Killer clown who killed American woman and married her widower is released

A woman who pleaded guilty to dressing as a clown and killing the wife of a man she later married in 1990 was released from prison Saturday, ending a case that was strange even by Florida standards.

Sheila Keen-Warren, 61, was released 18 months after pleading guilty to manslaughter for the shooting death of Marlene Warren, Florida Department of Corrections records show. The plea deal came shortly before her trial would have started.

Keen-Warren, who maintained her innocence even after her plea, was sentenced to 12 years in prison. But she had been in custody for seven years since her 2017 arrest, and Florida law from 1990 allowed extensive credit for good behavior. She was expected to be released in about two years.

“Sheila Keen-Warren will always be a convicted murderer and will carry that stain every day for the rest of her life,” Palm Beach County Attorney Dave Aronberg said in a statement Saturday.

Greg Rosenfeld, Keen-Warren’s attorney, has said she only accepted the plea deal because she was due to be released in less than two years and faced a life sentence if convicted at trial.

“We are absolutely delighted that Ms Keen-Warren has been released from prison and is returning to her family. As we have stated from the beginning, she did not commit this crime,” he said in a text message on Saturday.