Florida Killer Clown Pleads Guilty To 1990 Murder: Reports

FORT LAUDERDALE, FL — A woman accused of dressing up as a clown and fatally shooting her husband's first wife on the doorstep of her Wellington home in 1990 pleaded guilty to second-degree murder Tuesday, according to multiple reports.

Sheila Keen-Warren, 59, struck a plea deal this week after spending nearly eight years in jail awaiting trial for first-degree murder in the death of Marlene Warren, according to The Associated Press. She was dubbed a "killer clown" by media outlets that covered the three-decade saga.

Authorities said Keen-Warren went to Warren's home in May 1990, handed her carnations and balloons, and then fatally shot her in the face in front of her son, according to reports.

Circuit Judge Scott Suskauer accepted her plea in exchange for a 12-year prison sentence, according to the Palm Beach Post. Keen-Warren will get credit for time served, and her attorney told the Post she would likely be released from prison in about 16 months.

Keen-Warren's attorney, Greg Rosenfeld, called the plea deal a "big win" for his client, according to ABC News, while continuing to deny her guilt.

"It was an incredibly hard decision for our client, saying you did something that you didn't do," Rosenfeld said. "I mean, nothing's harder than that."

"Our client wanted to go home," Rosenfeld continued.

Keen-Warren's trial for first-degree murder was set to start next month, The AP reported. If convicted, Keen-Warren likely would have received a life sentence.

According to AP, Keen-Warren was an employee of Warren's husband, Michael, before the shooting. The pair married in 2002 and eventually moved to Virginia, where they managed a restaurant across the Tennessee border.

In 1990, witnesses told authorities that Keen-Warren and Michael Warren were having an affair, though both denied it. ABC News reported that witness testimony also placed Keen-Warren at a local costume shop buying a clown costume and wig about two days before the incident.

According to ABC News, the Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office Cold Case Unit reopened the investigation into Warren's death in 2014.

Keen-Warren was taken into custody in 2017 after DNA technology proved that a hair found in the clown's getaway car came from her, The AP reported; however, Keen-Warren has insisted she is not the killer.