Sheila Keen-Warren, 61, was released 18 months after she pleaded guilty to second-degree murder for the shooting of Marlene Warren, Florida Department of Corrections records show.
“We are absolutely thrilled that Ms. Keen-Warren has been released from prison and is returning to her family.
At the time of the shooting, Keen-Warren was an employee of Marlene Warren’s husband, Michael, at his used car lot.
Witnesses told investigators in 1990 that the then-Sheila Keen and Michael Warren were having an affair, though both denied it.
Michael Warren was convicted in 1994 of grand theft, racketeering and odometer tampering.
FL, Fort Lauderdale. In a case that has been peculiar even by Florida standards, a woman who entered a guilty plea to the 1990 murder of the wife of a man she later married while dressed as a clown was released from prison on Saturday.
Records from the Florida Department of Corrections indicate that Sheila Keen-Warren, 61, was freed 18 months after entering a guilty plea to second-degree murder for the shooting death of Marlene Warren. Her trial was about to begin when the plea agreement was reached.
Despite her plea of innocence, Keen-Warren was given a 12-year prison sentence. But since her arrest in 2017, she had been detained for seven years, and Florida’s 1990 law gave her a lot of credit for her good behavior. It was anticipated that she would be freed in roughly two years.
In a statement released on Saturday, Palm Beach County State Attorney Dave Aronberg stated, “Sheila Keen-Warren will always be an admitted convicted murderer and will wear that stain for every day for the rest of her life.”.
Keen-Warren’s lawyer, Greg Rosenfeld, has stated that she only accepted the plea agreement because she would be freed in less than two years and would have been given a life sentence if found guilty at trial.
“We are ecstatic that Ms. Keen-Warren is going back to her family after being released from prison. She didn’t commit this crime, as we’ve said from the start,” he said in a text message on Saturday.
Joseph Ahrens, Marlene Warren’s son, and his friends were at home when they reported that a clown-clad individual rang the doorbell. According to him, the clown gave his mother some balloons when she replied. The clown pulled out a gun, shot her in the face, and ran away after she said, “How nice.”.
Investigators from the Palm Beach County sheriff’s office had long suspected Keen-Warren of the murder, but it wasn’t until 27 years later that they said she was linked to the evidence in the getaway car by better DNA testing. According to Rosenfeld, that evidence is weak.
Keen-Warren worked at the used car lot owned by Michael Warren, Marlene Warren’s husband, at the time of the shooting. She has been his wife since 2002, and they eventually relocated to Abington, Virginia, where they operated a restaurant immediately across the Tennessee border.
Then-Sheila Keen and Michael Warren denied having an affair, but witnesses told investigators in 1990 that they were.
Detectives said Sheila Warren was recognized by costume shop staff over the years as the person who purchased a clown suit just days prior to the murder.
Additionally, the silver balloon that said, “You’re the Greatest,” was the only one of the two that was offered for sale at the Publix supermarket close to Keen-Warren’s house. Detectives were informed by staff that an hour prior to the shooting, a woman who appeared to be Keen-Warren had purchased the balloons.
The alleged escape vehicle was discovered abandoned, containing orange fibers that resembled hair. A month prior to the shooting, it was reported that the white Chrysler convertible had been taken from Michael Warren’s parking lot. For him, Keen-Warren and her ex-husband repossessed automobiles.
According to family members who spoke to The Palm Beach Post in 2000, Marlene Warren, 40 at the time of her death, wanted to leave her husband because she believed he was having an affair. She was afraid of what would happen if she did, though, because the car lot and other properties were in her name.
“If anything happens to me, Mike done it,” she allegedly told her mother. He has denied any involvement and has never been charged.
However, Rosenfeld stated last year that the state’s argument was unraveling. According to him, one DNA sample inexplicably displayed both male and female genes, while the other might have originated from one in every twenty women.
Furthermore, the hair might have been deposited prior to the car being reported stolen, even if it did originate from Keen-Warren. Although investigators insisted the car was the killer’s, he said Marlene Warren’s son and another witness also told them it wasn’t.
Last year, Aronberg acknowledged that the case had flaws, citing the fact that important witnesses had died during the three decades it took to bring the case to trial.
Grand theft, racketeering, and odometer tampering were the charges against Michael Warren in 1994. Due to suspicions that he was involved in his wife’s death, his then-attorneys claimed that his nearly four-year prison sentence was an excessively lengthy punishment.
A phone call was left for him on Saturday, but he did not answer.
