Florida’s “killer clown” has pleaded guilty to second-degree murder after shooting a rival in 1990 — but could be released from prison in just ten months.
Dressed as a clown and make-up, Sheila Kane Warren confessed to killing Marilyn Warren outside her Wellington home, before marrying her victim’s husband Michael Warren in 2002 in Las Vegas.
The 60-year-old changed her plea two weeks before her trial was due to begin – 33 years after she pleaded not guilty to murder on May 26.
She was sentenced to 12 years in prison, with the balance of the five and a half years she has served in prison since her arrest.
But her lawyer claimed she could be free early next year on account of good behavior – with time running out of her sentence for each month she’s spent in jail without incident.
Sheila Kane Warren admitted to shooting Marilyn Warren while dressed as a clown and makeup
The 60-year-old (pictured) dramatically changed her claim two weeks before her trial is due to begin – 33 years after she pleaded innocent of murder on May 26.
Defense attorney Greg Rosenfeld added that while current law requires people to serve at least 85 percent of their sentence before time increases, Ken Warren is exempt because of sentencing laws in 1990 when the crime was committed.
He added that although Ken Warren had pleaded guilty to the crime, she still insisted she did not pull the trigger – adding that “the gamble is not worth it”.
Rosenfeld said: “This is a very difficult decision, just having to plead a crime you didn’t commit.
“The bet isn’t worth it. When you think about going home in 10 months to the stakes of what could happen at trial, you never know. It’s a huge win for our clients.”
Ken Warren would have faced life in prison or the death penalty if convicted of first-degree murder, according to the attorney general’s office.
She became the prime suspect in the murder after she was rumored to be having an affair with Marilyn’s husband, Michael, something she denied to investigators despite marrying him 12 years later.
Marilyn was shot in the face on her doorstep by Ken Warren, who was holding two balloons.
One of the balloons reportedly bore an image of Snow White, and the other was emblazoned with the words, “You’re the Greatest!”
Marilyn, 40 (pictured), was shot in the face in May 1990 after answering the door of her Palm Beach home to someone dressed as a clown
Costume store staff Sheila Kane Warren is alleged to be the woman who bought a clown costume two days before the murder
Michael and Sheila married in Las Vegas in 2002, years after his first wife was murdered 12 years earlier.
In the photo, two balloons and flowers that the clown gave Marilyn. One of the balloons said “You are the Greatest” and the other had a picture of Snow White on it
Crime scene investigators photographed the Warren home after Marilyn was shot in May 1990
Ken Warren met Michael while working as a used car shop buyback lady – with Michael always insisting that she was innocent of killing his first wife.
The Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office considered Michael a suspect in the murder but was not formally charged.
“The only thing I want to say is, throughout this trial I have seen no remorse,” Joseph Ahrens, Marilyn’s don, said after sentencing. God be with her.
His mother had opened the door for the clown who had balloons and a bouquet of flowers which she had taken.
She was having breakfast with her son, Joseph, and several of his friends, and commented “How cute”, before she was shot in the face. Michael, a car salesman, was not home at the time.
Then Ken Warren calmly got back into the white Chrysler LeBaron that had arrived and drove away from the scene.
Marilyn died in hospital two days later, and the authorities were only able to arrest her, who was killed in 2017, after a DNA breakthrough.
Officers arrested Kane Warren in 2017, where she was living with Michael, after Detective Paige McCann discovered previously unseen 6- to 8-inch fibers among crime scene evidence.
Assistant District Attorney Reed Scott said Kane Warren pleaded guilty “because she is”, something her attorneys deny.
Scott confirmed that DNA extracted from the fibers linked Kane-Warren to the murder. Her defense team questioned the integrity of the fibers before she eventually pleaded guilty.
The shock plea came after another inmate, Edward Baher, bragged to his cellmate that Michael hired him to kill Marilyn because she wanted a divorce. He later denied making the allegations.
Paramedics take Marilyn Warren to an ambulance on May 26, 1990, after she was shot in front of her home.
Michael was jailed in 1992 on racketeering charges (top left in court) and then left the map after spending three years in prison in Florida. When his wife was murdered, the police suspected him of having an affair with Sheila (right on her driver’s license) but they denied it.
Police used new DNA technology to link evidence to Ken-Warren who was extradited from Virginia to Florida in 2017 on murder charges (Ken Warren in 2017)
A white Chrysler LeBaron convertible was used to drive to Marilyn’s house and later found again abandoned (above) in a parking lot
