Clown-case killing suspect waives extradition from Va.
A woman accused of dressing as a clown and killing a Wellington resident 27 years ago has waived extradition from Virginia and likely will return to Palm Beach County in the next 10 days.
Sheila Keen, 54, was arrested Tuesday in Washington County, Va., and is facing a first-degree murder charge in the shooting death of 40-year-old Marlene Warren on May 26, 1990.
During a brief hearing Wednesday, Keen’s attorney told a judge that his client did not want to oppose the extradition request. Asked by the judge whether that was her wish, Keen said, “Yes.” She made no other comments.
Joshua Cumbow, a Virginia state attorney, said the Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office would have 10 days to pick up Keen and transport her to Florida.
Cumbow said he was not sur-
prised that Keen waived her extradition.
“It’s always a losing battle,” Cumbow said.
Keen will remain jailed in Virginia until she is taken into custody by PBSO. A Sheriff ’s Office spokeswoman said the agency would not say when it intends to pick up Keen, citing security reasons.
“I got some good news today — they (caught) the (murderer) that killed my mother 27 years ago,” Joe Ahrens, one of Warren’s two sons, posted Wednesday on his Facebook page.
Ahrens was 21 years old and sitting in the living room of his parents’ residence in Wellington Aero Club community when his mother was fatally shot.
“I am happy but sad,” Ahrens wrote on Facebook in response to a friend’s post. “You (knew) my mom — she was cool as (expletive) I miss her bad. ...”
Attempts to reach Ahrens on Wednesday were unsuccessful.
Warren’s killer carrying balloons and wearing a clown costume and an orange wig when the person knocked on Warren’s front door and shot her in the face, detectives reported. Warren died two days later.
D etectives had long regarded Keen as a suspect but didn’t have the evidence they needed until additional DNA analysis was conducted after the agency’s Cold Case Unit reopened the case in 2014.
Before the slaying, Keen had worked for Michael Warren, Marlene’s husband, repossessing vehicles. Michael Warren owned a used-car lot in West Palm Beach. Acquaintances told detectives that Michael Warren and Keen were having an affair.
Keen and Warren were married in Las Vegas 12 years after the killing.
At Tuesday’s news conference, sheriff ’s detectives declined to say whether Michael Warren remains a suspect. They confirmed that he was at the scene when they arrested Keen on Tuesday.
Shirley Twing, Marlene’s mother, told The Palm Beach Post following the killing that her daughter had warned, “If anything happens to me, Mike done it.”
The case against Keen was presented to a grand jury Aug. 31 by the Palm Beach County State Attorney’s Office and the indictment was issued. She was arrested in Abingdon, Va., a town of fewer than 9,000 residents near the Tennessee border.
“Any murder’s horrific,” sheriff ’s Sgt. Richard McAfee said during a news conference Tuesday in Virginia. “It doesn’t matter whether you’re wearing a clown costume or not.”
The Sheriff’s Office has announced it will have a news conference this morning to discuss the case.