The discovery of a decades-old police file labeled “clown sightings” has placed a Florida woman’s murder trial on hold.
The defendant, Sheila Keen Warren, is accused of fatally shooting her lover’s wife while wearing a clown disguise.
Killer clown trial delayed
The police file identified some 40 clown sightings contemporaneous with the 1990 murder of Marlene Warren.
The 40-year-old was shot dead after opening her front door to a clown carrying flowers and balloons, one of which read, “You’re the Greatest!”
Sheila Keen Warren married the victim’s husband in 2002 and was employed by his business when the killing happened.
The two were rumored to have an affair, and Keen Warren was considered a suspect but never charged.
The balloons the killer carried were traced to a specific store where employees said a woman who looked like Keen Warren bought the balloons an hour before the shooting. Keen Warren was also identified by a costume store clerk.
Defense touts discovery
She was later arrested in 2017 after police said advances in DNA technology made it possible to identify her as the killer. But the defense is touting the sudden emergence of the long-buried police file, saying it could point to another suspect.
“Needless to say this will take the defense considerable time and resources to investigate,” the defense attorneys said.
Prosecutors initially said they couldn’t find the file, which was labeled “clown sightings.”
“The State admitted that the clown sighting file was located in, of all places, a box at the State Attorney’s Office,” a defense motion read.
A strange case, indeed.