The husband of the killer clown suspect accused of murdering his first wife in a case which remained cold for 27 years until her arrest last month has protested her innocence.
Sheila Keen Warren was arrested last month for the 1990 murder of her husband Michael’s first wife Marlene.
Marlene was shot in the face after answering the door of her Palm Beach home to a person who was dressed up as a clown. The clown handed her balloons and flowers then coldly fired a single shot before driving off in a white sedan.
Until this year, there was no hint of who may have killed Marlene until a local newspaper reporter reviewing the case for its 27th anniversary in May discovered that in the years since, Michael and Sheila – who were acquaintances at the time – had quietly married and moved out of state.
Police then used new DNA technology to test existing evidence which they had gathered from the scene and they linked it to Sheila who was extradited from Virginia, where they now live, to Florida to face charges.
In an interview with ABC’s 20/20 which will air on Friday, Michael, now 65, speaks publicly for the first time since Sheila’s arrest and reveals that he believes she is innocent.
The network teased a sliver of what he said in an article on Thursday in which he is quoted saying: ‘This is very serious and very unfair.’
Sheila Keen Warren’ s husband believes she is innocent of murdering his first wife Marlene (right before her death) in 1990. Police say Sheila, 54, (above in her September mugshot, left) dressed up as a clown and shot Marlene in the face on the doorstep of her home
Palm Beach sheriffs previously said that they had suspected Michael and Sheila of having an affair in the 1990s but that they could not link either of them to the murder.
Michael Warren (above in the only known photograph of him in 1992) was arrested that year for racketeering. He maintains he had nothing to do with his first wife’s killing
No charges have been filed against Michael since his wife’s arrest last month.
On Thursday, the State’s Attorney refused to tell DailyMail.com whether he is being investigated on the suspicion that he may have been involved in a plot to kill Marlene.
One question surrounding the case remains which is did Sheila act alone to carry out the murder and win Michael over once he was widowed, or did she and Michael plot the murder together so that they could be together.
Authorities have so far given no indication that they believe the latter to be true but it is the suspicion of Marlene’s friends and relatives.
Her son Joe Ahrens appears satisfied with Sheila’s arrest. He celebrated the news on social media last month saying police had ‘finally’ caught his mother’s murderer.
In May 1990, a person dressed up as a clown rang the doorbell of Marlene and Michael’s home in Palm Beach Florida. Marlene answered and received a delivery of a bouquet of carnations and some balloons. She was then shot in the face and the clown fled. Marlene (seen above being taken to hospital after being shot) died two days later
Crime scene investigators are pictured at the Warren home after Marlene was shot. The small bouquet of flowers that the clown gave her is pictured
Michael is not Joe’s biological father. Joe was in the home with his friends when Marlene was killed on the doorstep.
Some suspected that Marlene and Sheila had been having an affair when Marlene died.
Her parents said in 2000 that Marlene confided in them that she and Michael had been having marital problems and said she believed he had a mistress.
Both Michael and Sheila denied it when questioned by police after Marlene’s murder but neither has ever given any explanation or version of events about how they came to get married.
The pair fell off the radar again until this year when it emerged they had gotten married in Las Vegas in 2002 then moved from Florida to Kingsport, Tennessee, where they owned this Purple Cow restaurant. They then moved to Abingdon, Virginia, which is where police found Sheila in September
Sheila (above during a court appearance in Florida this month after being extradited) now faces the death penalty
In 1994, Michael was jailed in a separate case on racketeering charges related to his car rental agency. He was released in 1997 then slipped out of public view for 20 years.
In May this year, Palm Beach Post reporter Barbara Marshall was reviewing Marlene’s murder for a feature to commemorate its 27th anniversary.
The 54-year-old (above) denies murdering Marlene in 1990
She discovered during her research that Michael and Sheila had gotten married in Las Vegas in 2002 and that they were now living in Abingdon, Virginia. They had recently sold The Purple Cow, a restaurant they owned in Tennessee.
It is not clear whether if Marshall reported her findings to police but they revived their investigation and in August, Florida police contacted their Virginia counterparts to try to find Sheila.
She was arrested on September 27 and was extradited back to Florida shortly afterwards. In her mugshot, she appeared smiling.
Her lawyer Richard Lubin maintains that she is innocent.
Earlier this month, Florida’s State Attorney David Aronberg said he was pursuing the death penalty.
Sheila remains behind bars without bond and is awaiting her next court date.
- Michael’s interview with ABC’s 20/20 will air on Friday at 9pm.