48 Hours investigates the 1990 murder of Marlene Warren. The 40-year-old woman and her two sons were in their Wellington, Florida home when Marlene answered the door and was greeted by a person dressed as a clown. Wearing an orange wig, red nose and white face, the clown handed her flowers and balloons before shooting Marlene in the face. Witnesses say the clown calmly walked back the car parked in Marlene’s driveway and left.
In September 2017 — 27 years after Marlene’s murder — Sheila Keen Warren was arrested and charged with Marlene’s death. In 1990, Sheila Keen was reportedly having an affair with Marlene’s husband Michael Warren. Sheila Keen was seen buying a clown costume prior to Marlene’s death, and flowers and balloons just 90 minutes before the killing, but police didn’t have enough probable cause to make an arrest. [In 1991, Michael Warren was paid $53,359.37 as the beneficiary of his wife’s life insurance policy.]
When the cold case was reopened in 2014, police discovered new DNA evidence connecting Keen to the murder. At that time, police found that Michael and Sheila had married ten years after Marlene’s murder, were living in Virginia and running a Purple Cow, a subs and burger fast food restaurant in a nearby Tennessee town.
On a separate legal note: Michael Warren, who owned a car dealership, was sentenced to prison in 1994 on 43 counts of odometer tampering, grand theft and racketeering — according to NBC News. He served close to four years in prison. If convicted, Sheila Keen Warren, who has pleaded not guilty, faces the death penalty. New episodes of 48 Hours air Saturdays at 10pm on CBS.
