The Killer Clown of Wellington, Part 1 | 6

Felonious Florida

Wondery | Sun Sentinel

Crime Story, Documentary, Exhibit C, History, Murder Documentaries, Florida, Society & Culture, True Crime

4.4 • 4.1K Ratings

🗓️ 30 October 2018

⏱️ 41 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

When Marlene Warren answered a morning knock on her front door on Memorial Day weekend in 1990, a clown delivering flowers and balloons was smiling back at her. But her delight instantly turned to horror when the clown pulled a gun and put a bullet in her face. Police jumped on the trail of the killer clown almost immediately, and our reporters found that the investigation led them into the darkest corners of the Sunshine State — from loansharking and drug smuggling to prostitution and seedy affairs. But as a mountain of circumstantial evidence piled up and two possible suspects emerged, the case went ice cold.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	Hey, Prime Numbers, you can listen to Flonious Florida Add Free on Amazon Music.
0:05.0	Download the app today.
0:19.0	It's a cloudy Saturday morning more than 28 years ago, May 26, 1990.
0:26.0	Merleyn Warren's at home on her sprawling property in Wellington, Florida.
0:31.0	It's an upscale, but rural town nestled between the palm trees of the beach-side cities along the Atlantic,
0:37.0	and the alligator-infested wilds of the Everglades.
0:41.0	Merleyn's 21-year-old son, Joey, is home, too, finishing breakfast with several of his friends.
0:49.0	A car pulls into the circular driveway and the driver steps out.
0:54.0	It's a clown, orange wig, red bulb nose, white-painted face.
1:01.0	It walks casually to the front door and knocks.
1:07.0	Merleyn answers, still dressed in her pink nightgown.
1:13.0	Joey and his friends hear her exclaim, how sweet.
1:18.0	The clown's delivering balloons and a bouquet of carnations arranged in a white basket.
1:25.0	And something else.
1:28.0	A bullet.
1:43.0	A bullet.
1:55.0	From the South Florida Sun Sentinel in association with Wundry, this is Fologna's Florida,
2:00.0	the podcast that leads you into the dark side of the sunshine state.
2:06.0	I'm Emma Kate Austin, along with reporter Tanya Alinez,
2:12.0	and this is part one of the killer clown of Wellington.
2:24.0	The scene of a clown gripping a gun on Merleyn Warren's doorstep was surreal, and over in seconds.
2:36.0	The clown fired one bullet into Merleyn's face, and she died two days later.
	...

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