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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 Marley 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 and 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
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body what did you see on the Clown's face well it was a white face nose orangish
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red hair and it was just a clown suit what does the clown do calmly walks right back to the car like nothing
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happened a person disguised as a clown walked up to marleene Warren's AOC Club home in Wellington and shot her in the
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mouth I was working as a prosecutor here in this office when it happened and it was big news meanwhile at our home
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investigators gather evidence searching for Clues killing with a great costume to conceal one's identity and anybody
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passing by would probably say oh isn't that nice somebody's getting flowers it wouldn't be suspicious and it would
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certainly make for the Perfect Crime marene Warren was someone without any known enemies someone who cared
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deeply about her family and they lived in a home in a pretty secluded part of Palm Beach
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County Michael Warren was married to marleene Warren Michael was a local businessman
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in the car business the Warren's marriage seemed to be an ideal marriage but for the people on the inside that
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knew better Marlene was expressing issues with Michael Warren the people closest to Michael
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Warren that worked with him knew there was something wrong because they were observing Michael Warren's interactions
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with a woman by the name of Sheila ke and the rumors was what about Sheila and Mike well it was more than a rumor
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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 Marlene 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 [Music]
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all [Music] [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
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haunted not just the public but the Palm Beach County state attorney's office despite identifying two suspects the
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case for decades went unsolved Dave aronberg is the current state attorney this was an assassin ation this was not
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a random act of 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 gifts 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 di11
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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 Glo 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 down the clown but he couldn't catch up he is seen here back
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home 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 marene 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 the other had a picture of Snow White and the Seven
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Dwarfs authorities had also spoken with Joe's stepfather Mike Warren who they learned had an alibi he was in a car
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with friends heading to a racetrack when the shooting took place growing up with
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Mike 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
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when my 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 marleene shared that same fear
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with her mother Shirley twing she says if anything happens to me Mike did it we interviewed Shirley in
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2017 when 48 Hours started investigating Marlene's murder that's an ominous thing to say did you
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sense fear in her voice sure yes I did so when Shirley learned her daughter had been murdered her mind went to Mike
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right away I figured that Mike had something to do with it that's for damn sure but Mike had that alibi so
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authorities were looking for someone else and when they visited bargain Motors Mike's place of business one name
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kept popping up that woman with whom Mike was supposedly having an affair everybody at the bargain Motors were
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reporting that you should look first at Sheila Kean Altha McRoberts an assistant State
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Attorney in Palm Beach county has worked on the case from the beginning and within the next day or so tips were
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being called in that you really should investigate Sheila Kean and Michael Warren they were definitely seeing one
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another Dela Ward work did bargain motors with Mike Warren he had a lot of compassion a lot of empathy and people
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just were drawn to him especially women one of those women Dela believed was Sheila Kean I found her very nice very
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bubbly you knew the way she looked at Michael you just you loved them you could see it Sheila who also had a
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reputation for toughness was a repo woman repossessing cars at bar Motors to do repos you have to you have to have
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some kind of guns she told me I keep a gun for my protection cuz people are crazy what they do Sheila told
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investigators she was out working at the time of Marlene's murder she claimed that she was looking for repossession
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vehicles but she was unable to provide any address that she went to so that they could follow up and confirm it as
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for the affair both Sheila and Mike told investigators they were just friends but
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that's not what authorities learned when they talked to Sheila's Neighbors The Neighbors at that apartment complex
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believed that Michael Warren and Sheila Kean were husband and wife is there any doubt in your mind that there was a
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romantic relationship there's no doubt and they didn't hide it an affair though isn't necessarily a motive for murder
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did anyone profit financially from Marlene's death yes so Michael Warren profited largely the properties and
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assets that they own together were in her name so by her predeceasing him he was able to obtain 100% of the
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assets investigators were also trying to locate local stores that had recently sold clown outfits Deborah offord had
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been working at a costume shop when two nights before Marlene's murder a customer knocked at the door at closing
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time she wanted to see the clown costumes I said can you come back tomorrow and she said no I need
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something right now Deborah told investigators the customer paid cash buying a clown suit an orange wig makeup
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and a red clown nose she was I would say about 510 um long thick straight like chocolate color hair big brown eyes
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detectives later presented Deborah with a photo lineup that included a picture of Sheila Kean Deborah identified Kean
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and one other woman as possibly being the person who bought the clown costume the Sheriff's Office also believed they
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located where the shooter bought those flowers and balloons this Supermarket the buyer described as a white female
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with dark brown hair the description of the customer given by the worker at the suit Supermarket brown hair and at the
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costume store brown hair brown eyes was consistent with Sheila Keane 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
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[Music] arrest [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 marleene 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 ated this abandoned white Chrysler learon matching the description Witnesses gave of the
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getaway car what was found inside that Chrysler learon there was synthetic fibers similar type fibers to a clown
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wig they were orange the same color as the wig Joe Aaron says the as salent was wearing also inside the car they found a
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human hair it was brown like Sheila ke's Sheriff's detectives executed a search warrant at the home of Sheila Keen
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inside Sheila keen's closet detectives say they recovered orange fibers that a forensic examination later concluded
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were similar to the ones found in the Chrysler learon and another breakthrough was made when Sheila's hair from her
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apartment was compared to the one recovered from the getaway car that was scientifically microscopically examined
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and found to be consistent consistent with Sheila's hair but DNA technology was still in its infancy in 1990 and
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scientists were unable to make a definitive connection there were other challenges for investigators the gun
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used to kill Marlene and the actual costume the Killer Clown wore were never found and remember Joe thought the
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attacker was a 6 tall man Sheila didn't fit either of those two descriptions we're talking about an event that took
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seconds glances of this clown was a second or two also mcrobert says any eyewitness would have a hard time
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describing someone in a baggy clown costume makeup and a wig it's basically a clown is a clown
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and there was Sheila's alleged affair with Mike Warren those fiber and hair results and those sales clerks at the
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costume and grocery stores whose description of the customer purchasing the clown outfit balloons and flowers
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was consistent with Sheila this sounds like the evidence is really building up like you've got enough there to make an
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arrest what happens well there was certainly argument about that and opinions that differed at the time and
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then there's a an indecision about do I do it now or should we keep trying and get a little bit
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more as investigators looked for more evidence they discovered that Mike Warren's business bargain Motors was
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connected to the suspected getaway car they learned an employee stole the car from a competitor several weeks
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before the murder and that's how they got the chrysal the bearon sheriff's detectives spent about 5 hours Thursday
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night searching the offices of bargain Motors at and as they investigated Mike Warren's business they discovered
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widespread fraud charging him with racketeering insurance fraud and odometer tampering he ultimately was
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convicted on 43 counts of Fraud and sent to prison it was for fraud and so you know you just can't extrapolate one to
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the next I mean there's no evidence that he's a murderer we do have our suspicions though he was not charged
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with any crime in connection with Marlene's murder and Warren felt he was a victim in this case sentiments he
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shared in a radio interview before he went to prison they wanted to put me out of business Warren speculated that
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Marlene might actually have been the victim of an angry tenant or car buyer I really can't think of a reason why uh
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other than the fact of the type of businesses that we're in as far as them landlords and crossing a few people by
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repossessing their car but law enforcement did not think Marlin Warren's murder was the work of a
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disgruntled tenant or customer and as the years passed the case grew cold and as for Sheila Kean she seemed to
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disappear nobody ever brought her name up again you know for many years I was suffering in in in despair after Mike
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Warren went to prison Joe says he and his stepfather became a strange and as he continued to grieve the loss
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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 Kean chat now with the 48
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Hours team on Facebook and X these are paintings that Marlin had painted when she was about 14 years old
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I kind of grin cuz I can almost see her doing this Shirley twing and her daughter Marlene 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 found in
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the learon were able to be Trace to Sheila 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 aair at the time of the murder and then later they got married it did seem like
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mission accomplished that marriage was in 2002 the Warren now middle-aged settled
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into a new life in Tennessee running this burger joint called Purple Cow she took Mike's last name but in an
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interesting twist assistant State Attorney Altha mcrobert says she changed her first name Sheila Keen Warren
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introduced herself to their friends in that life that her name was Debbie she had dyed her hair blonde changed her
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name and was living a full life we would have dinners they were wonderful Cooks the Warren befriended Brook Bev this is
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Mike Warren's house a neighbor at a weekend property the couple purchased in the Virginia mountains when we spoke to
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Brooke in 2018 she said she knew Mike's wife as Debbie and was told it was a childhood nickname her dad nicknamed her
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that when she was small I never called her Sheila I always called her Debbie former Purple Cow employees Ashley
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Sexton and Cynthia Swafford say they knew Debbie as a tough boss I mean she was awful aggressive mean and even heard
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an alarming rumor about her past the rumor around Purple Cow when we worked there was Debbie killed Mike's
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exwife I thought they was blown off steam I was like okay whatever but the rumors said it mourn
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once even to where we knew she dressed up like a clown according to an employee Sheila had
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appeared in clown makeup at the restaurant one year during Halloween by the fall of 2017 the warrant had sold
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the business and retired fulltime to the house in Virginia meanwhile State Attorney
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aronburg felt the case against Sheila had only gotten stronger when you combine the fact that they got married
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and seemingly lived happily ever after with the new DNA breakthrough we're able to get enough evidence to make an
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arrest on September 26th 2017 27 years after Marlene's murder authorities arrested Sheila kein Warren
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driving on a Road near their home she was charged with first-degree murder Sheila did not murder Marlene
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Warren Greg Rosenfeld Sheila keing Warren's defense attorney says Sheila was not the
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shooter everything was so methodical this person walking up to the house committing the shooting and then slowly
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walking away we're dealing with someone who had experience and committing a hit or a
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murder that's not Sheila that is not Sheila shortly after Sheila's arrest Dave aronberg addressed reporters today
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we filed notice in t to seek the death penalty in this case can you say whether Michael Warren is a suspect I can't say
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that Altha McRoberts says there was something Sheila asked as she was being taken into custody that caught
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prosecutors attention one of the first things she said is well are you going to arrest him too pointing to her husband
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which suggests what to you that she knew exactly what she was being arrested for
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and they had done it together Joe had come to the same conclusion that his stepfather and Sheila were both involved
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in his mother's murder would you like to see Mike Warren charged in the murder of
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your mother yes I would with Sheila in custody we wanted to speak with Mike Warren we're going to go to his front
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door give it a knock see if he'll answer a couple of questions [Music] after the arrest of Sheila Warren in
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2017 48 Hours wanted to talk to Mike Warren about what he knew about his wife's murder here he comes
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hey Mike I'm Peter vanent with CBS News he wouldn't open the door but we spoke through it for several minutes competing
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with a barking dog did you have anything to do with planning the murder of your wife
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marleene you did not he was adamant that neither he nor Sheila Keen Warren had anything to do
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with Marlene's murder did you suggest to Sheila that she dress in a clown out saying
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don't thought 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
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enough evidence to prosecute Michael Warren but if evidence emerges we'll pursue
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it as they prepared for trial despite never recovering the clown disguise or the gun prosecutors were confident they
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could prove that Sheila Keen Warren committed the murder so that she could marry Mike Warren Sheila Keen Warren had
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the means the motive and the opportunity to do this we will never know who killed
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Marlene Warren because the Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office and the state attorney's office did such a poor job
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investigating this case I can tell you without question that it was not Sheila Keen Sheila Keen
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Warren's defense attorney Greg Rosenfeld says she's innocent a victim of the state attorney's Reckless desire to
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close a notorious Cold Case and they said you know what this is our suspect we're going to stick with it even though
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the pieces of the puzzle didn't fit the puzzle Rosenfeld says that were other potential suspects authorities ignored
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including an inmate who supposedly bragged in prison about murdering marleene but prosecutors say he was
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investigated and cleared it's not surprising that they would try to point the finger at law enforcement for not
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looking at every potential suspect but if you look at the evidence it pointed to one person all along Sheila Keen
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Warren the state was confident Sheila Keen Warren was responsible for Marlene's murder but Rosenfeld plans to
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poke holes in its case at trial how do you overcome DNA evidence the state attorney's office should be embarrassed
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about the DNA evidence in this case Rosenfeld agrees the hair prosecutors say was found in the learon getaway car
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could be from Sheila Keen Warren but he says it could also be from about 4% of the US Caucasian population
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they couldn't exclude marleene Warren from that hair sample so that was their groundbreaking DNA evidence and if you
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conc that the hair is from Sheila Keen Warren says Rosenfeld there's an innocent explanation as to how it got
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there the labarin was on the lot at bargain Motors where she worked Sheila may have been in the
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car used in this murder that's it the defense attorney says well of course her hair might be in in there it doesn't
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suggest that she was driving at the time of the murder what do you say to that it's just one more link once you put
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that one thing with the totality of all the circumstances then it starts to become
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overwhelming Rosenfeld says the orange fibers found in the car which prosecutors say could be from the clown
00:31:20
costume should also be excluded so the fibers found in the car were synthetic fibers that same type of fiber can be
00:31:32
used in thousands of different products so the state likes to present it as clown wig fibers but that's factually
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incorrect even more troubling than the 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
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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
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zoom in here this bag contains a clown wig investigators purchased similar to the one they believed was worn by the as
00:32:20
salant they used it to compare to the fibers found in the learon and in Sheila's home this is an open evidence
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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 199 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 your 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 coid
00:34:24
so it just was one thing after another Decades of accumulation of files and photographs and mountains of evidence
00:34:32
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 invest instigators called the clown sighting file these were all the tips about
00:35:02
people who alleged to have seen clowns in the area that opens up for you new avenues as to possible suspects right
00:35:10
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 file out of place they
00:35:36
find this clown setting file and there's 35 tips we begin to investigate them now
00:35:42
we're 32 years after the murder you know we couldn't track down these Witnesses I've seen it and it's silly things
00:35:49
clearly clown sightings that had nothing to do with marlein Warren and it wasn't
00:35:54
being intentionally hidden from the defense absolutely not we were meticulous about making sure they had
00:36:00
everything though as the trial neared the Decades of delays were causing problems for the prosecution as well
00:36:09
every day that went by it was a tougher case Witnesses die memories fade evidence spoils one of our key Witnesses
00:36:17
passed away he was the one who compiled the evidence and without him we lost a chain of custody for some crucial
00:36:24
evidence relating to the fibers if I can zoom in here this is an open evidence bag evidence the defense already claimed
00:36:32
had been poorly stored and mishandled contaminated inadmissible unreliable it just goes to show you how poor of an
00:36:41
investigation that was done they were going to be able to argue that because of the opening of the bags that the
00:36:47
evidence was spoiled and because of the break in the chain of custody because of
00:36:51
the death of our Witnesses it shouldn't even be admitted so you had some real potential for reasonable doubt there was
00:36:58
beyond Reasonable Doubt on 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 here in will agree to withdraw her previously in her
00:37:22
plea of not guilty and her plea of guilty Sheila Ken 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 onon about
00:38:23
May the 26 of 1990 the defendant was responsible for the death of Marlene Warren K Warren did you hear all that
00:38:30
yes sir and do you agree with that fual basis yes despite admitting her crime Sheila Keen Warren through her attorney
00:38:38
still maintains she is innocent Sheila did not commit this murder it was very difficult for her to admit to committing
00:38:48
a crime that she did not commit but as a matter of law she has admitted to committing The Murder by saying
00:38:57
yes correct for the purpose of so she is a convicted murderer and so far as the log goes sure but when you're
00:39:08
told you could be home or you know you can play Russian Roulette and risk spending the rest of your life in prison
00:39:14
it's kind of a no-brainer the defense cannot have it both ways so she will be a murderer for every day for the rest of
00:39:21
her life even when she gets out of prison one day she'll still be a convicted murderer when she does get out
00:39:27
of prison she will reunite with her husband Michael Warren Sheila is going home to Tennessee
00:39:35
she's going back to her life Michael Warren in a statement provided to 48 Hours regarding the plea
00:39:43
said my wife did not commit this crime it was difficult to see her plea to a crime she did not commit but it wasn't
00:39:51
worth the gamble when she was offered a deal that'll have her home in 16 to 18 months with this deal there is a chance
00:40:01
that Sheila might get out of prison within the next year or two are you all right with
00:40:09
that well I'm not all right with it but I have to be still Joe arens approved the plea deal feeling it wasn't worth
00:40:19
the gamble of going to trial that was very emotional because that was the end of something so huge That Grew for 33
00:40:28
years of my life finally it's over finally you know it was the demons that once occupied Joe's
00:40:38
mind are gone replaced with loving memories of how his mother Marlene lived rather than how that life was so
00:40:47
violently taken what would you say to your mother if you could speak to her today wow what
00:40:53
can I say to my mother thank you for showing me how to love and be peaceful and thank you for being in my
00:41:02
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00:41:31
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