Prosecution seeks death penalty in killer clown murder case
Sheila Warren is accused of dressing up like a clown and killing the wife of a man she later married.
The Florida neighborhood of Wellington was reeling in late May 1990, when Marlene Warren, the wife of a local car dealer, was greeted by the barrel of a gun as she opened the door to her manicured, ranch-style home.
Even scarier than the murder was the thought of who did it: an orange-haired, white-faced, red-nosed clown.
"‘Clown’ shoots woman at door," a South Florida Sun-Sentinel headline from the time reads.
The mystery loomed for decades, and perpetuated a fear similar to those raised by Stephen King's "It," which was released just months later, and convicted serial killer John Wayne Gacy.
Paramedics take Marlene Warren to an ambulance on May 26, 1990, after she was shot in front of her home in Wellington, Florida. Inset photos show Marlene Warren and Sheila Keen-Warren (Mark Randall/Sun Sentinel/Tribune News Service via Getty Images; Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office)
Police hunted for years for enough evidence to lead them to the gunman, and obtained enough by 2017 to announce charges against an alleged murderer – who was not a man at all.
Wearing a red shirt, her hair back and with a sheen on her lips, Sheila Keen-Warren, Marlene’s husband’s second wife, stared into the camera for what would become one of the first of many mugshot photos.
MAY 26, 1990
Paramedics take Marlene Warren to an ambulance on May 26, 1990, after she was shot in front of her home in Wellington. (Mark Randall/Sun Sentinel/Tribune News Service via Getty Images)
Wellington, Florida, is known for its many luxe attributes: equestrian athletics and the palm tree-lined streets, to name a few. Thirty-two years ago, it became known for something more sinister, the "Killer Clown" murder.
Marlene Warren was at her Takeoff Place home located within the Aero Club community on the morning of Saturday, May 26, 1990, when she saw a white Chrysler LeBaron approach the home. Marlene, her son and his friends had been eating breakfast at about 10:45 a.m. when they spotted the vehicle roll into the driveway, the Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office said.
A person "dressed as a clown" – wearing a red nose, an orange-haired wig and face paint – exited the sedan and walked to the home’s front door, police said.
"The person dressed as the clown was carrying a flower arrangement and two balloons," the sheriff’s office went on. One balloon reportedly bore a picture of Snow White, the other was emblazoned with the words, "You're the Greatest!"
Marlene Warren was shot and killed in the entryway of her Wellington, Florida, home in the infamous "Killer Clown" case of 1990.
An unsuspecting Warren, seeing the offering, responded, "Oh, how pretty," before she was met with her tragic fate, the South Florida Sun-Sentinel reported.
"Marlene answered the front door and as the clown offered the items to her, witnesses heard a gunshot and Marlene fell to the ground."
"The person dressed as a clown calmly walked back to the LeBaron and drove away," police said.
27 YEARS LATER, ARREST IS MADE IN KILLER-CLOWN CASE
Warren, 40, suffered a gunshot wound to the face and was rushed to a local hospital, where she died two days later.
Despite identifying Sheila Keen-Warren as a suspect early in the investigation, police progress was slow. Twenty-seven years later, investigators had some answers.
SEPTEMBER 26, 2017
"On Tuesday, September 26, 2017, Sheila Warren was located in Washington County Virginia and arrested without incident."
The Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office announcement from Sept. 26, 2017, was made in a different era of technology that allowed for a press release to be posted on Facebook, a social media site that didn't exist at the time of the murder in question.
The announcement detailed how the Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office’s Cold Case Unit reopened the investigation into Marlene Warren’s murder in 2014, when investigators – many of whom were presumably not around at the time of the slaying – re-interviewed witnesses and conducted new DNA analyses.
Investigators learned Keen-Warren, who was married to someone else at the time of the murder, went on to wed Marlene’s husband, Michael Warren, in 2002. The pair had been living in Tennessee, where they operated a restaurant, police said.
A grand jury voted on Aug. 31, 2017, to charge Keen-Warren with Marlene’s murder. Police then tracked her to Washington County, Virginia, where they arrested her without incident. She was 54 at the time.
The Sun-Sentinel described how investigators had accumulated evidence even in the '90s linking Keen-Warren to the murders. The evidence reportedly included a witness who positively identified the woman as purchasing balloons and flowers at a store less than a mile from her home and just 90 minutes before Warren’s shooting.
Sheila Keen-Warren's mugshot photo form the Washington County Sheriff's Office, after she was arrested in Virginia in September 2017. (Washington County Sheriff's Office)
DNA TIES 'KILLER CLOWN' TO GETAWAY CAR IN 27-YEAR-OLD COLD CASE, PROSECUTORS SAY
And costume store employees recognized Keen-Warren’s picture as possibly being someone who had bought clown garb days before the slaying, the outlet reported. Investigators were allegedly able to link the vehicle used to the car business of Marlene’s husband, Michael Warren.
Investigators said they also found traces of the orange wig when searching Keen-Warren’s home, and in the Chrysler that was abandoned nearby, the report stated. And Keen-Warren had reportedly dressed as a clown before at work.
Sheila reportedly worked for Michael Warren’s car dealership. The Sun-Sentinel cited reports in describing how Michael would help Sheila with her rent after she and her husband separated, and the pair would take "long lunches."
Sheila and Michael lived in a three-bedroom home in Abingdon, Virginia, that was adorned with "no trespassing" signs and was located near South Holston Lake, the Sun-Sentinel reported.
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The Bristol Herald Courier quoted neighbors who called Keen-Warren "a great person" and someone whom they trusted "with anything we’ve got."
Her extradition attorney, Wayne Austin, told the Courier she was "well-liked and well-respected in the community," according to the Sun-Sentinel.
Warren was charged with first-degree murder in 2017. Five years later, her trial looms.
DELAYS
Sheila Keen-Warren appears in court for a pre-trial hearing on Nov. 13, 2017, in connection with the death of Marlene Warren in 1990. (Lannis Waters/Palm Beach Post/Tribune News Service via Getty Images)
Keen-Warren, now 59, was scheduled to head to trial this Friday with the start of jury selection, records show.
Instead, the trial was delayed for the seventh time after the defense received information that they had long been demanding.
On Oct. 12, prosecutors revealed that they had located a "clown sighting file" despite their previous claims that they had no such documents, court records show. The 25-page file contains information related to other reports of clown sightings in the area at the time of Warren’s slaying, according to The Associated Press. It reportedly includes the names and contact information related for "roughly 40 credible" clown-sighting leads from around the time of Marlene Warren’s murder.
No new trial date has been set.
Defense attorneys previously criticized the prosecution for allegedly failing to provide them with information that they would customarily receive ahead of trial.
Sheila Keen-Warren was accused of dressing up as a clown and murdering her future husband's wife 27 years ago. (Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office)
"Customarily, a criminal prosecution is straightforward: The police investigate a crime, the police arrest a suspect, and the state prosecutes the suspect," defense attorneys wrote in previous court papers, according to the AP. But the prosecution in this case was not straightforward, they argued.
"Following the arrest, the police and state continued their investigation," they wrote. "This backwards prosecution has hampered Ms. Keen-Warren’s ability to prepare for trial."
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After the discovery of the "clown sighting file," the defense said the new information would "take the defense considerable time and resources to investigate."
Attorneys on the case are scheduled to meet Friday in response to the defense's efforts to sanction prosecution for their handling of the case, court records show. Defense lawyers are reportedly asking, among other things, for Keen-Warren to be released on house arrest pending trial.
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