Florida’s 1990 ‘killer clown’ murder suspect pleads guilty

PALM BEACH COUNTY, Fla. — A woman entered a plea agreement Tuesday in the 1990 shooting death of a woman in Palm Beach County, Florida.

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According to prosecutors, Sheila Keen-Warren, 59, dressed up as a clown and shot Marlene Warren in the face on the doorstep of her home in 1990, The Tampa Bay Times reported.

Prosecutors claimed that Keen-Warren was carrying flowers and balloons while dressed in the clown costume on May 26, 1990, according to WPEC.

Keen-Warren married Warren’s husband, Michael Warren in 2002, according to the AP.

The case was cold for about 27 years until DNA evidence led investigators to Keen-Warren. She was arrested on Sept. 26, 2017, according to the news outlet. She has been in jail since then, awaiting trial.

At the time of the murder, Keen-Warren was an employee of Michael Warren’s at his used car lot, The Associated Press reported. Witnesses told investigators at the time that Keen-Warren and Michael Warren were having an affair, but both denied it.

Employees at a costume shop identified Keen-Warren as the woman who bought a clown costume days before the murder, the AP reported.

Her trial was set to start in two weeks, according to the Times.

Keen-Warren was facing a mandatory life sentence if convicted of first-degree murder, the newspaper reported. However, according to the plea agreement, Keen-Warren was sentenced by Palm Beach Circuit Judge Scott Suskauer to 12 years for the murder.

Keen-Warren’s defense lawyer Greg Rosenfeld told the Times that he expects her to get out of prison within a year since she has served more than five years in prison. Prosecutors have said it could be two years before she is released.

Rosenfield told the AP that Keen-Warren still insists she is not the killer.

Michael Warren was convicted of grand theft, racketeering, and odometer tampering in 1994, the AP reported. He served around four years in prison.