The Killer Clown Case: How Marlene Warren Was Murdered at Her Front Door | Sheila Keen

Marlene Warren was shot dead in her Florida home on May 26, 1990

Now part of the Darkcast Network. Welcome to Indie Podcasts with a Dark side. Imagine this a m. Quiet Saturday morning on May 26, 1990. You’re at home in Wellington, Florida, enjoying breakfast with your son and three friends. Your son was recuperating from a broken leg that he’d gotten in a recent car crash. You’re just living your life in a home in a private aeronautical community of Aero Club, a calm, upscale community, the type of community that has a hangar for a single engine plane. Homes have Jacuzzis and a two car garage. Suddenly you all notice a white Chevy LeBaron pull into your circular driveway. Stepping out is a person dressed as a clown wearing an orange wig, red nose, white face paint, the whole yard. The clown is carrying a basket of flowers and two balloons, one of which was red and heart shaped and said, you’re the greatest. The other balloon had a picture of Snow White and the seven dwarves. We kind of figured I had a cast on. Somebody was sending to heel and for gesture. At around 10:45, the, uh, doorbell rings. You go to the door and open it. The clown hands you the flowers and balloons. Then in the blink of your eye, the clown pulls out a gun and shoots you in the face. The last words I heard my mother say was, oh, how pretty. And then bang. This was the case of 40 year old Marlene Warren. Marlene collapsed in the doorway gasping for air with bone and metal fragments embedded in her tongue. Her shocked 21 year old son, Joseph Ahrens immediately jumped into action, rushing to his mother’s side. And one of the friends immediately called 911. I saw her fall, then I jumped into action. I got to the door and I saw that she’s been shot. My mother was struggling to breathe even though he was in a cast. Joseph staggered after the killer, managing to lock eyes with them. He would later tell police he noticed big brown eyes behind the makeup. The clown gets into the car, it goes into gear and drives off like nothing happened. Determined to catch his mother’s attacker, Joseph and some friends tried to pursue the vehicle, but they couldn’t keep up. Meanwhile, emergency responders, um, rushed Marlene to Palm Springs Hospital where she was placed on life support. She died two days later. I kept telling her I love her and I don’t want her to go and please don’t leave me. I knew my life was going to change and I knew it was going to become hard because she wasn’t there to help me.

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Michael Warren was quickly considered a suspect in Marlene Warren’s murder

In the meantime, though, grab your butts, grab your apple juice, and let’s get back to this case of love and murder. Marlene was married to Michael Warren, who was Joseph’s stepfather. She also had another son, John, who died in a car accident in 1988. Michael owned a used car business called Bargain Motors and was known to police for shady business practices like rolling back odometers. Marlene also suspected Michael was having an affair and wanted to leave him, but she was afraid of what might happen. Um, because the car lot and other properties were in her name. During the investigation into the murder, Michael was quickly considered a suspect. Marlene’s family also suspected Michael. Her mother, Shirley Tapino, told reporters that Marlene had once said, quote, if anything happens to me, Mike did it. Ooh. However, he had an alibi at the time of the shooting. He was on his way to a Miami racetrack with friends.

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He denied any involvement in the murder. Investigators also learned about a woman named Sheila Keene, a colleague of Michael’s. Sheila worked for Michael at his used car lot, repossessing cars, and also took care of Marlene and Michael’s rental properties. People also believed that Michael and Sheena were having an affair at the time, but both of them denied these rumors. When questioned about her whereabouts, Sheila said that she’d been searching for cars to repossess, but couldn’t verify her exact location. Now, on the day of the shooting, two balloons were found at the scene. Like I told you before, one with the snow white printed on it and one that said, you’re the greatest. Detectives traced the purchase of those balloons and flowers to a Publix supermarket around one and a half miles from Sheila’s apartment. Employees also remembered selling the items to a woman matching Sheila’s description. Later, detectives learned that a woman fitting Sheila’s general description Was, which was about 57 with long brown hair, had been spotted buying a clown costume just two days before the murder. The store owner said the woman wanted, quote, the best clown costume you have. Wow. Clown shop employees identified a photo of Sheila as the customer. So remember, the killer drove away in that white Chrysler. Well, that exact model had been reported stolen from Michael’s dealership just a month before the murder. It was reportedly stolen by an employee from a competitor. Days after the murder, the same white Chrysler was found in a parking lot that was connected to Michael’s car lot. Business does not look good for Michael. Inside the car, police found evidence. Long brown strands of human hair and orange fibers that resembled hair from a clown wig. Well, remember that? They said Sheila was 57 with long brown hair, and she works on Michael’s car lot. One neighbor told police they saw Sheila drive a car matching that description to a fast food restaurant not long after the murder. Then, during the search of Sheila’s house, orange fibers were also found. However, DNA analysis at the time wasn’t as advanced as needed. While relevant DNA could be taken from the hair samples in 1990, forensic DNA testing was not yet available to connect it definitively. Despite, oh, the emerging circumstantial evidence pointing towards Sheila Keen, Described by state attorney’s office as having the, quote, means the motive and the opportunity. Prosecutors at the time didn’t believe they had enough evidence to file charges. Palm Beach County State Attorney Dave Aronberg described the murder as, quote, an assassination and not a random act of violence. Michael denied the affair and was never charged. Sheila also denied any involvement. And without DNA or surveillance footage or no new evidence, the case went cold. Ah, uh, I can’t even imagine, uh, what that would be like for her son, her friends, her family. It’s, uh, like you’re frustrated because you’re like, telling the cops and the investigators everything is there pointing to her. But the investigators are like, this is all circumstantial and can be thrown out at court. There’s no actual hard evidence. And back in 1990, like I said, there was no ability to trace the DNA. Ah, that has to have been frustrating.

Michael Warren was convicted in 1994 of grand theft, racketeering and odometer fraud

For Joseph, the lack of justice was a heavy burden. He told 48 Hours that for many years he was, quote, suffering in despair. He struggled with depression and alcohol addiction, using alcohol to cope with the anniversary of his mother’s death. So every single year, he would basically get drunk. He eventually entered rehab and said his mental health had improved. While the murder case stalled, Michael faced legal issues relating to his business. Four Months after the murder, police raided his car lot. Because, I mean, if we can’t get you on this, even though the evidence points to this, we do know that you’re a despicable car salesman. So when they raided his car lot, they found enough evidence to charge him with racketeering and. And odometer fraud. Michael was convicted in 1994 of grand theft, racketeering, and odometer tampering. He served almost four years in prison. His attorney at the time argued that his sentence was disproportionately long due to suspicions of his involvement with his wife’s death. And, ah, I mean, I kind of got to agree with there. In 2002, 12 years after the murder, Michael and Sheila got married in Las Vegas. So one can deduce that they were having an affair. But I guess to not raise Suspicions, they married 12 years later. But that’s opinion. That’s not fact. It could just be that the case brought them together. So it’s just too much circumstantial evidence. You know what I’m saying? So they got married in Las Vegas. Then they moved to Tennessee and started a new life together. For years, they lived quietly in the Appalachian Mountains, running a fast food restaurant called Purple Cow in Kingsport. Under the names of Michael and Debbie Warren. They had built a new life far from Florida, far from the murder scene, and far from the questions that still lingered. Uh, Michael, of course, maintained his new wife’s innocence. He speculated in a radio interview that Marlene might have been the victim of an angry tenant or car buyer due to their businesses. Law enforcement, however, didn’t believe his theory at all. And they stuck to their theory that these two were the primary suspects. Decades passed, and the killer clown case remained a mystery. Then, in 2013, new prosecutor Reed Scott revisited the forensic evidence. Bet they weren’t counting on that, were they? Palm beach county reopened the case used in a cold case unit, aided by a federal grant for cold case investigations. In 2014, using updated forensic technology, investigators retested hair and DNA evidence from the clown costume, the balloons, and the getaway car. By 2017, a significant breakthrough was announced. Prosecutor Scott ordered the hair found in the getaway car to be tested using mitochondrial DNA analysis. Analysis, A, uh, technique typically used on older samples. This was a more advanced analysis and determined that the hair matched Sheila Keen’s. Investigators also found a strand of hair on the balloon that had initially been overlooked. And testing that strand showed it matched a sample Sheila had provided long ago. DNA extracted from a fiber was also confirmed to have Been linked to her. With this new DNA evidence, detectives believe that they could definitely connect Sheila to the alleged getaway car and to Marlene’s murder. When detectives looked for Sheila, that’s when they found out that her and Michael had married and they’d moved, and she’d been going under a pseudonym before that. They thought they were still in florida. State attorney David ehrenberg said, here’s someone whose wife had been murdered, and he just m married the chief suspect. He also said that when you combine the fact that they were having an affair at the time of the murder and later married, it did seem like mission accomplished. On September 26, 2017, 27 years after Marlene’s murder, Sheila was finally arrested while driving on a road near their home. She was charged with first degree murder and extradited back to Florida and held without bond at the palm beach county jail. At the time of her arrest, Sheila pleaded not guilty. State attorney ehrenberg said at the time, quote, she probably never thought in a million years she’d be held accountable for her crimes. She thought she got away with it. The case proceeded slowly with numerous delays due to Covid legal maneuvering and fights over evidence. A trial for first degree murder was eventually set to begin in May of 2023. The prosecution had initially sought the death penalty, but later dropped it. So if convicted at trial, now Sheila faced a life sentence. Prosecutors were confident that they could prove that Sheila committed the murder so that she could marry Michael. They argued that she had the means, the motive, and the opportunity. And they said the motive was the affair and wanting Marlene’s life. They also called it a, quote, crime of passion. While most of the evidence was circumstantial, State attorney Scott said that it was, quote, an overwhelming amount of circumstantial evidence. Now, some of the key points that the prosecution included was, was the DNA match of the hair found in the getaway car linking Sheila to the scene? So that’s not circumstantial. That is hard evidence. The orange fibers found in the car and her apartment that matched a clown wig. Once again, not circumstantial. That’s hard evidence. The clown shop employees who identified her as the customer who bought the clown items, not circumstantial. The getaway car being linked to Michael Warren’s car lot where she worked, Once again, not circumstantial. And the fact that she married Michael Warren years later, now that could be circumstantial. Now, the problem with this is, even though it does show that she was in the car it does show that she was the one who bought a clown outfit and everything like that. Although those individually are hard evidence. On a whole, that could be circumstantial because they could then say that her hair was in the getaway car, because, yes, she was the one who handles the car. So, of course, her hair is probably going to be in every single car. There is the orange fibers found in the car in her apartment that matched the clown wig. I mean, people buy clown wigs all the time. You know, somebody. She could have dressed up as a clown for a niece’s party or something like that. You know what I’m saying? Um, the getaway card being linked to Michael’s car lot could just be a huge coincidence. And like I said, the fact that she married Michael doesn’t mean they were actually having an affair, because that was still a rumor. There was no hard evidence about that. And it could have just been that the case brought them closer together, since they were the key suspects. So in that aspect, it could be circumstantial. You see what I’m saying? Prosecutors acknowledged that the three decades it took to get to trial caused holes in the case of including the death of key witnesses and potential issues with the chain of custody for some evidence. However, they maintained that the evidence, if you take it on a whole, pointed squarely at Sheila, which is basically what I was saying. Sheila’s defense attorney, Greg Rosenfield, consistently maintained her innocence. He argued that the Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office and the state Attorney’s office did a piss poor job investigating, becoming fixated on Sheila despite discrepancies and ignoring other potential suspects. His arguments against the state’s evidence included calling the DNA Evidence Week. He said that one sample showed both male and female genes and the mitochondrial DNA profile from the hair could match one out of every 20 women.

Sheila Keene Warren pleads guilty to second degree murder

He also claimed that they couldn’t exclude Marlene herself from the sample, arguing that even if the hair did belong to Sheila, it could have been deposited there innocently before the car was reported stolen, as the car was on the lot where she worked. Didn’t I tell y’ all that could have been called circumstantial evidence? Exactly. Saying that Marlene’s son and another witness had told detectives the car found wasn’t actually the killer’s vehicle. The so I guess when they found the car, they asked one of the friends and Marlene’s son, does this look like the car that, you know, drove away from your house? And they said no. They also questioned the reliability of the orange fiber evidence, suggesting that it might have been compromised due, uh, to poor handling or storage, because remember, this is how many years later. So they also pointed out discrepancies in the clown’s description, saying that some witnesses said that it was a six foot tall man. Attorney Rosenfield suggested that the methodical nature of the crime pointed to someone with experience in committing a hit, which he argued was, quote, not Sheila. Uh, he also mentioned that another inmate supposedly bragged about being hired to murder Marlene, even though prosecutors said that this lien was investigated and cleared. So that was their defense. So, I mean, their defense makes sense, the prosecution makes sense. So it would all be up to a jury. Then, uh, just two weeks before the trial was set to begin, an unexpected announcement came. Sheila decided to take a plea deal. On April 25, 2023, Sheila pled guilty to second degree murder. Prosecutor Scott said at the plea hearing that she agreed to withdraw her not guilty plea and enter a, uh, guilty plea because a factual basis for the crime existed. When asked by the judge if she agreed with the factual basis presented by the state, Sheila said yes. This guilty plea resulted in a 12 year prison sentence. That’s it. And then she received credit for the time she had already spent in custody awaiting trial. So approximately five and a half to seven years. Wow. State attorney Ehrenberg said, Sheila Keene Warren has finally been forced to admit that she was the one who dressed as a clown and took the life of an innocent victim. She will be a convicted murderer for the rest of her life. A, ah, stain she will wear for every day for the rest of her life. He acknowledged that the plea was made because if the case went to trial, the there was a risk she could be found, uh, not guilty after 33 years, not because she was innocent, but because the state might not be able to prove guilt beyond a reasonable doubt. They, quote, had to make a judgment based on what we had. I know that was hard for them. I guess they figured something was better than nothing. And there was a 50, 50 chance because like I said, the defense’s case was solid, but so was the prosecutions. So it just would have been up to a jury. And it’s been 33 years, so it might not have gone in the prosecutor’s favor. And also state attorney Rosenberg saying that, you know, she was forced to admit that she was the one who dressed as a clown. And she’ll have to live with this for the rest of her days, sir. I’m pretty sure she had been living it for 33 years. And the fact that if she was the one who actually did this. She didn’t come forward and confess in all those times. I’m pretty sure she was able to live with it. I don’t think it bothered her at all. So despite entering the guilty plea, Sheila has maintained her innocence through her attorney. That’s why I said if she did it, because I knew she wasn’t going to say, I am guilty. She just said, I’m guilty. Because if it did go to trial, she did have a 50% chance of, uh, facing life in prison. So I guess she figured she’d take the plea deal so she knows exactly how much time she would be in prison. Attorney Rosenfield called the plea deal, quote, an incredible win for his client. He explained that while it was difficult to plead guilty to a crime she didn’t commit, it was, quote, kind of a no brainer when facing a potential life sentence if convicted at trial, with a guarantee of her being home with her family relatively soon. He said, quote, as we’ve stated from the beginning, she did not commit this crime. Michael agreed with this, saying that his wife did not commit the crime, and the plea wasn’t worth the gamble of a life sentence. Under the terms of the plea and sentencing, and due to Florida sentencing law in effect in 1990 when the crime happened, Sheila was eligible for significant credit for good behavior, known as gain time. Unlike current laws requiring inmates to serve at least 85% of their sentence, she was exempt based on the time served awaiting trial and expected gain time. Her attorney predicted she would be released in about, get this, y’ all, two years, possibly even in about 16 to 18 months. That’s what she got. State attorney Ehrenberg’s office had estimated she would serve at least two more years, but noted the department of Corrections, uh, determines the gain time and release dates. Sheila served her sentence at Gadsden Correctional facility in Quincy, Florida. After spending approximately 17 to 18 months in prison following her plea, Sheila was released from prison on Saturday, November 2, 2024. She was 61 years old. Joseph, who watched a, uh, plea hearing online, said, I never thought I was going to get a guilty verdict. That was a shock. It just blew my mind. However, later, when he heard of her release, he said, quote, she robbed my mother of the best years of her life. I, uh, lost my best friend. My entire life changed at 22 years old. There is no justice there. It wasn’t full closure. This weird case of the killer clown has all the pieces of a movie script. Murder by clown, a love affair, a stolen car, a cold case reopened decades later. But we all have to remember that this isn’t the movies. This was real life. And the victim was a woman who opened her door to flowers and balloons, not knowing it was the last thing that she would ever see. See, even State Attorney Ehrenberg said that this case was, quote, strange, even by Florida standards. Marlene Warren deserved justice a lot sooner than 2023. And Sheila, well, she got to spend nearly three decades, uh, living free, married to the man whose wife she murdered. Sheila is now a convicted murderer under the law, but she and her attorney continue to assert her innocence. She has returned to her family in Tennessee, reuniting with Michael. And that is the case of Sheila Warren. What did you think about this case? Let me know your thoughts in the comments below. Do you think the plea deal brought justice? Should Sheila have gotten more time? Do you think they should not have given her a plea deal? And they should have just seen what happened in the trial? And how would you feel if your mom’s killer got out in just a couple of years? Actually, it wasn’t even a couple of years. 17 months. I mean, she wore a clown suit, but there’s literally nothing funny about this case. Leave your comments below and let me know your thoughts.

Last week was a busy week for me. I had guests come to visit

Now, I told you in the beginning that I had something to share with you. So first, last week. So I told you all last week, I was going to tell you what happened. I was off because there was a graduation in my family. I had guests come to visit, and some were even all the way from other countries. So it was a busy week, a happy week, a fun week. And I always know that I can’t record when people are here. I’ve tried. It’s not going to happen. Like, I’ve tried to find quiet places. It’s just not going to happen. So I made sure that I recorded previously and then I just had to edit that week. And then I did the whole AI thing because, you know, you don’t hear my recording or the noise in the background or anything like that when AI is in the mix.

The second thing I wanted to announce is there’s something new coming to the Patreon. com loveandmurder

The second thing I wanted to announce is there’s something new coming solely to the Patreon. What happens when couples kill together. This July, I’m dropping a brand new Patreon only series called Dangerous Duos, where love and murder go hand in hand. You’ll get new cases of deadly peers, twisted loyalty, and crimes, uh, committed side by side, starting with one free case to the public feed. You can join for free to hear the first episode when it drops in July. Patreon.com loveandmurder but if you want the rest of the series, and I’ll have different series coming out throughout the year and moving forward. So like the Dangerous Duos, Lam’s Most Wanted. So love and Murder’s Most Wanted, Fatal Breakups. Inside the LaM Patreon Files. I Survived Murdered for money, Killer parents, mother mayhem, stuff like this. These are the series that are coming to the Patreon with the first one, Dangerous Duos, starting in July. So like I said, you can hear the first episode of every series. So when a new series drops, you’ll hear the first episode if you’re a free member of the lam patreon. Patreon.com loveandmurder but if you want the rest of the series, then you need to join the lamb fam starting at the $10 a month tier. Patreon.com loveandmurder and with that, you’ll unlock the full series, all the series that are coming, and our back bonus episodes. And there are other bonus episodes that we have in there. And not only that, you also get commercial free episodes, intro free episodes. You get the public free episodes before it hits the public. So you get early releases. You also go deeper into the cases, so you get case files, which is like the pictures of the evidence court case video, stuff like that. And most importantly, you’re helping me to be the voice of the victims. So that’s the most important part of all of this. And at the $10 a month tier, that’s what you will be getting. All of that patreon.com forward/loveandmurder so if you want in on this, then head over to the Patreon. You can either join for free and like I said, you can get the first episode of the series or if you want everything, join, uh, for the $10 a month tier. If you just want the regular bonus episodes, then you can join for $5 a month. And still you’ll be a supporter of the victims by helping me bring their voices forward. So we have, uh, the free tier. We have the $3 a month tier, which the $3 a month tier. You get commercial free and intro free. And you get the case files. You have the $5 a month tier where you do get the regular bonus episode. So you get one bonus episode a month. Or you can do the $10 or above tier where you get everything that I just mentioned and more patreon.com loveandmurder and in July, this new series will drop. So, um, we look forward to seeing you in the patreon patreon.com loveandmurder and that’s all I have for you today. And like I end each full episode, I want to remind you that it’s say it with me now. All love and no murder. Y’ all stay tuned for my commercial.

Tragedy with a View explores close calls with disaster in the great outdoors

Guest.

Picture this. You’re standing at the peak of a mountain, watching the sunrise paint the world in shades of gold. That feeling. Pure magic. The kind that makes every grueling step worth it. But what happens when that adventure takes a turn for the worst? When the trail isn’t what you expected and, uh, the great outdoors shows just how wild it can be. That’s where Tragedy with a View comes in. I’m your host, Kayla, and in this podcast, I tell the stories of adventures gone wrong in some of the most beautiful and unpredictable places on Earth. From natural disasters that catch even the most seasoned explorers off guard to true crime trails that unfold where tranquility meets terror, we dive into these close calls with disaster that remind us just how small we really are. But don’t worry, it’s not all doom and gloom. Every story comes with a perspective, a chance to reflect on the fragility and wonder of life. After all, what is life without close calls with disaster? So if you’re the kind of person who loves a good adventure and doesn’t shy away from a little chaos along the way, tune in to Tragedy with a View. You can find us wherever you listen to podcasts, grab your hiking boots, your sense of wonder, and maybe a little caution, and join me as we explore the untamed beauty of the world one story at a time. Sa.