind bars. So one of the things that I thought was really interesting about this one. I was looking at it for missing in America is, you know,

it seemed impossible to imagine that DeWarner was not on that property somewhere. I mean, everything she had was there. Her car was there. Like she didn't just go away. She was somewhere on that property.

It certainly seemed that way from the beginning. That was that was the thought of most people close to the case. And one person who law enforcement told us and we didn't include this in the show. But that they had actually had an FBI profiler looking at the case at one point, who said that they believed that Dee was somewhere on the property and likely buried.

So the buried part was not accurate, of course, but the, you know, what went into this theory by the FBI certainly paned out.

So when I was, when I was first working on this story, you know,

I heard about this giant property on which Dee was missing, you know, because it's not just the buildings there, but obviously, you know, many, many, many more acres around it. - Yeah. - It's huge. - When I saw the farm, I mean it looks like a farm

like out of a movie and I sort of didn't think of it as sort of that pristine and camera-ready. It's interesting what your mind does because when I was hearing about it on Missing in America, I was like, this is some giant sprawling property

where the buildings are all a couple of miles apart. But that's not true, it's all kind of the working part of it is actually concentrated and then the fields are spread out around it. - Yeah, acres and acres and acres of land.

I mean, and it's beautifully kept as you say, beautiful. - Yeah, and all of that had to be searched because nobody knew where she was, but they strongly believe she was out there somewhere. - Yeah, and that's a, you know, it's such a daunting task.

You know, they used drones, they used dogs.

the county police, I mean they looked everywhere for her

and they just could not find her

“and that's where Dale's diabolical plan was working”

for a long time with the tank. - You know, let's sort of, put yourself in his mind. What do you think the end game was here? How was he gonna get away with this?

Eventually he was gonna just dispose of the tank some, you know, sometime in the future to drive it off the properties somewhere, bury it. - I mean, break it open and move her again. - I mean, I don't know, there was a search

he had done for how to move, you know, a very large tank. So, like, I don't know if he was planning on moving it at some point, it was, you know, his plan was working until it wasn't. It was, to me, it was sort of like this evil genius

of like, you know, I'm gonna use my skills

and cut this tank open and put her in. And, you know, it's pretty, oh, like it gives you chills when you think about someone going to those links. - Well, it really does. - Hide a body. - And, you know, it, I mean, it had so much more impact

in your story than it did to me, you know, in my story, which is like seeing him moving that tank around right in front of investigators, that was just, that was just absolutely chilling. - I mean, he's brazen.

Now, you know, no one knows 100% that D was in the tank, he was moving around. That was one of the defenses argument, but they didn't get that it was. - Because there are other tanks there, right?

- There are a lot of tanks. - Right, if she wasn't in that one that he was moving at that moment, she was in another identical tank like that. - Yeah, and, you know, everything was right

in front of them, the family, the police. You know, all the clues were there. They just weren't seeing them yet. In the way that they needed to see them. It's just, you know, how it goes, Josh,

with these, the pieces aren't always put together for a while

and then suddenly the puzzle comes into focus and you put your final piece in. And it's really, that's really what happened and it was, you know, it was Greg going back, D's brother, and saying, you know,

I remember Dale working on a tank, you know, and Parker said the same thing. And then kind of hit them years later, they were like, wait a second. What if, you know, what if the tank

has something to do with this? And then I found it so interesting how law enforcement was afraid to open the tank because, you know, what's in there is it going to explode? You know, are we going to die from chemical fumes?

And, you know, and Dale had even talked about those chemicals during the early days trying to keep, you know, saying keep the cadaver dogs away. They're trying to move. And I will say he did a good job of misdirection there

because, you know, I mean, the cops are certainly listening very carefully for anybody who says, yeah, you can search the entire property, but don't look in there, whatever you do, right? I mean, they're trained to sort of pick up on that kind of thing.

And he did a very good job of saying, like, look,

“I'm, you guys do what you need to do, but be careful”

there are chemicals here, you know, with the dog. Right, and he even talked about his dogs that they had issues with their paws, you know, stepping in the chemicals. And so, you know, here they are. They've got this, this tank that is now sticking out

like a sore thumb because it's freshly painted. It has the decals on it. It's like been, you know, moved to this barn. And so, what do they do? They put it on a flatbed and haul it to the ambassador bridge

because where can you actually giant items, but at customs, at the Canadian United States border? At the border, right? And they did it and then there was the silhouette, you know, of D, which, who, I mean, I, like,

I haven't seen many stories cases like this, where you make a discovery like that and someone was that diabolical and there she is in a tank in her pajamas. Yeah, no, you know, it's--

that was, I, that outline of her body is, is chilling. And because the thing is, like, a lot of times when law enforcement finds a body,

“it doesn't really look like a body anymore, you know?”

Yeah, but this jet, this looked like exactly like the silhouette of a body. Yeah, she didn't have the elements, you know, that that body's usually face, you know, the, who knows, I don't know if the chemicals

preserved her at all, but being in that tank, she was pristine. I thought your, your interviews were really good. Thank you, thank you. Your interview with the family, I thought,

was really, really great. Yeah, they were, they were, they were good. Really nice, down home, you know, farmers,

really great, really great people.

“We did have an incident outside of the barn”

where I was trying to interview Greg and Dale's brother was out in the field doing plowing the field. And the tractor came by the interview and coated us with a very, very heavy coating

of dust to the point where we had to stop the interview and I was breathing in dust and it was going in my eyes. And I was coughing, I was like my eyes hurt,

but yeah, that was the first time I've been dust bombed

by someone involved in a story. Did you like my plaid dress, Josh? I liked Joe that I, I thought you had exactly the right wardrobe for this kind of thing. - I kind of just, you know what, I was like,

why not try something different? Now, of course Greg and Shelley, Greg shows up in a suit and Shelley's dress beautifully and I'm in the plowing dress. - And you look like a country and western star.

You know, this is a, this might be interesting for the online viewers and listeners, which is, you know, what to wear in interviews is sort of an ongoing discussion at all times with all correspondents.

You know, you don't want to look much more formal than the people you're interviewing, right? I mean, if there were in T-shirts, you don't want to come in, you know, we're in a suit and tie, right?

You know, you also don't want to look sort of disrespectfully casual to people who, you know, might be, maybe have dressed up for their only lifetime TV appearance. But like, you know, when I generally, when I'm interviewing defense attorneys or prosecutors,

it's always safe to wear a suit and tie, right?

- Oh, yes, absolutely, yeah. - Much harder is when you're in the home or you're sitting across from the family of the victim. You want to wear something that doesn't make them feel uncomfortable, you want to feel, you know, accessible and approachable

and sometimes a suit can be kind of a barrier to that, so I sometimes don't do that. I mean, you know, not all of us can, you know, throw on, you know, converse all stars. I mean, you know, some people, you know,

- Or were we talking about here? - Look, it's a, it's a personal call for all of us at date line, well, almost all of us, let's just say. - Yes, we love you, Keith, and we love your style.

(laughs)

- It's, you know, it's what makes him Keith.

- It is what makes him Keith. - It's people love the converse. He's cool, he's cool, right? He is cool, though, and I'm not saying that

“to be, like I'm actually saying, I think he's cool.”

- Keith is effortlessly, it's Keith's world. We just live in it. - Always. - Yes, okay, so when we get back, we have an extra clip about a psychic's

visit to the Warner's house. And what she believes happened to Dee inside. (upbeat music) So, let's talk a little about Deandale. You know, I love the idea that she was both sort of,

you know, rugged and, you know, perfectly comfortable, you know, in boots and car heart, and also, you know, dressed up in a board room. Yeah, and also leopard prints, right? - She's a leopard everywhere, yeah.

Yeah, I mean, did you love the image of that Dee wouldn't, you know, go to the gas station without a full hair and makeup? And she had her daughter, her little mini me, who also wear the Cheetah, and, you know,

and Dee just sounds like a riot on the farm. - So often on daylight, I hear about the people who were no longer with us. And as their family and friends are describing them,

“one of the things I think the way I say of is,”

man, I wish I knew them, because they sound like a blast. And Dee is one of those people. Like I am positive that, like if we all sat down for lunch, we would have a terrific time. - Yeah, I'd like to have like a strawberry decorate with Dee,

you know, just like have a drink. - Dog, I think I have fun. - And swap some stories. - Absolutely. - Yeah, yeah.

- Fashioned advice. - So she and Dale both left their spouses to marry each other. And then their spouses, who had been dumped, end up marrying each other.

And then, you know, and then Dee and Dale are together. And she's sort of doing the business part of it, and he's kind of handling the hands-on part of it.

multi-business empire.

- Yeah, and it was struggling, they're near the end.

They, 'cause Dale did a lot of the hard labor, the farming, Dee handled the employee, she handled the trucking company, which was hers, her baby. But, you know, well, they had a lot of land,

so they were definitely rich with property. The farming side of the business was struggling.

“And that's why Dee was ready to just get out.”

She was just done. - And what I remember is that she was telling people that if she left, she was gonna take the trucking business for herself, and she had sort of built that herself. - I mean, that was, that was the part of the business

that was making the most money. - Yeah, and I think there's, there's definitely some more reporting to do on that, because I don't think it was quite that simple, because they were married.

I don't know that there was a pre-nup, so Dale might have been entitled to some of that. I'm not really sure. - How many searches? How many times they searched that property

before somebody figured out, like maybe we should drag that tank to the Canadian border and X-ray it? - I mean, I'm sure they probably lost count. I'm how many times they searched.

“The one person who the family says did not search”

was her husband Dale. - So I will say, I mean, that is sort of the brightest of red flags in a lot of episodes of Dayline. It's not just who searches for the missing person, but who does not?

- Who does not? - Yeah, or no, I've seen that before, and I know you have to. - Right, or who doesn't show up to the press conference, you know, with the family who's,

you know, trying to get help from the public,

that's always a red flag to me too.

I mean, if you, if you love this person and this is your spouse, the mother of your child, you know the farm better than anybody, it's your farm, and you're not looking, according to the family.

I mean, that's just unacceptable and bizarre. - Right. So let's talk about hiring a psychic. Now, you know, in law enforcement, the use of psychics is one of those things

that's kind of cyclical. There are times when it's very much not invoked, and then there are times when you hear investigators, particularly lead investigators say, I don't really wanna leave any stone unturned here

and we've tried a bunch of things. I mean, it's certainly not the first thing you do. But it is something that investigators sometimes do when they feel like they're kind of coming up blank on all the usual avenues.

- Yeah, I mean, I don't know how effective they are. I certainly wouldn't turn it down if I had a loved one missing and a psychic wanted to help. I probably would welcome any help I could get, I think.

- I mean, I think that I would be saying to police if my family would be like, wait, that's where we are now. You know, we're turned into the supernatural. You guys are out of bullets, that's it. But on the other hand, there is no question

and there's plenty of anecdotal evidence of psychics actually helping investigations. And there's also plenty of evidence that they were wrong about things. - Right, I mean, I say it can't hurt, right?

In this case, the psychic reached out to the family and the family felt like, we're desperate at this point.

“We're happy to hear what you have to say.”

And we actually have some extra sound with D's nephew Parker, who talks about the psychic coming on the farm. - Let's listen to that. - I was putting contact with a lady named Kathy

and I said, Kathy, I said, I'll be just completely honest with that no one offend you.

I said, I just don't, I've never had any psychic experience

or never really believed in it to be honest. But I said, I will tell you that I am so desperate to find my aunt that I'll do anything at this point. And so my mother and I went down to D's house with her and she said, you can record me, but you can never guide me.

She said, I don't want you to guide me. I don't want you to say a word. She's just to be completely mute. And so I said, okay, and so I turned on my record on my phone and we just followed her.

And my mother before this had even happened, had this theory of what happened to D. And the theory was that something happened upstairs by the Murphy Dore, she was either pushed or shoved or dragged down the stairs.

And then she was drug out the sliding glass door and we didn't know the rest of the story at that point. Well, Kathy walks in this house and completely

She said, why do I feel drug out that door? The very door that we said that we thought she was drug out. And so this woman became D, I can't even explain it. We got through that reading and she would go upstairs and she felt lots of pain to her head by the Murphy Dore

and basically meaning like she had been beaten.

“And then she said, why do I feel drug down these stairs?”

And why do I feel drug out these doors? And she just went all around the house and just had this reading of D. Well, D, they did, the medical examiner said D had blunt force trauma to the head.

And they also believe that the front loader vehicle pulled up to the doors of the house. This is what they believe because some deputies saw big tracks by the door. So they think that Dale pulled her out of the house

and put her in the front loader and took her to the barn where the safe was. Put her in the safe, this giant safe, and then eventually moved her to the tank. So this information was not out when this psychic was there.

Right. And it does fit.

It does fit, you know, it's certainly provocative.

Years and years ago, here in Los Angeles, this is like going back more than a quarter century. A friend of mine told me that she was going to go to a psychic reading and asked if I wanted to come along. And I was like, sure.

So I went. And we walked in to this place with this psychic. And this woman did not even know my name. And I was on local television in LA. But I mean, this was way before day line.

I was not a well-known face. I'm pretty sure she didn't know me or what I did for a living. And she told me a bunch of things that were going to happen in my life.

None of which have happened yet. But also they haven't been disproven either. I'm not going to go into what they are. They were not-- Wait, wait.

Well, they were not important major things. But they were sort of smaller things that might or might not be true.

But one amazing thing happened was she

“said to me at the end, is there anything you want to ask me?”

And I said, well, my car got stolen the day before yesterday. And I'm kind of interested as the one in the car. Yeah, I'm going to get my car back because also my briefcase was in the car. And so I lost a lot of valuable stuff in there.

It wasn't as concerned about the car. And I didn't even tell her anything about what kind of car it was or where it was, right? And she said to me, in front of our adverbs, which was the name of the children's clothing store in Hollywood

where I had parked it. And I was like, yeah. And she said, yeah, there's a balcony above our adverbs for some other story. Because they were standing up there

and they were watching you as you parked. And so of course I went back there. And there is a balcony up above our adverbs. And maybe somebody was there. That, I got to say, was weird.

And there's quite a balance. Absolutely. There is no way she could have known that. Did you get your car back? I did get my car back, but it didn't get my briefcase back.

And the car had been significantly damaged by the time I did get it back. Yeah. I went to a psychic and with my mom and I was single. And I think the question was like, well, I, you know,

find someone or whatever. And the, the psychic said, your future husband is up in the air. And I was like, oh, well, that's nice. I mean, that's a big, right? Come on, Josh.

Josh. I married a fighter pilot. I know. He was up in the air at that time. Yes, he probably literally was up in the air.

So I was kind of cool. Come on. And that's perfect.

“Yeah, now, um, uh, you know, I, with the only thing that the psychic said is that you”

will one day work with a tall white-haired man who will resent you deeply and try to undermine you at every turn. And that hasn't really, that hasn't really happened. That hasn't really happened. The other converse.

Did they say that he would wear converse? I think they did mention that actually. Yeah. Yeah. She could really see into the future.

All right. Back to real life here, um, Dale was arrested before these bodies was found. Yeah. They really went out on a limb, arresting him without the body.

the prosecutor to go forward, the prosecutor felt that they could do this.

“And, you know, it was a miracle that they found D.”

It just obviously just helped their case immensely and propelled them into that trial, you know, to a, to a guilty verdict. So when we come back, we're going to answer some questions from social media, but we're going to be answering them with the producer of this episode, not with you because, uh, let me guess you're going up in the air, uh, with your husband.

I am going on a assignment, Josh. I'll be shooting a new day line. I will, that'll make viewers and listeners very happy. Andrea, thank you. Thanks.

Coming up next, I will be joined by date line producer Serge Ivanette, to talk about this

episode and to answer your questions from social media. Welcome back, and we're joined by Serge Ivanette, producer of this episode, and let's go right to social media. Here is an audio question, so let's listen to that. My name is Genesis, I've been a long time watcher, and I was struck by the initial respawning

officer. It seems like he responded to the call and questioned Dale and seemed to accept what Dale was saying. It's a page value.

“So my question is did he walk through the house, did he walk through the outbuilding?”

Because since the, was determined to have not been placed in the tank for a number of days,

it seems like if he had shown up willing to treat the initial missing persons call as a

crime, then he may have seen some indications of foul play. Thanks again for your show. Watch and listen to it constantly, uh, no live 10, 15 hours a day. Serge, are you above or below 10 or 15 hours a day of daylight? I think she beats me on that for sure.

Yeah. Okay, so that's an interesting question, because a lot of times when law enforcement, when they do a welfare check, I think they generally expect it's going to turn out that it was much to do about nothing. I mean, I did one, uh, at the story a few months ago, which the, the officer was looking

in the windows of the house and he's whistling while he does it because he's like, you know, this is, you know, this is not a, a, a dangerous thing that I'm doing and it's not going to go anywhere. And then of course it turns out he sees a body and he calls medical right away. So, uh, what about that?

You, you know, you think officers may be sort of, uh, were fooled by Dale early on. I mean, he certainly had a little time to sort of perfect his story. Well, yeah, Josh, the short version of it, the deputy treated this as a grown woman who walked out after a fight. This is not a crime scene.

This is a missing person because the story that Dale tells him is that there's nothing on the surface that contradicts it.

“And also remember that D did this before after a fight, she would go to the lake house,”

she would disappear for a couple of days. So when Austin Hall deputy Austin Hall of the Leninwick County shows up, he just responds to an missing person. So nothing really tips him off that there's foul, um, something, uh, foul and play here. Right.

Um, and, you know, that's one of the things that families of missing people here all the time, which is this person's an adult, they can do whatever they want. And so all the families that I cover on missing in America, they run into that. And then they say the same thing, which is, uh, yeah, I get that. You don't understand.

But I'm telling you, my daughter, sister, husband, friend would not be out of touch like this for no reason, right? And again, D, my left, she might have left Dale. She might have walked out of the property, but, but not without that little girl. So, uh, now a question about exactly that about Dale and D's daughter, Angelina.

Um, Alexis F.D.T. wants to know. I'd like to know who's raising the little girl. I'm assuming a sister. Is that a assumption correct? That assumption is not correct. Uh, Angelina is being raised by the, uh, water side of the family.

Was there a battle over that? Uh, not to my knowledge, uh, because, you know, when D goes missing, it's not a crime at the time. She stays with the father until he's later charged and convicted of murder. And then, and then he just calls his relatives and hands are over.

Exactly. So, essentially, Angelina lost both of her parents, right?

So that's, that's a real tragedy in cases like that.

“And unfortunately, we do, um, see that quite often when we cover stories like this.”

So, okay. Thank you for joining us in talking today, line, come back anytime. Thanks, Josh. Good to be here.

Well, that's it for talking day line for this week.

Thanks, everybody, for listening.

“And remember, if you have any questions about our stories or about anything else, you”

can write to us on social media at, at, date line and BC. You can also leave us a voice mail at 212-413-5252 for a chance to be featured right here on talking day line.

“You can also watch the video version of talking day line on peacock or YouTube, or you”

can subscribe to the NBC News app. So please check out my new podcast, Missing in America. This is season five of that. We take a look at six missing person cases.

First two episodes are out now, and you can listen wherever you get your podcasts.

And also, for more on D Warner's case, you can check out season one episode six of Missing in America. We'll have a link to that in the description of this episode. We'll see you Friday's on day line on NBC. [BLANK_AUDIO]