Convicted Florida killer clown released from prison for killing his husband’s then-wife

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. — A woman who pleaded guilty to dressing up as a clown and killing the wife of the man she later married in 1990 was released from prison Saturday, ending a case that was bizarre even by Florida standards.

Sheila Keane-Warren, 61, was released 18 months after she pleaded guilty to second-degree murder for the shooting death of Marlene Warren, Florida Department of Corrections records show. The plea deal was reached shortly before her trial began.

Keene-Warren, who maintained her innocence even after pleading guilty, was sentenced to 12 years in prison. But she had been in custody for seven years since her arrest in 2017, and a 1990 Florida law provided significant credit for good behavior. She was expected to be released in about two years.

“Sheila Keene-Warren will always be a recognized convicted murderer and will wear that stain every day for the rest of her life,” Palm Beach State’s Attorney Dave Aronberg said Saturday.

Greg Rosenfeld, Keene-Warren’s lawyer, said she agreed to the plea deal only because she would be released in less than two years and faces life in prison if convicted at trial.

“We are delighted that Ms Keane-Warren has been released from prison and is returning to her family. As we have stated from the beginning, she did not commit this crime,” he said Saturday in a text message.

Marlene Warren’s son, Joseph Ahrens, and his friends were at home when they say the doorbell rang from a man dressed as a clown. He said that when his mother answered, the clown handed her some balloons. After she responded, “How sweet,” the clown pulled out a gun and shot her in the face before fleeing.

Palm Beach County Sheriff’s investigators had long suspected Keene-Warren of the murder, but she wasn’t arrested until 27 years later when they said improved DNA testing linked her to evidence found in the getaway car. Rosenfeld called the evidence weak.

At the time of the shooting, Keen-Warren was an employee of Marlene Warren’s husband, Michael, at his used car lot. She had been his wife since 2002—eventually they moved to Abington, Virginia, where they opened a restaurant right on the Tennessee border.

In 1990, witnesses told investigators that then-Sheila Keane and Michael Warren were having an affair, although both denied it.

Over the years, costume store employees identified Sheila Warren as the woman who purchased the clown costume days before the murder, detectives said.

And one of the two balloons – a silver one with the words “You’re the Greatest” – was sold at only one store – the Publix supermarket near Keene-Warren’s home. Employees told detectives that a woman resembling Keene-Warren had purchased the balloons an hour before the shooting.

The alleged getaway car was found abandoned with orange, hair-like fibers inside. A white Chrysler convertible was reported stolen from Michael Warren’s car lot a month before the shooting. Keen-Warren and her then-husband returned the cars to him.

In 2000, relatives told The Palm Beach Post that Marlene Warren, who was 40 at the time of her death, suspected her husband was having an affair and wanted to leave him. But the car park and other property were registered in her name, and she was afraid of what might happen if she did.

She allegedly told her mother, “If anything happens to me, Mike did it.” He was never charged and denied any involvement.

But last year, Rosenfeld said the state’s case was falling apart. One DNA sample somehow contained both male and female genes, he said, while another could belong to one in every 20 women.

And even if the hair did belong to Keen-Warren, it may have been deposited before the car was reported stolen. He said Marlene Warren’s son and another witness also told detectives that the car police found did not belong to the killer, although investigators insisted it did.

Aronberg acknowledged last year that there were holes in the case, saying they were caused by the three decades it took to bring the case to trial, including the deaths of key witnesses.

Michael Warren was convicted in 1994 of grand theft, racketeering and odometer tampering. He served nearly four years in prison, a sentence his lawyers at the time said was disproportionately long due to suspicions of his involvement in his wife’s death.

He did not respond to a telephone message left for him Saturday.