A woman has been arrested in a 27-year-old cold case involving a bizarre love triangle and a clown suit.
NBC News reports that Sheila Keen Warren, 54, was taken into custody in Washington County, Virginia, and charged with first-degree murder in connection with the 1990 death of her husband’s former wife, Marlene Warren, 40.
Marlene Warren was shot and killed on May 26, 1990, in Wellington, Florida, when she opened the door to a person in a clown costume carrying what appeared to be a delivery of a bouquet of red and white flowers and balloons.
“She went to the door, and there was somebody wearing a clown suit and a clown mask,” Palm Beach County sheriff`s spokesman Bob Ferrell told the Sun-Sentinel just after the shooting.
“As she went to take the flowers and balloons, the clown shot her. As far as I know, nothing was said.”
Marlene died of her injuries two days after the shooting.
According to NBC News, Marlene’s husband Michael Warren was initially a suspect in her death, as the couple was reportedly having problems at the time. Months after Marlene’s death, authorities would discover that Michael was having an affair with Sheila Keen, who he would later marry.
The early murder investigation led authorities to discover illegal activity at Michael’s car rental agency. Michael served three years in prison for odometer tampering, grand theft and racketeering before being released in 1997.
NBC News reports that fairly early in the investigation, Sheila Keen became a suspect in Marlene’s murder, but authorities did not have enough evidence to charge her. In 2014, the emergence of new technology allowed investigators to retest earlier DNA evidence.
Michael and Sheila Warren married in 2002, and reportedly owned a restaurant together in Tennessee, just over the Virginia border. Michael was reportedly present when Sheila was arrested.
“Thousands of man-hours have been put in in the last 27 years,” Washington County Sheriff Fred Newman told NBC News.
“We’re more than glad to be able to help to bring this to a successful conclusion.”
Feature photo: Palm Beach County Sheriff
