CAUGHT!
COPS MAKE ARREST
IN A CASE THAT HAS
HAUNTED A FLORIDA
TOWN SINCE 1990
O
n the sunny afternoon of
May 26, 1990, in the sleepy
town of Wellington, Florida,
a clown holding two balloons
rang the doorbell of Marlene
Warren’s home. Marlene
walked past her 21-year-old son, Joseph
Ahrens, and his friends, to answer the door.
As the clown – wearing white make-up,a wig and red nose – silently handed her the
balloons and a floral arrangement, Marlene
said, ‘How nice.’ Then the clown pulled out
a handgun and shot her in the face. As the
clown calmly walked to a white Chrysler
LeBaron convertible in the driveway, Joe,
one leg in a cast from a car crash, ran to his
mother’s side, called 911 and yelled. The clown
turned briefly and looked directly at Joe, who
later said he’d never forget those eyes.
For 27 years, the town never forgot the crime.
Now police believe they’ve solved the case.
Marlene, 40, died two days after being shot,
and investigators immediately focused on her
husband and his mistress, though no arrest
was made. But at 5.30pm on September 26,
sheriffs pulled over Marlene’s widower,
Michael, and Sheila Keen Warren – his
former mistress whom he married in
Las Vegas in 2002 – near their home
and took Sheila, 54, into custody.
Thanks to a grant that allowed the
Palm Beach County Sheriff ’s office
to reopen the case in 2014 and new
DNA testing technology, Sheila has
been indicted for first-degree murder
and faces life in prison or the deathpenalty. ‘It’s a beautiful and fantastic surprise,’
Marlene’s mother, Shirley Twing, 87, tells OK!.
‘It took them a while, but they stayed with it
and they finally figured it out.’
In 1990, police found evidence linking Sheila
to the crime. She had worked for Michael at his
West Palm Beach used-car lot repossessing cars,
and cops learnt he was paying her rent and
gathered evidence they were having an affair.
Two days before the murder, eyewitnesses told
police a woman fitting Sheila’s description had
purchased a clown costume and white face
paint at a local store. About two hours before
the murder, a brunette wearing gloves bought
flowers and balloons at a Publix supermarket
near Sheila’s apartment. Eyewitnesses identified
that woman as Sheila, according to reports.
Four days after the murder, police found the
LeBaron: in it, they discovered hairs similar to
those taken from Sheila’s home, orange fibres
similar to those in the wig and a brown paper
Publix bag in the trunk. But because the
evidence was circumstantial, prosecutors
decided not to bring charges.
The police never forgot the infamous murder.
Detectives, armed with far more sophisticated
DNA testing than existed at the time of theKILLER CLOWN MYSTERY SOLVED!
After 27 years...
Sheila (in a police photo
from the day of her
arrest) had a ‘nonchalant
attitude’ when she was
arrested, says lead
detective Paige McCann
SCENE OF
THE CRIME
The killer clown brought
Marlene red and white
carnations and two balloons
before shooting her on
the porch of her luxurious
Wellington, Florida home.GONE TOO
SOON
Marlene ‘was a beautiful,
loving person that would
do anything for anybody’,
her mum Shirley tells OK!.THE
WIDOWER
They denied having^
an affair at the time^
of Marlene’s death,^
but Michael Warren
married Sheila 12 years
after the murder.24 WWW.OKMAGAZINE.COM.AUOK! CRIME