Nowhere To Hide

Usually, when Wellington, Florida, makes national news, it's related to an equestrian event, a celebrity moving to the area, or success in high school sports or “reality television” singing auditions.

(Or ... due to an amazing high school debate team. Not that I'm one to brag.)

But this week, Wellington was in national - and international - headlines because of an event that took place 27 years ago: the arrest of an individual believed to have murdered area resident Marlene Warren.

This past Tuesday, Sheila Keen Warren - wife of Marlene’s ex-husband, Michael - was located in Washington County, Virginia, and arrested without incident. Keen is awaiting extradition to Florida.

Marlene Warren was fatally wounded outside her home in Wellington’s Aero Club development in May, 1990, by someone wearing clown makeup, a red wig, and holding balloons in what is believed to be part of a love triangle crime.

It sounds like a scenario straight out of a Stephen King story. And given Florida’s notoriety for seemingly daily outlandish crimes, one could be forgiven if they didn’t believe this tale.

While Keen was a suspect at the time, and law enforcement discovered a number of connections (for example, the abandoned getaway car was eventually traced to a rental agency Michael Warren did business with, and two clerks at a costume store picked Keen out of a photo lineup saying she had bought a clown outfit two days earlier), no probably cause could be established at the time, and no arrests were made. The case would remain cold for more than two decades, and was one of Palm Beach County’s most notable unsolved murders.

Three years ago, the PBSO Cold Case Unit reopened the homicide investigation. Witnesses were re-contacted and additional DNA analysis was conducted. A major spark in their renewed interest in the case was their discovery that, in 2002, Michael Warren married Keen in Las Vegas. The marriage established probable cause.

While never charged with Marlene Warren’s murder, Michael Warren was arrested in 1992 on a plethora of charges connected with his ownership of his used car dealership - one count of racketeering, six counts of grand theft, and 21 counts of odometer tampering. He did three years and nine months of a nine-year prison sentence. The PBSO said at the time it discovered his crimes while investigating her murder.

The murder took place in the days before Twitter, Facebook, and diehard tabloid media, so much of the publicity and gossip was contained to Palm Beach County, in large part because Marlene and Michael Warren were among the wealthiest western communities residents at the time; they had real estate holdings worth over $1 million, all of which were in her name. But, not all was happy in the Warren household; despite being married for 20 years, the Warrens were having marital problems, and Marlene thought her husband was having an affair.

Authorities have yet to comment on Michael Warren’s involvement in Marlene Warren’s murder, or any plans to prosecute him. But one thing is for sure - if you commit a major crime, you can run, but you cannot hide forever.