Married to Evil S02E03 Deadly Delivery
A successful Florida family has their American dream shattered when a mysterious figure dressed as a clown shoots a loving mother on her doorstep; the case goes cold for decades until an unexpected break helps bring the killer clown to justice.
Category
📚
LearningTranscript
00:00Marlene Warren died after being shot in the face by a clown.
00:10Killer clowns are something you see in horror movies, not in real life.
00:15Not one thing was clear. It was all a mystery.
00:20It was such a bizarre case that did grab everyone's attention, locally, nationally, internationally.
00:27When someone gets murdered, you immediately look to a spouse.
00:32Police still haven't found that piece of the puzzle.
00:35This case grew colder by the day.
00:38And just like that, they hit a wall.
00:42They're never going to find out who did this.
00:47In 2014, new DNA technology came back with a hit.
00:52This was the news that people had been waiting for for years.
00:55This is still all about Marlene Warren. We want to do justice for her.
01:00I saw the eyes and the eyes don't lie.
01:03As far back as I can remember, my brother John, my real father and my real mother Marlene, we lived in Michigan.
01:27I was about three, four years old.
01:31My father went to war. He came back and he just wasn't right.
01:37He couldn't get his life back to normal.
01:42He was drinking, you know, doing all kinds of things that you're not supposed to do around kids.
01:47So my mom, Marlene, decided to leave my father and move to Florida.
01:57It had to be tough on her.
01:59She was making this big decision to be a single parent with two young boys.
02:05You know, she wanted us to grow up proper.
02:09And she was dedicated to us.
02:16She was a beautiful woman. She was inside and out.
02:20I mean, I can't say enough about her.
02:22She, you know, she was always loving and caring.
02:27She was inspiring.
02:35Months passed and she met Mike Horn.
02:40You know, and he seemed like a nice guy.
02:45He was charming. He was flattering. He said the right things at the right time.
02:50He'd go out of his way to do something, you know, for someone.
02:56He seemed real nice. He seemed real knowledgeable.
03:01You know, just a nice guy.
03:15So they got married.
03:20My mom was content.
03:23We were striving as a family.
03:25Things were going pretty good. I mean, life was good.
03:34Marlene was a great mom who took pride in everything that she did.
03:38And I think that was exemplified by the life that she lived.
03:41She was successful.
03:44Marlene owned properties. She was essentially a landlord.
03:49And her husband, Mike, repossessed cars.
03:54They were a busy family.
03:56From the outside, it looked like success.
04:10Mike bought a piece of property out in the Aero Club in Wellington because he was flying airplanes.
04:22People who lived there parked their airplanes in the backyard.
04:26We're talking about wealthy people.
04:30You'd be lucky to live here.
04:32The American dream.
04:37Wellington has this name for excellence, perfection.
04:42And it held its name for being a nice area to grow up in.
04:49It was something out of a fairytale book.
04:52Everything was just immaculate.
05:01I can remember that day. It was around lunchtime.
05:05I was at work.
05:07My boss told me to go home.
05:15As soon as my mother saw me, she started crying and said,
05:20your brother's dead. He died in a car accident.
05:25I don't know how to tell you. I'm just going to tell you.
05:28And you know, I just, I lost all energy in my body.
05:35I just went limp.
05:44You know, I, I just was in disbelief.
05:53We were just devastated.
06:04After my brother's death, my mom, she started reaching out,
06:09needing Mike more and asking for him to be around.
06:16And he was not around when he was asked to be around.
06:23She asked him to hire someone and to do what he needs to do to be home.
06:30And six months later, it didn't happen.
06:34Nothing changed. He wasn't home.
06:36The same old stuff, just different day.
06:41Eventually she started catching on that something was wrong.
06:51He'd come up with excuses. I have to go do this. I have to do that.
06:55I have to repo cars. He had an excuse for everything as well.
07:00An excuse, not an answer.
07:20I remember that morning.
07:25My door opened up and I saw Mike's face look in.
07:31Nothing was said.
07:35He shut the door and left.
07:42I had some friends over my house and somewhere around 10 o'clock or so,
07:47we were eating our breakfast.
07:52And my friend Gene says, somebody's at the front door.
08:01We all look and we can see the colors through the door.
08:06Looked like a person who had some flowers.
08:12Gene was going to go answer the door. My mom said, no, sit down.
08:17Finish your breakfast. I'll go get the door.
08:22My mom went and answered the door.
08:28And we heard, oh, how pretty.
08:34And then.
08:41I saw my mom fall to the ground.
08:48I looked down and saw that something was desperately wrong.
09:01I jumped up. I went to the front door.
09:05I looked out.
09:11And then I saw a clown.
09:14I was, I was shocked.
09:17There was makeup on and it was colorful costume.
09:23I know I needed to identify this person somehow.
09:31But it was, it was impossible.
09:37I mean, the only thing I saw visible was the eyes.
09:42I saw big brown eyes.
09:45I couldn't say if it was a male or female.
09:50What really stuck out to me was the boots and the orange wig.
09:58I mean, I was trying to see whatever I could possibly see.
10:08Joey Aarons and his girlfriend made their way to a car to be able to try to chase the clown.
10:16The perpetrator drove off in a white LeBaron.
10:22I was so reckless.
10:25I could have killed us and someone else trying to get this car down.
10:30I never driven like that before in my life.
10:35Just running red lights, just whatever I had to do to try to catch up to this car.
10:40I drove all through Wellington.
10:47I finally got to the point that we're not going to get this car.
10:51It's gone.
10:57I was the copy editor at the Palm Beach Post.
11:02When the call came through that there was a shooting at a house in Wellington and everyone rushed to the house.
11:14In the meantime, there were a couple neighbors who had heard gunshots.
11:20One was a doctor and he and his neighbor rushed over and started treating Marlene.
11:34I went back home and my mom was already in the ambulance.
11:39They told me they had her secure.
11:43She was OK.
11:49Detectives were there roaming through the house, a cop in every corner in every room.
11:56Police took photographs of everything.
12:01The bloodstain in the entryway.
12:04The flowers that were still left behind, the balloons that were still left behind.
12:10Kind of right next to this pool of blood, very eerie, very sinister.
12:21They individually interviewed the kids in the house and each of their descriptions varied slightly.
12:31Most of them described that it was a white face clown with a red nose.
12:35So you had limited bits and pieces.
12:41Usually you have a description of a male female.
12:44Here was a clown who had dark eyes.
12:48And that's about it.
12:53It's just so frustrating to not be able to give them any answers to go on.
12:59Looking back at it, not one thing was clear.
13:06It was all a mystery.
13:14Breaking news, someone dressed as a clown shot a Wellington mother as she simply answered her front door.
13:21When this happened, it shocked the entire community.
13:25And the search was on for this mysterious evil clown.
13:31It was such a bizarre case that did grab everyone's attention locally, nationally, internationally.
13:37That shooter, a clown carrying flowers and balloons.
13:41Marlee Warren had just entered the door, greeted by a clown.
13:45And the whole specter of this person being dressed like a clown added this media frenzy about it.
13:53Someone dressed as a clown came to the door with two balloons and a basket of flowers.
13:58Clowns became very scary for people.
14:04There is something creepy about clowns.
14:07It was frightening.
14:10Florida is known for kind of crazy crimes.
14:13And even by Florida standards, this one just blows it out of the water.
14:19Killer clowns are something you see on TV and in horror movies.
14:24Not in real life.
14:37She was on a respirator, a breathing machine.
14:42I stayed with her and I didn't get any response.
14:45No movement, no eye movement.
14:48Nothing.
14:50I just prayed and told her not to leave me.
14:55I needed her.
14:57In the emergency room, Marlee Warren struggled to stay alive.
15:02The bullet had entered her mouth and traveled back to the spine.
15:07And it actually damaged her spinal cord and her ability to breathe on her own.
15:15The first day was still a lot of hope.
15:19The second day, there was a lot of hope.
15:22But it started fading.
15:24On the third day, my grandmother said that, you know, we're going to have to let her go.
15:31That was pretty hard.
15:33That was really hard.
15:35I could feel it in my heart and my soul just get ripped out of me.
15:39You know, when I looked down at her and I knew, my whole heart and my soul just, it left me.
15:52Marlee suffered a gunshot wound to the head.
15:55And when she passed, the investigation changed from an attempted murder investigation to murder.
16:03Marlee Warren died after being shot in the face by a clown who came to her door bearing flowers and balloons.
16:15The detectives did ask Michael Warren if he had any ideas about who would have done this, what motive they might have had.
16:22Michael, who apparently was rattled, told police that the person who committed this could have been perhaps a disgruntled tenant because Marlee was a landlord.
16:34When the detectives spoke to all the people that knew Marlee Warren, to a man, to a person,
16:42everyone said nothing but the most glowing things about her.
16:45We met tenants in the apartments that she managed, who described her as a woman.
16:49We met tenants in the apartments that she managed, who described her as more than a landlord, but a member of their families.
16:55They couldn't find anybody that didn't like her or had any disagreement with her.
17:01So it pretty quickly became apparent that the only person that really had a motive was Michael Warren.
17:11I think that people who were close to Marlene believed that Michael was having an affair, cheating on Marlene with one of his employees.
17:19The potential for a divorce would have been a devastating one financially for Michael.
17:24If Marlene had decided to leave that marriage because of what he was doing, she would have gotten the money.
17:30She would have gotten the properties because they were in her name.
17:34You're listening to Mike Miller on WTNH.
17:40We're talking about the death of Marlene Warren, the 26th of 1990.
17:44Somebody shot her wearing a clown outfit and left the home.
17:47Michael Warren with us.
17:48Mr. Warren, do you know anything about the shooting of your wife?
17:54I do not know any more than what my son has told me at the time.
18:01Do you suspect anyone in particular as being the person dressed in the clown that day who came to the house and killed your wife?
18:08No, I really don't.
18:11It's been a tragic thing and it's been like living in hell.
18:15The investigators of this case have made no secret whatsoever in if not formal allegations,
18:24certainly insinuations that Michael Warren was involved in the murder of his wife.
18:30Well, I believe that if the sheriff's department can make accusations and comments without any proof or anything to back it up
18:40and bring me to trial by the media, I feel like I should say something that at least fights back.
18:50Even though the motive for the killing seemed to be coming into view, there was nothing to tie Michael Warren directly to it.
19:03In law enforcement, when someone gets murdered, you immediately look to a spouse.
19:09But here you had Michael who wasn't anywhere near the house at the time of the shooting.
19:16In fact, he was in a car with his friends on the way to a horse track.
19:23So he had an airtight alibi.
19:30Soon after Marlene was shot, the police received a tip.
19:34I'm afraid to say this.
19:37A caller who said, check on Sheila Keen.
19:45Sheila Keen was a girl from the Glades. A lot of people knew her.
19:49She was a girl with long brown hair, these deep chocolate eyes.
19:54She worked with a lot of people.
19:56Sheila Keen was a girl from the Glades. A lot of people knew her.
20:00She was a girl with long brown hair, these deep chocolate eyes.
20:05She worked with Michael repossessing cars.
20:08They were close. They did business together.
20:11And as time went on, their co-workers said that they were very affectionate with one another.
20:17It became pretty apparent very quickly that Sheila Keen was very much involved with Michael Warren and it was more than business.
20:27TITLE CARD
20:34Even by Florida standards, this case is bizarre.
20:45You have essentially the execution of a mother.
20:50Not someone with mafia ties. Not a woman with enemies.
20:53Killed by a clown.
20:59Although it was obvious to everyone that Michael was cheating on Marlene behind her back with Sheila Keen,
21:06there was no evidence that Michael participated in the murder.
21:10So police were focused now on Sheila Keen.
21:15They had the flowers and the balloons.
21:17And they went back and searched every local flower store to find out who sold these flowers and who sold the balloon.
21:29Pretty quickly, detectives were able to locate a nearby Publix that in fact sold that very style of an arrangement.
21:41When police went to the Publix, the employees who sold those balloons said that they remembered a tall woman with long brown hair buying them.
21:52They next then were able to locate a nearby costume shop that was called Capizio.
22:00So they were able to speak to a couple of the ladies that worked at Spotlight Capizio
22:06who reported that on Thursday night, the 24th of May, that a female had come to the door after they were closed
22:16and was insistently knocking on the door to get them to open up.
22:23They let her in. They described this woman as having long brown hair, brown eyes, kind of a mannish sort of mannerisms.
22:32This was two days before the murder.
22:34And while inside, this woman asked for a clown costume, an extra white makeup, but was not interested in buying shoes.
22:44The clown who showed up at Marlene's door and pulled the trigger wasn't wearing clown shoes either.
22:50Joe and his friends said that the clown was wearing combat boots.
22:54So detectives recognized immediately that Sheila Keen matched the description both of the ladies at the Publix and the ladies at Spotlight Capizio.
23:07Police tell the employees to look through a police lineup for the person they sold that costume to, and Sheila's photo is in there.
23:15Neither is 100% sure that that's the woman who bought the costume.
23:23Within about a week or two of the shooting, a white Chrysler LeBaron was reported to be abandoned in a nearby shopping center.
23:40So deputies responded, and when they find this white Chrysler LeBaron, which has the VIN number of a car, that had been reported stolen.
23:51Not only was it stolen, it was stolen by Michael Warren's car lot.
23:59Michael owned a company called A Bargain Motors, and their advertisements looked like a competitor car rental company called Payless.
24:09The clown drove away in a white Chrysler LeBaron.
24:13It was one that a couple had dropped off at A Bargain Motors, mistakenly believing that they were at Payless.
24:19Instead of correcting the problem and returning the car to Payless, Michael and his employees kept it.
24:31They processed the car.
24:35There was a Publix plastic bag in the car and some fibers.
24:43There are these reddish orange fibers consistent with what you might find in a clown wig.
24:51They also find long brown hair.
24:54Technology was not what it is today, and they weren't able to forensically analyze it.
25:00The car itself didn't really lend evidentiary value except for the connection to Bargain Motors and Michael Warren.
25:10Sheila Keen was a repo agent for Michael Warren. She was at the car lot a whole lot.
25:19They brought Sheila Keen in for interviewing and asked her, where were you on May 26th?
25:27You remember that far back Saturday morning, where you were or what you were doing?
25:32I got dressed and went to Waymo.
25:36What time was it when you left your house to sleep?
25:39I don't know. I'd say somewhere, you know, 10, 10.30, 11 o'clock, something like that.
25:46Did you find that car?
25:47No.
25:48Did you talk to anybody about it?
25:49No.
25:50Did you find that car?
25:51No.
25:52Did you talk to anybody down there?
25:53No.
25:54You drove a boat?
25:55Yes.
25:56What kind of car were you looking for in Boynton?
25:58Oh, God.
26:01I don't know. I think it was a Datsun, a Nissan, a Toyota, something like that.
26:07Do you know the location of which street in Boynton?
26:10I think it's north, north something, 13th or 14th, I don't know.
26:16She told police that at the time of the shooting, she was out repossessing cars,
26:20but she couldn't really give any kind of definitive address.
26:24She was unable to provide them with a single person that she spoke to.
26:29You couldn't have been driven by this passion, because of this relationship that you and I have?
26:38There is no relationship. There is no passion.
26:42There is no relationship. There is no passion.
26:46She adamantly denied being in a romantic relationship with Michael Warren.
26:52What would happen if that was your car?
26:55I don't know how I got there, because I wasn't in the car.
26:59She claimed that her hair in the car could have come from anybody.
27:03We're getting nowhere, because I'm telling you, I didn't do it.
27:06I didn't do it. So whoever wants you to think that I did it, you need to find me that person.
27:14She denied killing Marlene, and police didn't have anything that could prove otherwise at that time.
27:22Law enforcement searched Sheila's home, and found multiple pairs of combat boots.
27:31Did not find a clown costume there, but did find a lot of white makeup, the kind that you use for a clown costume.
27:40But she denied everything.
27:42You have these pictures of her.
27:44The kind that you use for a clown costume.
27:47But she denied everything.
27:50You have these clown wig fibers in this stolen car.
27:54You have long brown hair in the back of the car.
27:57You have a description of a woman with long brown hair going to buy a clown costume the day before the murder.
28:03You have a woman with long brown hair buying balloons and flowers that end up being found next to Marlene's body.
28:12You have all of these pieces starting to link together, but we don't have enough evidence to arrest.
28:18And just like that, they hit a wall.
28:24They couldn't move forward. They couldn't conclusively link Sheila to the murder.
28:32I remember after they questioned her, she left town.
28:37She was gone.
28:39And I'm going, oh my goodness.
28:42Sheila Keene thought she got away with it, but although the case went cold, didn't mean it was over.
28:48This is still all about Marlene Warren.
28:51We want to do justice for her.
28:53So as the homicide investigation continued, Michael Warren and Sheila Keene, as individuals, became in the background.
29:03Nobody really knew where they were or cared where they were or followed up on them.
29:11The case started to go cold.
29:14You had a circumstantial case.
29:17The case started to go cold.
29:20You had a circumstantial case without a lot of direct evidence.
29:25There wasn't enough for prosecutors and police to decide to make a charge.
29:30And so this case grew colder by the day.
29:36I had to say to myself, they're never going to find out who did this.
29:43My thought of the whole thing was, I got to let this go.
29:48It's killing me.
29:50It's ruining my life.
29:52It's ruining my life.
30:11One of the reporters at the Palm Beach Post was revisiting the case.
30:17One of our brilliant researchers went, oh, they're married.
30:26Michael Warren and Sheila Keene had gotten married.
30:29And that started a whole new interest of, uh-huh.
30:38They moved to Virginia.
30:40Sheila changes her name to Debbie, dyed her hair blonde.
30:43She changes her name to Debbie, dyed her hair blonde.
30:46They open a fast food restaurant, have a happy life for years.
30:55They would invite their neighbors over for dinner and have dinner parties.
30:59And they were likable.
31:01They were a couple who seemed good and normal.
31:05Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office got a grant to re-examine old cases.
31:10And they chose this clown murder case.
31:13I think the reason they did might have been because of its allure and just how sensational it was.
31:19Marlene Warren died after being shot in the face by a clown.
31:23That shooter, a clown, carrying flowers and balloons.
31:27Marlene Warren had just entered her door, greeted by a clown.
31:30It was a huge murder.
31:32It was a shocking murder.
31:37I don't think it ever went out of the minds of law enforcement.
31:50And then I think the learning that they were married compelled them even more.
31:56I found out that they opened up the case again.
32:01I mean, I was crying.
32:03But happy tears.
32:05I've never had that feeling before.
32:08You know, it was really wild.
32:15A new detective took over the case.
32:18And he found out that Marlene Warren was actually married.
32:22A new detective took over the case.
32:25And she started to go through these decades old bags of evidence.
32:29And she found among them a 6 to 8 inch fiber attached to one of the balloons left at the scene of Marlene's murder.
32:40And she got it analyzed.
32:45And that fiber matched the fiber found in the getaway car.
32:49And it also matched fiber found in Sheila's house.
32:53So here's the first definite connection putting Sheila at the scene.
33:01Back in 1990, they didn't have DNA technology like we have today.
33:07In 2014, new DNA technology came back with a hit from the strand of hair that was in the car.
33:13It showed that the DNA in the car matched the mixture of Sheila Keene Warren and another person.
33:21It was a wow moment.
33:25Finally, police had a scientific connection between the hair and Sheila Keene.
33:43There was a meeting with the state attorney's office.
33:47And the decision was made to make the arrest of Sheila Keene for the murder of Marlene Warren.
33:53We were determined to do justice.
33:56We wanted her to be held accountable for her evil actions.
34:00She was the evil clown.
34:02And her day was coming.
34:03Breaking news. New documents shed light on a clown killer mystery and how investigators tracked down the suspect hundreds of miles away.
34:18This was the news that people had been waiting for for years.
34:21And the announcement of her arrest just reignited that sensation and this whole entire story.
34:34They were watching them at their home in Virginia and they wanted to make the arrest away from the house.
34:43So we worked with law enforcement to set up a checkpoint.
34:50And when she was driving, they pulled her over.
34:59And told her she was under arrest.
35:04Sheila Keene didn't say, what am I getting arrested for?
35:09She only had one question for law enforcement.
35:12If her husband was going to be arrested too.
35:18Once Sheila Keene Warren was arrested, she was brought back to Palm Beach County to face justice.
35:25After 27 years, the Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office says it has cracked the Wellington Killer Clown Cold Case.
35:32Last night in Virginia, detectives arrested Sheila Keene Warren, who was the victim's husband's mistress.
35:39I saw a bunch of pictures of her.
35:42That picture were the same eyes as the day that she killed my mother.
35:50Those eyes when she got arrested were all beady and looking exactly like that day.
35:59You know, I saw the eyes and the eyes don't lie.
36:11I asked if you'd answer some questions that really weren't ever answered back then.
36:16I didn't do it, so that's the end of the story. I'm not talking to you.
36:20You don't want to talk, you don't want to give your side of the story as to what happened.
36:25Of course, in Sheila's interview, she continued to deny everything about the homicide of Marlene Warren and any involvement at all in her death.
36:35Okay. You're charged with the first degree murder, okay, of Marlene Warren.
36:40So it's a huge deal. Sheila is facing the death penalty.
36:50Even with all of this excitement and the momentum of her arrest, things slow way down very quickly.
37:00The Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office Evidence Room was open.
37:03We were looking at a box full of evidence that wasn't in really good shape.
37:09I'm thinking, oh god, if I was the other lawyer, how to eat this case apart.
37:13bags of evidence, including those taken from the crime scene
37:16in the clown murder, were left open, just wide open.
37:21We were looking at a box full of evidence
37:25that wasn't in really good shape.
37:27I'm thinking, oh, God, if I was the other lawyer,
37:30I'd eat this case apart.
37:32You know, so many things were going through my head,
37:36you know, that she could just walk.
37:39And then in the midst of that, the COVID pandemic hit,
37:42and our courthouse basically shut down for over two years.
37:46And during that time, we lost a key witness who passed.
37:56Each day that passes, evidence is getting weaker.
38:01You've got fewer and fewer witnesses.
38:04Sheila had a robust team of defense attorneys
38:07who did everything they could to poke holes
38:09in the prosecutor's case.
38:11The discussion started coming together
38:15about what's our realistic expectation
38:18of what we can get out of this crime at this time.
38:22Prosecutors decided not to pursue the death penalty.
38:26She could be sentenced to life in prison, but not executed.
38:30It got so close to trial that Dave Ehrenberg,
38:34the state attorney, was on TV saying,
38:37this trial is coming in two weeks,
38:39and we are so confident that she's going to be convicted.
38:43I had to get to the point and tell myself,
38:47no matter how this ends, I have to be good with it.
38:53If she walks and doesn't get anything,
38:56I've got to be good with it.
39:01Finally, the trial is just around the corner,
39:05and we get a tip that Sheila is about to plead guilty
39:09in less than an hour.
39:13No one expected it.
39:14I go to the courthouse because we've gotten this tip.
39:23The state offered her a pretty remarkable plea deal.
39:28She pleads guilty to second-degree murder
39:30in exchange for a 12-year prison sentence.
39:35Which was just a huge shock.
39:40I would never have entered into this plea agreement
39:43unless Joey approved it.
39:45The victim is really important to us,
39:47and Joe said that he was ready to move on
39:50and have some measure of closure.
39:53I couldn't deny it. I wanted a conviction.
39:56And so did they.
39:58If she was going to do 12 years, let's do the 12 years.
40:01She'll pay, one way or another.
40:04She'll get what's coming to her.
40:09The whole time Sheila Keene Warren was behind bars,
40:11she never let on that she was the clown killer.
40:17Michael Warren was in the car
40:19with a perfect alibi while this occurred.
40:22There was no evidence that Michael participated
40:25in the murder of his wife.
40:28So we do not have enough to charge him.
40:31And if that changes, we'll be ready.
40:40Everybody loved my mom. Nobody disliked her.
40:44She was always honest, caring,
40:47discerning to everyone that wanted to help themselves.
40:52She was very alive, you know.
40:54She would always laugh,
40:56and she would see the good in everything.
41:00She taught me how to do that, and that was a blessing.
41:14He seemed very happy, very connected.
41:16Because of the alcohol, he'd been acting strange.
41:19Chris's drinking was pretty out of control.
41:22The search took us to this concrete tomb.
41:25You wouldn't have known there was a body there.