WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. – Sheila Keen-Warren pleaded guilty to second-degree murder Tuesday, decades after police say she killed her then-lover’s wife while dressed as a clown.
Keen-Warren is accused of fatally shooting Marlene Warren more than 30 years ago, wearing a clown suit and makeup to conceal her identity.
The shooting happened on May 26, 1990.
“Marlene answered the front door and the clown had two balloons, as well as a bouquet of flowers, and went to hand Marlene those items,” Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office Detective Paige McCann said during a September 2017 news conference.
Marlene Warren, who had been eating breakfast with her then-22-year-old son and several of his friends, was surprised and commented, “How nice.”
“It was at that time that the clown pulled out a gun and shot Marlene in the face,” McCann said.
The clown then calmly walked back to the white Chrysler LeBaron in which she had arrived and drove away.
Marlene Warren died at a hospital two days later.
Keen-Warren later married the victim’s husband, Michael Warren, in 2002 and moved with him to Tennessee, where they operated a restaurant.
She had long been considered a suspect in the shooting, but it took investigators 27 years to make an arrest.
She was arrested in Virginia in 2017 when investigators said DNA provided the evidence they needed to arrest her.
Prosecutors have said they will not seek the death penalty.