Sun Sentinel Palm Beach Edition
Felonious Florida
Woman is accused of murdering her husband’s former wife
The accused killer clown of Wellington is scheduled for trial in November, 29 years after she is accused of dressing up as a clown and shooting her husband’s former wife.
The accused killer clown of Wellington is tentatively scheduled for trial in November, 29 years after she is accused of dressing up as a clown and shooting her lover’s wife in the face on her doorstep.
A Palm Beach County judge on Monday set a tentative November trial date for Sheila KeenWarren, accused of the 1990 murder of her husband’s former wife.
On May 26, 1990, Marlene Warren, 40, was shot in the face by a clown carrying balloons with a bouquet of carnations arranged in a white basket.
Keen-Warren has pleaded not guilty. Her attorney, Richard Lubin, said it’s unlikely a trial could take place by November, which he said is too soon for the voluminous research by the defense that remains to be done.
“November is unrealistic,” Lubin said. “We won’t be able to finish our work before then.”
After the murder, investigators began hearing rumors that Warren’s husband, Michael, owner of Bargain Motors in West Palm Beach, was having an affair with Sheila Keen, the estranged wife of one of the men who worked for Warren repossessing cars from people who failed to make payments.
Within days of the murder, the Publix clerks who sold the flowers and balloons — and the costume store employees who sold the clown suit — all picked Sheila Keen’s picture out of a photo lineup. Police even found the Chrysler LeBaron believed to be driven by the clown parked outside a supermarket eight miles from the Warren home. A later search of the vehicle turned up orange fibers from a wig and several strands of long brown hair.
In May 1991, a detective declared there was enough evidence to make an arrest. But state attorneys were concerned there
was not enough physical evidence for a successful prosecution.
In 2002, Michael Warren married Sheila Keen in Las Vegas. They moved to Tennessee, then later to Virginia.
For at least 15 years, Keen-Warren and Michael Warren made their home in small, historic Abingdon, Va., where she went by the first name Debbie. By all accounts, the Warrens were a hardworking, generous, sociable couple who ran a popular fast-food restaurant in nearby Kingsport, Tenn. Nobody had a clue either had been married before, that they came from Florida, that Debbie’s real name was Sheila.
In 2013, the Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office formed a task force to reinvestigate the case. DNA tests conducted decades earlier were not conclusive, but with improved technology, lead detective Paige McCann ordered new tests by an FBI lab.
The Warrens were returning from a trip to Vermont to visit Keen-Warren’s mother when they were pulled over Sept. 26. 2017. Deputies from the Washington County Sheriff’s Office arrested Keen-Warren on the side of the road and took her to jail.
Keen-Warren faces the death penalty if convicted.
Lubin on Monday said the lengthy time before trial is typical of major cases that present complications for attorneys and investigators.
“This case is so old,” Lubin told reporters outside the courtroom. “The technology in play then was so different. It makes everything more difficult.”
Keen-Warren’s next court date is set for April 17.