Woman pleads guilty to 1990 killer-clown cold case, married victim's husband

A woman pleaded guilty more than 30 years after a Florida mother was shot on her doorstep by a person in a clown costume with balloons.

Sheila Keen-Warren retracted her plea of not guilty and pleaded guilty to second-degree murder as part of a plea deal on April 25, 2023, according to CNN.

The 59-year-old was arrested as a suspect in 2017 in Virginia and charged with first-degree murder for the killing of Marlene Warren. She has already served over five years in custody while awaiting trial.

Warren was shot and killed at her home near West Palm Beach, Florida, in 1990, with insufficient evidence to convict her killer at the time.

As her son and his friends were eating inside, the victim answered the door to a person dressed as a clown with two balloons and flowers in hand. The clown handed over the gifts before pulling out a gun and shooting Warren in the face. She died in the hospital two days later.

“After years of professing her innocence, Sheila Keen-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,” said State Attorney for Palm Beach County Dave Aronberg in a statement.

Keen-Warren now shares the same last name as the victim after marrying her widower 12 years after the killing. During the initial investigation, it was rumored that Keen-Warren was having an affair with Marlene Warren's husband, Michael Warren, but the two denied it at the time.

Michael Warren was never charged with crimes related to his wife's death, but in 1992 he served three years and nine months in prison for a series of other charges of racketeering, grand theft, and odometer tapping, all stemming from the car dealership he owned.

After accepting a plea deal, Keen-Warren will be sentenced to 12 years in prison, with credit for time served. This means the guilty party will have approximately six years left in prison.

Keen-Warren's attorney told CNN that she still claimed to be innocent but is happy with the plea deal she accepted.

“This woman should never have been arrested or prosecuted,” her attorney Greg Rosenfeld argued. “She was looking forward to her day in court.”

However, the attorney also admitted, “You never know what could happen in trial."

The victim's son claimed, however, due to the evidence submitted that "a jury [would] find her guilty of the crime.”

During the original investigation, witnesses at a costume shop identified Keen-Warren (then Keen) as buying a clown costume just two days before the murder. Employees at a Publix store also said a woman of her description bought flowers and balloons just 90 minutes before the murder, according to the Miami Herald.

The investigation went cold until 2014, when the case was reopened by the Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office. Investigators were able to use DNA technology that wasn't available in 1990 to secure a conviction and were able to strengthen their evidence after 24 years to make an arrest.

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