DNA ties suspected killer clown to the getaway car used
WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. — Two nights before a clown fatally shot a woman at her front door, a customer showed up at a nearby costume shop and begged to be let in.
On this night 28 years ago, the woman urgently told two clerks she needed a clown suit, an orange wig, white gloves, a red nose and enough white makeup to cover her face completely. She passed on the floppy shoes. One of the clerks in a photo lineup identified the customer as Sheila Keen, who was rumoured in May 1990 to be having an affair with victim Marlene Warren’s husband. The other clerk thought it might be Keen, but wasn’t 100 per cent.
Palm Beach County prosecutors released late Thursday evidence that they say helped them and sheriff’s detectives to arrest Keen in September at the Abington, Virginia, home she shared with her husband — Michael Warren, Marlene Warren’s widower. The evidence includes hundreds of pages of witness statements, photographs, reports and maps. It also says recent DNA tests conducted by the FBI say hair found in a car linked to the slaying could have come from Sheila Keen Warren.
Prosecutors released the evidence without comment. Her attorney, Richard Lubin, did not immediately return a call and email seeking comment. Michael Warren, reached by phone, declined comment. Detectives have declined to rule him out as a possible suspect.
Keen Warren, now 54, remains jailed without bond. Prosecutors have said they will seek the death penalty.
Marlene Warren, 40, opened her door on a Saturday morning to find a clown in an orange wig, a red nose but normal high-top shoes holding two foil balloons and carnations. Her then 20-year-old son and his friends, who were in the house, say the clown handed her the gifts. The clown without saying a word then shot her in the face, walked slowly to a Chrysler LeBaron convertible and drove away.
Michael Warren at the time owned a used car lot and Sheila Keen did repossessions for him. Other employees, according to the document, told detectives Warren and Keen had been seen kissing and having sex in the office and her neighbours said he was frequently at her house. Warren and Keen denied a relationship. They married in 2002.
The documents show that immediately after the shooting, detectives worked to find where the clown costume, the balloons and flowers had been purchased and to find the car. Along with the costume shop employees, the detectives learned the flowers and balloons came from a supermarket a half mile from the victim’s home, bought by a woman who looked like Keen who wore white gloves.
The LeBaron was soon found abandoned in a parking lot. It had been reported stolen by a Payless rental agency near Michael Warren’s car lot, Bargain Motors.