State to seek death penalty in cold case murder from ’90
WEST PALM BEACH — Florida prosecutors are seeking the death penalty against a woman accused of dressing up like a clown in 1990 and fatally shooting the wife of the man she later married.
Palm Beach County State Attorney Dave Aronberg issued a statement Wednesday saying the death penalty is the appropriate punishment for Sheila Keen Warren, 54, who was ordered held without bail at a court hearing Wednesday. She was extradited Tuesday from Abingdon, Va., where she lived with her husband Michael Warren for years.
Defense attorney Richard Lubin told reporters Sheila Warren “vehemently denies” killing Marleen Warren and will plead not guilty. She was arrested last week after a grand jury issued a firstdegree murder indictment. Investigators say new DNA testing gave them what they needed to make an arrest.
Michael Warren, 65, has not been charged, but detectives and prosecutors have refused to rule him out as a suspect. He has not responded to phone messages left at his home. He and Sheila Warren married in 2002.
Marlene Warren was killed in May 1990 by a person dressed as a clown who handed her carnations and two foil balloons. Her son, who witnessed the killing, said she replied, “How pretty!” The clown then pulled a handgun, shot her in the face and drove away. Marlene Warren died two days later.
Detectives identified Sheila Keen, who worked for Michael Warren, as the primary suspect just after the killing but said they lacked sufficient evidence to assure conviction without the DNA test. Witnesses told investigators in 1990 that Keen and Michael Warren were having an affair, though both denied it. Costume shop employees identified Keen as the woman who’d bought a clown costume a few days earlier.
The presumed getaway car was found abandoned with orange, hair-like fibers inside.
The white Chrysler convertible had been reported stolen from Michael Warren’s car lot a month before the shooting. Sheila Warren and her then-husband repossessed cars for him.