What happened to Michelle Warner? Details explored ahead of Single Mom Missing on ID

Investigation Discovery is all set to cover the case of Michelle Warner in its upcoming special Single Mom Missing. The case dates back to September 2012 and still remains one of the most shocking cases in the history of Houston. This is primarily because of the killer, Mark Castellano, who seemingly murdered the beautiful woman and the mother of his child due to some kind of complex he suffered from. During that time, Castellano and Warner had broken up but shared a child.

Michelle Warner went missing on September 22, 2012, after an alleged argument with Mark Castellano, whose house she and her child were living in at the time. After her family filed a missing person report, the case picked up pace, but all the things seemed to hint at Mark. He also, quite famously, went to Dr. Phil and spoke to Phil McGraw about the case just before he confessed at the police station.

With his confession, the police were able to reach Michelle Warner's dead body. However, quite disappointingly for Michelle's family, Mark was only sentenced to 27 years, which appeared inadequate to them.

The upcoming Investigation Discovery special, which airs at 10.00 PM ET on Saturday, August 3, 2024, covers this in more detail.

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Who was Michelle Warner and what happened to her?

Hailing from the region of refineries on the Texas coast, Michelle Warner dreamed big from the very start. She got married right after high school and had a daughter, Hailey. But the beautiful mother had a far less than perfect life as she succumbed to various hardships in life, turning to drugs in the process.

In 2008, Michelle Warner decided to make a fresh start. Following her period of addiction and the bad crowd she fell in with, Michelle soon started to rebuild her life and met a man, Mark Castellano. Mark and Michelle worked together at a Medical firm, where she was a secretary and he worked in IT.

Despite Michelle's family never truly accepting or liking Mark, the two had a child together in 2009, Cayden. But soon after the child, Mark left, saying he could not do it anymore. Michelle continued to work and take care of the child as a single mother.

However, in 2012, Michelle landed a good job in Houston at a law firm. She decided to move there. However, as Mark lived there, she reached out to him. they mutually agreed on terms that they would raise Cayden together but would not be romantically involved.

Three months later, Michelle vanished after an alleged argument with Mark. The man initially maintained that she had walked out after the argument and he hadn't seen her since. He even went to Dr. Phil with his story but unintentionally gave away some hints about his involvement, though it was far from any kind of confession.

However, during interrogation, the IT worker finally broke down and revealed that he had indeed murdered Michelle Warner in the heat of their argument, claiming that she had gotten physical with him first. He even claimed she always got physical with him, and this was just the time he snapped.

He allegedly strangled her and broke her neck. He also gave away the location of the body. He had allegedly put her in the bath and stored the body in the closet before driving nearly 500 miles to West Texas, where he buried her in a shallow grave.

The police finally found the body and arrested Castellano. But he had changed his story by the time the trial came, claiming it was an accident. He was eventually sentenced to 27 years in prison.

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Single Mom Missing will cover this case in extensive detail when it premieres on ID tonight. Stay tuned.