Crime Weekly - S3 Ep220: Marlene Warren: The Killer Clown (Part 1)

Episode Date: June 28, 2024

On the morning of May 26, 1990, 40-year-old Marlene Warren answered the door of her upscale Wellington, Florida home to find a person dressed as a clown holding a flower arrangement and two balloons. As Marlene reached out for the gifts, the clown shot her in the face, leaving Marlene gasping for air on the floor as the clown calmly walked back to a white Chrysler LeBaron and drove away. While Marlene was rushed to the hospital in critical condition, a massive manhunt for the clown began. And as the investigation unfolded, it was revealed that Marlene had expressed fears that her husband, Michael Warren, was going to kill her. However, the police would soon find out Michael couldn’t be the killer—he’d been with a friend when Marlene was shot. But, as the investigation continued, disturbing information about Michael’s possible connections to the murder began to surface. Try our coffee!! - www.CriminalCoffeeCo.com Become a Patreon member -- > https://www.patreon.com/CrimeWeekly Shop for your Crime Weekly gear here --> https://crimeweeklypodcast.com/shop Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/c/CrimeWeeklyPodcast Website: CrimeWeeklyPodcast.com Instagram: @CrimeWeeklyPod Twitter: @CrimeWeeklyPod Facebook: @CrimeWeeklyPod ADS: 1. HelixSleep.com/CrimeWeekly - Get up to 30% off ALL mattresses and two FREE pillows! 2. EatIQBAR.com - Text WEEKLY to 64000 to get 20% off ALL IQBAR products and FREE shipping! 3. SimpliSafe.com/CrimeWeekly - Get 20% off any SimpliSafe system with Fast Protect Monitoring! 4. StitchFix.com/CrimeWeekly - Get $25 off your first 4 fixes! 5. JoinDeleteMe.com/Crime - Use code CRIME to get 20% off!

On the morning of May 26, 1990, 40-year-old Marlene Warren answered the door of her upscale Wellington, Florida home to find a person dressed as a clown holding a flower arrangement and two balloons. As Marlene reached out for the gifts, the clown shot her in the face, leaving Marlene gasping for air on the floor as the clown calmly walked back to a white Chrysler LeBaron and drove away. While Marlene was rushed to the hospital in critical condition, a massive manhunt for the clown began, and as the investigation unfolded, it was revealed that Marlene had expressed fears that her husband, Michael Warren, was going to kill her.

However, the police would soon find out Michael couldn't be the killer. He'd been with a friend when Marlene was shot. But as the investigation continued, disturbing information about Michael's possible connections to the murder began to surface. Hello, everybody. Welcome back to Crime Weekly. I'm Stephanie Harlow. And I'm Derek Levasseur. So today we're diving into a brand new case, the case of Marlene Mae McKinnon. And it's kind of a crazy one and we're going to

get into it. But before we do, is there anything you want to say? Anything you want to do? No, just to reiterate what I said in Crime Weekly News, because not everyone goes and listens to that, unfortunately. But I just want to thank everyone who came out to CrimeCon over the last month or so. It was a little while ago, but you'll understand why I'm addressing it now down the road. But overall, it was just a great experience. Every year it gets better and better. And the opportunity to meet with so many of you in person, hear your takes on how we're covering cases, what cases we're covering and how they've impacted you and helped you in certain ways in your own lives, it really does

drive home the point of why we do this and why it's so special because we're very lucky to be in a position where we have a platform where people come every week to listen or watch the information that we're putting out. And we don't take it for granted. We had a line from the Friday that we started all the way to the Sunday that we packed up and we wouldn't have been able to do it without our team, Bella, Sam, and Shannon, and also just your patience. We wanted to spend time with each and every person that came through the line. So we didn't want to rush it. We didn't just take a photo. We were having conversations, some really good ones actually. And from meeting all of you

to the Clue Awards to just the whole experience, Nashville is amazing. We're just really fortunate to be in the position we're in and we wouldn't be in this position without you. So thank you to everybody who attended. If we got to meet you one-on-one during a VIP event, you can go over to crimeweeklypodcast.com. We have some photos up there from Nashville and from some other Crime Cons that Sam had taken for us while he was at the event. So go over there and check out those photos. And we already have a link up for Crime Con Denver next year if you would like to attend. There's a code there as well, I believe, that'll allow you to get a discount on general passes. So again, just wanted to thank

everybody for coming out. We know it's not guaranteed and we're going to continue to grow and learn on this channel to make sure that we're constantly evolving and listening to you guys when we get the opportunity to speak to you in person so we can give you the best content possible in the way that you want to receive it. Absolutely. Yeah. CrimeCon was great. Loved hanging out with you guys. Loved seeing you guys. We always, and that's really why like every year we go back to CrimeCon because getting to interact with you personally is just such a treat.

And honestly, like it's like all year, it's kind of like a family reunion for us, you know, at CrimeCon. We get to meet up with all the creators that we talk to throughout the year, but we never see in person. We get to meet up with you guys that we talk to all year, but never see in person. It's like a big family reunion every year. And that's why we love CrimeCon. And that's why we love you guys. We've really made some good friends too. Shout out Kathy and Joe, like some of our best friends now. Oh, Kathy and Joe, man. Kathy and Joe, the plumber out of Florida. If you need

a plumber out of Florida, go see them. Love them. They're like family now. They're family. They are like family. So shout out to them. I do have a question for you, Stephanie. I'm going to put you under the gun right now. Okay. Okay. Because a lot of people have been asking and based on your stance a couple of weeks ago, I'm kind of putting you in a corner here. Okay. You ready for this? Yeah. Are you going to CrimeCon Cruise? I thought you said you didn't want me to. No, I didn't say I didn't want you to. You said I'm not letting you go to CrimeCon cruise.

Yes, because of your stance on cruises. Both of us won't be there. So you don't have to answer right now, but the people are asking. I believe that's in November. I think I can make it happen. Oh, so you're going to go on a cruise after basically criminalizing everybody who decides to go on a cruise because of how dangerous it is. Well, I mean, you'll be there to protect me. Oh my God.

You just spun that completely. So it's a tentative yes is what you're saying. It's tentative. Yes. Okay. I need to face my fears, you know, like. Cruises are amazing. I know you like had all the statistics and the ammo ready

to go last time we talked about it to the point where I questioned myself about ever going on a cruise, but I love cruises. I do get a little motion sickness sometimes on these cruises, but if it's in the Caribbean, it's not too bad. We will, a lot of you have asked in the comments. That's why I'm, I'm, I'm asking Stephanie, we've talked about it briefly, but if it's something that we're going to do, we're going to make the decision relatively soon. We've talked about it briefly, but if it's something that we're going to do, we're going to make the decision relatively soon. We'll let you guys know. You can go on the CrimeCon website. We might be there. I think we will be there if everything works out scheduling wise. We usually have to bank episodes before we go,

which is what makes it difficult. But if we can be there, we will be there. But even if we can't be there, if you like cruises and you like CrimeCon, I heard the CrimeCon cruise is a great time. So we'll have more details if we go. But if you want to check it out, you go over to CrimeCon.com, get all the details. That's all I had. CrimeCon cruise. Stephanie, who hates cruises, might be there. That in and of itself might be worth a ticket.

Yes. As you're holding on for dear life the entire paranoid very paranoid very scared i'll be like derrick hyper vigilant the whole time yep and then after you go you're like oh my god cruises are amazing i want you to come back here and let everyone know because that's all the people that cruises haven't been amazing for well we'll see we'll see what happens i know you have all the statistics, but you might be like, F the statistics. It was great. But no, we'll see how it goes. We'll let you guys know sooner than later. But that is our latest update on the CrimeCon cruise. I would say 70-30 we'll be there, but we'll let you know for sure soon. That's all I got into this week's episode. Well, let's dive in. Marlene May McKinnon was born on April 15th,

1950 to a middle-class family in Michigan. Her family included her mother, Shirley, her father, Leonard, and two sisters, Leanne and Debbie. They grew up north of Detroit in a small town, spending a lot of time on their grandfather's farm. Later, Marlene's parents split and Shirley married a man named Bill, bringing two more siblings into Marlene's life. That was Julie and Jamie. Now, Marlene was described as outgoing, friendly, loving, always courteous, respectful, willing to do anything for anybody. A family friend recalled, quote, she was one of the nicest people I've ever met. Nothing ever bothered her. She laughed at everything, end quote. Marlene was also known as a go-getter. She was never afraid to take on a lot of work.

It felt like she was unstoppable. By the age of 18, Marlene was married and had two sons. Her sons' names were John and Joseph, also known as Joey or Joe. Joe described Marlene as a great mother. She was charismatic and a person of love. Tragically, Marlene's first husband died when she was just 20 years old, but not long after, she met Michael Warren, who grew up in Roseville, Michigan, a small suburb of Detroit. Michael was close to his father, who had showed him the ropes in the meat business, and this would later become Michael's first career.

On April 27, 1972, Marlene married Michael Warren, and Joe later said Michael became a father figure to him and his brother. Seeking a fresh start, the family relocated to South Florida, where Michael applied to become a meat inspector with the Florida Department of Agriculture. end quote. He got the job and started earning $500 a month, which back then, you know, like right now in 2024, we're like $500 a month. That is nothing. But in that time in 1972, I was about to say that's a good amount of money. That would be almost $4,000 today. So not bad for an entry level position, especially because, you know, he was younger. Michael worked his way up to an inspection supervisor, eventually making over $1,350 a month, and that's more than $6,000 today. By the start of the 80s, Michael and Marlene began investing their extra money in small residential properties in Palm Beach County, Florida. They would flip the houses and then start renting them out.

Marlene managed this side of the business, and their investments honestly did really well, and they went on to buy up more than a million dollars worth of property in that county. Now, things appeared to be looking up for the couple, but then, in November of 1984, Michael resigned from his inspection supervisor position after being accused by his bosses of falsifying timesheets. As it turns out, while Michael was on the clock, he wasn't doing his meat inspecting job. Instead, he was taking part in a side hustle. He was buying cars and then reselling them. And he got caught. Instead of getting fired, he resigned. In his resignation letter, he wrote, quote, I'm sorry that I have to do this. I was framed by my supervisor who does not always tell

the truth. End quote. I'm sorry. It's so funny. They're like, you can be fired or resign. And he's like, I'll resign, but I'm going to make sure to get the last word in. It is really hard to believe that Michael was actually framed when you find out what he did after leaving the meat business, which was starting a used car dealership named Bargain Motors located at 1501 North Dixie Highway in West Palm Beach. So basically, he's trying to say he never was selling cars on the side. He was framed by his supervisor, but then he goes on to open up basically a used car dealership. Used car, yeah. So kind of the shoe fits, right? Clearly there's something going on there.

He was inspired by the frame job and he was like, well, if I'm going to get accused of it, I might as well do it. Yeah. So, I mean, that's obviously his cop out. He puts in the resignation letter to kind of cover his bases, make it look like he's the victim and then ultimately goes on to continue the type of business that he was allegedly doing whilst still working at the other place. Again, could be a coincidence, but on the surface doesn't look good. Well, bargain motors became known as the place to go if you had bad credit and needed a vehicle. Michael was very good at selling cars. He was charming.

He was a smooth talker. He exuded confidence. You know, the typical used car salesperson kind of cliche, this fast talking, you know, dressed in a suit, kind of oily, kind of slick. But that was Michael and it worked for him. The dealership later grew to include a car rental company and Marlene continued handling the rental homes. The couple became known to everyone as workaholics. They were tirelessly working long hours to make sure that their businesses were successful. I'll tell you what, just so far, I mean, what a power couple. As we're getting into

this, I mean, real estate, rental cars, like really, I know we're talking about this case for a different reason, but on the surface, really successful entrepreneurs for sure. And clearly, despite some of the things we're going to discuss tonight, as a team, they appeared to work really well together. I mean, to have multiple businesses like this is not easy. And considering they were doing it on their own, very impressive. Yeah, I mean, absolutely. If that's exactly the way it went and everybody was kind of, you know, being an equal partner and helping to build the company, then yeah, it kind of seems like they were at least very good business partners. Yes. So on the surface, they definitely appear to be successful. But as we know, the definition of success is subjective and means

different things to different people. And you don't always see from the outside what's really happening. Right. Of course. You only see the successes, right? You don't necessarily see the inner workings and what's going on behind closed doors. Yeah. And I mean, honestly, Michael made a lot of money with his dealership and car rental company. However, that success came at a cost and with a lot of lawbreaking. Shortly after starting Bargain Motors, Michael faced charges for tampering with the car's odometer. So if anybody doesn't know, the odometer shows how much mileage the car has on it. If you've seen the movie Matilda, which who hasn't? It's an amazing movie. Matilda's father, who's played by Danny DeVito, is a used car salesperson, and he will do this. He finds a way to rewind the odometer so it makes it look like the car has less miles on it than it actually does. And this is not only unethical, but obviously very illegal.

So he ended up pleading guilty and he was sentenced to 19 months probation to shield the dealership and car rental company. They were transferred to Marlene's name, though Michael kept running both operations. He didn't learn anything from his probation and he continued breaking the law whenever he could. And the side note real quick, shout out to Tenley for being in a Matilda play recently. I posted on Instagram, killed it. They all did great.

Matilda, the person who played Matilda was unbelievable. But yeah, great movie. If you haven't seen it, you gotta go check it out. And there's the book too, obviously, right? Yeah, it's a great movie. I love it. I love that movie. I'm that person.

No, yeah, real quick. The O'Domera thing's a big deal. deal. The odometer thing's a really big issue. It sounds like it's a victimless crime, but it can cause a lot of safety issues. No, yes. suspecting person buys that vehicle thinking it's safe when in reality there are multiple parts that are due for an upgrade or replacement. And so they're able to charge a higher price for a vehicle that's not worth that amount of money. That's just on the surface, just the monetary element of it where you're paying more for a car than it's actually worth. But the underlying issue is the safety element where mileage is what we determine what needs to be fixed and determine what needs to be

fixed and when it needs to be updated or re-inspected to ensure that the vehicle is still safe to drive. So by altering the odometer, which was easier to do on older vehicles, it's not as easy to do today because everything's based on computers, but still possible by the way, it still can be done. It could cause some major issues, especially if you buy the vehicle and you'd be driving your family around. So yeah, to turn a quick buck and to make a little extra profit, Michael was risking the safety of his customers, which is obviously a huge deal and extremely unethical, not only illegal. It's just so sad too, because imagine, maybe you've got a single mother who's got kids and she's got to get to work. She's scraping against everything she has

to get a car so that she can make a better life and get to work and start you know making more money for her family and then within two months it breaks down and she doesn't have the money to fix it it's like it's real it's real disgusting to do to somebody no it's a scam for sure and it does give you a little bit of insight into michael because here's a situation where he's deliberately doing something that he knows is wrong. And that he, everything that I'm saying right now, he knows the risks that he's posing to the people that are buying these vehicles, not only scamming them out of money, and yet he's willing to do it to turn a profit. So it just does, it does give you a little bit of insight to who Michael is as a person, which may be foreshadowing what we're going to talk about as we go throughout this episode. But yeah, it's our first little bit of a curtain being drawn back

to see how Michael operates, how he rationalizes things and what's important to him. And at least at this point, he appears to be very motivated by money, which is not always a bad thing, but if you're willing to go to this extent to make it, then obviously it's an issue. We're going to take a quick break. We'll be right back. Stay with us. When it comes to sleep,

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now. Okay, we're back. So the Warrens business ventures continued being very lucrative. And in the mid to late 1980s, they moved to a home in the 15,000 block of Takeoff Place in Wellington, Florida, just outside of West Palm Beach. And their home was located in a very upscale neighborhood called Aero Club. But this was more than your typical rich area. This was a private aeronautical community with its own airstrip and taxiways leading to each home. And this allowed residents to enjoy the luxury of flying right to their doorstep. Most of the homes, including the Warrens, even had airplane hangers. Although the couple worked hard and were able to live in a beautiful house,

their marriage was very troubled. Friends of the Warrens later revealed that Michael treated Marlene horribly, and issues had existed between them for quite some time. And I think we alluded to that. Like, just because everything looks bright and shiny on the outside doesn't mean that there isn't, you know, rough waters underneath and you don't ever really know what's going on in somebody's life. No, not at all. And also I would even add that sometimes in these most successful family businesses, there's a lot of sacrifices that are made. I'm not even talking from a criminal nature, but there's usually a trade-off.

When you work this hard, when you dedicate this much to your business, something has to give. And it's just a sad reality we live in. You can't be in two places at once. So when you're out there earning money, building your business, what is being neglected and what issues are arising because of your willingness to do whatever it takes to be successful. Or what issues are arising that you don't even have the time to address because your goal has consumed you. Right. Absolutely. And there could be issues that, yeah, everything looks good on the surface, but that doesn't mean the dynamic within the household is good as well. Those two things can be separate where they're able to work in a business setting and able to

be functional and productive. And yet in the home, when it comes to personal dealings and just conducting yourselves as a family, there can be issues just like in any other family that doesn't make a lot of money. And those issues can be exacerbated or magnified when you don't have the time to address them properly. So a lot of things can go on here. And I think that we do sometimes as a society, look at movie stars and successful people and think, oh my God, their life is so great. Everything's perfect. And then we find out down the road that that's not necessarily the case. So again, this is a more exaggerated situation here where we're talking about a murder that's going to occur, but it can happen on a low scale or a large scale like this. by a customer who claimed Bargain Motors repossessed her car and convinced her it was stolen and then tried to resell the same car while collecting on the insurance. Just like shady, shady stuff going on here.

Of course, Michael denied the allegation, but the lawsuit was allowed to continue on. The case hadn't gone to trial by the time of Marlene's murder, however, as you'll find out in an upcoming episode. Michael would later be found guilty of other similar crimes, making this allegation totally believable. Unfortunately for the Warrens, the troubles didn't end there. Tragically, Marlene's 22-year-old son John passed away on September 23, 1988 in a car accident. Oh, this is awful. I can't even imagine. John was driving a 1983 Datsun westbound on Fairgrounds Road when he failed to stop at the

Sandsbury Way intersection. He struck a woman's 1985 Oldsmobile, which was northbound on Sandsbury, and John died at the scene while the other driver was taken to the Palm West Hospital, where she was treated and released. Marlene later sued the West Palm Beach Auto Auction for removing a stop sign on Fairgrounds Road, which she claimed contributed to the fatal accident. This lawsuit would still be pending when Marlene was murdered. At the time of John's death, Marlene was beyond concerned about her marriage to Michael. After John's funeral, she showed her mom and stepdad where she'd hidden money in the house in case she needed to leave Michael. While she was ready to divorce him, it wouldn't be easy as their financial entanglements made things complicated. For example, the couple's businesses

and real estate properties worth more than $1 million were in Marlene's name. Michael wouldn't let her have any money when they were married, so she knew he'd put up a massive fight if she ever tried to get any in a divorce. Despite these complications, Marlene was desperate to leave, and her son Joe later recalled, quote, I remember her asking, what would we do? Where would we go if we left here? I realized that she wanted to leave, but I didn't realize how far into conversations she was about it, end quote. Tough. Tough in hindsight for this child, for the son to be having these types of conversations with his mom and then to be in the position they're in now where she was murdered, tragically, I wonder if there's thoughts from him as far as like, hey, maybe we should have done more. Maybe I should have done more.

Maybe we should have gotten out. Again, he's a kid at the time, although I don't know exactly. How much younger do we know how much younger he was than john so it looks like okay so if she got married if marlene got married when she was 18 and her husband her first husband passed away when he was 20 i'd assume that they had both kids a year apart so i would assume he was probably um you know 21 20 years old something around there and it's interesting because he's talking about these conversations that he's remembering having with his mother and the question becomes when was he having them when was he having them just shortly probably around this time no because it says after

john's funeral right so so he's he's he's an adult at this point when he's having these conversations which would make sense because i don't you know if he was younger i don't think marlene would have been having these types of conversations with a young boy so it would make sense that he was younger, I don't think Marlene would have been having these types of conversations with a young boy. So it would make sense that he was more in his adult phase of life where he could actually understand the dynamics of the relationship and the problems that may have been occurring and her need to get out of there. But it appears from what he's saying that he was hearing her out, but yet he didn't know how serious she was about it at the time. It probably was too late when he finally realized how in need she felt that she

was to get out of there. Yeah, exactly. Which is sad because he's like a grown man at that point and he's kind of stuck between like, it's my job to protect her. Yeah, it's my job to protect her. But this man has also raised him since he was very young, became his father figure. And also, you're not as a kid and maybe not living in the home at that time, you're not always seeing everything that's happening. So you don't really know. Like he said, he wasn't aware of how far into the conversation she was. He may not have been aware of how bad it was. And just to confirm, because it's important the way I'm understanding it, John and Joseph were children from the previous husband, and Michael was their stepfather. Yes, Michael was their stepfather. So as Marlene was making plans to file for divorce, Michael was having an affair with an employee named Sheila Sheltra Keene. Sheila grew up in LaBelle and Indiantown, Florida.

And when she was in her late teens, her cousin was dating a man named Richard Spud Kien, who was 20 years older than Sheila. One family member said Sheila kind of stole Richard away from her cousin. And why she would want to steal Richard away is anyone's guess, because Richard was an even bigger piece of shit than Michael. He had a criminal record and was a former director of the United Clan of America, which is a Ku Klux Klan organization that's active in the United States. Sheila's family members thought Richard was a bad influence on Sheila. Her family didn't like their relationship, and she didn't care. She was headstrong and madly in love. After Sheila and Richard started dating, Richard continued breaking the law. And on June 10th, 1980, he and two other men,

including a sheriff's deputy, landed two airplanes on the Dog Patch airstrip in Georgia. They were unloading a literal ton of marijuana when the police showed up. A shootout ensued. All three men were arrested, and Richard was later found guilty of drug trafficking and sentenced to 10 years in prison. Now, Sheila stood by her man and moved to Georgia to be close to the prison where Richard served his time. To support herself, Sheila sold watches and other merchandise at flea markets throughout the state. Luckily for her, Richard did not end up serving his full sentence, and he was released on parole in 1983. So really, what, three years? Three out of 10 years. What? Like what? Like why even bother sentencing people to anything? Like, why don't you just say you're sentenced to prison? Don't

know how long could be anywhere from one day to 10 years. We'll let you out when we feel like it. Well, that's the thing. And I mean, I think there's a lot of people, especially when it comes to marijuana these days who feel like, unless I unless obviously this was a massive amount of marijuana, but there's still a lot of people who would say you really shouldn't do any prison time for it. That's a different conversation for a different day. But yeah, no, I'm with you. I mean, they have this these sentencing guidelines, but there's so many ways where they can get out sooner than the sentencing itself. I mean, they weren't stealing the marijuana. They were transporting it. Most likely across state lines. Exactly.

And I think that's where this comes in, right? Like it's not really a crime against society. It's one of those things where it's in a way, it's a victimless crime. So I'm sure when it comes to sentencing, yeah, they're given 10 years, but given good behavior behavior no issues in prison i think three years is probably sufficient for the crime you know there's people in prison i mean back then though in the 80s like they oh yeah i want to very seriously because a lot of it was coming from like mexico and the cartels so like is like was like marijuana we could say now is a

victimless crime like we grow it here there's legit farms but like back say now is a victimless crime. Like we grow it here. There's legit farms. But like back then, was it a victimless crime? Because the cartels were killing people left and right in order to grow and protect and transport this stuff. It is interesting to think that this was what, 1983 that he got parole. I'm with you. Like this type of outcome would be very understandable in today's time because there's a different perception when it comes to marijuana. But yeah, to your point, this is definitely ahead of its

time where it appears that whoever was in charge of the parole board and hearing this out had a futuristic perspective on marijuana and maybe looked at the circumstances and said, hey, like you just said, they were transporting it. They weren't necessarily growing it. They've never been maybe convicted of a crime of this nature before. Let's let them out. Three years is long enough, which, you know, on the surface, without knowing all the specifics, I don't disagree with. Yeah, definitely. I mean, his behavior in jail must have been very good. So, yeah. So this dude gets paroled, right? Richard, he's out after only three years. And the lovebirds, Sheila and Richard, they stayed together. And a year later, Sheila had her only documented brush with the law after she stole seventy eight dollars worth of merchandise in Palm Beach County. She was arrested and had her mugshot taken, but she didn't serve any jail time. She was only ordered to pay restitution. Sheila and Richard continued on with their lives, and on May 13, 1987, they got married while Sheila was six months pregnant with their only child. At some point after this, Sheila and Richard

started repossessing cars for Michael Warren, and eventually, Sheila began an affair with Michael, who was 10 years older than her. You know, this kind of reminds me, like, the old school days of like the outlaws and stuff, how they would all gravitate towards each other, like people who are kind of living on the outskirts of the law and who kind of like make their living by stealing and being nefarious and kind of being morally and legally in a gray area. And they kind of all gravitate together and they form like this little bandit group. And then, you know, chaos ensues because there's drama between them and there's fights between friends. And then this one's got this

one's girl. And, you know, they're pulling guns on each other and talking about having a duel. It kind of reminds me of that because you can see that Sheila clearly has a type. She likes the bad boys. She likes the men that bend the rules, that don't obey the laws and that's why she's with richard and now she's with you know going to be with michael who's an older man also not the most law-abiding citizen yeah but i was going to say not even making a joke about it yeah she definitely has a type there are there are definitely people who are in the criminal world who unfortunately have a need for this type of adrenaline rush. They're doing it for the thrill of it. And it's not often, but there is an element where they're nervous about being caught and that's what kind of drives them to do it.

It's that dopamine hit. You use that phrase a lot where it's like they get off on it, to put it frank. Yeah, they're dopamine chasers. And people like this, if you have a healthy relationship where somebody's respectful and kind to you and they're for you and supportive, it's just not enough. They need more. They need the thrill, the excitement. They need the danger of not knowing what's going to happen. And it comes from, you know, childhood, definitely. But you can definitely tell that Sheila was drawn to this type of man. And a friend would later say that Sheila and Michael Warren were a good match because they were both wild people. Sheila was always up for a good time, just like Michael. Yeah. And it's interesting that she was with one bad boy and now that bad boy, you know, for the most part is doing things on the up and up.

Repossessing cars is not illegal if they're doing it the right way. So to a certain degree, at least on the surface, Richard starts going down the right path. Cleaning up his act. He's like, I'm not trying to go back to jail. Yeah. And even though he's on, you know, he's out on parole, so he can easily go back. He's got seven years where if he gets caught for another crime, he could go back to prison and have to serve the remainder of his sentence. So he's on the up and up. He's behaving. And I guess there's still an adrenaline rush associated with repossessing cars.

It's almost like stealing them, but in a legal way. And it is interesting that while Richard's trying to do things the honest way and trying to do right by Sheila, Sheila is drawn toward Michael, who is not doing things the right way. So man, Richard gets out of prison trying to do things right for the first time and Sheila's stepping out on him. And they're like working for Michael at this point. And Sheila's over here like, oh, this Richard guy's too straight for me. But look at this Michael. He's the boss. He's in charge. He doesn't care about breaking the law.

He's been arrested before. He's gotten in trouble before. He's going to keep going. So, yeah, I thought that was kind of interesting. Yeah. Yeah. Damn. Cold.

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special podcast listeners and viewers get 20% off all IQ Bar products, plus get free shipping. To get your 20% off, just text weekly to 64000. So go get your discount. That's weekly to 64000. One more time, weekly to 64000. Message and data rates may apply. See terms for details. So as the affair progressed, things with Richard weren't going well, obviously. You think? Yeah. And in January of 1990, Sheila filed a petition for an injunction against domestic violence, complaining that Richard had grabbed her arm, ripped her bracelets off, pulled her hair and threatened her. She wrote, quote, Richard pulled tight around my neck and said he would kill me if I tried to take our son. He pushed me out of the car and left me in Indian

town without a car, money or anything, end quote. Now, after filing this injunction, Sheila left Richard and her son and moved into an apartment at 4759 Sable Pine Circle in West Palm Beach, which, by the way, Michael paid for. It wasn't long before Marlene found out about the love affair, and it wasn't like it was hard to discover. Sheila and Michael didn't hide anything, and everyone at Bargain Motors knew what was going on. By the spring of 1990, Marlene was telling multiple people that she was scared her husband Michael was going to kill her.

She said that she knew if Michael found out she was filing for divorce, he would not be happy. The divorce would cost him everything, his businesses, his fancy home, his money. She told her parents, quote, if anything happens to me, Mike did it, end quote. And she further told her stepsister, quote, if anything happens to me, get Joe out, end quote. Another case. It's like we went from Julie Jensen to Marlene. Yeah. It really shows you, though, that there is fear there, like because most times people don't want to talk about the problems in their relationship because they're like, well, if we make up, you know, if things

go well, I don't I don't want my parents, my family to like judge him based on, you know, and even then, like if somebody's been physically abusive to you or if somebody's like hurting you or if just the marriage isn't a good one you should not feel compelled to protect your significant other the thing is like if you feel embarrassed or like you don't want to tell your family or friends something about your significant other then it's probably a sign that it's not a good thing happening yeah i i also think there's something to be said for because i saw some of the the comments for Julie Jensen where Julie Jensen kind of saw what ended up happening, coming. I mean, she wrote a letter about it. And this is another situation where Marlene maybe saw the writing on the wall and some people may judge her and say, well, if you felt this certain about it where you were telling your friends and family, why wouldn't you get out? Why wouldn't you remove yourself from the situation? But I think we all have to step back and understand that relationships are complex and it's easy on the surface to listen to this story or see these words and think, oh yeah, just leave. Easy. But it's deeper than that. There's a lot going on

there. There's children involved. There's finances involved. There's a sense of security there. And there's also the element of understanding who this person was at some point where there were many years where things were good. So having that relationship and having that emotional attachment to this individual, it's sometimes hard to separate the two. And as you were kind of saying, you're hoping that as this progresses, this person will change and it will ultimately blow over, which is why you may be more apprehensive to tell people about what's going on because you don't want them to judge them. Like you said, if you guys eventually make up, but yeah, I think overall we have to step

back because when you read this in black and white text, it's easy to say, oh yeah, one plus one equals two, but that's But there's a lot more going on there. It's a lot more complex than that. And we have to consider that. Yes, Marlene might've saw some things and maybe been concerned about them, but at the end of the day, she's a human being. And I'm sure just like anybody else, she was hoping that things would change and that it would all work out and this would just be a bump in the road. Unfortunately, that wasn't the case. But again, there's no way of her knowing that at the time. Yeah. And when you own a home together, an expensive home, and you have several businesses together and you have children together, there's a lot of things tying you to that other person.

And you know how hard those ties are going to be to sever. And you want to avoid doing it at all costs. So it's like, if I can make this work, then I will. How many times have I discussed examples where as a patrolman, I would respond to a domestic violence situation? I know I give this example all the time. I remember one distinctly. I'll never forget it.

Respond to a call. A guy was kicking his girlfriend so hard that he broke her ribs in multiple places. And I remember going to the hospital with her in the ambulance and she went voluntarily. She was very upset. And we actually bonded at the hospital while waiting for the people to come and attend to her. And I wanted to be there for her. I wanted to make sure that she was okay through this entire process. And at some point we lost touch where, you know, she was, we were waiting for trial to come up and we were waiting for this all to go. And I was, I was going to be there for her when it came. And I remember showing up at court and I

remember her looking at me and I kind of just waved and she immediately turned away and started talking to her lawyer. And then the prosecutor told me that they were actually, her and her offender were actually working together to basically say that I forced her to go to the, in the ambulance and that I was the one who provoked her into going and filing a complaint and she didn't want anything to do with it. And they, they, they just wanted me to leave. And I was, it was my first experience with something like that, where I was there, she called us, I was present for it. And yet this person, this offender had her so wrapped around his fingers that he was able to convince her that he had changed in that he wasn't the problem.

I was, the police officer was the problem. And it was just ultimately, you know, with domestic violence cases, we don't need the consent of the victim if we, if we see things and she had physical injuries, she had broken bones. I don't remember how that one played out, but I will tell you it was something for me where it was a sad reality as a patrolman where I made sure going forward, I really dotted my I's and crossed my T's because I assumed she was going to be testifying on her own behalf when in reality for that case, we had to rely on my observations because ultimately he had convinced her that there was nothing wrong. So it was a learning lesson for me as a patrolman.

And it really drove home the point that although in the moment, you may think that this person's going to do the right thing, and this is finally enough for them to get out. Like I said, broken ribs. And yet still only a month later and her mind had completely changed. So you can have a situation like that here where, yeah, you may think, hey, you're going to get out. This is the sign. You know, they took it to a new level. This is finally going to be the straw that breaks the camel's back.

And yet, for some reason, they stick around and you just can't figure out why. Yeah. Don't forget the stats that on average it takes seven attempts to successfully leave an abusive relationship because an abusive relationship doesn't just consist of physical abuse. Sometimes an abusive relationship doesn't consist of physical abuse at all. And it's mostly mental, emotional and also financial. So despite her fears, though, and despite knowing how difficult it was going to be, Marlene continued making plans to leave, which lets you know, like how bad it was. And she knew that in the divorce, she would likely get the rental homes that were in her name, but she didn't want to continue being a landlord. Marlene told her mother that she hated evicting tenants who couldn't pay, and because of this, she wanted to sell most of the rental property, so she made an appointment with a

real estate agent. Once again, sadly, she would never make it. On May 24, 1990, Marlene called her sister and said she was going to leave Michael in a few days. She knew for a fact that Michael was cheating on her with Sheila, and she was just done. The following day, May 25, Marlene's son Joe had multiple friends over, his girlfriend Jean, Jean's brother Wendell, and Wendell's girlfriend Mindy. Marlene was home while Joe and his friends were over, but Michael wasn't there. He didn't get home until late that night. After Michael finally arrived home, he grabbed something to drink, got a sandwich, said hi honey to Marlene, then went to bed. Jean later said Marlene didn't seem upset by this and didn't say anything negative.

She was in her usual cheerful mood. Jean, Wendell, and everyone else spent the night there, and in the morning, on what would now be May 26th, Jean heard Michael check all the rooms to everyone else spent the night there. And in the morning, on what would now be May 26th, Gene heard Michael check all the rooms to see if people were still there. He opened the door and looked into her room, but didn't say anything. Michael then left to drive to the horse races in Miami, which was a side business of Michael's, another side business of Michael's. So when everyone else in the house woke up, Gene started making breakfast. Just before 11 a.m., everyone was finishing up breakfast when a white Chrysler LeBaron pulled into the driveway.

A person dressed as a clown got out of the car and walked up to the front door carrying a wicker basket of red and white carnations and two Mylar balloons. One of the balloons was a red heart which read, You're the Greatest, in white cursive letters. And the other had a picture of Snow White and the seven dwarves. Marlene, who loved going to the circus growing up and had a clown-themed room in her childhood home, opened the front door to accept the flower arrangement and balloons. She said, oh, how pretty. But the person dressed as the clown didn't say anything back. Instead, they shot Marlene right in the face. As she collapsed on the ground, the clown calmly walked back to the LeBaron and drove away. Now Joe, Marlene's son, later recalled the whole scenario,

which breaks my heart that he was there to witness this, you know. He said it was like slow motion. He saw his mother fall to the floor. He ran over to her, realized she'd been shot. She was gasping for air. He called 911, told them his mother had been shot, and repeated his address twice. Then he dropped the phone, grabbed some car keys, and started chasing after the LeBaron in his car while his friends ran outside yelling, they shot Joey's mom. Thankfully, one of the Warrens' neighbors, who was actually a doctor, heard all of the commotion and grabbed another neighbor. They ran to the Warrens' home, and the doctor rendered aid to Marlene until an ambulance arrived. Unfortunately, Joe couldn't find the car or the clown, and by the time he returned to the house, police and paramedics were swarming the

place. Joe then called Michael's car phone, as he was still on his way to Miami to see a racehorse with a friend, and told him about the shooting. Michael turned around and headed to the hospital, where Marlene was transported in critical condition. Sadly, at 11.25 a.m., Marlene was pronounced brain dead by hospital staff. Then she was kept on life support while her mother and stepfather traveled from Las Vegas to be with her. Marlene's parents later said they were completely shocked by the news that Marlene had been shot and they didn't know anyone who would want to hurt their daughter. Her stepdad said, quote, Marlene was a good person and it's just a shame that somebody took her away from us. Nobody deserves that. End quote. Okay. So just to recap here, because you just covered a lot in a very short period of time, and I just want to

make sure we got it all right. The night before, Joe has some friends over, including his girlfriend. Michael at that point was out. Allegedly he's cheating on Marlene with Sheila at that point. However, he does get home later and Michael heads off to this horse race. And you said Miami? Miami, yes. Miami. And then obviously the friends, including Joe, they're still at the house. So now we get to this clown. Very odd situation here. But obviously, just on the surface, this is definitely a premeditated attack.

This is a contract hit. This is. Oh, yeah. That's how it looks on the surface here. I don't know anything. And I feel like somebody who knows Marlene enough to know that she's into clowns. Because if you showed up in my house dressed as a clown with balloons, I would not be opening the door. Right. So there's something here where this individual who conducted this hit

had some background information on Marlene. They knew she was going to be home. They shot her in the face. They wanted to kill her. That was the intent. I am surprised that after shooting her, they didn't shoot her a second time to ensure that she passed away again. They shot her in the face, but people have survived those types of injuries. So I thought you were going to say that she was shot in the face. She hit the ground and then he shot the clown shot her again. But so I was surprised that that wasn't the case to ensure that she would not survive her injuries. But again, yeah surprised that that wasn't the case to ensure that she would not survive her injuries. But again, yeah, they're going, this is a, as you described earlier in this episode, this is an affluent area. They have, you know, hangers and have runways. And it's not like

you're just driving through this area for no reason. This individual who's dressed as a clown went to this specific house at this specific time for this specific person. And so on the surface, without hearing about this case ever before, this clearly appears to be some type of contract hit. And yet we have a situation where your first thought it's going to be, oh, Michael, Michael must've shot her. Well, from what we know, Michael's on his way to Miami. And when Joe calls Michael, it does appear that he is in fact in his's on his way to Miami. And when Joe calls Michael, it does appear that he is in fact in his car on his way to Miami. Does it mean he's completely not connected to this crime? Absolutely not. But it does appear that he physically could not have been the person

dressed up as a clown, which is very interesting. And I definitely want to talk about it more. We have more to cover. Let's take a quick break and we'll continue on. So Derek and I talk all the time about how safety is important. Safety is important when you're out in the world and safety is also important when you're at home. And SimpliSafe is the home security system that you can use and trust. SimpliSafe is advanced home security that puts you first. And honestly, I love the fact that SimpliSafe is super easy to set up, super easy to use, and it's pretty like, you know, plug one and done and you don't have to do a ton of work. And the peace of mind that it gives you, knowing that your house is secured, knowing that you have cameras watching things for you when you can't, is truly priceless, honestly. SimpliSafe has been named in U.S. News & World Report's Best Home Security System for five years running, and they've been ranked the Best Customer Service in Home Security by Newsweek. SimpliSafe offers advanced home security and 24-7 monitoring that is accessible to everyone

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Meanwhile, back at the Warren House, Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office detectives interviewed everyone who had witnessed the shooting separately. They wanted to know exactly what had happened that morning. Let's start with what Joe told the detectives. He mentioned that everyone was eating breakfast when they noticed someone at the doorstep. It was a clown. Joe said his mom was already standing up, so she walked to the door and answered. He said he saw the clown hand Marlene a bunch of balloons and flowers and stuff, and then he heard a bang. At first, he thought the bang was a balloon popping, but then he saw Marlene on the ground. Joe ran to his mom, ran outside to see what kind of car the clown was driving. He recalled that it was an all-white LeBaron. There were no

stickers or pinstripes, just an all-white LeBaron. There was also no tag, but the whole car was clean and looked brand new. Hmm, who owns a car dealership? And there was no one else inside except for the clown. Joe said that after he realized his mom had been shot, he ran to her purse, grabbed her keys, hopped in her car and tried to catch the clown, but it was gone. Yeah, that's really interesting. And you kind of hinted to something there. I don't know if it's going to be connected or not. But yeah, like I was just saying before the break, when you have this attack occurring in plain sight in the middle of the day, there has to be precautions that are taken by the offender so that they can conduct this type of crime and still potentially get

away with it. So what are we looking at here? Well, first off, as you mentioned, the clown, Marlene like clowns, but the clown costume serves two purposes. One, it's lowering the guard of everyone there, but also it's used as a disguise, right? This person's wearing a mask or makeup, whatever it might be to hide their identity, right? So they're allowed to go to the home, conduct this murder, and yet you still can't describe the person who actually did it. As far as the vehicle, as you said, very clean, no distinguishing marks like damage to the fenders or paint scrapes or something that would make it no registration plates right so nothing that would make it identifiable right and they're going there

they probably took the plates off before they got there so this is a clean car that they they probably procured specifically for this crime so that they can do it and then i have a suspicion that either this vehicle was never found or that when it was found, it was destroyed or, and if it wasn't found, it was probably destroyed. That's probably why it wasn't found. But yes, there was precautions taken there. The balloons themselves, again, to lower the guard of the victim, but also to serve as a distraction, right?

As they're handing the balloons over, the victim is distracted by the balloons. They're probably blocking their Marlene's face. That's when he's able to pull out the gun and shoot her. Maybe she didn't even see it coming. So all things that are little in detail, but would allow this person to conduct this crime in a reasonable amount of time without being caught. I will say this risky, very risky because without knowing all the details, I have to assume that this offender knew there were going to be other individuals in the household. If they had previous information,

maybe a heads up like, Hey, Marlene will be there, but there may be some other people. Now, maybe this individual didn't know that Joe was going to have company over that could make me lean one way or the other because obviously Michael would have been aware of that. Although you did mention that Michael went around to the other rooms to see who was there before leaving. So was that some counterintelligence and maybe he didn't notice there were other people there? I don't know. Or maybe he was just keeping count. But either way, this is still a risky move by the offender because if Joe is able to act more quickly, he might beat this individual before they get back to the car. And at that point,

it's over. The offender is going to have to kill everyone at that point. And maybe that was a risk they were willing to take. Maybe that was instructions that were given, but you do run the risk of killing Marlene, but then getting into an altercation with someone else that's still at the home. So again, really risky move here. And it appears that this person had complete disregard for not only Marlene, but everyone else in the home, because there was a potential that he was going to have to kill multiple people to get out of there without being discovered. Yeah.

And that's what, that's probably why he didn't shoot her again, because he wanted to be in and out really quick. He had to get out of there without being discovered. Yeah. And that's what, that's probably why he didn't shoot her again, because he wanted to be in and out really quick. He had to get out there quick. Because maybe he knew there was other people. And I always wondered like, what would have happened if somebody else had answered the door? He would have had to have spoken and asked for Marlene. So then somebody would have heard his voice. So did this person just get lucky that Marlene answered the door? Yeah. That's what I'm saying. Really risky, right? Like if you're going to kill someone,

there are better ways where you want to try to make sure they're going to be alone, maybe out of the household. So the fact that this was done on her, at her front door. In broad daylight while there was people there.

Yeah. Yeah. It's risky, but it does show the sense of urgency by the offender or the person who hired the offender. They wanted this done now. And then you have to ask yourself

why. Yeah, well, the detective asked Joe to describe the clown. And Joe said he believed the clown was a man due to it being tall and having big hands. He described the clown as long and tall, around 6'1", with orange hair that was bald on top with hair on the sides. He said the clown was wearing a gray jumpsuit with white gloves and black army lace-up style boots, and he thought the clown was wearing a clown face mask, not makeup. He recalled the mask as having a big orange smile and a red nose. Joe said he couldn't see the clown's real skin tone, their hair, or anything else. All he could see were dark brown eyes. Before the interview was over, Joe was asked if there was anyone who would

want to hurt Marlene and or Michael, his stepfather, and he said no. He was then asked about how well Michael and Marlene got along, and he answered, quote, they're all right. When asked if they ever fought, Joe said, quote, no, just arguments, not arguments, but discussions. They'd never raise their voice or anything, end quote. So there's another thing, and I'm glad you brought it up, and I'm glad the detective asked the question because I know where some of you are going. You're saying Michael, Michael, Michael, right? But we've spent most of this episode talking about Michael and some of his other illegal business activities. All the people that he has wronged over the years and put, as I mentioned earlier, families in jeopardy by doing these things with the cars and these other activities that he was involved in. So I don't think it's a stretch to say that he's probably made some enemies over that time. target of this attack was Marlene, although it does look that way, we also have to consider the fact that maybe Michael was the target of this attack and maybe this was a message being sent.

Maybe this clown went there for Michael, but when his wife answered the door, they called an audible and decided to take her out to send a message to Michael that they clearly were not happy with him. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, which, I mean the, the dude, like, yeah, he gained a line of enemies. I'm sure. He definitely had some enemies. So would there be someone out there who would want to retaliate? I don't think that's a stretch. So before we go down that one path of saying, oh, yep, Michael killed Marlene or hired someone

to do it. We also have to consider the fact that maybe this was a response to something Michael had done to someone else, which is also where my head is at right now, where we're looking at a situation where I think one way or the other, Michael is probably involved somehow. The question is, is he a victim or an offender himself? And the jury's still out on that one at this point. Yeah. We don't even know how much he was involved because he wasn't even in Miami yet. That's correct. And he allegedly was on the road in his car. How far he was from the home, again, technology is a lot different then. So all these questions are running through my mind right now. So next, Joe's girlfriend, Jean, told detectives everything she could remember. She said that right before the shooting,

she just finished cooking breakfast for everybody. They all sat down in the living room and they were eating when the white car pulled up and a clown got out. She said the clown tried to ring the doorbell, but it didn't work, so the clown then knocked. Marlene answered the door while everyone else stayed in the living room and the clown handed Marlene the flowers and balloons and then they heard two pops. Jean watched as Marlene fell to the floor. They thought that she had fainted, so they all rushed to her, but then they saw blood. Jean looked at the clown

and saw it casually and calmly walk back to the car before driving off, never saying a single word. Jean mentioned that once Joe realized what was going on, he searched for a gun he knew his parents had in their room, but when he couldn't find it,

he took a hidden one from his own room. Damn. Yeah, guns all over the place. He's like, I'll go for the gun in my parents' room. Not there. I'll get the hidden one out of my room. Yeah, the backup gun. So after that, she and Joe left in Marlene's car to look for the clown and the car, but they didn't find either. Yeah. And again, you're saying it right there, right? Like the clown had the opportunity to take everyone out right there when they all came to Marlene's defense. And instead it was a simple shot, one shot to Marlene and just a casual walk back to the car, which also suggests that this person's a professional, right? Either that or there's something very wrong with them. Or they did what they came to do. Yeah. It was pretty simple for them. Hey, I have a job to do. I'm going to do it. I'm out of here, which could suggest again that this is a contract hit. Yeah. Because it's like, I didn't get paid to kill all these people. I got paid to kill one

person. Why would I do extra work? Right. I'm going to do what I'm here to do and I'm going to be out. And again, the question becomes, is this someone who is contracted on behalf of someone who was wronged by Michael or was this person hired by Michael himself? I'm sure everyone out there is considering both options at this point. Well, Jean was also asked to describe the clown. And she said she believed, just like Joe, that the clown was a man because it, quote, didn't have breasts, end quote. She said, quote, he was flat. He was real tall, around six foot, six foot two, end quote. She described the clown as wearing way because didn't joe say it had on like a green or a gray gray like jumpsuit gray jumpsuit yeah but she's saying it has a brightly colored outfit now this could be a common psychological thing where you're used to seeing clowns dressed in colorful outfits so when you see one you think that they were wearing a colorful outfit because it's already kind of programmed it's like a mental a cognitive like heuristic it's already programmed

in your head so it doesn't necessarily mean mean anything crazy, like that they didn't kind of remember the same description of the clown, because for the most part, the basic description, like height, hair color, stuff like that, all seem to match. Yeah, absolutely. And this is what we always talk about in these investigations, where you can have five witnesses who are all within three feet of the crime, and yet they'll all have a different description of what occurred and a different account of what transpired. And it's not malicious. It's not intentional. It's what their perception is of the situation and not all witnesses are created equal. So that's why it's so important to get as

many witness statements as you can and to try to find the common denominator within those statements. Because if you rely just on one statement, you could be building a house on a faulty foundation. So witness statement is extremely important. And this is a classic example of how all people involved could have good intentions and yet still be wrong. Yeah. And I mean, for the most part, Jean did describe the car very similarly. She said the car looked brand new. It was a two-door compact white top LeBaron with no tags on the back. When the detective asked her if there was anything unusual about the car, Jean explained that she wasn't sure. She said, quote, it was a quick look. I didn't see it good, end quote. The detective asked if there were pinstripes,

and Jean answered, quote, I'm blind without my glasses end quote same girl same Jean then got upset and told the detective that no one would want to hurt Marlene she said quote she's the greatest person in the world she's never harmed anybody she's so sweet end quote yeah I mean that's that's what we're dealing with right here right like they can't think of anyone who would want to hurt this woman and yet here we are in the situation. And it definitely appears that this was a planned, targeted attack. Yeah. And outside of outside of like what you said, where maybe they were there for Michael, for Michael, and then she was the one that answered the door. So they shot her as sending, you know, as a send a message. I couldn't really think of

anybody that Marlene would have enemies for it wasn't like she was doing these shady business procedures like her husband was for the most part everybody that the police talked to said they loved her and she was great when nobody really was saying that about Michael so it's either someone who wants her dead which at this point would be Michael or someone who wanted Michael dead, which at that point could be anybody in Florida. Yeah. And we did describe earlier how they were considered or viewed as a successful partnership in all of their business dealings. So could she have been connected to Michael in a way where they felt like, hey, you're both responsible for this? I will say when we're thinking about

counterintelligence or we're thinking about the premeditation part of this, where if we're to believe that this individual was a contract had, and knowing what Michael drove specifically, if he was the target, where this killer would have known, hey, Michael drives this vehicle. If he's home, that vehicle will more than likely be in the driveway or be in the garage. So if we're to believe that Michael was the target of this hit and Marlene was just collateral damage, it doesn't make a lot of sense and it would contradict the theory that we have right now, which is that this was a contract hit. This person appeared to be efficient and very pragmatic about their actions. And I don't think it was a mistake that Marlene was shot. And I would even go as far as saying it doesn't appear

that Marlene was just a result of Michael not being home and just guilty by association and therefore a secondary hit in case Michael wasn't home. This killer would have known whether Michael was there or not. And if he wasn't there and he was the target. Yeah. If you're going to show up to contract kill someone, you probably want to make sure they weren't at a horse race in Miami. Yeah, that's right. Which would be easy enough to also figure out just by asking around. Yeah. So my guess initially is that this killer was aware that Michael wasn't there and intentionally went there under those pretenses knowing that Marlene was home. And it's still a situation where it could have been directed at Michael and this was a message sent to him.

I just don't believe at this point that this was an accident. It's not like wrong place, wrong time kind of thing. It's like this, whoever was there knew that Michael wasn't there. So Marlene was the target and whether she was the target because of Michael or like, as in somebody hated him or because he wanted her dead, because think about it. He's got a band of, you know, like, like lawbreakers surrounding him. He has people around him. Yeah. He's insulated. Yeah. The kind of business he's got a band of you know like like lawbreakers surrounding him he has people around him yeah he's insulated yeah the kind of business he's in i'm sure he deals with people who are kind of willing to do whatever it takes for some money so it doesn't even have to be michael himself he could have been in the car on the way to miami with his friend he

could have been you know completely not anywhere near the house but it doesn't mean he didn't set it up or plan it no of course yeah no based on the MO that we have for this killer so far, it doesn't appear that they would take out the wrong person or they would just take out someone because they were present at the time when they carried it out. It does seem like this individual would know whether or not Michael was there. And if he was the target of this hit, that's who would have been killed in the first place. Let's take our final break. We'll be right back.

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checkout. Once again, that's join delete me.com slash crime code crime. So before we dive back into the script, can I just ask you, because I was thinking about this whole thing, like what would happen if a clown showed up at my house? Like do clowns not terrify you? I don't know. Like I'm not the kind of person who's like, oh, I can't even watch it. And every time I see a clown, I'm scared. But like if a clown was at my door, I definitely feel like this is like anybody who comes to my door wearing a mask or concealing their true identity in any way is going to be faced with a closed door. It's not getting opened. Like do you are you feeling the same though? If a clown showed up at your house, is it because we're paranoid? Yeah, I think in hindsight,

it's always easy to say that. But if you're there with friends and you're not expecting any of this. And it's the middle of the day. It's the middle of the day and this seemingly friendly clown pulls up the door with what appears to be presents and balloons. I know I've had deliveries to my house for like edible arrangements and stuff like that. And it's, you lower your guard. But they're not showing up looking like a piece of pineapple. Oh, but they're literally showing up. It could be anyone. Think about something, right? If someone wanted to get to me, they could throw on a t-shirt. They don't even have to have a uniform, pick up an edible arrangement on their own, drive up to my house in a car. Cause a lot of these people just drive up in their cars. Now it's not like a delivery truck and yeah, they pull out, they pull up to the house

in a plain t-shirt and jeans with a bouquet of flowers or a bunch of balloons or an edible arrangement. I opened the door and they take me out. No ideas, anyone. And that's it. So I think in the world that we live in now, where we have Uber drivers and DoorDash and all these different things, even Amazon, where we're kind of desensitized to individuals coming to our home at different times of the day to make deliveries. And that's now, nevermind talking back when this occurred, I do see a situation where it appears to be friendly enough. You open the door, unsuspecting, and yeah, they can get the drop on you. So it's easy in hindsight to say, no, I'm not opening the door.

We're talking about 1990, well before you have like SimpliSafe or Ring or anything like that. So it's a situation where people are accustomed to greeting people in person, which does make you more susceptible to a crime like this. I just think in general for me, like anyone who's concealing their identity when they approach my door probably doesn't have the best intentions.

Like I'm all set on the singing telegram. I don't want it, you know, keep your balloons. But yeah, I get it. She's got her kid there, her kids, friends, they're having breakfast. The house smells like bacon. It's sunny and bright outside. Everything seems to be normal. It's a weekend. You're not on your guard. You're not in your, and you're in your own home. So you feel safe. You're not on your guard. Absolutely. And there's other people there. And yeah, even us, like when when I found out when I covered this case, when I started researching the case and like looking into it, when I found out she had been shot, I assumed she was home alone. And then when I found out her son and like a bunch of his friends were there, it was like, wow, that's brazen. That's ballsy to do that. Knowing that they're there. You know, it's crazy. Absolutely. Yeah. That's the whole thing about this crime is this person had complete disregard for anybody else there. And I do think if it had escalated, this individual probably would have killed everyone if they had to, to get away. So next, Gene's brother Wendell and his girlfriend

Mindy spoke to detectives separately, and their statements about the clown shooting Marlene ended up being very similar to Joe's and Gene's. Wendell described the clown as being male, around six feet tall, 185 pounds, with reddish-colored clown hair. He believed that the clown was wearing makeup, not a mask, and he described the clown's outfit as being white with red diamonds or hearts on it. He recalled that the car was a white, brand-new, two-door LeBaron with a red emblem that said LeBaron on it. Mindy described the clown as being six feet tall, with a medium build, but she couldn't tell if the clown was male or female. She recalled that the clown was in a colorful outfit, possibly blue, with dots on it. The clown was wearing makeup, not a mask, had reddish-colored hair, and was driving an all-white car.

Now, obviously, the descriptions of the shooter all differed, basically and mainly on the outfit. But the witnesses all agreed on a few things. The shooter was a tall clown driving a white LeBaron. Following the interviews with all the witnesses, detectives put out a bolo for the white LeBaron and the clown. The police also released a statement about the shooting, revealing that a clown was

involved. Immediately following this, detectives started receiving multiple clown sightings and leads, all of which were evaluated and placed in a clown sighting file. These calls continued for days, and we're actually going to be talking more about this clown sighting file in a future episode, so stay tuned for that. But while all of this was going on, the Warren home was also being processed for evidence. Unfortunately, there was very little evidence as the clown hadn't entered the house. He was wearing gloves. There was no fingerprints. And obviously, it's 1990. As you had mentioned, there's not surveillance footage. There's no doorbell cameras. There's no security cameras on neighbors' houses.

Things like that is just nothing. He came and he went. The clown also took the gun with them, and there was no shell casing left behind. So the police didn't even know what kind of gun had been used to shoot Marlene, which is interesting. There's no shell casing left behind because none of these witnesses said they were called the clown picking up the shell casing. Where did it go? Well, that's what means it's a revolver. So they do have a little bit of an indication of what kind of gun it was. A hundred percent.

Because none of these witnesses saw this firearm where once the shell casing extracted and was pulled out from the gun, it went into a bag or some type of sack that was today where if we go to a shooting and there's no shell casings left behind, it could be one of two things. If it's a drive-by, it could mean that the shell casings were extracted inside the vehicle, or it could mean that the assailants used a revolver, which in that case, you would not have shell casings. And I've explained this before, but with a semi-automatic weapon, the extractor claw will pull the shell casing out, eject it from the gun onto the ground, and then insert a new round into the gun itself. With a revolver, as 99.9% of you know, you maybe have six rounds in there where the revolver spins. And although the revolver will expel that round, when the firing pin hits the shell casing, instead of the shell casing being ejected after the round is fired, the revolver just spins to the next round. And that would, the only way to reload that gun and to get rid of those shell casings is to manually open that revolver up and then empty those shell casings out. Again, something we've probably all seen in movies or on TV. So in some cases, you may have a contract killer opt for a revolver because of that reason.

It's harder to identify the gun involved. There would be no evidence from a ballistics perspective left behind. Well, the only evidence of value ended up being the flower arrangement and the two Mylar balloons, all of which the clown had brought with them. Now, these items became the focal point of the investigation, and detectives immediately started trying to figure out where they came from. They also tried to determine where the clown costume could have been rented or purchased, and of course, detectives also wanted to figure out why Marlene was killed. So they started interviewing many people, including Marlene's husband Michael, who they spoke to on the phone at first.

Michael said he had no idea why any of this had taken place. He mentioned that he and Marlene owned a lot of rental property and evicted people all the time. He explained that Marlene handled all the business concerning the rental properties and he didn't have anything to do with it. He suggested that maybe one of their angry tenants was responsible for the shooting. Then he said he wanted to see Marlene in the emergency room and would talk to them later. Detectives later looked into the angry tenant lead, but surprise, surprise, there was nothing there. Not long after the first call with Michael, detectives spoke to him again, and he briefly talked about not understanding why any of this had taken place. He explained that when the shooting occurred, he was with a friend on his way to Miami.

He didn't know what was going on until Joe called and told him that a white LeBaron was seen leaving the house. Michael told detectives that he didn't know anybody who owned a white LeBaron. His car dealership-slash-rental car business dealt only in Chevrolet products, and he did not rent or sell any Chrysler products. In an interesting turn of events, though, Michael became very insistent that since the car was a Chrysler product, it had to be a rental car and that detectives should check out all the rental agencies to see if the clown rented the car. Because, yeah, the clown's going to go and rent the car in his clown costume. That's what gets me too, is they're

like, we need all the sightings of clowns. And it's like, this person is not walking around all the time dressed like a clown. That was his disguise. I think, well, on the surface, you could be looking at a situation where law enforcement's trying to exhaust all resources here and examine all possible theories. So although it may lead them one direction, like this is a contract hit, they're probably also exploring the theory that this was a situation where this was a serial killer or just someone looking to carry out a crime in an affluent area for no specific reason. So maybe they're hoping they get lucky. And this criminal, which I've said before, they usually don't get caught unless they

make a mistake. Maybe this person did make a mistake and they were wearing this costume at some other point, maybe a week or two prior where they were, I don't know, doing a rehearsal or something. Again, it wouldn't make a lot of sense to us now, but these are how some of these crimes are solved by the stupidity of the criminals themselves. So again, it's unlikely, but you never know where a lead is going to come from. So I understand at least checking it out and putting the bolo out there for this clown, although the likelihood of it resulting in something positive is slim to none. So the interview ended when Michael appeared to be upset and stated that

he could provide no further information to detectives. After this conversation, detectives set out to verify that Michael was indeed with a friend in the car at the time of the murder. One of his employees said that Michael left work at approximately 10.30 with a friend to go to the horse races. That friend also then told detectives that they were in the car when Michael received a call from Joe about the shooting. So it seemed like Michael was telling the truth about being on the way to Miami when Marlene was shot. But that did not mean that he wasn't involved in his wife's murder, which we've already kind of established. He could have gotten one of his cronies or just paid somebody money. He deals with people that are kind of living on the outskirts, the outlaws.

This could have been done intentionally as an alibi. And by the way, you can't even 100% say that the friend isn't in on it. This person could have also been being used as an alibi and maybe lying to police. You don't know yet at this point. It would have been better to have an unbiased witness or someone else come forward saying they saw Michael or his vehicle. But at least at this point, this is what we have. And if you're to take this individual statement at face value, yes, like you said, it doesn't mean Michael's not involved, but it means that he couldn't have been the person dressed up as the clown. Yes. Well, if this friend is a valid alibi. Yeah, exactly. Exactly.

So less than 90 minutes after verifying that Michael was in the car at the time Marlene was shot, police interviewed Michael again. And this time, Michael was asked about his relationship with Marlene. He denied any marital problems and admitted that there were rumors about him having an affair with a 27-year-old employee by the name of Sheila, but he said the rumors weren't true. This was super interesting to the detectives because not long before this conversation, they actually received an anonymous call from a woman who stated, quote, You might want to ask Michael Warren and Sheila Keene a few questions, end quote. While detectives were speaking to Michael, they asked for a contact number for Sheila. And when the conversation was over, they called Sheila. But

instead of speaking to her, they got a hold of her estranged husband, Richard. Yikes. Yeah. Not the best case scenario for Sheila. Well, he agreed to come in for an interview the next day. And not long after that conversation ended, Sheila called detectives and said she'd come in the next day as well. While waiting to speak with Sheila and Richard, detectives interviewed multiple people who knew Michael. These people said he was having an affair with Sheila and some even described seeing the two kiss, hug and possibly engage in oral sex. Wait, they saw this? They saw it? That's a whole different story for a different channel. Detectives further interviewed neighbors of Sheila's and according to one couple, they saw Michael and Sheila throughout the week at all hours of the day coming and going from

Sheila's apartment. He was there so often that they thought he lived there. Detectives also spoke to the girlfriend of an employee of Bargain Motors, and she said she heard that in the weeks before the murder, Michael was trying to distance himself from his relationship with Sheila. They stopped having long lunches together, and Michael seemed to be distancing himself from her, and she did not appear to like it. The employee's girlfriend mentioned that she never heard anything about Michael speaking negatively about Marlene or making any threats toward her. However, she did hear Michael state that he would never divorce Marlene because she would get half of everything. And that's damning to me. Okay. Like that's, I'd never divorce her because she'd get half of everything that he didn't say I'd never kill her.

Right. Yeah. And I do find it interesting that Michael chose to lie to detectives about his relationship with Sheila here because- Right, because it's so like, there's so much evidence and proof. So much evidence. And so you have to ask yourself why. It could be innocent. It might be just something where he's like,

oh, I know how this is gonna look. I'm not involved with my wife's murder at all. But if I say I'm having an affair, they're gonna interpret that as a potential motive. But I will say, and we've seen it over many cases, the best option here, if you're being questioned in a crime like this, if you're not guilty of anything, is to tell the truth and be transparent. Because although it's not going to make you look good from an ethical and moral perspective, it does show a level of transparency and honesty that may benefit you down the road. Because if you're lying about something like this, it not only shows that you're being deceptive and maybe hiding up a potential motive, but it does bring into question your credibility in its entirety.

Where now detectives, every time they ask you a question that could make you look bad, you have proven to them that you're willing to be deceptive. And that's going to bring a lot of headaches to you going forward, where now everything you say is going to be put under a microscope by law enforcement. Because if you're willing to lie about an affair that's blatantly obvious to many people, the question becomes, what else are you willing to lie about? And why lie about that? Yeah, it doesn't make sense. Doesn't make sense. So detectives obviously now had a lot of questions for Michael, Sheila, and Richard. And we are going to talk about that next time. And it's going to get scandalous. Yeah. And I feel like Richard could end up being a big part of this.

I don't know who was involved, but if anyone's willing to roll, especially if they weren't directly involved, it's going to be the scorned ex-husband where Mike, you know, he's pissed off at Michael because Michael was sleeping with his wife. And if Richard knew of anything, now would be the time to expose that. Not only to get back at that, not only to get back at Sheila, but also to get back at Michael. So I'm interested to see how, or even if Richard plays into this equation at all, but if there was something that was pre-planned and Richard got wind of it, he is going to be law enforcement's

best source. But again, who knows if he knows anything at all. I'm really fascinated by this one because on the surface, it seems like this mystery is not going to be solved. I don't know if this is a solved case or not. I'm not going to look it up. I'm not going to find out, but I am interested to see where this one goes. So we have multiple parts here and I'm ready to record part two right now, although it's

getting kind of late. So we're not going to do that, but I would be willing to do it if you wanted to. So, you know, just a thought just to put it out there. Any final words from you before we wrap this one up? No, but I also want to dive right into part two kind of. All right. You're ready to tell me already. Yeah. I mean, well, there's still, I think two more parts, so it's a lot, but yeah. We got a lot to go over. I'm looking forward to it. Way down in the comments below, we're kind of leaving you on a cliffhanger here. There's a couple options in play. Do you think Michael's involved? Do you not think he's involved? Do you think that Michael was the target of this hit and Marlene was just collateral damage? Or do you think that Marlene was the target of the hit, but because of something

Michael did? Or do you think Michael's not connected to it at all? And there's just a completely different scenario going on here that we're not discussing like we should be at this point. Looking forward to hear your thoughts. Leave your comments down below and let us know what you think. We will be back next week with part number two. Any final words from you, Stephanie Harlow? No, just like, comment, subscribe. Don't forget to watch part two and watch Crime Weekly News if you haven't. it was a lot of updates. Yeah, a lot of updates for sure. We will be back next week. Everyone stay safe out there. Have a good night. Bye.