Purpose in mind and took time to disguise themselves. The clown pulls out fires at pointblank range into marlenes face. The last words i heard my mother say was, oh, how pretty. Then bang. Deborah then you add this costume, this clown costume to it, and it just sort of created a whole bizarreness around it. Its ridiculous. This stuff should not happen. You can hear her gasp. It was just like shock after shock after shock. Marlene warren really liked clowns. Here is a set of three clowns. Marlene painted it when she was a teenager. There arent just random evil clowns Walking Around unless its in the movies. The clown costume is a perfect costume to commit a crime in. Its literally walking camouflage. A woman was shot at her front door. By a person dressed in a clown costume. And my heart dropped. Theyre smiling and performing now in a splitsecond, they could wipe off that paint of a smile and be a killer. Wellington, florida, is just a very monied, sleepy part of south florida. Its right up against the everglades. Wellington is one of the richest cities in Palm Beach County. Youve got palm beach, which is the tony island of millionaires and billionaires. Deborah its also home to maralago, president trumps socalled winter white house. And then you have wellington. Youve got the wellington of the equestrian set where Bruce Springsteen has a house. Quiet, but lavish. The houses were built around a grass airstrip, and they all had hangars out back for the owners planes. Deborah now, this is the way to go to work every day. This is what we call a sunday sundown. Deborah so you take this out every day . I take it about two to three days a week when i go to the office which is fifty miles. Deborah i just love that idea, you fly to the office. Fly to the office. Wellington was nirvana. Were outside of what used to be marlene and Michael Warrens home. It was memorial day weekend. It was a normal south florida day. Hot and humid. Deborah marlene and Michael Warren had been married nearly 20 years. She was a working mom, enjoying a morning at home with her son joey and three of his friends. I was 21 at the time. I was into a lot of things. You know, scuba diving, flying. Life was an adventure, you know. It was exciting. And when this happened, it was all taken away. Marlene was cooking breakfast for her son joe and his friends who were here at the house. And this Chrysler Lebaron pulls up to Marlene Warrens driveway. And out gets somebody dressed like a clown full curly orange wig, red bulb nose, white face makeup, big suit, the whole deal. And approaches the door with two foil balloons and a basket of redandwhite carnations. The clown walked to the door. And then marlene answered the door. The clown hands her balloons and some flowers. Ill still remember this to this day. One of the balloons said, youre the greatest. The last words i heard my mother say was, oh, how pretty. And bang. The clown pulls out a gun and fires at pointblank range into marlenes face. It felt like slow motion. I saw her fall. Then i jumped into action. I got to the door, and i saw that shes been shot. And she was gasping for air. Everybody in the house was paralyzed from shock. And that gave the clown the time to get back into the car and take off. I had my dog out for a walk. As i walked along, i heard what sounded to me like a nail gun. Some very excited young people came running out saying theyve shot joeys mother. I ran for the car to try to chase the vehicle. I had to catch who did this. I didnt even use the road. I just drove right through property. I couldnt catch up to the car. They rush marlene to the hospital. Shes bleeding from her mouth, she has bone and metal embedded in her tongue. When police go to the scene that morning, its a chaotic situation. Police immediately put out a bolo, be on the lookout, for the white Chrysler Lebaron getaway car. The investigation begins. The individuals inside of the home became of paramount importance at that time. Are they able to give us a description . What details are they able to give us . I was trying to see everything i possibly could to identify, color, skin, whatever. I could not. The only thing i could concentrate on is the eyes. I saw the clowns eyes when they got in the car. They were brown. Deborah joey would later talk about the incident on a local radio show. Could you tell by their gait or by their mannerisms, whether the person was a man or a woman . Well, my to me, it seemed like a man. Why . Because of the big hands and the size of the person. From the south florida sun sentinel, in association with wondery, this is felonious florida, the podcast that leads you into the dark side of the sunshine state. Im your host, david schutz. Deborah this is a case that has been both fascinating and confounding to true crime enthusiasts for decades now. It was even the topic of a hit podcast called the killer clown of wellington. David schutz was one of the podcasts producers. Marlene warren spent the bulk of her childhood on her grandfathers farm in a little town north of detroit. She was the middle of three sisters. She was a great mother. She was a person of love. A good wife, i mean, she was just all around the american mother. Shirley, this has got to be the most recent photograph of marlene that weve got. Marlene was outstanding. Friendly, loving, kindness. Do anything for anybody. Always courteous, always respectful. She married extraordinarily young. And by the time she was 18, she already had two young children. Deborah and then a tragedy. Marlenes first husband dies, and by 20 she is a widow with two young children. Not long after marlene is widowed, she meets her next husband, Michael Warren. We had a pretty good relationship. He became a father figure for me and my brother. A good husband for my mother. They relocate to south florida to go and make a new start. Marlene was kind of like americas mom. Always cheery and smiley, always trying to put a good foot forward. Nobody had a bad thing to say about her. It doesnt make sense that a person that seems to be so kind and so genuine, that everybody genuinely loved had this enemy out there nobody knew about, that would commit a crime like this. The morning of the attack, Michael Warren headed off to miami to go to a race track. He left for the race track with his friends somewhere around 10 00. And they were midway to miami when they got the news that Marlene Warren had been shot. So, he turns around and heads straight for the hospital where marlene is clinging to life on life support. Ballistic evidence is limited, because theres a single projectile inside of Marlene Warren. There is no shell casing. There is no firearm. What is of value are the two balloons and the flower basket that sits right at the front doorstep. That really became the focal point of the evidence inside the home. Deborah but who would make such a deadly delivery . Police are about to get a firsthand description from costume shop workers who might have come face to face with the killer. I need to buy a costume. And i said, can you come back tomorrow . Were closed. And, no, i need to get a costume tonight. Nice dress you too. The best part . It has pockets it has pockets i know i know, right oh my gosh well that, and the cash back. What . With rakuten. Its a shopping app. I saved a ton on our dress. This is unbelievable. This is unbelievable. I know, right youre going to get so much cash back. Okay, im going to go change cause. Try killing bugs the worryfree way. Not the other way. Zevo traps use light to attract and trap flying insects with no odor and no mess. They work continuously, so you dont have to. Zevo. Peoplefriendly. Bugdeadly. What makes special k so special . All those vitamins and minerals . Ah, the real almonds. 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So this was someone who had a purpose in mind and took time to disguise themselves, who drove way out of their way to commit a terrible crime and then afterwards had a plan to escape. Deborah authorities in Palm Beach County want to know how just 40yearold Marlene Warren who is married and moneyed becomes the victim of a wouldbe killer clown. But nobody wants answers more than her parents. I come in here, and i think of her. Marlene warren really liked clowns. Wed go to a circus she would always say, oh, look at that one. Deborah in a kind of eerie coincidence, marlene even had a clownthemed room in her childhood home. She liked the clowns when she was a little girl. Here is a set of three clowns. Her mom had a painting that marlene had done. This picture here is a painting of a clown. Marlene painted it when she was a teenager, and ill keep it forever. In some ways, the clown costume is a perfect costume to commit a crime in. Its literally walking camouflage. You have these giant eyes. Theres grease paint, theres fright wigs. Hi georgie, im pennywise the dancing clown deborah for years, weve been a culture kind of terrified of clowns. From the twopart blockbuster stephen king series it to the panic that gripped the country in 2016 when creepy clown sightings were popping up all over the country. This clown was caught on video along a dirt road in ocala. The other thing that makes people uneasy around clowns is in splitsecond, they could wipe off that paint of a smile and be killers. Deborah by most accounts, this probably would have been yet another tragic shooting. But then you add this costume, this clown costume to it, and it just sort of created a whole bizarreness around it. Thats what really put it over the top. The only evidence that they had at the crime scene were the balloons and the flowers that were left behind. Police start canvassing the whole area for any places that sell these foil balloons, these baskets of carnations, trying to figure out who possibly did this. Lets find out where this flower arrangement could have been purchased, where these balloons could have been purchased. There were two balloons. One of them was an unusual balloon, believe it or not, and it was only sold at one of the Publix Grocery stores in Palm Beach County. It was a red, heartshaped balloon saying youre the greatest. Investigators followed up on several leads. One of which took them here to this publix. There was a clerk here who said she remembered selling the exact basket of flowers and balloons that were found at the crime scene to someone here. They were like, we think we know who the killer might be because we saw that person buy the same exact stuff youre talking about 90 minutes before the murder. The detectives tried to locate the clown costume in the very same fashion they tried to locate these balloons and these flowers. What costume shops have sold clown costumes in the past week or so . I received a phone call from a detective from the sheriffs department, and he asked me whether we rented clown costumes or sold them. The owner of a costume shop in West Palm Beach told police that two of her employees sold a customer a clown suit just a couple of days before the shooting. You had closed . You had locked the door . Yes. Right. Deborah and then what . I need to buy a costume. And i said, can you come back tomorrow . Were closed. No, i really need this tonight. I need to get a costume tonight. Deborah the urgency might be understandable if it was halloween. But remember, this is may. The person was extremely persistent in wanting to get inside, i need to purchase this, i need to purchase this, i need to purchase this. They said okay, we can make this happen really fast. They were very quick in making their selections. A rubys clown costume, clown wig. Bob kelly clown makeup and a sponge nose. They didnt buy anything that was expensive. They really bought the cheapest stuff that they had. What stuck out to the two ladies is that the person said, i need to have extra white makeup to cover the face completely. So the person was certainly concerned with anybody being able to see their face. Deborah when asked what the person looked like, Deborah Offord used an interesting word androgynous. Rather tall. Id say probably around 58. Brown eyes. I remember thinking, you really couldnt tell if it was a man or a woman. What also stuck out to the ladies was that the person was not interested in buying clown feet. They sold this individual a clown wig, a clown costume, makeup with extra white, but no clown feet. This is a red flag for detectives, because the clown who shot marlene was not wearing typical clown shoes, as joey had mentioned in that radio interview. Okay, were they wearing clown shoes or were they wearing civilian shoes . Something like an army boot. But it didnt look like it was part of the clown outfit . Right. Deborah after being peppered with all kinds of questions from a detective, the costume shop owners finally ask, what is this about . I said, could i ask please what this is in reference to . He said, well, youre probably going to read about it all over the papers tomorrow morning, but a woman was shot at her front door by a person dressed in a clown costume, and he shot her in the face, and my heart dropped. But soon enough thered be the first big break in this case. They found a white Chrysler Lebaron. Observable even to the naked eye are what appear to be redorange wig fibers. Deborah are the secrets to Marlene Warrens murder hidden in that white Chrysler Lebaron . Wrong turn . Hey google, play dramatic music with the best in class fuel economy and 5 drive modes, virtualy no road is out of bounds. 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I held her hand the whole day hoping if i felt something, that we would not have to unplug that machine. But there was no hope. That was the hardest thing that my grandmother had to do, to tell them to turn that machine off. Her funeral was held about a week later, and the investigators were there at the funeral, taking pictures, keeping track of who was in attendance. Investigators were watching to see how people acted and what they did. Usually when a spouse is killed, especially when its in their home, its almost always the spouse. Deborah so its no surprise when police take interest in marlenes grieving husband Michael Warren, who had told them he was on his way to miami with friends on the day of the murder. Even though mike warren had an alibi, he is the husband. And so naturally police are going to be looking at him as having potential involvement. Mike warren had been selling cars in south florida for a number of years. And by 1990, he was running a lot called bargain motors. It was one of those places that you went if you had really bad credit and you needed something to drive. And it was used cars, rentawrecks, that kind of business. He was more of a blue collar kind of guy. People said he wasnt very educated, he looked like he had a rough life. He was very hard working. Hed arrive at the lot early, hed leave late. He was a good salesman. Very charismatic guy. Michael warren is a confidence man. He is smooth, okay . And thats not a compliment. Bargain motors really takes off, and that becomes his main source of income. Suzanne gould was an Office Manager on michaels car lot, and she told us a lot about michael. His smile was possessing. If youve ever met a salesman on a car lot and just felt completely like that was the most honest person. He had an air of confidence. Those who knew Michael Warren say trouble seemed to follow him everywhere. His plane disappeared once. And it shows up with a broken engine, nobody knows what happened. He had race horses at one poin