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[Music] the evil clowns you've seen in the movies well it came to life in this case when your mom was growing up was
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she fascinated with clowns she was she even painted pictures of them my mother Mar Warren was a
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beautiful person she was loving caring [Music] kind on May 26th 1990 a woman answered
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her door in front of her 21-year-old son and saw a clown at the door handing her
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balloons and flowers that was the worst day of my life we were eating breakfast we saw the
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colors of the reflections through the glass looked like a clown costume my mother opened the door and I heard how
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pretty and I heard bang I saw her fall and I ran toward her as the clown was walking away and I
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saw that she'd been shot in the face at that moment I felt my heart my soul just rip out of my body
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what did you see on the Clown's face well it was a white face nose orangish red hair and it was just a clown
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suit what does the clown do calmly walks right back to the car like nothing happened a person disguised as a clown
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walked up to Marlene Warren's AOC Club home in Wellington and shot her in the mouth I was working as a prosecutor here
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in this office when it happened and it was big news meanwhile at our home investigators gather evidence searching
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for Clues killing with a great costume to conceal one's identity and anybody passing by would probably say oh isn't
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that nice somebody's getting flowers it wouldn't be suspicious and it would certainly make for the Perfect
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Crime Marlene Warren was someone without any known enemies someone who cared deeply about her family
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and they lived in a home in a pretty secluded part of Palm Beach County Michael Warren was married to
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Marlene Warren Michael was a local businessman in the car business the Warren's marriage seemed to be an ideal marriage
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but for the people on the inside that knew better Marlene was expressing issues with Michael
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Warren the people closest to Michael Warren that worked with them knew there was something wrong because they were
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observing Michael Warren's interactions with a woman by the name of Sheila ke and the rumors was what about Sheila
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and Mike well it was more than a rumor that Sheila Kean and Michael Warren were having an affair it was not hidden from
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any of the employees in the hours after the murder of marleene Warren the suspects became clear it was Sheila Kean
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and was Michael Warren but Michael Warren had an alibi Michael and Sheila thought that
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they could get away with anything it took over 30 years to make sense of it all [Music]
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[Music] this house was the scene of a bizarre murder that shooter a clown carrying
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flowers and balloons it's easy to see why this case has so much interest who isn't afraid of
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a killer clown the 1990 murder of marleene Warren shot by someone dressed as a clown haunted not just the public
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but the Palm Beach County state attorney's office despite identifying two suspects the case for decades went
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unsolved Dave aronberg is the current state attorney this was an assassin ation this was not a random act of
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violence this was not a robbery the unknowingness of this heinous crime the fear it was
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hell Joe arens was 21 living at home with his stepfather Mike and his mother marleene when she was
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murdered she was a good mother everything she did she took pride in the morning of May 26th 1990 had
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started as a cheerful one Joe recuperating from a broken leg was having breakfast at home with his mom
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and three friends when they saw a clown approaching carrying balloons and flowers and we kind of figured I had
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cast on somebody was sending to heal and for gesture this is like oh what a delightful gift to cheer you up with
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your broken leg right my mother opened the door and then we heard bang and she fell at that point
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we knew something was wrong my mother was struggling to breathe and then I jumped to the phone you know called i11
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right away as the clown slowly and silently walked to a car Joe and some of his friends tried to get a closer look
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at anything that might help describe the disguised attacker the only thing that didn't have any color on it was the
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shoes that were solid black and the white gloves and did you notice anything about the
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Clown's eyes I did that that's the most thing I I saw was the big brown eyes and
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the clown gets in the car what kind of car was it it was a white learon and does the car peel off no just goes into
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gear and drives off like nothing happened while some of Joe's friends remained at his house waiting for EMS
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Joe got into Marlene's car and tried to chase down the clown but he couldn't catch up he is seen here back home
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afterwards where TV news crews were on the scene meanwhile with the clowns balloons and flowers Left Behind
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marleene was rushed to the hospital barely alive where she was put on life support I kept telling her I love her
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and I don't want her to go and Please Don't Leave Me 2 days later with no hope of a recovery life support was removed
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and Marlene died I knew my life was going to change and I knew it was going to become
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hell cuz she wasn't here to help me a top clue the Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office had was Joe's description of the
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clown about 61 tall skinny with orange hair a red nose and a big orange smile and male and those balloons Left Behind
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they now seemed cruy mocking you're the greatest once said the had a picture of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs
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authorities had also spoken with Joe's stepfather Mike Warren who they learned had an alibi he was in a car with
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friends heading to a racetrack when the shooting took place growing up with Mike
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Warren what was that like was he a good dad I thought so that's the only father I knew I mean I was really young when my
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real father and mother separated marleene and Mike were married when joob was just three they had built
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a comfortable life in Wellington Florida an affluence suburb marleene owned several businesses including apartment
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complexes and the couple ran bargain Motors specializing in used cars and rentals while business was good the
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marriage says Joe was troubled he says his mother became convinced Mike was having an affair making her fearful she
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said if anything does happen to me your father did it she said that to you I told her no way he would never do
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anything like that she said don't put it past him Marlene shared that same fear with her mother Shirley twing she says
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if anything happens to me Mike did it we interviewed Shirley in 2017 when 48 Hours started investigating
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Marlene's murder that's an ominous thing to say did you sense fear in her voice sure yes I did
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so when Shirley learned her daughter had been murdered her mind went to Mike right away I figured Mike had something
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to do with it that's for damn sure but Mike had that alibi so authorities were looking for someone else and when they
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visited bargain Motors Mike's place of business one name kept popping up that woman with whom Mike was supposedly
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having an affair everybody at the bargain Motors were reporting that you should look first at Sheila
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Keen Altha McRoberts an assistant State Attorney in Palm Beach county has worked
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on the case from the beginning and within the next day or so tips were being called in that you really should
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investigate Sheila Kean and Michael Warren they were definitely seeing one another Dela Ward worked at bargain
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motors with Mike Warren he had a lot of compassion a lot of empathy and people just were drawn to him especially women
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one of those women Dela believed was Sheila Kean I found her very nice very bubbly you knew the way she looked at
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Michael you just you loved them you could see it Sheila who also had a reputation for toughness was a repo
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woman repossessing cars at bargain Motors to do repos you have to you have to have some kind of guns she told me I
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keep a gun for my protection cuz people are crazy what they do Sheila told investigators she was out working at the
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time of Marlene's murder she claimed that she was looking for repossession vehicles but she was unable to provide
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any address that she went to so that they could follow up and confirm it as for the affair both Sheila and Mike told
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investigators they were just friends but that's not what authorities learned when
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they talked to Sheila's Neighbors The Neighbors at that apartment complex believed that Michael Warren and Sheila
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Keane were husband and wife is there any doubt in your mind that there was a romantic relationship there's no doubt
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and they didn't hide it an affair though isn't necessarily a motive for murder did anyone profit financially from
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Marlene's death yes so Michael Warren profited Lar largely the properties and assets that they own together were in
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her name so by her predeceasing him he was able to obtain 100% of the assets investigators were also trying to
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locate local stores that had recently sold clown outfits Deborah offord had been working at a costume shop when two
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nights before Marlene's murder a customer knocked at the door at closing time she wanted to see the clown
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costumes I said can you come back tomorrow and she said no I need something right now Deborah told
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investigators the customer paid cash buying a clown suit an orange wig makeup and a red clown nose she was I would say
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about 510 um long thick straight like chocolate color hair big brown eyes detectives later presented Deborah with
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a photo lineup that included a picture of Sheila Kean Deborah identified Kean and one other woman as possibly being
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the person who bought the clown costume the Sheriff's Office also belied they located where the shooter bought those
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flowers and balloons this Supermarket the buyer described as a white female with dark brown hair the description of
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the customer given by the worker at the supermarket Market brown hair and at the
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costume store brown hair brown eyes was consistent with Sheila Kean and there was Sheila's reported affair with Mike
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Warren it was intriguing circumstantial evidence but would it be enough to make an arrest
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[Music] [Music] before they turn the machine off on my [Music] mother God I wish you could be here with
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me I told her that I loved her very much and that we were going to get Justice [Music]
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as Joe arens mourned the loss of his mother Marlene investigators continued looking
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for additional evidence tying Sheila Keen to Marlene Warren's murder you talk about this case to anyone and the first
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place people go is yeah it's the mistress so investigators focused on Sheila keen and soon a big break when
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detectives located this abandoned white Chrysler learon matching the description
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Witnesses gave of the getaway car what was found inside that Chrysler learon there was synthetic fibers similar type
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fibers to a clown wig they were orange the same color as the wig Joe Aaron says the as salent was wearing also inside
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the car they found a human hair it was brown like Sheila ke's Sheriff's detectives executed a search
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warrant at the home of Sheila Keen inside Sheila keen's closet detectives say they recovered orange fibers that a
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forensic examination later concluded were similar to the ones found in the Chrysler learon and another breakthrough
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was made when Sheila's hair from her apartment was compared to the one recovered from the getaway car that was
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scientifically microscopically examined and found to be consistent consistent with Sheila's hair but DNA technology
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was still in its infancy in 1990 and scientists were unable to make a definitive connection there were other
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challenges for investigators the gun used to kill Marlene and the actual costume the Killer Clown wore were never
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found and remember Joe thought the attacker was a 6 tall man Sheila didn't fit either of those descriptions
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we're talking about an event that took seconds glances of this clown was a second or two also mcrobert says any
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eyewitness would have a hard time describing someone in a baggy clown costume makeup and a
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wig it's basically a clown is a clown and there was Sheila's alleged affair with Mike waren those fiber and hair
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results and those sales clerks at the costume and grocery stores whose description of the customer purchasing
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the clown outfit balloons and flowers was consistent with Sheila this sounds like the evidence is really building up
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it's like you've got enough there to make an arrest what happens well there were certainly argument about that and
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opinions that differed at the time and then there's a an indecision about do I do it now or should we keep trying and
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get a little bit more as invest tigators looked for more evidence they discovered that Mike
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Warren's business bargain Motors was connected to the suspected getaway car they learned an employee stole the
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car from a competitor several weeks before the murder and that's how they got the chrysal to bearing Sheriff's
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detectives spent about 5 hours Thursday night searching the offices of bargon Motors at and as they investigated Mike
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Warren's business they discovered widespread fr fraud charging him with racketeering insurance fraud and
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odometer tampering he ultimately was convicted on 43 counts of Fraud and sent to prison it was for fraud and so you
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know you just can't extrapolate one to the next I mean there's no evidence that he's a murderer we do have our
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suspicions though he was not charged with any crime in connection with Marlene's murder and Warren felt he was
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a victim in this case sentiments he shared in a radio interview before he went to prison they wanted to put me out
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of business Warren speculated that marleene might actually have been the victim of an angry tenant or car buyer I
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really can't think of a reason why uh other than the fact of the type of businesses that we're in as far as them
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landlords and crossing a few people by repossessing their car but law enforcement did not think
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Marlene Warren's murder was the work of a disgruntled tenant or customer and as the years passed the case grew cold and
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as for Sheila Keen she seemed to disappear nobody ever brought her name up again you know for many years I was
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suffering in in in despair after Mike Warren went to prison Joe says he and his stepfather became estranged and as
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he continued to grieve the loss of his mother he was consumed by her case going unsolved and give me a sense of what
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problems you fell into after your mother's murder ah wow where do we start alcoholism drugs I mean you name it it
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was especially painful says Joe on each passing anniversary of the shooting I would blow up that day and go get drunk
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you know and just go to her grave site it was sad would you go out to her grave to talk to her I did a lot I try to find
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answers you know but I was so confused I was getting nothing I was just lost I miss you I wish you could help me
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through these Hard Times Joe eventually emerged from the fog of drugs and despair with that
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behind him he became increasingly certain of who murdered his mother I concluded that Sheila was the one that
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did it she probably never thought in a million years she'd be held accountable for her crimes she thought she got away
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with it what do you make of the evidence against Sheila Keen chat now with the 48
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Hours team on Facebook and X [Music] these are paintings that Marlin had painted when she was about 14 years old
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I kind of grin CU I can almost see her doing this Shirley twing and her daughter marleene shared a fascination
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with clowns and over here in Shirley's home she even kept a room full of clown art and
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figurines this one says to me things will get better the sad sometimes unsettling
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images brought Comfort to Shirley despite the fact that a clown had so brutally ended her daughter's life I
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don't hate clowns I just hate one although the Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office hadn't given up on
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solving Marlene's murder 27 long years had passed without an arrest then by 2017 a Cold Case unit
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made a breakthrough State Attorney Dave aronberg finally had new important evidence the hairs that were
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found in the learon were able to be Trace to Sheila Keen through DNA technology with that new DNA match
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detectives believed they could now definitively connect Sheila to the alleged getaway car and to marleene
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Warren's murder and when Sheriff's found suspect Sheila ke they were blown away to learn
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whom she had married after Michael Warren got out of prison he reconnected with Sheila Keen here's
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someone whose wife had been murdered and he just married the chief suspect what did that tell you when you combine the
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fact that the two of them were in a fair at the time of the murder and then later
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they got married it did seem like mission accomplished that marriage was in 2002
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the Warren now middle-aged settled into a new life in Tennessee running this joint called Purple Cow she took Mike's
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last name but in an interesting twist assistant State Attorney Altha McRoberts says she changed her first name Sheila
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Keen Warren introduced herself to their friends in that life that her name was Debbie she had dyed her hair blonde
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changed her name and was living a full life we would have dinners they were wonderful Cooks the Warren befriended
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Brook Levens this is Mike Warren's house a neighbor at a weekend property the couple purchased in the Virginia
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mountains when we spoke to Brooke in 2018 she said she knew Mike's wife as Debbie and was told it was a childhood
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nickname her dad nicknamed her that when she was small I never called her Sheila
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I always called her Debbie former Purple Cow employees Ashley sexon and Cynthia Swafford say they knew Debbie as a tough
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boss B I mean she was awful aggressive mean and even heard an alarming rumor about her
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past the rumor around Purple Cow when we worked there was Debbie killed Mike's ex-wife I thought they was blowing off
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steam I was like okay whatever but the rumors said it more than once even to where we knew she
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dressed up like a clown according to an employee Sheila had appeared in clown makeup at the
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restaurant one year during Halloween by the fall of 2017 the warrant had sold the business and retired full-time to
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the house in Virginia meanwhile State Attorney aronburg felt the case against Sheila
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had only gotten stronger when you combine the fact that they got married and seemingly lived happily ever after
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with the new DNA breakthrough we're able to get enough evidence to make an arrest on September 26th
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2017 27 years after Marlene's murder authorities arrested Sheila kin Warren driving on a Road near their
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home she was charged with first-degree murder Sheila did not murder Marlene Warren Greg Rosenfeld Sheila keing
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Warren's defense attorney says Sheila was not not the shooter everything was so methodical this person walking up to
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the house committing the shooting and then slowly walking away we're dealing with someone who had
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experience and committing a hit or a murder that's not Sheila that is not Sheila shortly after Sheila's arrest
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Dave aronberg addressed reporters today we filed notice intent to seek the death
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p in this case can you say whether Michael Warren is a suspect I can't say that Altha McRoberts says there was something
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Sheila asked as she was being taken into custody that caught prosecutor attention
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one of the first thing she said is well are you going to arrest him too pointing
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to her husband which suggests what to you that she knew exactly what she was being arrested for and they had done it
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together Joe had come to the same conclusion that his step father and Sheila were both involved in his
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mother's murder would you like to see Mike Warren charged in the murder of your mother yes I would with Sheila in
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custody we wanted to speak with Mike Warren we're going to go to his front door give it a knock see if he'll answer
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a couple of questions [Music] [Music] after the arrest of Sheila Warren in 2017 48 Hours wanted to talk to Mike
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Warren about what he knew about his wife's murder here he comes hey Mike I'm Peter vanent with CBS News
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he wouldn't open the door but we spoke through it for several minutes competing with a barking dog did you have anything
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to do with planning the murder of your wife Marlene you did not he was adamant that neither he nor
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Sheila Keen Warren had anything to do with Marlene's murder did you suggest to Sheila that she dress in a clown out F
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you're saying I don't think something do you believe based on the evidence over the years that Mike Warren
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knew what was going to happen that day I don't believe there's any direct evidence of that there just wasn't
00:28:20
enough evidence to prosecute Michael Warren but if evidence emerges we'll pursue
00:28:26
it as they prepare prepared for trial despite never recovering the clown disguise or the gun prosecutors were
00:28:34
confident they could prove that Sheila Keen Warren committed the murder so that she could marry Mike Warren Sheila Keen
00:28:42
Warren had the means the motive and the opportunity to do this we will never know who killed
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Marlene Warren because the pal Beach County Sheriff's Office and the state attorney's office did such a poor job
00:28:58
investigating this case I can tell you without question that it was not Sheila Keen Sheila Keen
00:29:06
Warren's defense attorney Greg Rosenfeld says she's innocent a victim of the state attorney's Reckless desire to
00:29:15
close a notorious Cold Case and they said you know what this is our suspect we're going to stick with it even though
00:29:22
the pieces of the puzzle didn't fit the puzzle Rosenfeld says there were other potential suspects authorities ignored
00:29:31
including an inmate who supposedly bragged in prison about murdering marleene but prosecutors say he was
00:29:39
investigated and cleared it's not surprising that they would try to point the finger at law enforcement for not
00:29:47
looking at every potential suspect but if you look at the evidence it pointed to one person all along Sheila Keen
00:29:53
Warren the state was confident Sheila Keen Warren was was responsible for Marlene's murder but Rosenfeld plans to
00:30:02
poke holes in its case at trial how do you overcome DNA evidence the state attorney's office should be embarrassed
00:30:10
about the DNA evidence in this case Rosenfeld agrees the hair prosecutors say was found in the learon getaway car
00:30:18
could be from Sheila Ken Warren but he says it could also be from about 4% of the US Caucasian population they
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couldn't exclude marleene warrren from that hair sample so that was their groundbreaking DNA evidence and if you
00:30:35
can see that the hair is from Sheila Keen Warren says Rosenfeld there's an innocent explanation as to how it got
00:30:42
there the labarin was on the lot at bargain Motors where she worked Sheila may have been in the car used in this
00:30:52
murder that's it the defense attorney says well of course her hair might be in there it doesn't suggest that she was
00:31:00
driving at the time of the murder what do you say to that it's just one more link once you put that one thing with
00:31:07
the totality of all the circumstances then it starts to become overwhelming Rosenfeld says the orange
00:31:16
fibers found in the car which prosecutors say could be from the clown costume should also be excluded so the
00:31:25
fibers found in the car were synthetic fibers that same type of fiber can be used in thousands of different products
00:31:35
so the state likes to present it as clown wig fibers but that's factually incorrect even more troubling than the
00:31:43
evidence gathered says Rosenfeld is how it was handled over the decades what are
00:31:48
we looking at here these are evidence bags at the Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office evidence unit torn open
00:31:58
just gaping holes in these evidence bags if there's gaping holes what can that do
00:32:03
to the evidence inside that's precisely how how you have cross contamination now look at if I can
00:32:12
zoom in here this bag contains a clown wig investigators purchased similar to the one they believed was worn by the as
00:32:21
salent they used it to compare to the fibers found in the learon and in Sheila's home this is an open evidence
00:32:29
bag with the wig sticking out this is horrifying and so your bottom line is is that this evidence is unreliable now
00:32:38
with without question can it not be argued that some of the evidence in this case was indeed bungled you know it's
00:32:46
you're asking a lot of law enforcement to be perfect from 1990 to today some of the evidence was kept in an Evidence
00:32:55
storage area that wasn't ideal any mistake any small opening will be exploited by defense
00:33:06
lawyers prosecutors were still certain they had the right person for Marlene's murder but in February 2020 after a
00:33:14
re-evaluation of Sheila Keen Warren's case they announced they would no longer seek the death penalty were you told by
00:33:22
the prosecutor's office that there was always a chance in a jury trial that she might even be
00:33:30
acquitted yes see more evidence from the case at 48 [Music] hours.com when you think of your mom
00:33:50
today what do you think about what images come to mind well she was robbed and so was I it
00:33:57
is said the wheels of Justice turned slowly and when it came to the murder of marleene Warren that grind often seemed
00:34:05
to come to a halt after the 27-year wait for an arrest Sheila King Warren's trial
00:34:12
kept getting delayed by 2022 she had spent 5 years in jail her trial postponed six times and then we had
00:34:23
covid so it just was one thing after another decade of accumulation of files and photographs and mountains of
00:34:31
evidence and documents defense attorney Greg Rosenfeld was also trying to work his way through all that evidence and he
00:34:40
says adding to the delays was a lack of cooperation from the state evidence kept
00:34:47
I'd say disappearing Rosenfeld says one crucial piece of evidence for the defense that
00:34:54
disappeared for years was what investigators called called the clown sighting file these were all the tips
00:35:01
about people who alleged to have seen clowns in the area that opens up for you new avenues as to possible suspects
00:35:10
right absolutely absolutely I think the Sheriff's Office and the state attorney's office just decided they
00:35:17
didn't want to look for this evidence but then suddenly in October of 2022 as another trial date neared the
00:35:26
file was found it was located not with the Sheila Keen clown murder boxes it was actually a
00:35:34
file out of place they find this clown setting file and there's 35 tips we begin to investigate them now we're 32
00:35:42
years after the murder you know we couldn't track down these Witnesses I've seen it and it's silly things clearly
00:35:50
clown sightings that had nothing to do with Marlin Warren and it wasn't being intentionally hidden from the defense
00:35:57
absolutely not we were meticulous about making sure they had everything though as the trial neared the Decades of
00:36:04
delays were causing problems for the prosecution as well every day that went by it was a tougher case Witnesses die
00:36:13
memories fade evidence spoils one of our key Witnesses passed away he was the one
00:36:19
who compiled the evidence and without him we lost a chain of custody for some crucial evidence relating to the fibers
00:36:26
if I can zoom in here this is an open evidence bag evidence the defense already claimed had been poorly stored
00:36:34
and mishandled contaminated inadmissible unreliable it just goes to show you how
00:36:40
poor of an investigation that was done they were going to be able to argue that because of the opening of the bags that
00:36:47
the evidence was spoiled and because of the break in the chain of custody because of the death of our Witnesses it
00:36:52
shouldn't even be admitted so you had some real potential for Reasonable Doubt there is beyond Reasonable Doubt on
00:37:01
April 25th 2023 2 weeks before Sheila Keen Warren's trial for the murder of Marlene Warren
00:37:08
was to begin there was yet another surprise in a case that had been filled with the
00:37:15
unexpected a plea deal was reached Miss Keen Warren the defendant herein will agree to a draw her previously in her
00:37:22
plea of not guilty and her plea of guilty Sheila Keen Warren whose case at one time included the death penalty then
00:37:30
life in prison would now plead guilty to second degree murder and be sentenced to
00:37:36
12 years in prison under sentencing guidelines for time served she is expected to be released in
00:37:45
2025 perhaps sooner we had to make a judgment based on what we had because the fear is what if you take this to
00:37:52
trial the worst thing that could happen would be that Sheila Keen Warren would be found not guilty not because she was
00:37:59
innocent but because after 33 years we could not prove Beyond a reasonable doubt that she was the one who did it
00:38:07
but Sheila Keen Warren did have to publicly pay a price for this plea deal admitting in open court that she in fact
00:38:17
did murder marleene Warren if this case were to proceed to jury trial the state would present evidence that honor about
00:38:23
May the 26th of 1990 the defendant was responsible for the death of marlin K did you hear all that yes sir and do
00:38:30
you agree with that factual basis yes despite admitting her crime Sheila Keen Warren through her attorney still
00:38:38
maintains she is innocent Sheila did not commit this murder it was very difficult
00:38:46
for her to admit to committing a crime that she did not commit but as a matter of law she has admitted to committing
00:38:55
The Murder by saying yes correct for the purpose of so she is a convicted murderer and so far
00:39:04
as the log goes sure but when you're told you could be home or you know you can play Russian Roulette and risk
00:39:12
spending the rest of your life in prison it's kind of a no-brainer the defense cannot have it both ways so she will be
00:39:19
a murderer for every day for the rest of her life even when she gets out of prison one day she'll still be a
00:39:24
convicted murderer when she does get out of prison she will reunite with her husband
00:39:30
Michael Warren Sheila is going home to Tennessee she's going back to her life Michael Warren in a statement
00:39:40
provided 2 48 Hours regarding the polia said my wife did not commit this crime it was difficult to see her plea to a
00:39:49
crime she did not commit but it wasn't worth the gamble when she was offered a deal that'll have her home in 16 to 18
00:39:58
months with this deal there is a chance that Sheila might get out of prison within the next year or two are you all
00:40:06
right with that well I'm not all right with it but I have to be still Joe arens approved
00:40:16
the plea deal feeling it wasn't worth the gamble of going to trial that was very emotional because that was the end
00:40:24
of something so huge that grew for 33 years of my life finally it's over finally you know it
00:40:35
was the demons that once occupied Joe's mind are gone replaced with loving memories of how his mother Marlene lived
00:40:45
rather than how that life was so violently taken what would you say to your mother
00:40:51
if you could speak to her today wow what can I say to my mother thank you for showing me how to love and and be
00:40:58
peaceful and thank you for being in my life [Music] hurts need more time with 48 Hours go
00:41:23
deep behind every True Crime episode with firsthand accounts from 48 hours inv were you at all prepared for what
00:41:30
happened in this case shock is the word that comes to mind get inside the twists
00:41:34
and turns and get in on the case listen to postmortem from 48 hours now available wherever you get your podcasts
00:41:41
[Music] welcome to 48 Hours postmortem I'm CBS News correspondent and Marie green and
00:42:02
it's time to answer your biggest questions about our latest episode Murder By clown and it's pretty
00:42:09
appropriate it is Halloween there will be plenty of people knocking on your door dressed in costumes some of them
00:42:16
may be clowns trick or treat I know so joining me today our 48 Hours correspondent Peter vanent who you just
00:42:23
heard and producer Ruth tenenet who reported on and produce this episode welcome will you be opening up your
00:42:31
doors and giving out candy This Halloween not to any clowns I I will not but uh we're on the slab ready for the
00:42:38
postmortem so before we get into postmortem I want to ask you guys are you afraid of clowns do you like
00:42:45
clowns I I think it really depends what era you are you know I grew up with like
00:42:51
Bozo and Ronald McDonald and I think younger people it's the Joker uh so there were clowns at birthday parties
00:42:59
when I was a little kid you know circuses I was personally not scared of clowns I noticed you looked at me when
00:43:05
you said both um I grew up in Seattle and the most popular show when I was a kid was
00:43:11
called JP patches it was a clown show so I Loved Clowns but then my my parents took me down to the annual seafare
00:43:18
parade which is a big summer celebration in Seattle and a clown came over to me and I have to admit it freaked me out
00:43:27
right particularly in this case because most of us think you see a clown it's going to be fun and juggling and
00:43:35
happiness and and in this case just the opposite yeah I I really didn't think about whether or not I was afraid of
00:43:41
clowns until I watched this episode so obviously there's a lot to talk about with this case uh it's it took nearly 30
00:43:48
years before we even saw an arrest and it involves a killer clown a clown or or somebody in a clown costume it's pretty
00:43:56
much Unforgettable I want to just take a listen to an overview of this episode the evil clowns you've seen in
00:44:06
the movies well it came to life in this case the 1990 murder of Marlene Warren shot by someone dressed as a clown
00:44:14
haunted the public as well as the Palm Beach County state attorney's office now headed by Dave aronberg as the case went
00:44:22
unsolved for decades the unknowingness of this heinous crime it was hell Joe arens was 21 when on May 26th 1990 he
00:44:34
was at home with his mother marleene Warren when they saw a clown approaching carrying balloons and flowers my mother
00:44:43
opened the door and I heard bang and I saw that she'd been shot in the face what does the clown do calmly
00:44:51
walks right back to the car investigators immediately learned Marlene's husband Michael born was
00:44:57
believed to be having an affair with a woman named Sheila Kean the suspects became clear it was Sheila keen and was
00:45:06
Michael Warren but Michael Warren had an alibi Sheila kean's Alibi could not be verified but despite quickly identifying
00:45:15
a suspect it would take decades to sort out the case and make an arrest and I don't know about you guys
00:45:25
but if if a clown just s showed up at my door I don't think I would open the door
00:45:31
well this one the the the victim son was recovering from a broken leg and they and the clown was carrying balloons and
00:45:41
flowers so they're thinking oh perhaps someone's sending a getw gift isn't this nice and they saw the reflection through
00:45:50
the door they got there and then then things went sour and you got to remember too the time period you know this murder
00:45:58
was back in 1990 and they had all these companies back then that people hired to
00:46:02
come over and sing Happy Birthday and stuff I'm telling you I would have opened that door and remember Marlene's
00:46:09
last words she opens the door and says oh how pretty oh oh my goodness and the description that her son gave was of a
00:46:23
pretty tall man is what he thought well think of someone in a clown outfit if you have a clown wig on and you have
00:46:31
clown makeup it it's in some ways quite a brilliant disguise if you want to commit
00:46:37
a crime really I was also struck by the fact that this victim Loved Clowns and I
00:46:45
I thought was this on purpose Marlene Warren Loved Clowns and that maybe a clown outfit would be a good disguise to
00:46:55
get her to open the door I mean all of these things swirl around and they were swirling around back in
00:47:02
1990 and yet no arrest was made M and it's still to this day just for me just based on my professional experience on
00:47:10
48 hours for several decades I've seen a lot of cases go to court with much less
00:47:16
circumstantial evidence than this one had but back in the day they said we don't got enough yet I want to play some
00:47:24
sound from the episode these are paintings that Marlin had painted when she was about 14 years old
00:47:34
I kind of grin CU I can almost see her doing this Shirley twing and her daughter marleene shared a fascination
00:47:42
with clowns and over here in Shirley's home she even kept a room full of clown art and figurines this one says to me
00:47:52
things will get better the sad sometimes un settling images brought Comfort to Shirley
00:48:00
despite the fact that a clown had so brutally ended her daughter's life yeah and she said she still likes clowns she
00:48:08
said I don't hate clowns I just hate one after that um you've been covering the story since
00:48:18
2017 I'm just curious about sort of how you got onto it and what kept you on it when I first heard that our research
00:48:26
Department was looking into a a a case involving a clown who came to the front door with flowers and balloons this is
00:48:35
an irresistible story because I thought what a brilliant scheme to get someone to open
00:48:42
the door and and then of course you also wanted to know what's the backstory on all of this why a clown why out in this
00:48:50
you know upscale neighborhood in Wellington Florida uh a family that seemed to have have at all right
00:48:58
successful her her husband had bargain Motors a car dealership they owned some real estate Investments so I found the
00:49:07
story irresistible and I I really did believe that if I find it irresistible I figured a lot of other people would too
00:49:14
I mean it's just you can't make this stuff up right that's so true Ruth well I mean we do plenty of spousal stories
00:49:21
but you're going to remember a clown that's people can be like oh have I seen this one about the husband and the wife
00:49:28
or the girlfriend but a clown I mean people just don't think about a clown coming up and doing this and this was a
00:49:35
woman who did not seem to have enemies as they dug deeper there were people saying oh their marriage did have
00:49:44
problems but that was the Inner Circle the vast you know the wider group of people weren't aware of the marriage
00:49:52
having problems but that you know this was a case filled with the unexp that starting with a clown murdering someone
00:50:00
I don't know that I've ever worked on a story where one of the pieces of evidence is a clown sighting file that
00:50:06
the police were collecting like people calling with tips wait because this was this was a huge story you can imagine
00:50:13
especially back then when murder you know murders weren't as common and it's in this wealthy community and it's a
00:50:19
clown and so citizens are calling saying hey I saw a clown by the car dealership I saw a
00:50:26
clown here so you know I can't think of any other story where there was clown sighting file that the police were
00:50:32
keeping right for years and the fact that it had been 30 years meant that you know memories were fading um but
00:50:40
marleene lives lives were ending lives were ending the lead detective died uh uh that makes it very difficult to be
00:50:48
able to put together a coherent case if you're lead investigator who can take you through the entire progression of
00:50:56
this case passes away I mean they had enormous obstacles in this in this case Marlene's son his memory I'm sure was
00:51:05
incredibly still Vivid absolutely Joe arens he breaks my heart I I felt like we had a a great connection all of us on
00:51:15
the team had a great connection with Joe he just has this enormous heart he went
00:51:20
through hell imagine he's he's he's sitting at a breakfast table right and his mom opens the door oh how pretty he
00:51:29
hears this sound I think he thought maybe it was a balloon had got one of the balloons had popped or something and
00:51:36
he goes over there and finds his mother she's been shot in the face with a 38 caliber bullet and she's on the ground
00:51:44
uh struggling to survive struggling to breathe and this poor boy he was 21 years old uh he was learning how to fly
00:51:53
he had dreams of becoming an airline pilot and so he had everything going for him and after his mother's murder uh he
00:52:02
fell into Despair and he fell into which he talks openly about drugs alcohol and
00:52:08
his his life just went completely off the rails and just as the investigation did this journey for three decades he
00:52:15
eventually his journey he got back on the rails and um he ends up being such a powerful voice in the story mhm and he
00:52:23
chased after the clown I was just going to ask you that question CU it was sort of unclear whether or not anyone went
00:52:30
after the clown because the image that I get is this clown walking away very slowly why would the clown having shot
00:52:39
marleene not turn and run to the car right well why because that clown perhaps knew that son Joe had a cast on
00:52:50
he had a broken leg and couldn't run after him to me that was always part of these circumstances like how would this
00:52:57
person have known that marleene was fascinated with clowns H who could have told her that why would the the shooter
00:53:04
turn and walk away if not because that that killer knew the son had a leg in a cast Marlene did not die immediately so
00:53:13
first he would call 911 and he had some friends over and then he got into his mom's car and took off after the clown
00:53:23
but did not get anywhere near couldn't catch up yeah I'm curious about what Marlene's son said about their marriage
00:53:31
maybe it was Rocky but was it violent he he did not think that although he was surprised that one time his uh mom said
00:53:42
if anything should happen to me your father did it and he said oh come on and she was like no I'm serious but he he
00:53:50
really didn't believe it this was a man who raised him from when he was a little
00:53:55
child and really was the only father he knew and so it wasn't that marleene was saying this constantly he wasn't really
00:54:05
noticing bickering he was noticing his father not spending as much time at the house but it wasn't one of these growing
00:54:14
up where my parents are screaming and fighting and throwing things which is why when his mother even said this to
00:54:20
him he was sort of dismissive of oh come on you can't be serious and keep in mind
00:54:26
that Marlene had said that to her mother surely the same thing if something ever
00:54:30
happens to me Mike did it one of the really sort of interesting components of this hour is seeing you
00:54:38
Peter uh stopped and talked to Mike by his home after she was arrest in 2017 for an interview I want to play some of
00:54:46
that sound hey Mike I'm Peter vanent with CBS News he wouldn't open the door but we spoke through it for several
00:54:53
minutes competing with a bar dog did you have anything to do with planning the murder of your wife
00:55:03
marleene you did not he was adamant that neither he nor Sheila Keen Warren had anything to do
00:55:11
with Marlene's murder did you suggest to Sheila that she dress in a clown outfit
00:55:17
you're saying Sheila Sheila who said she did that I don't think she had anything
00:55:23
to do if I thought she had something to do with it I Peter you're sort of known you know in
00:55:29
your episodes for walking right up to someone asking them those direct questions I'm curious about kind of your
00:55:35
approach I mean you must have been shocked that he even came to the door I was surprised that he came to the door
00:55:41
but I was more upset that we had a barking dog in the background and we were we were trapped I mean we had to
00:55:48
get this thing done at that moment and we approached and that dog just barked and barked I prefer to do approaches
00:55:55
when people are in public spaces like a parking lot of a grocery store we' done some staking out back in the day and
00:56:03
some hours hoping that he would come out because that's the best place to capture
00:56:07
someone when they're in their own home you never know if he owns a firearm I'm on his property I just don't like doing
00:56:14
them at people's homes but we ended up knocking on the door and it's it's unsatisfying because you don't get to
00:56:20
look him in the eyes and you don't get to really challenge him but we wanted to at least give him some opportunity and
00:56:27
at least he he denied it and said he had no no role in this but I do want to say
00:56:32
one thing about pet because this is the joke in the office is if Peter shows up at your front door you're in
00:56:39
trouble I'll keep that in mind don't tell Peter where I live were there any questions that you were able to ask him
00:56:47
but you it was sort of unusable for the episode well over the course of seven minutes yeah we you couldn't understand
00:56:54
much of what he had to say but but there there are things that I to this day I'd
00:56:59
love to sit down and and interview him and everyone has to keep in mind Mike Warren has never been charged with a
00:57:05
crime in this case he he never has prosecutors even today and they told us in the interview they believe he was
00:57:12
involved and we're not saying that he did do this we're just saying there are circumstances that we would like to get
00:57:17
clarified with him in the prosecution has said if we get new information you know because there's no statute of
00:57:24
limitation on murder they would move against Mike Warren but they have not been able to clear that hurdle Mike
00:57:30
Warren had an alibi for the time of the murder he was in a car with several friends heading to a racetrack it took
00:57:37
them so long to bring the circumstantial case against Sheila and the the thing we
00:57:43
should point out is by the time Peter went to the door they were married so in the beginning of the story they're
00:57:49
having an affair and that is one of the things that made the case stronger to them is G their Mar but you want to give
00:57:56
give someone a chance to respond because the viewer at home might be wondering G
00:58:04
did he have anything to do with this and at least other than saying prosecution never had a strong enough
00:58:13
case he had an alibi you can hear it from himself and you can tell I'm I'm driven nuts by this case to this day
00:58:21
because it was just 3 hours after the shooting there's an anonymous tip to police look at Mike Warren Sheila Kean
00:58:28
they're having an affair Mike told police that he wasn't having an affair with Sheila and then in 2002 the two of
00:58:35
them get married coincidence and then she changes her first name to Debbie at least socially changes it to Debbie
00:58:43
which she claims as a childhood nickname you look at motive you know if there was a love triangle that's one of
00:58:50
the classic motives for murder financial gain who gained from her death Mike Warren you may have seen the house I
00:58:57
approached him in was a beautiful palacial mansion and then the circumstances of where they went through
00:59:04
their lives you know she was known to carry a 38 caliber gun when she worked as a uh person who had to repossess cars
00:59:12
the victim was shot with a 38 caliber bullet that gun was never recovered and they're they're frustrated as can be the
00:59:19
prosecutors today so when we get back we're going to talk about evidence the clown costume uh hair fibers the getaway
00:59:26
car that made it seem like Sheila was the obvious suspect until it was discovered that some evidence had been
00:59:34
mishandled would that create enough Reasonable Doubt to exonerate her well we're going to get into all of that and
00:59:40
more when we come back so welcome back let us talk about Sheila and the evidence that pointed to
00:59:55
her and involvement in Marlene's murder uh there was evidence that suggested that a female with brown hair uh had
01:00:02
been to a costume store to purchase a clown costume let's play a little clip from the episode where we hear from the
01:00:08
costume store clerk she wanted to see the clown costumes I said can you come back tomorrow and she said no I need
01:00:15
something right now I mean come on I don't think it was end of circus sale days or something I mean why do you
01:00:24
need a clown now right so investigators went looking as opposed to canvasing gun
01:00:33
stores like one dozen of other murder stories they canvased costume stores and said did anyone in these past few days
01:00:42
fitting this description come in and this one store said Yes again it was tough for investigators because Joe aens
01:00:50
and some of his friends who saw the clown gave different descriptions of the costume but if you think about you see a
01:00:55
clown cost costume are you really noticing is it pink is it orange is it diamonds is it circles so instead of a
01:01:03
description of the clown costume it was a description of the customer brown hair
01:01:09
brown eyes and Sheila Keen had brown hair and brown eyes and as you said somebody coming in closing time it's in
01:01:17
a rush they paid by cash so it's not that somebody could go back um and check and that was one of the pieces of
01:01:28
evidence that they they held on to but they never found the original clown wig clown costume they never they never
01:01:36
found that and remember this is back in 1990 today if if this had happened that shop would undoubtedly have a security
01:01:44
camera inside you that's what I was going to ask about I mean it's 1990 but it's not like 1960 I mean you would
01:01:50
think that maybe there would have been something but I guess there wasn't no but there were other things though that
01:01:55
that implicated Sheila the Chrysler learon that the shooter drove off uh was finally discovered and authorities when
01:02:05
they checked the inside of that car they found this synthetic fiber that the clown was
01:02:12
wearing right and then inside Sheila keen's apartment they found another trace of that fiber but but you know
01:02:22
when we talked to the defense attorney they said well that kind of fiber is used in various other things and you
01:02:28
can't say definitively that that was from a clown wig but you know I'm sure anarie at your
01:02:35
apartment like in my house you know we have your house you you have U oh yes these fibers these orange fibers all
01:02:42
over the place all over the place see this is part of what drives me nuts about this case because again it's it's
01:02:49
circumstantial but it's another piece because it's not just about the single fiber it's about all of this stuff that
01:02:55
is so out of the ordinary exactly and there was a brown hair found in the Chrysler laar now
01:03:04
remember Sheila was a repo woman this car came from the car dealership they obviously took a sample of Sheila's hair
01:03:13
and back then they didn't have exacting DNA and it was similar but even if it had been Sheila's hair there was a
01:03:22
possible explanation she was driving you know the car for business and we should
01:03:27
point out Sheila said that she was outw working repossessing cars at the time of
01:03:33
the murder and prosecutors could not verify that and she well you know if you're repossessing cars you're hardly
01:03:41
out knocking on people's door doing it in a very public way but that was when you talk about all the things adding up
01:03:50
yeah and remember too the Chrysler learon was a vehicle that had been reported stolen
01:03:56
and yet her hair fiber is inside that car and if you're plotting a murder and you need a getaway
01:04:06
vehicle do you use a stolen car so that you don't have to use one of your vehicles right the icing on the cake was
01:04:15
when they got married the other part was there was a newly formed coal case unit
01:04:20
and we find that a lot a lot of these cases linger and linger because they're too busy and then a Cold Case case unit
01:04:26
comes in and opens up files and starts looking at things right and a lot of that has to do with the evolution of DNA
01:04:32
evidence that that now people can crack open these evidence files again because the testing is
01:04:40
available except with this evidence file as decades go on there's components of it that people can't find I mean they
01:04:49
they they treated the evidence badly it's it's terrible it it is it do do this create Reasonable Doubt as the to
01:04:58
the reliability of their DNA evidence you know it was 27 years later they felt they had this match and they thought oh
01:05:06
boy we we really now have got Sheila but then they discover uh how this evidence
01:05:13
had been kept and some of these bags had actually torn open or exposed it was terrible Peter let's play some of that
01:05:20
sound what are we looking at here these are evidence bags at the Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office evidence unit
01:05:29
torn open just gaping holes in these evidence bags if there's gaping holes what can
01:05:36
that do to the evidence inside that's precisely how how you have cross-contamination so I have sort of a
01:05:44
two-fold question for you guys Ruth you know what is the risk of presenting evidence like this but I also want to
01:05:51
know I mean how often do you see cases like this where the evidence is treated in such a sort of cavalier
01:05:57
manner I think this one was particularly and they say Peter asked the the state attorney said Gee you know you're asking
01:06:06
a lot of police to be perfect and locations move and evidence rooms move yes yes is that too much to ask but it
01:06:17
all it takes is one juror and I'm sure you know the defense attorney would have H you know held up the bag and said look
01:06:26
if this is how they handled this how can you trust anything in this case yeah so
01:06:30
you just need one juror to say gee that's a good point and remember remember jurors look for what they call
01:06:38
a CSI moment in any case yeah and at one point uh they had a CSI moment but now with these torn bags I swear I think I
01:06:48
could have on Cross undermine the reliability of that evidence they were in a terrible bind there and so that's
01:06:56
when I think the prosecution team said we are in deep doodo and let's get a a plea deal but I think also the
01:07:05
prosecution they they still were steadfast in they had the right person it was whether they could prove it
01:07:12
Beyond A Reasonable Doubt and they didn't want to roll roll the dice and it was important to them that she plead
01:07:22
guilty let's talk about this plea deal Sheila takes the plea deal which means that she changed her not- guilty plea to
01:07:29
a guilty one but Peter I was particularly struck by your exchange with the defense attorney I want to play
01:07:35
some of that Sheila did not commit this murder it was very difficult for her to admit to committing a crime that she did
01:07:44
not commit but as a matter of law she has admitted to committing The Murder by saying yes correct for the purpose of so
01:07:54
she is convicted murderer and so far as the log go sure but when you're told you can be home or you know you can play
01:08:06
Russian Roulette and risk spending the rest of your life in prison it's kind of a
01:08:11
no-brainer I don't know is it a no-brainer I mean we talked about the fact that we're dealing with a lot of
01:08:16
circumstantial evidence that the evidence that had been retained the there were problems with the way it was
01:08:22
preserved or not preserved it's 30 years later people have crappy memories or are
01:08:28
not around anymore I don't know if it's quite a no-brainer to admit to killing someone all right and if you are
01:08:36
innocent would you ever admit to a murder you did not commit and all of the ramifications that will have for you the
01:08:45
rest of your life um I understand what the defense attorney was saying his argument and I'm sure he talked to his
01:08:52
client with that but my point in driving that home and the point that for Joe arens has given him some peace is that
01:09:01
she admitted in open court that she had committed the murder and it ties all of these
01:09:07
circumstantial pieces together and for Joe it does make that puzzle fit and so he has that satisfaction and he went out
01:09:16
to his mom's grave and he said we did it you know we finally got Justice even though she's only going to be uh in
01:09:23
prison and this is still in dispute she may be getting out as early as 2025 or it could be sooner she was
01:09:31
sentenced to 12 years but it's something called gain time it's a formula for time
01:09:37
served so while it's a 12year sentence every month she's there she gets time taken off so it's 2025 perhaps sooner
01:09:47
and we did get a statement from Mike Warren about this where he said regarding the
01:09:54
plea my wife did not commit this crime it's difficult to see her plea to a crime she did not commit but it was not
01:10:01
worth the gamble when she was offered a deal that will have her home in 16 to 18
01:10:05
months I got to tell you I didn't know how I felt about the way this ended because usually when you have a case
01:10:12
that sort of drags on for decades there's some satisfaction when you know the guilty
01:10:20
party has to pay the price where there's Justice and even though she agreed to this plea deal somehow it didn't feel as
01:10:31
satisfying it's just a bizarre it's a bizarre ending the circle hasn't been closed in this case that's
01:10:38
it for this week's postmortem Peter Ruth thank you so much for joining me thank you for letting us tell the story it's
01:10:46
been great anarie it has been great listen everyone be sure to join us next Tuesday for another postmortem watch 48
01:10:54
hours Saturdays at 109 Central on CBS and streaming on Paramount plus and be sure to follow 48 Hours wherever you get
01:11:02
your podcast you can also listen ad free on the Amazon music or wry app [Music]