>> sterling and mike to one of the most bizarre cases we've ever covered. speakers won what a purpose in mind and took time to disguise themselves. >> the clown pulls out a fires at point-blank range. >> the last words i heard my mother say were "oh, pretty." >> you on this costume, this clown costume and it sort of created a whole bizarreness. >> it's ridiculous. this stuff should not happen. >> you could hear her gasp. >> it was shock aftershock

aftershock. >> here's incentive three clowns. marlene painted it when she was a teenager. >> there aren't random evil clouds walking ts rft sto commit a crime in. >> it is literally walking camouflage. >> a woman was shocked at her front door. by a person dressed in a clown costume. my heart dropped. >> smiling and performing now. in a split second, they could wipe out that paint of a smile be killers. >> wellington, florida, is just a very monied, sleepy part of south

it's right up against the everglades. >> wellington is one of the richest cities in palm beach county. >> you've got palm beach, which is the tony island of millionaires and billionaires. >> deborah: it's also home to mar-a-lago, president trump's so-called winter white house. >> and then you have wellington. you've got the wellington of the equestrian set, where bruce springsteen has a house. >> quiet but lavish. >> the houses were built around a grass airstrip, and they all had hangars out back for the owners' planes. >> deborah: now this is the way to go to work every day. >> this is what we call sunday sundown.

>> deborah: so you take this out every day. >> i take it about two to three days a week when i go to the office, which is 50 miles. >> deborah: i just love that idea. you fly to the office. >> wellington was nirvana. >> we're outside of what used to be marlene and michael warren's home. >> it was memorial day weekend. it was a normal south florida day. hot and humid. >> marlene and michael warren had been married nearly 20 years. she was a working mom, enjoying a morning at home with her son joey and three of his friends. >> i was 21 at the time. i was into a lot of things, you know, scuba diving, flying, life was an adventure, you know, it was exciting. and when this happened, it was all taken away. >> marlene was cooking breakfast

for her son joe and his friends who were here at the house. >> and this chrysler lebaron pulls up to marlene warren's driveway. >> and out gets somebody dressed like a clown. full curly orange wig, red bulb nose, white face makeup, big suit, the whole deal. and approaches the door with two foil balloons and a basket of red-and-white carnations. >> the clown walked to the door. and then marlene answered the door. >> the clown hands her balloons and some flowers. >> i'll still remember this to this day, one of the balloons said, "you're the greatest." >> the last words i heard my mother say was, "oh, how pretty." and bang. >> the clown pulls out a gun and fires at point blank range into marlene's face. >> it felt like slow motion

i saw her fall. then i jumped into action. i got to the door and i saw that she's been shot. and she was gasping for air. >> everybody in the house was paralyzed from shock. and that gave the clown the time to get back into the car and take off. >> i had my dog out for a walk. as i walked along, i heard what sounded to me like a nail gun. some very excited young people came running out saying "they've shot joey's mother." >> i ran for the car to try to chase the vehicle. i had to catch who did this. i didn't even use the road. i just drove right through property. i couldn't catch up to the car. >> they rush marlene to the hospital. she's bleeding from her mouth. she has bone and metal embedded

in her tongue. >> when police go to the scene that morning, it's a chaotic situation. police immediately put out a bolo, be on the lookout, for the white chrysler lebaron getaway car. the investigation begins. >> the individuals inside of the home became of paramount importance at that time. are they able to give us a description? what details are they able to give us? >> i was trying to see everything i possibly could to identify, color, skin, whatever. i could not. the only thing i could concentrate on is the eyes. i saw the clown's eyes when they got in the car. they were brown. >> deborah: joey would later talk about the incident during a local radio show. >> could you tell by their gait or by their mannerisms, whether the person was a man or a woman?

>> well, my -- to me, it seemed like a man. >> why? >> because of the big hands and the size of the person. >> from the south florida sun sentinel in association with wondery, this is felonious florida, the podcast that leads you into the dark side of the sunshine state. i'm your host, david schutz. >> deborah: this is a case that has been both fascinating and confounding to true crime enthusiasts for decades now. it was even the topic of a hit podcast called "the killer clown of wellington." david schutz was one of the podcast's producers. >> marlene warren spent the bulk of her childhood on her grandfather's farm in a little town north of detroit. >> she was the middle of three sisters. >> she was a great mother. she was a person of -- love. a good wife, i mean, she was

just all around the american mother. >> shirley, this has got to be the most recent photograph of marlene that we've got. >> marlene was outstanding. friendly, loving, kindness. do anything for anybody. >> always courteous, always respectful. >> she married extraordinarily young. and by the time she was 18, she already had two young children. >> deborah: and then a tragedy. marlene's first husband dies, and at 20 years old, she is a widow with two young children. >> not long after marlene is widowed, she meets her next husband, michael warren. >> we had a pretty good relationship. he became a father figure for me and my brother, a good husband for my mother. >> they relocate to

south florida to go and make a new start. >> marlene was kind of like america's mom, always cheery and smiley, always trying to put a good foot forward. >> nobody had a bad thing to say about her. it doesn't make sense that a person that seems to be so kind and so genuine that everybody genuinely loved had this enemy out there nobody knew about, that would commit a crime like this. >> the morning of the attack, michael warren headed off to miami to go to a race track. >> he left for the race track with his friends somewhere around 10:00. >> and they were midway to miami when they got the news that marlene warren had been shot. >> so, he turns around and heads straight for the hospital where marlene is clinging to life on life support. >> ballistic evidence

is limited, because there's a single projectile inside of marlene warren. there is no shell casing. there is no firearm. what is of value are the two balloons and the flower basket that sits right at the front doorstep. that really became the focal point of the evidence inside the home. >> deborah: but just who made that deadly delivery? police are about to get a first-hand description from costume shop workers who might have come face to face with the killer. >> "i need to buy a costume," and i said, "can you come back tomorrow, we're closed." and "no, i need a costume tonight." now i feel free to bare my skin, thanks to skyrizi. ♪(uplifting music)♪ ♪nothing is everything♪ i'm celebrating my clearer skin... my way. with skyrizi, 3 out of 4 people

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>> there aren't just random evil clowns walking around unless it's in the movies. so this was someone who had a purpose in mind and took time to disguise themselves who drove way out of their way to commit a terrible crime and then afterwards had a plan to escape. >> deborah: authorities in palm beach county want to know how just 40-year-old marlene warren, who is married and moneyed, becomes the victim of a would-be killer clown. but nobody wants those answers more than her parents.

>> i come in here and i think of her. >> marlene warren really liked clowns. >> if we'd go to a circus, she would always say, "oh, look at that one." >> deborah: in a kind of eerie coincidence, marlene even had a clown-themed room in her childhood home. >> she liked the clowns when she was a little girl. here is a set of three clowns. >> her mom had a painting that marlene had done. >> this picture here is a painting of a clown marlene painted it when she was a teenager, and i'll keep it forever. >> in some ways, the clown costume is a perfect costume to commit a crime in. >> it's literally walking camouflage. >> you have these giant eyes. there's grease paint. there's fright wigs. >> hi, georgie, i'm pennywise, the dancing clown!

>> deborah: for years, we've been a culture kind of terrified of clowns. from the two-part blockbuster stephen king series "it." to the panic that gripped the country in 2016 when creepy clown sightings were popping up all over the country. >> this clown was caught on video along a dirt road in ocala. >> the other thing that makes people uneasy around clowns is in a split second, they could wipe off that paint of a smile and be killers. >> deborah: by most accounts, this probably would have been yet another tragic shooting, but then you add this costume, this clown costume to it, and it just sort of, created a whole bizarreness around it. >> that's what really put it over the top. >> the only evidence that they had at the crime scene were the balloons and the flowers that were left behind. >> police start canvasing the whole area for any places that sell these foil balloons, these baskets of carnations trying to

figure out who possibly did this. >> let's find out where this flower arrangement could have been purchased, where these balloons could have been purchased. >> there were two balloons. one of them was an unusual balloon, believe it or not, and it was only sold at one of the publix grocery stores in palm beach county. >> it was a red heart-shaped balloon saying "you're the greatest". >> investigators followed up on several leads. one of which took them here to this publix. there was a clerk here who said she remembered selling the exact basket of flowers and balloons that were found at the crime scene to someone here. >> they were, like, "we think we know who the killer might be because we saw that person buy the same exact stuff you're talking about about 90 minutes before the murder."

>> the detectives tried to locate the clown costume in the very same fashion they tried to locate these balloons and these flowers. what costume shops have sold clown costumes in the past week or so? >> i received a phone call from a detective from the sheriff's department, and he asked me whether we rented clown costumes or sold them. >> the owner of a costume shop in west palm beach told police that two of her employees sold a customer a clown suit just a couple of days before the shooting. >> deborah: you had closed? you had locked the door? >> yes. right. >> deborah: then what? >> "i need to buy a costume," and i said, "can you come back tomorrow, we're closed." "no, i really need this tonight. i need to get a costume tonight." >> deborah: the urgency might be understandable if it was halloween. but remember, this is may. >> the person was extremely persistent in wanting to get inside, i need to purchase this, i need to purchase this, i need to purchase this. they said okay, we can make this happen really fast.

they were very quick in making their selections. >> a rubie's clown costume, a clown wig. bob kelly clown makeup and a sponge nose. >> they didn't buy anything that was expensive. they really bought the cheapest stuff that they had. what struck out to the two ladies is that the person said, "i need to have extra white makeup to cover the face completely." so the person was certainly concerned with anybody being able to see their face. >> deborah: when asked what the person looked like, deborah offord used an interesting word: "androgynous." >> rather tall. i'd say probably around 5'8". brown eyes, i remember thinking you really couldn't tell if it was a man or a woman. >> what also stuck out to the ladies was that the person was not interested in buying clown feet. they sold this individual, a clown wig, a clown costume, makeup with extra white,

but no clown feet. >> this is a red flag for detectives because the clown wha cal clown shoes,s joey had mentioned in that radio interview. >> okay, were they wearing clown shoes or were they wearing civilian shoes? >> something like an army boot. >> but it didn't look like it was part of the clown outfit. >> right. >> deborah: after being peppered with all kinds of questions from a detective, the costume shop owners finally ask, what is this about? >> i said, "could i ask please what this is in reference to?" he said, "well, you're probably gonna read about it all over the papers tomorrow morning, but a woman was shot at her front door. by a person dressed in a clown costume and he shot her in the face," and my heart dropped.

>> but soon enough, there'd be the first big break in this case. >> they found a white chrysler lebaron. >> observable even to the naked eye are what appear to be red, orange wig fibers. >> deborah: are the secrets to marlene warren's murder hidden in that white chrysler lebaron?

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loving, kind person, and for this to happen, it was so tragic. >> marlene died on memorial day, 90 >> hd her ndhe whole day hoping if i felt something, that we would not have to unplug that machine. but there was no hope. that was the hardest thing that my grandmother had to do, to tell them to turn that machine off. >> her funeral was held about a week later and the investigators were there at the funeral, taking pictures, keeping track of who was in attendance. >> investigators were watching to see how people acted and what they did. >> usually when a spouse is killed, especially when it's in their home, it's almost always the spouse. >> deborah: so it's no surprise when police take interest in marlene's grieving husband, michael warren, who had told them he was on his way to miami

with friends on the day of the murder. >> even though mike warren had an alibi, he is the husband. and so naturally police are going to be looking at him as having potential involvement. >> mike warren had been selling cars in south florida for a number of years. and by 1990, he was running a lot called bargain motors. >> it was one of those places that you went if you had really bad credit and you needed something to drive. >> and it was used cars, rent-a-wrecks, that kind of business. >> he was more of a blue-collar kind of guy. people said he wasn't very educated, he looked like he had a rough life. >> he was very hard-working. he'd arrive at the lot early. he'd leave late. he was a good salesman. very charismatic guy. >> michael warren is a confidence man. >> he is smooth, okay. anth really takes

off and that becomes his main source of income. >> suzanne gould was an office manager on michael's car lot, and she told us a lot about michael. >> those who knew michael warren say trouble seemed to follow him everywhere. >> his plane disappeared once. and it shows up with a broken engine. nobody knows what happened. he had race horses at one point and one horse shows up dead. he was that kind of guy. >> he always seemed to have a different side to him. >> deborah: suspicious side? >> just different. >> deborah: while mike managed his used car lot, his wife

marlene was doing okay, too, in her own right, owning a slew of rental properties on the rougher side of town. >> marlene primarily operated a lot of rental properties in the westgate area. >> she had a bunch of apartments. she would collect rent and she had it really organized. >> they end up amassing about 17 different pieces of property in palm beach county. >> in fact, that's one of the early leads authorities investigate, that maybe one of marlene's angry tenants shot her. >> she managed a number of different rental properties, so it may have been suggested at some point maybe it's a disgruntled renter. no viable suspect that was linked to a disgruntled tenant was ever developed. >> deborah: what kind of reputation did they have in the community? >> they were just hard work-a-day people that wanted to create a good lifestyle for their family. >> deborah: from the outside looking in, everything may have seemed pretty normal. but this marriage, like most, wasn't exactly picture perfect.

>> michael does spend a lot of time at a bargain motors, which causes strain on the relationship between the two of them. >> michael was home less and less, and it seemed like their relationship was really kind of on its last legs. >> but with so many financial entanglements, divorce was out of the question. >> if there was ever to be a divorce, it would have been a complicated one. >> all of the things that the warrens owned, the big house in wellington, all of the rental properties. >> if she were to pass away, then he would be the beneficiary. >> deborah: in the days following marlene's death, her stepdad, bill, has a gut feeling about his son-in-law. that he's hiding something. >> i says, "mike," i says, "i don't think that you done it. but i know pretty damn well that you know more about it than you're lettin' out.". and he says, "honest. honest, bill." he says, "i don't know."

and then we changed the subject. >> suspicions are one thing, but none of it proves michael warren is connected to the murder. >> deborah: michael proclaims his innocence and even goes on a local radio show to defend himself. >> at what point did the investigators start pointing the finger at you being involved in some way? >> i would say right away. >> four days after the shooting, police get a huge break. >> i remember hearing that on the scanner, the police scanner, a lot of very excited activity by the law enforcement agencies. >> deborah: the getaway car. >> yeah. >> it was a couple of workers that had noticed that there was a car that had just been sitting in the parking lot and nobody had gone in or out of it. it hadn't moved and it just looked suspicious. >> they go there and it's a white chrysler lebaron, a sure match to the getaway car.

they seal off the car, crime scene tape and the whole deal, and get a search warrant so that they can tow it away and give it a search. >> whenever you get the getaway vehicle, it's a big find. you just scour it for any evidence. >> observable even to the naked eye are what appear to be red-orange wig fibers that just are easily identifiable as something that may be on a wig of some type, they don't look natural. >> when police seize the car, they find curly orange fibers in the front seat, in the back seat, and in the driver's door. >> those items are sent out to the fbi for fiber analysis. the results were that it's not natural. it's an acrylic. it's a manmade fiber. can't say that these particular fibers came from any particular wig, in other words, it's not dna. >> deborah: but before it was over, that chrysler lebaron

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>> the discovery of the lebaron is a huge break. >> we're able to tie the lebaron that was used in the murder to michael warren's lot. >> there's a license plate that's affixed to the chrysler lebaron when it's found at the winn-dixie parking lot. >> when they run the car, they find out that it had been from a payless used car lot and had been reported stolen about two weeks before. >> the interesting thing about payless car rental is that a bargain motors is sort of at war with payless. >> bargain motors, of course, is the car lot that belongs to michael warren. >> michael warren had a yellow page ad in the phone book for bargain motors. and the bargain motors ad had in very large letters "payless." >> it was really an ad for bargain motors that looked a lot like the payless ad.

>> the person who's not really paying attention when they start to turn the yellow pages, "oh, payless." and then they end up calling michael warren. >> and that's what one couple told police happened to them. they say that they were duped by someone at bargain motors just weeks before the murder. >> this husband and wife had rented that white car from payless, not bargain. when they went to return it, they mistakenly called bargain motors, thinking that it was payless. >> they say they're told by someone at michael warren's lot, "leave the car at the payless lot where you rented it outside the gates with the keys in it. we'll pick it up." this couple thought, "well, that sounds really strange," but they did it anyway because they had a plane to catch. >> that lebaron was taken back to a bargain motors, even though it didn't belong to them. >> and that's how police allege the lebaron came to be on michael warren's lot. >> deborah: one of michael's employees was arrested in connection with the theft

of the lebaron and he was eventually convicted. michael himself was never charged. >> but who was it that used that car to go and kill marlene? that was still the question. >> despite this link between the lebaron and potentially michael's car lot, there's not enough there for police to make an arrest. michael had a pretty airtight alibi with witnesses. he was in the car with his friends heading to the race track. >> deborah: still, he wasn't out of hot water just yet. >> pretty quickly after the killing, investigators from a different police agency contact the sheriff's office and let them know that bargain auto parts has been under surveillance for some shady dealings. >> deborah: in fact, investigators from the west palm beach police department were looking into mike warren for rolling back odometers on his used cars.

>> it wasn't just one or two cars, it was a fleet of cars that we looked at. in the '90s, the cars that we're talking about all had mechanical odometers that could be manipulated. it took some skill and you had to know what you were doing, but it could be done. >> deborah: for the record, it doesn't exactly work the way matthew broderick said it would in "ferris bueller's day off." >> whatever miles we put on, we'll take off. >> how? >> we'll drive home backwards. >> and by october 1990, some five months after marlene's murder, police execute a search warrant at michael warren's car dealership. >> police conduct a nighttime raid. and they go in, they swarm the property, they take away filing cabinets and insurance information and a slew of documents.

>> deborah: former neighbor john herring remembers talking with michael during this time, and says he seemed to be more concerned with the impact to his business than the investigation into his wife's murder. >> he said, "they're takin' all my files. they're takin' everything, and i'm gonna be outta business." and i thought it was a little bit strange that he didn't say anything about the... >> deborah: about his wife. >> the shooting. and when i asked him, "did you do it," and he said, "of course not." >> deborah: you ask him -- to his face, "did you kill your wife?" >> yeah. well, i said, "did you have anything to do with it?" he says, "no, of course not." said, "good." >> on october 26th, michael warren is indeed arrested but not for murder. >> deborah: michael is charged with 66 counts that included odometer tampering, grand theft, and racketeering. >> michael goes to trial for those fraud charges, but there's one big elephant in the room. >> in open court, one of the assistant state attorneys said that michael warren was a suspect in the murder, and that opened a can of worms,

it gave michael warren's attorney the option to say, "this is a witch hunt." you know, "you're railroading my client," and even a judge agreed with him. >> the jury was considering 66 charges against michael. they acquitted him of about a dozen of them, but found him guilty of 43 counts that included odometer tampering and fraud. >> and mr. warren was then sentenced to nine years in prison. >> michael is sent to prison to start his nine-year sentence. meanwhile, the investigation into his wife's murder was still open. >> a lot of different angles were taken to try to investigate the case, trying to turn up something. a lot of other witness statements were looked into. >> tips would come in and different callers would say they had a lead as to who the killer clown was. >> deborah: at this point, the only evidence prosecutors have is circumstantial. but prosecutors still don't have that proverbial smoking gun.

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>> deborah: it's 1990, and who could forget the famous intro to the number one show in the country? "cheers." >> not all men are evil slime. >> oh, yeah, sure, you would defend them. >> deborah: people everywhere want a beanie baby. >> this is lex, ally. this is goldie. >> deborah: and nearly everybody's got "ice ice baby" playing on their sony walkman. >> ♪ ice ice baby ♪ >> deborah: but something else is at the risk of turning cold, the case of the killer clown. and it's hard to imagine who's more frustrated by it all the police or the local media who are just fighting fo scrap ofon >> the police were very 'tiving th media a lot of information.

they wanted to make sure that they were able to catch the killer. >> murders in florida, especially in the early '90s, are rampant. >> some local residents, though, are upset that it took the killings of tourists to focus attention on a crime problem they face every day. >> deborah: but what sets this case apart: the costume. the flowers. the balloons. it all seems to be so oddly personal. >> it made sense that the killer had to have been known or been associated with the family in some way. >> deborah: police get an anonymous call telling investigators to look into marlene warren's husband, michael. >> the person did not identify themselves. in fact they very much did not want to be identified and said, "marlene warren was just shot. somebody needs to look into michael warren."

>> the people that police were questioning were telling policeg an affair with a woman who worked on his car lot, sheila keen. >> sheila was a glades girl. she grew up in the small towns, on the outskirts of the everglades near lake okeechobee. she was country, she was attractive, the boys liked her, and she liked money. she wanted a rich life. she wanted nice things. >> she was very attractive. long brunette. she had long hair. >> deborah: on the podcast "the killer clown of wellington," the former office manager at bargain motors, suzanne gould, remembers sheila keen, and that she made quite an impression. >> that first encounter with her, never saw her before, and then bam, she's there. the very first time i saw her, i remember her long, dark hair,

and she was prettyan very young. >> she was 27 years old. mr. warren was, i think, almost 40. >> sheila keen started working for michael warren as a repo woman. >> she would repossess cars, sometimes in very rough areas, and so she was fearless. >> she repos the cars. michael warren recovers his asset. sheila keen gets paid by the repo that she brings in. >> sheila and michael, they apparently began an affair. the other residents at the complex where sheila lived said "we thought michael and sheila were married, he was there so often." >> mr. warren, had actually paid for a place for her to live. >> deborah: so michael warren was paying for an apartment for sheila keen. >> yes, that's according to the police, that's correct. >> there are reports of some

witnesses from a bargain motors that reported sexual activities inside michael's office. >> and according to witnesses, it sounds like marlene may have been on to them. >> there was an affair goin' on between them when marlene was alive for a while, quite a while, from what i understand. >> she never, she never talked about it though. >> when they asked mr. warren about the supposed affair with sheila keene, he denied it. >> sheila denied it outright. she would describe it. "no, we just work together. we're just doing work." >> in june 1990, just hours after investigators found the chrysler lebaron linked to marlene warren's murder, police were able to get a search warrant to search sheila's apartment here in west palm beach. >> they took a number of items, including the contents of the trash barrel in her bathroom. >> no clown wig or clown costume

or makeup is located at miss keen's apartment. no firearm that could be linked to this case is located. >> it's another trail that leads basically nowhere. and the truth is, the news cycle moves quickly, and with hundreds of murders happening in south florida that year, the case of the killer clown eventually all but disappears from the headlines. >> sometimes when we have these unsolved murders, there's sometimes a squeaky wheel that gets the grease. family members, it's not unusual to hold their own press conferences to squeeze the police departments to try to do more than what they're doing. that didn't happen in this case. unfortunately marlene kind of got lost. >> out of sight, out of mind 'cause you get on with your life but that don't mean that you forget anything because memories come back for maybe just a few seconds, that's life.

it's gotta go on. >> it would literally take decades, but something finally breaks the case of the killer clown wide open. >> and you see a case like this that's been open since 1990 and it's frustrating. it makes you think that there are some evil in this world that will never be punished, but then you get the breakthrough.

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>> this is true crime with sex and betrayal and an evil clown. >> there is a knock on the door. marlene warren answers and she's shot in cold blood. >> heard rumors, if you mess up, you're going to get a visit. what are you talking about? clown? >> many names have been floated. >> major break in at 27-year-old unsold mystery. >> has the killer clown that on the loose for three decades? not anymore, after courtroom shocker. >> they were able to get away with it for so long.

>> it was shock after after shock. >> there needs to be justice. >> it had been more than 20 years since marlene's murder, and yet there were no arrests made. >> i don't think this case was ever cold, even though it was on the back burner. it was still on the burner. it was never closed. >> so this case really took on new life in 2013 when the palm beach county sheriff's office was able to get a $125,000 grant. >> the cold case federal grant has enabled them to go back to this case and say, "hey, we've got some monies now for some

enhanced testing." >> back in 1990, the labs were not even utilizing dna as we know it now. forensics, as we know it today, was in its infancy. back then, it was fingerprints, fiber analysis, eyewitness i.d., that's how cases were proved. as the science has advanced, we've had the ability to then go back and say, "okay, we've got this old evidence. what can we do with it?" >> and by 2013, the case is being handled by a new sheriff in town. and a new assistant d.a. >> i came into this and i looked at it basically with a complete fresh mind, fresh set of eyes. when you work on a cold case, it can be very challenging. witnesses may not be around anymore. they may be deceased. law enforcement witnesses may have retired. and you have to have an open mind in how you work on these cases.

>> deborah: in his fresh look at the 23-year-old cas r scott goes back to that phic whe ryer lebaron, those questionable fibers, and something else. >> witnesses also say that there are strands of what appear to be longer human like brown hair inside of that vehicle. >> if it was human hair, that would now provide something those other fibers would not: dna. >> they took a particular hair, which had a portion of the root, a skin portion on it. and there are certain laboratories that'll conduct what's called mitochondrial dna analysis. that's a type of analysis that is conducted typically on older samples. >> and beyond the physical ue that keeps g is yet another

ged thume shoprs ago. toinigorth t pson whsee n um : when t pice asked you about a description, what did you tell them? >> was very androgynous, had on long jeans, men's work boots, and the lumberjack kind of checkered shirts and brown eyes. and i was always looking at people's makeup and she didn't have on any makeup, no nail polish, no girly stuff, you know? >> deborah: remember, marlene's son, joey, who witnessed the clown leaving, said he had thought it was a man, but only because of the person's size. >> well, my, to me, it seemed like a man. >> why? >> because of the big hands

and the size of the person. >> one of the things that i do remember about her is that she was rather tall. i'd say probably around 5'8". >> deborah: but even that critical piece of information provided to investigators right after the murder never led to an arrest. the case had long gone cold, and michael warren was moving on with his life, seemingly leaving the grief of losing his wife behind. >> and by 1997, there was a new woman in his life, a girlfriend named debbie. >> he moved up to the blue ridge mountains, living a very quiet life. michael owned a little fast food joint called the purple cow, which he was running with debbie. >> the purple cow is a little drive-thru fast food restaurant right off of a busy little

highway. >> hello, how are you guys? >> it has three life-size purple cows out front. >> it was super popular. you have ribs, fried green tomatoes. >> they were known for the steak bomb. and they got a mike's intimidator which is a pound of hamburger meat on a bun. >> deborah: michael and debbie work long hours, sometimes 6 days a week. >> debbie would actually come on the grill. she would do the order window, the grill, the fryer, and the handout window and the phone at the same time while mike done all the prep. he would hand-cut his steaks, like his ribeyes and t-bones. >> deborah: by most accounts, debbie and mike treat their staff like family. >> he would act like my dad. he taught me how to cook. like, he taught me my multiplication tables. when mike was at purple cow, you know, he sent everybody on cruises, and he would pay for it all. >> there i am in the ocean at nassau. he made sure you were taken care of.

they were in love. like, you just look at debbie and -- and tell she loved him. she has that sparkle in her eyes. every time she would look at him, she wou they d raing mansion on a lake in the blue ridge mountains, steepled house, brick, very fancy with a boat dock out front. and the two of them were known in this very tight knit community as a happy, fun, very close couple. >> it was just a real relaxed relationship. we all just enjoyed being in each other's company. >> you could tell they cared about each other. they'd hold hands some. >> a very loving relationship. >> deborah: but other neighbors say they see a different side of that "rough around the edges"

former used car dealer. vicki and john chittester say they had a nasty run-in with michael warren after he suddenly shows up at their lakeside property, trying to haul away rocks with his tractor. >> i told him to put down the rocks and get off our property. >> he said, "can't we be neighborly about this?" i told him, i said, "the neighborly thing would be to call over and ask if you can come over here and do that," he said, "[bleep] you." he's like, "what are you going to do, you scrawny?" i said, "i'll tell you what i'm going to do, you fat ass." but he wouldn't get off the tractor. so he unloaded the rock. >> he was a bully. >> somebody who thinks he's going to get what he wants. >> yes, uh, exactly. >> deborah: but will their unsuspecting neighbors living on the lake get the shock of their lives? is the killer clown about to make another appearance?

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with his significant other, debbie, in virginia, but dogged reporters back in florida never gave up the scent. >> in may, which was the 27th anniversary of the killing, my editor said, "well, let's, let's re-look at this." so i asked our researcher to take a look at a few things. >> i was assisting barbara marshall, who was a features reporter, who was writing the article. she asked if i could find mike warren. >> she found that they were living in abingdon, virginia, in the blue ridge mountains. >> deborah: the sun sentinel's tonya alanez was also hot on the trail and made her way up to virginia. >> during my reporting visit in virginia, i'm constantly asking about sheila keen. and one of the neighbors invites me in. and somewhere in the midst of our conversation, she just lets

it drop and refers to debbie and michael. and i just kinda halted the conversation, i was like, "wait, what? who is debbie?" >> deborah: it turns out debbie is just an alias. she was actually sheila keen, the woman with whom michael was rumored to have had an affair. debbie with the long brown hair is now 27 years older and blonde. >> it was not surprising that she's now called debbie by her friends in virginia. she tried to hide. and one way to hide is to change your name. >> the first time i ever seen sheila keen was when i'd actually go to the mailbox and check the mail. and debbie would say that was her mom. i never knew her real name was sheila keen. >> deborah: and there was one more surprise. >> in public records, who you are will be discovered. what i found was that sheila and mike warren had gotten married

12 years after the murder. i went to barbara's desk and i said, "barbara," i said, "they're married." >> she found that michael warren and sheila keen had gotten married 12 years after the murder in las vegas. >> deborah: that's right, michael warren's once alleged mistress was now his wife. the two married at that famous little white chapel in las vegas. >> once michael was released from prison he reunited with sheila and they took their life to tennessee and virginia and just carried on with a new life. >> they thought they were going to live happily ever after, until law enforcement started knocking on their door in 2017. >> our agency received a call in regards to the murder of an individual that occurred back in 1990. the person of interest that they were looking at did reside in our county, in an area called heron pointe.

they kept a very low profile. they, i guess, sort of flew under the radar. >> palm beach prosecutors have by now issued an arrest warrant based on new evidence of their own. >> she and michael were returning home from a road trip to vermont. and they were driving their black cadillac escalade. >> vehicles were strategically placed along various locations and observed the black cadillac escalade. we had vehicles that were positioned to the front of the vehicle, affected the stop in this area. vehicles came up behind it. >> and when the deputy came up to the driver's door he said he had a warrant for sheila's arrest. >> they had a warrant for sheila but not for michael. >> we told her she was under arrest for the murder that had occurred in florida a number of years ago.

>> michael warren, there was no warrant out for his arrest. he was not facing criminal charges. >> we have our suspicions, but we don't have enough evidence to file any charges against him. although, i think it's hard to believe that michael warren knew nothing about this. but as a prosecutor, we live on evidence, not suspicions. >> she was removed from the vehicle, placed in one of our patrol vehicles. handcuffed, and transported to the regional jail. >> he was questioned briefly there by the side of the road and he was released. >> a major break tonight in a 27-year-old unsolved mystery. police in florida arresting a female suspect in what had been called the killer clown case. >> it was a bit of a media circus when we announced the arrest of sheila keen warren, but rightly so. it generated a firestorm of interest. >> police in virginia have made an arrest in a bizarre 27-year-old cold case. wrecusedd

her door. this case haunted a family and a florida community for nearly 30 years. >> especially when they saw the defendant, who's this older woman who lived a new life in virginia. it gets our spidey senses tingling. >> this was a tenacious effort on the part of the cold case detectives and the people from the state attorney's office and the fbi. >> she is anxious to be transported to florida. she is anxious to have her day in court and to prove her innocence. >> we filed the notice of intent to seek the death penalty today just now with the court. >> good morning, your honor. >> at first appearance, she appeared to be shell shocked. >> the state is now seeking no bond, your honor. >> sheila pleads not guilty, even with the death penalty hanging over her head. >> sheila said that she could not possibly have committed this crime because she was out repoing cars at the time. >> not only has she not pointed

the finger at anyone else, she continues to proclaim her innocence. >> when the warrens' virginia neighbors heard about sheila's arrest, they were just flabbergasted. >> i love her unconditionally regardless of how it turns out. >> just hope and pray that she's not guilty. >> but authorities are convinced she is guilty, and they're ready to go to trial. >> sometimes justice can be delayed, but justice eventually arrives. >> deborah: while sheila is behind bars, yet another surprise. police dredge a car from a florida canal hoping to find the murder weapon. >> the allegation was that the clown costume, the wig, and the clown costume, the wig, and the firearm were to be found inside.

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>> something's gotta happen. she got away with it for so long. >> when i heard that sheila and mike got married, wow. that threw me on a loop there.

hearmi had married sheil she killed my daughter, and he marries her? >> sheila keen-warren is the only one that had the means, motive, and opportunity to commit this crime. >> deborah: there's this photo taken of sheila oddly smiling while in custody. and it's oddly reminiscent of a mugshot taken when she was 21 and convicted of shoplifting. >> but this is hardly a slam-dunk case. anytime you're going to try someone for murder, it does help to have two things: a positive i.d. from an eye-witness and the murder weapon. and in this case, you have neither. >> deborah: but just five months after sheila's arrest, investigators are wondering if they've finally hit pay dirt on that missing murder weapon. they get a tip out of the blue from one of michael's former employees.

>> that former employee tells investigators he has information about where to find a second car he claims is connected to marlene warren's murder. inside that car, he say is a critical piece of missing evidence, the murder weapon. >> this is the c-51 canal and this is the place where, in 2018, investigators came to look for what they thought was the second getaway car in marlene warren's murder. >> the allegation was that the clown costume, the wig, and the firearm were to be found inside. >> deborah: remember, there are critical pieces of physical evidence that are still missing. so the question is, could they be hidden in a car at the bottom of that murky florida canal? >> they dredged the canal. a car is pulled out of the canal

at the exact location where the vehicle is supposed to be. >> deborah: it's almost like a body being exhumed from the grave. >> they ended up fishing out a 1982 audi from this canal here, and when they looked inside, ultimately, they couldn't find anything that would connect that car to marlene warren's death. >> deborah: it turns out to be a false lead, and it leaves prosecutors trying to build a case that is almost entirely circumstantial. >> it's the story that the evidence tells altogether. can you link enough of these pieces of the puzzle together to paint a compelling picture? >> deborah: some of them would be things investigators learned 30 years ago that would now be critic to their ca. >>tigars thaonvery fstie wereureders and

>>d thatwo workers inside of a publix supermarket describe a person dressed in worker clothes with gloves, and long brown hair. >> now the interesting thing about this publix here is that it is less than a mile from the apartment where sheila was living. >> this person fitting the description of sheila keen purchased three items that are subsequently found at the homicide scene 82 minutes prior to the murder. >> deborah: and then there's the description from those costume shop employees, from the very first week of the investigation the ones who id'd sheila from a photo shown to them by the police. if you look at this picture, do you see a resemblance to the woman you saw in here? possibly? >> yes. >> each lady identifies her from two photo lineups as the person who bought and purchased this clown costume.

coincintalccounts of sreed u >> there was a man who owned an auto parts store in a little town of pahokee, and he called police with a very interesting story about sheila keen. >> she came in wearing a full clown outfit. she said she delivered flowers and stuff as a clown. we teased her about being in the clown outfit. she gave as good as she got, she grabbed her stuff and took on off. never saw her again. >> deborah: and then there's this photo, taken years later at the purple cow showing sheila with her face painted like a clown. there were reports that somebody fitting shelia keen's description had bought a clown costume. there were reports that somebody fitting her description had bought flowers and balloons. she had been known to dress as a clown previously before. there was talk that she was having an affair with marlene warren's husband.

aren't those enough circumstantial bits to try to bring this thing to a case? >> thinking that somebody did something, knowing it, and being able to prove it in a court of law are two different things. what you do not want to do is go into court without a case. and take your best shot and lose. >> i 100% believe that sheila keen warren is guilty of this crime. when i looked at all of the evidence, there was no doubt in my mind that we had the right person and that she needed to be brought to trial. >> but did authorities have the right person? what if those strands of hair allegedly linking sheila keen-warren to the murder actually belonged to someone else?

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>> joe ahrens has spent a lifetime trying to unravel the mystery of his mom's murder. now, more than 30 years later, he suddenly recalls an ominous interaction. >> the first time i was in a setting with sheila keen was at a party at our house probably about six months or so before the murder. mike's mother says, "marlene, you're going to have to watch that one. she's a pretty one." and my mom responded with,

"well, is that the only thing you're helping him with, the cooking?" and she turned around with a little smirk and said, "yeah," and that was the end of the conversation. >> true crime is a hot genre. and this is true crime combined with sex and betrayal. >> there were just a lot of unanswered questions for decades, always nagging. >> it has all the makings of a made for tv movie. >> deborah: but some truth is stranger than fiction. and as prosecutors are preparing for trial in a killing three decades old, it's clear that they're depending on dna to make their case. >> when this case was originally investigated, dna was in its infancy. you had some dna for blood evidence, but not for hair, and that's what really broke this case. >> remember those two strands of brown hair detectives discovered

in the white chrysler lebaron found back in 1990? decades later, they sent those old hair samples to the fbi for advanced dna testing not available back in the '90s. >> there were two hairs that were looked at. one hair was designated as hair 39-1. when they took 39-1 on and separated the root portion of the hair, mitochondrial analysis was done, and it was determined that sheila keen warren is the source of that. >> deborah: that dna match, prosecutors say, proves that sheila keen-warren was in fact the killer clown. >> prosecutors say the results of these new dna tests are what they finally need to go to trial. >> what this case is really about is an innocent woman who's facing prosecution for a crime she didn't commit.

>> she went into solitary confinement in the palm beach county jail soon after her arrest, and she has been there since. >> sheila has been in jail awaiting trial for five years. in 1990, there was absolutely no forensic evidence found on scene, related to, or tying the murder to sheila keen-warren. >> deborah: enter greg rosenfeld, a powerful, trial-tested defense lawyer who's represented several high-profile florida defendants. >> greg rosenfeld was one of the attorneys who represented dalia dippolito, who was accused of hiring a hitman to kill her husband. this court has a legal and ethical obligation to ensure that dalia dippolito gets a fair and impartial trial. >> even before trial, rosenfeld is arguing the case prosecutors have built against sheila keen-warren simply doesn't measure up, referring to the height of the so-called killer

clown. >> you have four people at the crime scene, and all four of these people said the shooter was over six feet tall. sheila keen-warren is between 5'6" and 5'7. >> the fact that one witness described the clown as 6'1" does not hurt the case because you have people who identified sheila keen-warren as the person who bought the clown costume. you're wearing this clown costume where you have a wig on your head and it does make you look taller. >> deborah: sheila's attorney also points to all the ambiguity about the gender of the clown. >> three of the four people definitively stated that the shooter was a man. >> if the clown wasn't dressed up as a clown, it would be problematic that joey thought the clown was a man, but the clown was dressed up as a clown to disguise the clown's features, to disguise the clown's gender. this murderer wanted to make

it harder for police to find them. >> deborah: rosenfeld even has an explanation for that all-important dna evidence, the two hairs that prosecutors say place sheila inside that chrysler lebaron. >> the dna evidence is beyond questionable. two pieces of hair found in the lebaron might not even belong to sheila keen-warren. we believe that one of them, based on the amount of male dna on the hair root, possibly belonged to a man. >> the dna showed that sheila keen-warren drove that car and she's the one who married marlene warren's husband after she was out of the picture. >> ah, the affair. now, that's a tough one for the defense because she was rumored to be involved with him romantically, and then lo and behold, she marries him after his wife turns up dead? >> you've got her having an affair with michael warren before, married to him afterwards.

>> they made her their suspect, and even though none of the evidence fit, and they essentially have been forcing pieces to fit this puzzle that just don't fit. they went from not having probable cause to arrest sheila keen-warren to this forensic evidence, which is circumstantial evidence stacked on circumstantial evidence to indict this woman. >> the long-awaited killer clown trial out of florida. >> a judge set a new trial date. >> these hearings continue tomorrow. >> all they have to do is convict her. >> there needs to be justice. >> deborah: but with justice already delayed and the start of the trial just days away, a courtroom shocker nobody saw coming. >> a huge surprise. the fabled "clown sighting file" has been found. >> it's ridiculous.

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>> by late 2022, sheila keen-warren has been in jail for five years awaiting her trial for the murder of marleen warren. >> it's 8 days away from trial, and suddenly, a huge surprise. the fabled "clown sighting file" has been found.

>> the clown sighting file was mentioned in a police report back in 1990. >> it contains roughly 40 potential leads. these are clown sightings from the day of the murder and the days following. sheila's defense attorneys asked the prosecutor and the investigators for that file for years, several times, and every time they were told, "we can't find it." >> so, he finally decides to file a motion to compel the state to produce this information. >> the next day, the clown sighting file suddenly appears after three years of me asking for that clown sighting file. it was in a box for michael warren's odometer tampering case. >> this was a 33-year-old cold case with boxes and boxes of files. the palm beach county sheriff's office looked for it, and they couldn't find it, and then it was just there.

it was obviously nothing intentional. >> the day jury selection was supposed to begin, the attorneys had to reconvene in the courthouse to explain why this had happened. >> how is it possible that the sheriffs didn't see that file? right? it's ridiculous! this stuff should not happen. >> at that point, the judge gives sheila's defense 60 days to investigate those leads. >> when we received the clown sighting file, our investigator attempted to track down these people. numbers were disconnected, people had moved. i mean, we couldn't track down these people. you're talking 32, 33 years later. >> so, in the months leading up to this new trial date, sheila's defense continues to file motions trying to suppress some of the prosecutor's key evidence. one of those pieces of evidence is a mysterious fiber. >> deborah: this 6- to 8-inch

fiber was found embedded in a balloon ribbon left at the scene of the crime but investigators didn't find until decades later when they reopened the case. >> in 1990, detective harrison recovered the two balloons and the balloon ribbons. he looked over the balloons for any trace evidence, saw nothing. sealed them, and stored them. >> this evidence gets passed year over year, through multiple people before, in 2013, an investigator picks it up and finds a mysterious fiber that no investigator has previously reported seeing. >> the ribbon was a pink, white, and red ribbon and my swab was kind of getting stuck as i was trying to go through the ribbon. and as i got closer, i noticed that there was a fiber that was in the ribbon. >> after 24 years, this fiber suddenly appears. it's absolutely preposterous.

>> we think that the fiber got in the evidence bag by contamination. >> it was such a minute piece of evidence that it was overlooked back then. but there was nothing nefarious about it. >> the prosecutor said that this fiber was consistent with another fiber found at sheila keen-warren's apartment, linking the two together. but her defense attorney said the only thing that this fiber is evidence of is contamination. and to back that up, they have this report from 1999 that says that the palm beach sheriff's office was improperly storing evidence from that wellington crime scene in open bags. >> deborah: the palm beach post wrote a scathing article about this, describing the conditions in which evidence was stored. >> county auditors have discovered some of the evidence was improperly stored. open bags containing a white clown glove, seven types of clown makeup, an orange wig, and a bozo-type suit linked to the wellington murder were found

this fall inside the sheriff's evidence roo >> the packaging of the evidence was horrific. they have evidence bags just torn open, not repackaged properly, anything. >> you're talking about rips of outer bags, not the inner bags. and so, look, i realize it's a bad look, but it didn't contaminate the evidence. >> but in that same court hearing with the investigator who found that fiber decades later, you can hear her gasp as the ribbon falls out of the bag as she is presenting it in court. >> you can show the court. >> that's okay. >> just put it back in. >> the prosecution did come in with this gung-ho attitude when they arrested her and then piece by piece, her defense starts to pick holes in that argument and so close to trial, i think you could see the prosecution losing steam. >> deborah: but just last week with yet another new trial

date looming, everyone is summoned to the courtroom for what will be a shocking eleventh hour turn of events. >> stunning new developments in the killer clown murder out of palm beach county. >> so with less than a month until trial begins, we hear that sheila keen-warren is about to plead guilty. this is a total shock. >> ms. keen-warren, the defendant herein will agree to withdraw her previously entered plea of not guilty, enter a plea of guilty. guilty of second degree murder. the defendant is pleading guilty because she's guilty and a factual basis does exist for the crime. >> are you in full agreement with all those terms? >> yes, sir. >> all through this trial i didn't see any remorse. god be with her.

>> deborah: sheila is sentenced to 12 years in prison, but due with sentencing guidelines and with credit for time served, she could be out in 16 to 18 months. >> it was just shock after shock after shock. first execution, then life in prison, and now she's going to go home as early as 16 months from now. that's an outcome that i don't think anyone expected. >> this plea deal is a compromise for both sides. for the prosecutors, they get a murder conviction, but the sentencing terms are extremely lenient for 2nd degree homicide. for sheila, she is now a convicted murderer, but she will most likely be a free woman next year. >> i can't say this enough. sheila is innocent. were we disappointed that we didn't get to try this? of course. but our job is to get her home. it was very difficult for her to

accept that she was pleading guilty to this crime. but no one in their right mind is going to play russian roulette with their life. >> this is imperfect justice. this is not the happy ending that i wanted, but we don't live in a fairytale. she'll always be a convicted murderer, and that's a stain that'll never be washed away. >> deborah: the big question -- now that sheila has plead guilty -- what about her husband, mike warren? what he's saying only to "20/20" tonight.

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>> that 21-year-old young man who saw his mother gunned down more than 30 years ago, says it took a lifetime to regain his footing. >> it affected me with anger, alcohol abuse. finally i broke down, and i said, "enough is enough. i can't do this on my own. i have to go to rehab." >> deborah: at 54, joe ahrens says he is finally letting go of the demons of his past. and just days after sheila keen warren pled guilty to his mom's murder, he visited her grave. >> i was telling her we finally got truth, we finally got closure, and it's been a long road. i'm glad that she was there the whole time. i mean, there's times that i thought i was alone, but i was really not. >> you have part relief, part gratitude, because this took a lot of work for justice to happen. this case was cold. the defendant thought she had gotten away with it. i think a lot of people did but the long arm of the law caught

up with her, finally. >> woman accused of dressing up in costume and murdering her lover's wife has plead guilty. >> when she took the guilty plea, i was shocked. i mean, i was so shocked. i thought we'd never get that out of her. >> deborah: that plea wasn't the life sentence joe ahrens was hoping for. >> she was not remorseful at all through the whole trial. i hope i see that come out of her. that will help me in a lot of ways. >> she's a murderer, and it hurts me to know that she will walk free one day, but at least i know that for the past five and a half years, she has sat in solitary confinement in our local jail, and, for the rest of her life, she's going to be known as a convicted murderer. >> guilty or not, i was going to be okay. i pray for h nth she gets through it and comes out

of this. it's going to be hard for her. >> deborah: and now the question many are asking, what's next for michael warren? >> if we are able to obtain evidence pointing to mike warren, we'll prosecute him. but there's not enough evidence, it gets harder by the day to prosecute someone for a case that happened in 1990. >> deborah: in a statement to "20/20," michael warren said he is innocent and the comments and actions of prosecutors, including the accusation that he was involved in marlene's murder, "are reckless and shameful." he also said that despite the guilty plea, he believes his wife is innocent and is grateful that she will be home in sixteen to eighteen months. >> that's a good picture. >> yes, it is. >> 33 years to justice, a day joe's grandmother never lived to see.

>> my grandmother just died recently. i want my mother to know that i'm all right. i'm going to be okay. she was an angel. she did not deserve this. she's not here in flesh but she's still here in spirit. i do believe my mother is at peace now. >> a bizarre 30-year-old cold case finally close. that's our program for tonight. thanks so much for watching. i'm deborah roberts. from all of us here at "20/20" and abc >> building a better bay area. moving forward. finding solutions. this is abc7 news. ♪

>> rain returns, making for a soggy night around the bay area. >> more like march with rain moving into the bay area. >> are we jumping into spring or summer? what's happening? meteorologist: we will have to wait for the feeling of spring. winter kept delivering, spring is still delivering, but we are talking about rain. you will notice on live doppler 7 most of you except for the north bay is getting the wet weather, the south bay is not in the rain shadow tonight. as we look out towards the inland east bay from concord to antioch, highway four, pleasant hill, you will notice around martinez, clayton road, it is slippery roadways come also on the peninsula a