FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. –
A clown got here to Marlene Warren’s door on a Could morning in 1990, handed her carnations and balloons after which shot her lifeless in entrance of her son. On Tuesday, her husband’s second spouse lastly pleaded responsible to being the killer, closing a case that’s unusual even by Florida requirements.
Sheila Eager-Warren, 59, pleaded responsible to second-degree homicide in a deal that may possible see her launched from jail in not more than two years. Lengthy suspected of being the shooter, Eager-Warren has been jailed awaiting trial for first-degree homicide since 2017, when Palm Seaside County sheriff’s investigators mentioned enhancements in DNA know-how proved {that a} hair discovered within the clown’s getaway automobile got here from her. Eager-Warren has insisted, nonetheless, that she just isn’t the killer.
Palm Seaside County State Lawyer Dave Aronberg mentioned in an announcement that the plea deal “obtained a measure of justice” for Marlene Warren and her son. No public discover was given for Tuesday’s plea listening to in West Palm Seaside, which in any other case would have drawn a throng of reporters and spectators. As a substitute, it was dealt with quietly throughout Circuit Choose Scott Suskauer’s lunch break from one other homicide trial.
“Sheila Eager Warren has lastly been pressured to confess that she was the one who dressed as a clown and took the lifetime of an harmless sufferer. She will probably be a convicted assassin for the remainder of her days,” Aronberg mentioned.
Her legal professional, Greg Rosenfeld, instructed The Related Press in a telephone interview that “that is an unbelievable win for Ms. Eager-Warren,” nonetheless insisting she just isn’t the killer. Eager-Warren has mentioned she just isn’t the killer.
The deal requires a 12-year sentence, however Eager-Warren has already served six years awaiting trial. Additionally, Florida regulation in 1990 allowed important break day for good behaviour, so Rosenfeld expects her to be launched early subsequent yr.
Her trial was set to start out subsequent month, and if convicted she would have obtained a life sentence. If she had obtained a life sentence, she possible would have been paroled after serving 25 years. Initially, prosecutors sought a dying sentence however ultimately dropped that.
“The State of Florida initially wished to execute her, however now she goes dwelling in 10 months,” Rosenfeld mentioned. “Whereas it was tough to plead responsible to a criminal offense she didn’t commit, it was type of a no brainer when there’s a assure that you can be dwelling with your loved ones.”
Aronberg’s workplace disputes Rosenfeld’s declare, saying she will probably be in jail no less than two extra years.
Marlene Warren’s son, Joseph Ahrens, watched the continuing on-line. Solely 21 when he noticed his mom murdered and now in his 50s, his solely message to the court docket and Eager-Warren was, could God be together with her.
The trial was delayed quite a few occasions by the COVID-19 pandemic and fights over proof.
On the time of the taking pictures, Eager-Warren was an worker of Marlene Warren’s husband, Michael, at his used automobile lot. Since 2002, she has been his spouse — they ultimately moved to Abington, Virginia, the place they ran a restaurant simply throughout the Tennessee border.
Witnesses had instructed investigators in 1990 that then-Sheila Eager and Michael Warren have been having an affair, although each denied it.
Over time, detectives mentioned, costume store workers recognized Sheila Warren as the lady who had purchased a clown go well with a number of days earlier than the killing.
And one of many two balloons — a silver one which learn, “You are the Best” — was bought at just one retailer, a Publix grocery store close to her dwelling. Workers instructed detectives a lady who appeared like Eager-Warren had purchased the balloons an hour earlier than the taking pictures.
The presumed getaway automobile was discovered deserted with orange, hair-like fibres inside. The white Chrysler convertible had been reported stolen from Michael Warren’s automobile lot a month earlier than the taking pictures. Eager-Warren and her then-husband repossessed automobiles for him.
Family members instructed The Palm Seaside Submit in 2000 that Marlene Warren, who was 40 when she died, suspected her husband was having an affair and wished to depart him. However the automobile lot and different properties have been in her title, and she or he feared what may occur if she did.
She allegedly instructed her mom, “If something occurs to me, Mike carried out it.” He has by no means been charged and has denied involvement.
However Rosenfeld mentioned the state’s case was falling aside. One DNA pattern one way or the other confirmed each female and male genes, and the opposite might have come from one out of each 20 ladies — even Marlene Warren, he mentioned.
And even when that hair did come from Eager-Warren, it might have been deposited earlier than the automobile was reported stolen. He mentioned Ahrens and one other witness additionally instructed detectives that the automobile deputies discovered wasn’t the killer’s, although investigators insisted it was.
Aronberg, in his assertion, conceded that there have been holes within the case, saying they have been brought on by the three many years it took to get it to trial, together with the dying of key witnesses.
Michael Warren was convicted in 1994 of grand theft, racketeering and odometer tampering. He served nearly 4 years in jail — a punishment his then-attorneys mentioned was disproportionately lengthy due to suspicions he was concerned in his spouse’s dying.
Michael Warren didn’t return a name Tuesday looking for remark.
