After three decades, Florida

This story beforehand aired on Oct. 28, 2023.

The 1990 homicide of Marlene Warren, shot by somebody dressed as a clown, haunted not simply the general public, however the Palm Beach County State Attorney ‘s Office. Despite figuring out two suspects, the case, went unsolved for many years.

Dave Aronberg is the present state legal professional.

Dave Aronberg: It’s simple to see why this case has a lot curiosity … who is not afraid of a killer clown?

Dave Aronberg: This was an assassination. This was not a random act of violence. This was not a theft.

Joe Ahrens: The unknowingness of this heinous crime. The concern … it was hell.

Joe Ahrens was 21 and dwelling at house along with his stepfather Mike and his mom Marlene when she was murdered.

 Joe Ahrens: She was a superb mom. … Everything she did, she took delight in.

A DEADLY DELIVERY

The morning of May 26, 1990 had began as a cheerful one. Ahrens, recuperating from a damaged leg, was having breakfast at house along with his mother and three associates after they noticed a clown approaching carrying balloons and flowers.  

Joe Ahrens: And we form of … figured … I had a forged on, any individual was sending, to heal and — for gesture …

Peter Van Sant: This is like, “Oh, what a delightful gift,” to cheer you up along with your damaged leg, proper?

Joe Ahrens: Right.

Joe Ahrens: My mom opened the door … And then we heard “bang” and he or she fell. At that time, we knew one thing was improper. … My mom was struggling to breathe … And then I jumped to the cellphone, you recognize, known as 911 instantly.

As the clown slowly and silently walked to a automotive, Ahrens and a few of his associates tried to get a better take a look at something that may assist describe the disguised attacker.

Joe Ahrens: The solely factor it did not have any shade on it was the footwear that have been stable black and the white gloves.

Peter Van Sant: And did you discover something concerning the clown’s eyes?

Joe Ahrens:  I did. That’s essentially the most factor I — I noticed was the large brown eyes.

Peter Van Sant: And the clown will get within the automotive. What form of automotive was it?

Joe Ahrens: It was a white LeBaron.

Peter Van Sant: And does the automotive peel off? 

Joe Ahrens: No. It goes into gear and drives off like nothing occurred.

While a few of Ahren’s associates remained at his home ready for EMS, he acquired into Marlene’s automotive and tried to chase down the clown. But he could not catch up.

Meanwhile, with the clown’s balloons and flowers left behind, Marlene was rushed to the hospital, barely alive, the place she was placed on life assist.

Joe Ahrens: I saved telling her I really like her, and I do not need her to go, and please do not go away me.

Two days later, with no hope of a restoration, life assist was eliminated, and Marlene died.

Joe Ahrens: I knew my life was going to vary and I knew it was going to change into hell, as a result of she wasn’t right here to assist me.

A prime clue the Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office had was Joe’s description of the clown: about 6-foot-one, tall, skinny, with orange hair, a purple nostril and a giant orange smile and male. And these balloons left behind? They now appeared cruelly mocking: “You’re the greatest” one stated. The different had an image of “Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs.”

Authorities had additionally spoken with Joe’s stepfather Mike Warren, who they realized had an alibi: he was in a automotive with associates heading to a racetrack when the capturing came about.

Peter Van Sant: Growing up with Mike Warren, what was that like? Was he a superb dad?

Joe Ahrens: I believed so. … That’s the one father I knew. I imply I used to be actually younger when my actual father and mom separated.

Marlene and Mike Warren have been married when Ahrens was 3 years previous. They had constructed a cushty life in Wellington, Florida, an prosperous suburb. Marlene owned a number of companies, together with condominium complexes, and the couple ran Bargain Motors, specializing in used vehicles and leases.  

While enterprise was good, the wedding, says Ahrens, was troubled. He says his mom turned satisfied Mike was having an affair, making her fearful.

Joe Ahrens:  She stated, “if anything does happen to me, your father did it.”

Peter Van Sant: She stated that to you?

Joe Ahrens: I advised her no approach — he would by no means do something like that. She stated do not put it previous him.

Marlene shared that very same concern together with her mom, Shirley Twing.

Shirley Twing: She says, “If anything happens to me, Mike did it.”  

We interviewed Twing in 2017, when “48 Hours” began investigating Marlene’s homicide.

Peter Van Sant: That’s an ominous factor to say. … Did you sense concern in her voice?

Shirley Twing:  Sure. Yes, I did.

So, when Twing realized her daughter had been murdered, her thoughts went to Mike Warren.

Shirley Twing: Right away. I figured Mike had one thing to with it, that is for rattling certain.

But Mike Warren had that alibi, so authorities have been in search of another person. And after they visited Bargain Motors, Mike’s workplace, one title saved popping up:  that lady with whom Mike was supposedly having an affair.

Aleathea McRoberts: Everybody on the Bargain Motors have been reporting that you need to look first at Sheila Keen.

Aleathea McRoberts, an assistant state legal professional in Palm Beach County, has labored on the case from the start.

Aleathea McRoberts: And inside the subsequent day or so, ideas have been being known as in that you simply actually ought to examine Sheila Keen and Michael Warren.

Della Ward (2018): They have been undoubtedly seeing each other.

Della Ward labored at Bargain Motors with Mike Warren.

Della Ward (2018): He had a number of compassion, lot of empathy. And individuals simply have been drawn to him … particularly girls.

One of these girls, Ward believed, was Sheila Keen.

Della Ward (2018):  I discovered her very good, very bubbly. … you knew the way in which she checked out Michael — you simply … she liked him, you might see it.

Keen, who additionally had a status for toughness, was a repo lady—repossessing vehicles at Bargain Motors.

Della Ward (2018): To do repos, it’s a must to have some form of guts. … She advised me, “I keep a gun for my protection because people are crazy, what they do.”

Keen advised investigators she was out working on the time of Marlene’s homicide.

Aleathea McRoberts: She claimed that she was in search of repossession automobiles, however she was unable to supply any handle that she went to … in order that they may comply with up and ensure it.

As for the affair, each Keen and Mike Warren advised investigators they have been simply associates. But that is not what authorities realized after they talked to Keen’s neighbors.

Aleathea McRoberts: The neighbors at that condominium advanced believed that Michael Warren and Sheila Keen have been husband and spouse.

Peter Van Sant: Is there any doubt in your thoughts that there was a — romantic relationship?

Aleathea McRoberts: There’s little question and … they did not disguise it.

An affair, although, is not essentially a motive for homicide.

Peter Van Sant: Did anybody revenue financially from Marlene’s dying?

Aleathea McRoberts: Yes. So, Michael Warren … profited … largely, the properties and property that they owned collectively have been in her title. So, by her predeceasing him, he was in a position to receive 100% of the property.

Investigators have been additionally making an attempt to find native shops that had not too long ago offered clown outfits. Deborah Offord had been working at a fancy dress store when, two nights earlier than Marlene’s homicide, a buyer knocked on the door at closing time.

Deborah Offord (2018): She wished to see the clown costumes. I stated, “Can you come back tomorrow?” And she stated, “No, I need something right now.”

Offord advised investigators the client paid money, shopping for a clown swimsuit, an orange wig, make-up and a purple clown nostril.

Deborah Offord (2018): She was, I’d say, about 5’10, um, lengthy, thick, straight, like, chocolate-colored hair. Big brown eyes.

Detectives later offered Offord with a photograph lineup that included an image of Sheila Keen. Offord recognized Keen, and one different lady, as presumably being the one who purchased the clown costume.

The sheriff’s workplace additionally believed they situated the place the shooter purchased these flowers and balloons — a Publix grocery store.

NEWS REPORT: The purchaser described as a white feminine with darkish brown hair. 

The description of the client given by the employee on the grocery store, “brown hair,” and on the costume retailer, “brown hair, brown eyes.” was in line with Sheila Keen. And there was Sheila’s reported affair with Mike Warren. It was intriguing, circumstantial proof—however wouldn’t it be sufficient to make an arrest?

SEARCHING FOR A KILLER WHO WAS DRESSED AS A CLOWN

Joseph Ahrens: Before they turned the machine off on my mom … I advised her that I liked her very a lot and that we have been going to get justice. 

As Ahrens mourned the lack of his mom Marlene, investigators continued in search of extra proof tying Sheila Keen to Marlene Warren’s homicide.

Dave Aronberg: You speak about this case to anybody, and the primary place individuals go is, yeah, it is the mistress … So, investigators targeted on Sheila Keen.

And quickly a giant break when detectives situated an deserted white Chrysler LeBaron—matching the outline witnesses gave of the getaway automotive.

Peter Van Sant: What was discovered inside that Chrysler LeBaron?

Aleathea McRoberts: There was artificial fibers … comparable sort fibers to … a clown wig.

They have been orange, the identical shade because the wig Ahrens says the assailant was carrying. Also contained in the automotive, they discovered a human hair. It was brown like Sheila Keen’s.

LOCAL NEWS REPORT: Sheriff’s detectives executed a search warrant on the house of Sheila Keen.

Inside Keen’s closet, detectives say they recovered orange fibers {that a} forensic examination later concluded have been just like those discovered within the Chrysler LeBaron. And one other breakthrough was made when Keen’s hair from her condominium was in comparison with the one recovered from the getaway automotive.

Aleathea McRoberts: That was scientifically microscopically examined and located to be constant.

Consistent with Keen’s hair, however DNA know-how was nonetheless in its infancy in 1990, and scientists have been unable to make a definitive connection.

There have been different challenges for investigators. The gun used to kill Marlene and the precise costume the killer clown wore have been by no means discovered. And keep in mind, Ahrens thought the attacker was a 6-foot-tall man. Keen did not match both of these descriptions.

Aleathea McRoberts: We’re speaking about an occasion that took seconds and their glances of this clown was a second or two.

Also, McRoberts says any eyewitness would have a tough time describing somebody in a dishevelled clown costume, make-up and a wig.

Aleathea McRoberts: It’s mainly, a clown is a clown.

And there was Keen’s alleged affair with Mike Warren, these fiber and hair outcomes, and people salesclerks on the costume and grocery shops whose description of the client buying the clown outfit, balloons and flowers was in line with Keen.

Peter Van Sant: This sounds prefer it’s — the proof is basically build up … it is such as you’ve acquired sufficient there to make an arrest. What occurs?

Aleathea McRoberts: Well, there was definitely argument about that … and opinions that differed on the time. … after which there’s … an indecision about, do I do it now or ought to we maintain making an attempt and get slightly bit extra?

As investigators regarded for extra proof, they found that Mike Warren’s enterprise, Bargain Motors, was related to the suspected getaway automotive. They realized an worker stole the automotive from a competitor a number of weeks earlier than the homicide.

Dave Aronberg: And that is how they acquired the Chrysler LeBaron.

NEWS REPORT: Sheriff’s detectives spent about 5 hours Thursday evening looking out the places of work of Bargain Motors …

And as they’d investigated Mike Warren’s enterprise, they found widespread fraud—charging him with racketeering, insurance coverage fraud and odometer tampering.  He finally was convicted on 43 counts of fraud and despatched to jail.

Dave Aronberg: This was for fraud. … And so, you recognize, you simply cannot extrapolate one to the following. I imply, there is no proof that he is a assassin. … We do have our suspicions, although.

He was not charged with any crime in reference to Marlene’s homicide. And Mike Warren felt he was a sufferer on this case — sentiments he shared in a radio interview earlier than he went to jail.

MIKE WARREN (radio interview): They wished to place me out of enterprise.

Mike Warren speculated that Marlene may actually have been the sufferer of an indignant tenant or automotive purchaser.

MIKE WARREN (radio interview): I actually cannot consider a motive why, uh, apart from the actual fact of the kind of companies that we’re in, so far as being landlords and … crossing a number of individuals by repossessing their automotive.

But regulation enforcement didn’t suppose Marlene Warren’s homicide was the work of a disgruntled tenant or buyer, and because the years handed the case grew chilly. And as for Keen, she appeared to vanish.

Della Ward: Nobody ever introduced her title up once more.

Joe Ahrens: You know, for a few years … I used to be struggling in, in despair.

After Mike Warren went to jail, Ahrens says he and his stepfather turned estranged. And as he continued to grieve the lack of his mom, he was consumed by her case going unsolved. 

Peter Van Sant: Give me a way of what issues you fell into after your mom’s homicide.

Joe Ahrens: Oh, wow. Where can we begin? … Alcoholism, medicine, I imply you title it.

It was particularly painful, says Ahrens, on every passing anniversary of the capturing.

Joe Ahrens: I’d blow up that day and go get drunk, you recognize, and simply … I’d go to her gravesite … It was unhappy.

Peter Van Sant: Would you exit to her grave to speak to her?

Joe Ahrens: I did quite a bit to attempt to discover solutions, you recognize, however I used to be so confused. I used to be getting nothing. I used to be simply misplaced.

Joe ultimately emerged from the fog of medicine and despair. With that behind him, he turned more and more sure of who murdered his mom.

Joe Ahrens: I concluded that … Sheila Keen was the one which did it.

Dave Aronberg: She most likely by no means thought, in 1,000,000 years, she’d be held accountable for her crimes. She thought she acquired away with it.

COLD CASE UNIT MAKES BREAKTHROUGH

Shirley Twing and her daughter, Marlene, shared a fascination with clowns. In Twing’s house, she even saved a room filled with clown artwork and collectible figurines.

The unhappy, typically unsettling photos introduced consolation to Twing, even if a clown had so brutally ended her daughter’s life.

Shirley Twing: I do not hate clowns. I simply hate one.

Although the Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office hadn’t given up on fixing Marlene’s homicide, 27 lengthy years had handed with out an arrest. Then, by 2017, a chilly case unit made a breakthrough. State Attorney Dave Aronberg lastly had new, essential proof.  

Dave Aronberg: The hairs that have been discovered within the LeBaron have been in a position to be traced to Sheila Keen … by way of DNA know-how.

With that new DNA match, detectives believed they may now definitively join Keen to the alleged getaway automotive— and to Marlene Warren’s homicide. And when sheriffs discovered suspect Keen, they have been blown away to be taught whom she had married.

Dave Aronberg: After Michael Warren acquired out of jail, he reconnected with … Sheila Keen. … this is somebody whose spouse had been murdered and he simply married the chief suspect.

Peter Van Sant: What did that inform you?

Dave Aronberg:: When you mix the truth that the 2 of them have been in an affair … on the time of the homicide … after which later, they acquired married … it did look like mission achieved.

That marriage was in 2002. The Warrens, now middle-aged, settled into a brand new life in Tennessee, working a burger joint known as Purple Cow.  Keen took Mike Warren’s final title. But in an fascinating twist, Assistant State Attorney Aleathea McRoberts says she modified her first title.

Aleathea McRoberts: Sheila Keen-Warren launched herself to … their associates in that life that her title was Debbie. … She had died her hair blonde, modified her title, and was dwelling a full life.

Brook Blevins: We would have … dinners. They have been great cooks.

The Warrens befriended Brook Blevins, a neighbor at a weekend property the couple bought within the Virginia mountains. When “48 Hours” spoke to Blevins in 2018, she stated she additionally knew Mike’s spouse as “Debbie” and was advised it was a childhood nickname.

Brook Blevins: Her dad nicknamed her that when she was small.

Ashley Sexton (2018): I by no means known as her Sheila (laughs).  I all the time known as her Debbie.

Former Purple Cow workers, Ashley Sexton and Cynthia Swafford say they knew Debbie as a tricky boss.

Cynthia Swafford (2018):  I imply, she was terrible aggressive, imply.

And they even heard an alarming rumor about her previous.

Ashley Sexton (2018): The rumor round Purple Cow once we labored there was Debbie killed Mike’s ex-wife. … I believed they was blowin’ off steam, and I used to be like, OK, no matter.

Cynthia Swafford (2018): Mm-hmm (affirms).

Ashley Sexton (2018):  But the rumors stated it greater than as soon as … even to the place we knew she dressed up like a clown.

According to an worker, Sheila had appeared in clown make-up on the restaurant one yr throughout Halloween. 

By the autumn of 2017, the Warrens had offered the enterprise and retired full time to the home in Virginia. Meanwhile State Attorney Aronberg felt the case in opposition to Sheila had solely gotten stronger.

Dave Aronberg: When you mix the truth that they acquired married and seemingly lived fortunately ever after with the brand new DNA breakthrough, we’re in a position to get sufficient proof to make an arrest.

On Sept. 26, 2017 — 27 years after Marlene Warren’s homicide, authorities arrested Sheila Keen-Warren driving on a street close to their house. She was charged with first-degree homicide.

Greg Rosenfeld: Sheila didn’t homicide Marlene Warren.

Greg Rosenfeld, Sheila Keen-Warren’s protection legal professional, says Sheila was not the shooter.

Greg Rosenfeld: Everything was so methodical … this particular person strolling as much as the home … committing this capturing after which slowly strolling away … We’re coping with somebody who … had expertise in committing successful or a homicide.

Peter Van Sant: That’s not Sheila?

Greg Rosenfeld: That isn’t, Sheila.

Shortly after Sheila’s arrest, Dave Aronberg addressed reporters.

DAVE ARONBERG: Today we filed a discover of intent to hunt the dying penalty on this case.

REPORTER:  Can you say whether or not Michael Warren is a suspect?

DAVE ARONBERG: I can not say that.

Aleathea McRoberts says there was one thing Keen-Warren requested as she was being taken into custody that caught prosecutors’ consideration.

Aleathea McRoberts: One of the primary issues she stated is, properly, “are you gonna arrest him too?” Pointing to her husband.

Peter Van Sant: Which suggests what to you?

Aleathea McRoberts: That she knew precisely what she was being arrested for and so they had achieved it collectively.

Ahrens had come to the identical conclusion: that his stepfather and Keen-Warren have been each concerned in his mom’s homicide.

Peter Van Sant: Would you prefer to see Mike Warren charged within the homicide of your mom?

Joe Ahrens: Yes, I’d.

With Keen-Warren in custody, “48 Hours” wished to talk with Mike Warren.

Peter Van Sant: We’re going to go to his entrance door, give it a knock, and see if he’ll reply a few questions.  

QUESTIONING THE EVIDENCE

After the arrest of Sheila Keen-Warren in 2017, “48 Hours” wished to speak to Mike Warren about what he knew about his spouse’s homicide.

Peter Van Sant: [knocking on front door]: Hey, Mike. I’m Peter Van Sant with CBS News.

He would not open the door, however we spoke by way of it for a number of minutes.

Peter Van Sant: Did you may have something to do with planning the homicide of your spouse, Marlene?

Mike Warren:  Most undoubtedly not.

Peter Van Sant: You didn’t?

Mike Warren: That’s right.

He was adamant that neither he nor Keen-Warren had something to do with Marlene’s homicide.

Peter Van Sant: Did you counsel to Sheila that she costume in a clown outfit?

Mike Warren: You’re saying, “Sheila, Sheila.” Who says she even did that? …I do not suppose she had something to do with this. If I believed she had one thing to do with this, I would not have been together with her.

Peter Van Sant: Do you consider, based mostly on the proof over time, that Mike Warren knew what was going to occur that day?

Aleathea McRoberts: I do not consider there’s any direct proof of that.

Dave Aronberg: There simply wasn’t sufficient proof to prosecute Michael Warren. … but when proof emerges, we’ll pursue it.

As they ready for trial, regardless of by no means recovering the clown disguise or the gun, prosecutors have been assured they may show that Keen-Warren dedicated the homicide in order that she might marry Mike Warren. 

Dave Aronberg: Sheila Keen-Warren had the means, the motive and the chance to do that.

Greg Rosenfeld: We won’t ever know who killed Marlene Warren as a result of the Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office and the State Attorney’s Office did such a poor job investigating this case. I can inform you with out query that it was not Sheila Keen.

Keen-Warren’s protection legal professional, Greg Rosenfeld says she’s harmless—a sufferer of the state legal professional’s reckless want to shut a infamous chilly case.

Greg Rosenfeld: And they stated you recognize what? This is our suspect. We’re going to keep it up. … though the items of the puzzle did not match the puzzle.

Rosenfeld says there have been different potential suspects authorities ignored—together with an inmate who supposedly bragged in jail about murdering Marlene.  But prosecutors say he was investigated and cleared.

Dave Aronberg: It’s not stunning that … they might attempt to level the finger at regulation enforcement for not taking a look at each potential suspect. … But when you take a look at the proof, it pointed to 1 particular person all alongside, Sheila Keen-Warren.

The state was assured Keen-Warren was chargeable for Marlene’s homicide—however Rosenfeld plans to poke holes in its case at trial.

Peter Van Sant: How do you overcome DNA proof?

Greg Rosenfeld: The State Attorney’s Office ought to be embarrassed concerning the DNA proof on this case.

Rosenfeld agrees the hair prosecutors say was discovered within the LeBaron getaway automotive could possibly be from Keen-Warren, however he says, it may be from about 4 % of the U.S. Caucasian inhabitants.

Greg Rosenfeld: They could not exclude Marlene Warren from that hair pattern. … So that was their groundbreaking DNA proof.

And even when you concede that the hair is from Keen-Warren, says Rosenfeld, there’s an harmless rationalization as to the way it acquired there: the LeBaron was on the lot at Bargain Motors the place she labored.

Greg Rosenfeld: Sheila could have been within the automotive used on this homicide. That’s it.

Peter Van Sant: The protection legal professional says, properly, in fact her hair may be in there … It does not imply that she was driving on the time of the homicide. What do you say to that?

Aleathea McRoberts: It’s only one extra hyperlink. … Once you place that one factor with the totality of all of the circumstances, then it begins to change into overwhelming.

Rosenfeld says the orange fibers discovered within the automotive, which prosecutors say could possibly be from the clown costume, must also be excluded.

Greg Rosenfeld: So, the fibers discovered within the automotive have been artificial fibers. … That similar sort of fiber can be utilized in hundreds of various merchandise. … So, the state likes to current it as … clown wig fibers, however that is factually incorrect.

Even extra troubling than the proof gathered, says Rosenfeld, is the way it was dealt with over the a long time.

Peter Van Sant: What are we taking a look at right here?

Greg Rosenfeld: These are … proof luggage on the Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office Evidence Unit torn open. Just gaping holes in these proof luggage.

Peter Van Sant: If there’s gaping holes, what can that do to the proof inside?

Greg Rosenfeld: That’s exactly how you may have cross-contamination.

The bag comprises a clown wig that investigators bought, just like the one they believed was worn by the assailant. They used it to match to the fibers discovered within the LeBaron and in Keen-Warren’s house.

Greg Rosenfeld: This is an open proof bag with the wig protruding. … that is horrifying.

Peter Van Sant: And, so, your backside line is, is that this proof is unreliable now?

Greg Rosenfeld: Without query.

Peter Van Sant: Can it not be argued that … a number of the proof on this case was certainly bungled?

Dave Aronberg: You know, it is — you are asking a number of regulation enforcement to be good from 1990 to immediately. … a number of the proof was saved in an proof storage space that wasn’t splendid. … Any mistake, any small opening will likely be exploited by protection legal professionals.

Prosecutors have been nonetheless sure they’d the fitting particular person for Marlene’s homicide. But in February 2020, after a reevaluation of Keen-Warren’s case, they introduced they might now not search the dying penalty.

Peter Van Sant: Were you advised by the prosecutor’s workplace that there was all the time an opportunity in a jury trial that she may even be acquitted?

Joe Ahrens: Yes.

FROM DEATH PENALTY TO LIFE IN PRISON TO A PLEA DEAL

It is claimed the wheels of justice flip slowly, and when it got here to the homicide of Marlene Warren,

that grind usually appeared to return to a halt. After the 27-year anticipate an arrest, Sheila Keen-Warren’s trial kept getting delayed. By 2022, she had spent 5 years in jail; her trial was postponed six occasions.

Aleathea McRoberts: And then we had COVID … So, it simply was one factor after one other. … a long time of accumulation, of information and images and … mountains of proof and paperwork.

Defense legal professional Greg Rosenfeld was additionally making an attempt to work his approach by way of all that proof. And he says, including to the delays, was a scarcity of cooperation from the state.

Greg Rosenfeld: Evidence saved — I’d say, disappearing.

Rosenfeld says one essential piece of proof for the protection that disappeared for years was what investigators known as the “clown sighting file.”

Greg Rosenfeld: These have been all the guidelines … about individuals who alleged to have seen clowns within the space.

Peter Van Sant: That opens up, for you, new avenues as to attainable suspects, proper?

Greg Rosenfeld: Absolutely. Absolutely. … I believe the sheriff’s workplace and the State Attorney’s Office simply determined they did not need to search for this proof

But then instantly, in October 2022, as one other trial date neared, the file was discovered. 

Aleathea McRoberts: It was situated, not with the Sheila Keen clown homicide … packing containers, it was truly a file misplaced.

Greg Rosenfeld: They discover this clown sighting file and it is 35 ideas. We start to analyze them. … now we’re 32 years after the homicide. … you recognize, we could not monitor down these witnesses.

Aleathea McRoberts: I’ve seen it and … it is foolish issues … Clearly clown sightings that had nothing to do with Marlene Warren.

Peter Van Sant: And it wasn’t being deliberately hidden from the protection, you are saying.

Aleathea McRoberts: Absolutely not. We have been meticulous about ensuring they’d all the pieces.

Though, because the trial neared, the a long time of delays have been inflicting issues for the prosecution as properly.

Dave Aronberg: Every day that glided by, it was a harder case. … witnesses die, recollections fade, proof spoils …  One of our key witnesses handed away. … He was the one who compiled the proof. And with out him, we misplaced a series of custody for some essential proof referring to the fibers.

Evidence the protection already claimed had been poorly saved and mishandled.

Greg Rosenfeld: Contaminated, inadmissible, unreliable. … it simply goes to indicate you ways poor of an investigation that was achieved.

Dave Aronberg: They have been going to have the ability to argue that due to the opening of the luggage, that the proof was spoiled, and due to the break within the chain of custody, due to the dying of our witnesses, that … it should not even be admitted. … So, you had some actual potential for cheap doubt.

Greg Rosenfeld: There was past an inexpensive doubt.

On April 25, 2023, two weeks earlier than Keen-Warren’s trial for the homicide of Marlene Warren was to start, there was one more shock in a case that had been stuffed with the sudden: a plea deal was reached.

PROSECUTOR REID SCOTT (plea listening to): Ms. Keen-Warren, the defendant herein, will conform to withdraw her beforehand entered plea of not responsible enter a plea of responsible.

Keen-Warren — whose case at one time included the dying penalty, then life in jail — would now plead guilty to second-degree murder and be sentenced to 12 years in jail. Under sentencing tips for time served, she is predicted to be launched in 2025 — maybe sooner.

Dave Aronberg: We needed to make a judgment based mostly on what we had.

Peter Van Sant: Because the concern is what, when you take this to trial?

Dave Aronberg: The worst factor that might occur can be that Sheila Keen-Warren can be discovered not responsible, not as a result of she was harmless, however as a result of after 33 years, we couldn’t show past an inexpensive doubt that she was the one who did it.

But Keen-Warren did must publicly pay a value for this plea deal — admitting in open courtroom that she, in truth, did homicide Marlene Warren.

PROSECUTOR REID SCOTT (plea listening to): If this case have been to proceed to jury trial, the state would current proof … that on or about May the twenty sixth of 1990, the defendant was chargeable for the dying of Marlene Warren.

JUDGE: Ms. Keen-Warren, Did you hear all that?

SHEILA KEEN-WARREN: Yes.

JUDGE: And do you agree with that factual foundation?”

SHEILA KEEN-WARREN: Yes.

Despite admitting her crime, Keen-Warren, by way of her legal professional, nonetheless maintains she is harmless.

Greg Rosenfeld: Sheila didn’t commit this homicide. … It was very troublesome for her to, uh, admit to committing against the law that she didn’t commit.

Peter Van Sant: But as a matter of regulation, she has admitted to committing the homicide by saying sure.

Greg Rosenfeld: Correct. For the aim of —

Peter Van Sant: So, she is a convicted assassin?

Greg Rosenfeld: In as far as the regulation goes, certain. … But when … you are advised you might be house … or, you recognize, you possibly can play Russian roulette and threat spending the remainder of your life in jail. It’s form of a no- brainer.

Dave Aronberg: The protection can not have it each methods. … So, she will likely be a assassin for day-after-day for the remainder of her life. Even when she will get out of jail sooner or later, she’ll nonetheless be a convicted assassin.

When she does get out of jail, she’s going to reunite together with her husband Michael Warren.

Greg Rosenfeld: Sheila goes house to … Tennessee. … She’s going again to her life.

Michael Warren, in a press release supplied to “48 Hours” concerning the plea, stated, “My wife did not commit this crime…  It was difficult to see her plea to a crime she did not commit, but it wasn’t worth the gamble when she was offered a deal that’ll have her home in 16 to 18 months …”

Peter Van Sant: With this deal, there’s a probability that Sheila may get out of jail inside the subsequent yr or two. Are you all proper with that?

Joe Ahrens: Well, I’m not all proper with it, however I’ve to be.

Still, Joe Aherns accepted the plea deal, feeling it wasn’t well worth the gamble of going to trial.

Joe Ahrens: That was very emotional as a result of that was the top of one thing so enormous that grew for 33 years of my life.

Peter Van Sant: Finally. It’s over.

Joe Ahrens: Finally, you recognize. It was phew.

The demons that when occupied Ahrens’ thoughts are gone, changed with loving recollections of how his mom Marlene lived, fairly than how that life was so violently taken.

Peter Van Sant: What would you say to your mom, when you might converse to her immediately?

Joe Ahrens: Wow, what might I say to my mom? … “Thank you for showing me how to love and be peaceful and … Thank you for being in my life.”

Marlene Warren’s mom Shirley Twing died in March 2023, earlier than Sheila Keen-Warren pleaded responsible to Marlene’s homicide.

POST MORTEM PODCAST

Correspondent Peter Van Sant, producer Ruth Chenetz and host Anne Marie Green talk about the weird homicide case that took investigators practically 30 years to make an arrest. Hear what it was like for Van Sant to cease by Mike Warren’s home for an interview the place the neighborhood canine determined to take part within the dialogue. Plus, they speak about proof which will have been mishandled and the chance that might have led to an acquittal for Sheila Keen-Warren.  

Produced by Ruth Chenetz, Richard Fetzer and Sarah Prior. Ryan Smith is the event producer. Marlon Disla, Mike Baluzy, Marcus Balsam and Philip Tangel are the editors. Anthony Batson is the senior producer. Nancy Kramer is the chief story editor. Judy Tygard is the chief producer.