Florida ‘Killer Clown’ case: Man copped to 1990 homicide a long time earlier than Sheila Eager-Warren arrest, protection says

Attorneys representing accused Florida “Killer Clown” Sheila Eager-Warren are asking a choose to permit them to incorporate particulars about an inmate who allegedly bragged about finishing up the 1990 homicide for which their shopper has been charged, data present.

A Maine inmate named Edward Bahr boasted to a cellblock neighbor a long time in the past “that he murdered a girl in Wellington, Florida,” a protection courtroom submitting states. He allegedly made comparable statements to corrections workers, and whereas additionally incarcerated in Connecticut.

When confronted by police about his alleged claims, Bahr informed the detective “’he would inform him all the pieces he is aware of” in regards to the demise of Marlene Warren if [the detective] “might promise him he wouldn’t get the electrical chair,’” the movement states. However when the detective “informed Bahr that he couldn’t promise him that, Bahr requested to talk to an lawyer earlier than answering any extra questions.”

The most recent movement comes as a choose is already mulling a number of different requests from the protection crew – together with that he dismiss the case altogether as a result of attorneys argue the prosecution dragged their ft an excessive amount of on bringing fees. 

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Sheila Eager-Warren was accused of dressing up as a clown and murdering her future husband’s then-wife 27 years in the past. (Palm Seaside County Sheriff’s Workplace)

Police arrested Sheila Eager-Warren on Sept. 26, 2017, 27 years after Marlene Warren’s demise.

Investigators realized Eager-Warren, who was married to another person on the time of the homicide, went on to wed Marlene Warren’s husband in 2002. The pair had been dwelling in Tennessee, the place they operated a restaurant, police mentioned.

Protection attorneys have argued that prosecutors suspect Warren’s husband was concerned within the homicide scheme, although he has by no means been charged in reference to the crime. 

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Marlene Warren, 40, was shot and killed at her Wellington, Florida, dwelling Saturday, Could 26, 1990, officers mentioned. Warren had simply completed breakfast together with her son and his mates round 10:45 a.m., when they noticed a Chrysler LeBaron roll into the driveway, the Palm Seaside County Sheriff’s Workplace mentioned. 

An individual dressed like a clown exited the automobile and walked to the house’s entrance door, police mentioned. 

“The particular person dressed because the clown was carrying a flower association and two balloons,” the sheriff’s workplace defined. One balloon reportedly bore an image of Snow White, the opposite was emblazoned with the phrases, “You are the Best!” 

Paramedics take Marlene Warren to an ambulance on Could 26, 1990, after she was shot in entrance of her dwelling in Wellington, Florida. (Mark Randall/Solar Sentinel/Tribune Information Service by way of Getty Photos)

“Marlene answered the entrance door and because the clown provided the gadgets to her, witnesses heard a gunshot and Marlene fell to the bottom,” police mentioned. “The particular person dressed as a clown calmly walked again to the LeBaron and drove away.” 

Warren suffered a gunshot wound to the face and was rushed to a neighborhood hospital, the place she died two days later.

Over a yr later, in August 1991, a Palm Seaside County Sheriff’s Workplace detective acquired a name from authorities in Maine, who mentioned a prisoner – later recognized as Bahr – had confessed to the killing, the protection submitting states.

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In accordance with the doc, Bahr gave a fellow inmate at Maine State Jail correct particulars associated to the murders, reminiscent of that “he dressed up as a clown and shot the girl, that her husband owned a used automobile lot named Cut price Motors, {that a} younger male had come out of one of many rooms proper after the capturing.” Each inmates have been being housed in solitary confinement on the time. 

He additionally allegedly informed the inmate “{that a} ‘feminine biker sort’ obtained the clown costume from the Stoplight costume shot,” and that “he was employed by the husband of the homicide sufferer throughout a gathering on the Mermaid Bar.”

Marlene Warren, who was shot and killed within the entryway of her Wellington, Florida, dwelling within the notorious “Killer Clown” case of 1990. (Palm Seaside County Sheriff’s Workplace)

The inmate later sat for a recorded, sworn interview, wherein he described how Bahr mentioned the Warren homicide was “the ‘largest factor’ he had ever achieved,” the submitting states. 

“[H]e acknowledged that in broad daylight he dressed up as a clown, then he went as much as this residence the place this girl was dwelling and had knocked on the door and mentioned supply, and he or she opened the door, he pointed a gun to her face and mentioned, ha-ha, and shot her within the face,” the inmate informed police, in line with a transcript of the recorded interview. 

Bahr allegedly informed the inmate, “this man had provided him a considerable amount of cash to kill his spouse,” the movement states. 

The transcript continues: “He mentioned he needed – he needed his spouse useless as a result of… she was divorcing him (Inaudible) and he or she was to take over the automobile dealership.” 

Attorneys described how he was “recognized to brag about committing a homicide within the Ft. Lauderdale or Metro Dade space.”

Bahr was not in jail on the time of Warren’s killing. 

When re-interviewed throughout a deposition in September 2022, Bahr “denied telling [the inmate] that he murdered Marlene Warren,” the submitting states. He informed investigators he did discuss in regards to the “clown murder,” however solely based mostly on particulars he had seen reported on TV information.

However there was one obvious discrepancy: “There was, nonetheless, no TV in solitary.”

Sheila Eager-Warren seems in courtroom for a pre-trial listening to, Nov. 13, 2017. Eager-Warren faces fees within the demise of Marlene Warren in 1990. (Lannis Waters/Palm Seaside Put up/Tribune Information Service by way of Getty Photos)

Eager-Warren’s protection crew is asking Circuit Choose Scott Siskauer to file an order permitting the crew to make use of Bahr’s “out-of-court statements” and different proof of “third-party culpability” at trial as a result of they represent exculpatory proof that’s “vital” for her protection. 

Warren was charged with first-degree homicide in 2017. Her long-awaited trial is slated to start with jury choice in Could. 

Simply final week, either side known as for the exclusion of testimony from one of many detectives who dealt with the investigation a long time in the past. The agreed order states that Detective William Williams, who has since retired from the Palm Seaside County Sheriff’s Workplace, shouldn’t be known as as a witness “as a result of he’s unable to watch, bear in mind and recount the info about which the witness would testify.”

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Siskauer has signed the order to exclude Williams’ testimony. 

However Siskauer has but to rule on a number of different motions concerning numerous parts associated to the circumstances of the killing. He’s anticipated to situation orders after holding hearings over the course of two days in early March.

Photograph reveals receipt from Could 24, 1990, buy at Highlight Capezio in West Palm Seaside, Florida. (Movement to Suppress exhibit, Nov. 1, 2022)

Particularly, protection attorneys have requested the jurist to ban prosecutors from making any point out of proof or witnesses that allegedly present Eager-Warren buying a clown costume two days earlier than the homicide.

Proof that Eager-Warren was the one who bought the clown costume from West Palm Seaside’s Highlight Capezio on Could 24, 1990, is “irrelevant and unreliable,” and would “deprive” her of “her rights to a good trial and due course of,” her attorneys argued in a movement filed in November. Retailer staff mentioned the particular person purchased an orange wig, a “yellow and scorching pink” clown go well with and a make-up package, however no masks, two days earlier than Marlene Warren’s broad daylight execution. 

Nevertheless, protection attorneys argued that witnesses had totally different descriptions of the clown costume from the one which was bought at Highlight. 

“[T]hat clown go well with isn’t the one described by eyewitnesses to Marlene Warren’s homicide,” they wrote within the movement.

One witness “mentioned the clown was carrying a grey jumpsuit, like a mechanic’s uniform,” and wore a wig just like “Bozo the Clown,” the movement states.

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One other witness mentioned the clown “was carrying a white clown go well with with crimson hearts or diamonds,” whereas a 3rd described the costume as having “blue dots on it,” the attorneys wrote. Each witnesses informed police the wig was crimson, the movement states.

Photograph reveals gadgets bought on Could 24, 1990, at Highlight Capezio in West Palm Seaside, Florida. (Movement to Suppress exhibit, Nov. 1, 2022)

Protection attorneys have additionally filed a movement in search of to exclude particulars associated to a white Chrysler LeBaron convertible that was present in a Winn-Dixie parking zone after it had been reported stolen, and any proof that was recovered from contained in the automobile. 

They argued that the automobile “isn’t the automobile pushed by the clown who murdered Marlene Warren.”

However prosecutors beforehand mentioned that DNA discovered contained in the getaway automobile tied Eager-Warren to the crime.

The protection can be in search of to exclude any point out on a “six-to-eight-inch hair or fiber” that was allegedly discovered on a ribbon connected to one of many balloons handed to Warren earlier than she was shot. 

Simply Wednesday, the protection crew filed a movement asking Siskauer to dismiss the fees in opposition to Eager-Warren as a result of prosecutors made “tactical selections” in dragging their ft and in flip prevented the protection from having the ability to construct a case, the doc states.

“This isn’t a ‘chilly case’ within the conventional sense: the State merely picked up their investigation a long time later and carried out new assessments on a few of the hint proof.”

Prosecutors intentionally selected to delay the indictment of Eager-Warren for many years, after which charged her with the homicide of Marlene Warren in 2017 regardless of the shortage of latest proof, the protection crew argued.

In consequence, protection attorneys have been confronted with untraceable or now-deceased witnesses, individuals who now not remembered what they did or noticed, and even some who had instantly modified their accounts of occasions over the course of 30-plus years, attorneys wrote in a movement to dismiss for pre-indictment delay.

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“Greater than 30 years after Marlene Warren’s homicide, a lot of the proof that Sheila Eager-Warren might have relied on to ascertain that another person has confessed to the homicide, to question the State’s witnesses, or current an alibi protection is unavailable for numerous causes,” the movement states. 

It provides: “The regulation permitted the State to take their time in submitting fees, however to not drive Sheila Eager-Warren to battle her case blindfolded with one arm tied behind her again.”

Prosecutors haven’t responded to the motions to date. Each side are anticipated to make their respective arguments in courtroom on March 7 and eight.