WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. – As Marlene Warren was finishing breakfast with her 22-year-old son and several of his friends at their Wellington home one Saturday in May 1990, a woman dressed as a clown came to the door. The clown was holding a flower arrangement and two balloons.
Warren opened the door, ready to receive the surprise gifts, but the clown had other intentions, shooting her in the face before calmly walking back to the Chrysler LeBaron and driving away.
Two days later, Warren was dead. Family members of the Wellington woman have been waiting 27 years in hopes of finding her killer. Their wait could be over.
The Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office said Tuesday that Sheila Warren was arrested in Washington County, Virginia, in connection with the fatal shooting. She is charged with first-degree murder in the May 26, 1990, shooting.
Detectives said Sheila Warren -- 26 at the time and then known as Sheila Keen -- was initially identified as a suspect, but she was never arrested.
Sheila Warren, now 54, married the victim's husband, Michael Warren, in 2002. Investigators said they had been living in Tennessee operating a restaurant together.
Homicide investigators reopened the unsolved case in 2014, re-interviewing witnesses and collecting new DNA evidence.
A Palm Beach County grand jury was presented the evidence in August and returned an indictment against Sheila Warren, leading to her arrest.