Sheila Keen-Warren was arrested in Abingdon, Virginia, on those exact charges: dressing up as a clown, murdering a woman, and then marrying the woman's widower.
It seems that the ridiculous crime stories have once again started leaking out of Florida. A cold case spanning three decades involving an extra-marital affair and a murderous clown may have just been closed after the accused clown killer was arrested in Virginia. The story begins 27 years ago in Palm Beach County, Florida. On May 26, 1990, 40-year-old Marlene Warren was in her home with her son and a few of his friends. That morning, a white Chrysler LeBaron pulled into Warren's parking lot. The door opened, and a clown walked out with a bouquet of flowers and two balloons in hand. When Marlene Warren answered the door and accepted the flowers, the clown pulled out a gun and shot her in the face before fleeing the scene. She died in the hospital two days later.
At the time, the lead suspect in the investigation was a woman named Sheila Keen. However, investigators didn't have enough evidence to pin the murder on her. So, the case went cold.
It took 24 years for the cold case to be re-opened after detectives discovered that Sheila Keen had become Sheila Keen-Warren after she married Marlene Warren's widower, Michael. She had worked at the Warren family's car dealership at the time of the murder and had allegedly been in an affair with Michael Warren. Since the murder, family members have come forward and told reporters that Marlene found out about the affair and threatened to leave her husband, but never followed through for fear he would kill her.
All of the new evidence was presented to a grand jury, which signed off on an arrest warrant. Except, Sheila Keen-Warren was nowhere to be found in Florida. Instead, she was arrested by Washington County Sheriff’s deputies in Abingdon, Virginia, and formally charged with first-degree murder. She was booked into the Washington County Jail awaiting extradition back to Florida.
At this point, authorities have not revealed whether Michael Warren will be charged as well. While the family testimony that Marlene feared her husband would kill her is compelling, it likely will not be enough to bring charges. Expect prosecutors to try to flip Sheila Keen-Warren against her lover-turned-husband.