You could talk to everybody in this case, and theyd give you a different answer, he said in an interview at his office in the red brick county courthouse in nearby Maryville. [2][3] In 1981, McElroy was convicted of attempted murder in the shooting of the town's 70-year-old grocer Ernest "Bo" Bowenkamp. However, he was also charged with various crimes. One of the killers has died. Ken Rex McElroy, whose still-unsolved murder outside of the local tavern inspired a book and movie both entitled "In Broad Daylight" was known to both of Scott's parents. How did this uneducated person how is he able to outwit the criminal justice system for 20 years? said MacLean. Of the potential 40 or so witnesses, with the exception of Trena, none could name a shooter. When a court hearing was postponed, there was a meeting in town, with the mayor and the sheriff attending, to discuss Mr. McElroy. After the sheriff left town, the group walked from the hall and went down the street to the tavern. 1952: Ken McElroy marries his first wife Oleta. The town got away with murder, Mr. McFadin said. Lessons from History is a platform for writers who share ideas and inspirational stories from world history. But in a dramatic act of . The town, on the other hand, hated him. Some of these things are simply assumed to be factual, Baird said. Del Clement, the man Trena named as McElroys killer, died of cirrhosis of the liver in 2009. An extensive federal investigation did not lead to any charges. The people of the town keep their heads down and prefer to not speak about the incident. McElroys rear window was shot out and the front window as well. McElroy made a living leasing land near his farm, and trading and racing dogs. McElroy made a living leasing land near his farm, and trading and racing dogs. There were plenty of eyewitnesses, as well as the attack happened in broad daylight, therefore There may never be an answer to the question of who killed Ken Rex McElroy. I am a History Educator and a Lifelong Learner with a Masters in Global History. A swarthy, physically intimidating man who carried about 270 pounds on his more than 6-foot frame, McElroy had thick black eyebrows and bushy sideburns. At least some of the witnesses surely knew who fired the bullet that shattered the back window of McElroys truck and blew off the back of his head. Vigilante justice is certainly a slippery slope, but after years of dealing with Ken McElroy, the people of Skidmore reached their boiling point. McElroy began backing out too, then tailed Margaret until she radioed Richard and squad cars showed up. The grocer lived and McElroy was again arrested and charged with attempted murder. He was known as the town bully , but they may be putting it mildly. He was charged with wading through the sensational details and moral ambiguities of the case to ensure that, in his words, justice was served. On July 10, 1981, Ken Rex McElroy was killed in one of the strangest instances investigators ever saw. But Ken rarely had to wrestle with the June 25th, 1981: McElroy returns to Skidmore out on bail until an appeal hearing. That was the last failure of criminal justice.. However, an incident would occur in 1980 that changed everything. His attorney, Richard McFadin, said he routinely defended Ken McElroy in three or four felonies a year. Looking back, the justice system had as much to do with killing Ken McElroy as anyone in Skidmore did.. In all, he was indicted 21 times but escaped conviction each time, except for the last. Instead, he continued to harass Bowenkamp. Even with these raw wounds, the memory of the nightmare surrounding Mr. McElroy during his years of troublemaking and after a killing that many here feel was forced by an impotent criminal-justice system continues to loom large. According to court records, McElroy tracked them down and brought them back. No one was surprised. How is this man not in jail? Monte said, repeating the question asked by many when he showed up in Skidmore the morning after his release. The case was later settled out of court by all parties for $17,600, with no one admitting guilt, for the stated reason of avoiding costly legal fees should the suit proceed. He was nonplussed. He told the foster family that he would trade "girl for girl" to get his child back, since he knew where the foster family's biological daughter went to school and what bus route she rode. The Vigilantemurder of Ken Rex McElroy still remains a mystery today. April 10th, 1972: After Alice runs away with their son, Ken McElroy gets into an altercation with Alice's stepfather and shoots him. The sheriff said, If you have to shoot him, let us know and well come get him before he starts stinking, Monte said. The Cold Case Murders That Keep Retired Detectives Up at Night, Citizen Detectives Uncover Crime Clues on Websleuths Online Forum. We went to the police. It's said the county's law enforcement officials were afraid of encountering McElroy, who was known to be heavily armed. McElroy was getting into his pickup truck with his wife Trena on the main street of Skidmore where there was a crowd of 30 to 50 people. 1964: Ken meets another girlfriend named Alice Wood. McElroy was a big man with cold eyes who always carried a gun. Neither Baird nor MacLean, whose crime novel has been praised as an accurate account of McElroys killing, buy that. In a trial for shooting a Skidmore man in 1976 two witnesses appeared saying they had been with McElroy hunting miles away from the scene. https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLD8iUdp33PqTsix2sGblEQZ8m5FQycC5D Vigilante justice, or. He went about making public threats against the grocer while armed with a rifle. The son of a bitch would just as soon shoot them as anyone else.. Over the course of his life, McElroy was accused of dozens of felonies, including assault, child molestation, statutory rape, arson, animal cruelty, hog and cattle rustling, and burglary. None of the witnesses called an ambulance or gave information about a shooter. After dropping out of school in the eighth grade, it didn't take long for Ken McElroy to fall into a life of delinquency. The murder of Ken Rex McElroy took place in plain view of dozens of residents of this small farm town, under the glare of the morning sun. He said that Mr. Baird pushed aggressively to bring a case to trial, but that investigators were never able to secure enough evidence to charge someone with a crime. Then McElroy, described by veteran journalist Phil Conger as a big brute of a guy with slicked-back hair like Elvis, took the stand. The noted sites in the story are gone or boardedup. He would intimidate anyone who got in his way, usually by repeatedly harassing them or threatening them with a bullet. When the call went out, State Police Cpl. He went back home and was shot within a couple of days, explains Conger, editor of the Bethany Republican-Clipper. The meeting's entire purpose was to discuss what they could legally do to prevent McElroy from harming anyone else. Do Not Sell or Share My Personal Information. Of the most serious, McElroy was accused of child molestation and statutory rape. He was arrested, booked, arraigned, and released on $2,500 bail. When he got off on a trial, it grew even bigger. According to reports, some 50 people were outside the tavern when the shooting started. Genealogy profile for Ken Rex McElroy Ken Rex McElroy (1934 - 1981) - Genealogy Genealogy for Ken Rex McElroy (1934 - 1981) family tree on Geni, with over 230 million profiles of ancestors and living relatives. Full Worm Moon: Will Conditions Favor A Moonbow? Both Sally and Sharon begin having Ken's children. Bullet casings from two guns were found. In the plainspoken manner of speaking in Skidmore, McElroy simply needed killing, like a gangrened leg needs to be severed to save the whole body. No one was ever accused of shoplifting, or stealing. Yet the identity of McElroys killer is a public secret Skidmore has kept for 38 years. In 2019, the McElroy killing was the subject of a docuseries on SundanceTV. It's worth noting that the abused defending their abuser often occurs in domestic violence cases. What could legally be done about McElroy, they asked Sheriff Danny Estes, who had been elected months earlier. The objective is to promote history on Medium and demonstrate the value of historical writing. Trena McElroy accused Skidmore residents of turning her husband into a scapegoat. Five or six of us were standing in front of the Skidmore Caf, waiting and passing the time. He never finished high school but knew how to hunt, drive fast and navigate the back roads of Nodaway County by his early teens. Once, he even got out and fired a shotgun up in the pine tree by their house. 1955 or 56: Ken and Oleta McElroy move back to Missouri after Ken's accident in Colorado. He was a goodhearted person. After dropping out of school in the eighth grade, it didnt take long for Ken McElroy to fall into a life of delinquency. No one has been charged in connection with McElroys death. That they had guns at the ready wasnt unusual. The Tylenol Murders: Is It Too Late to Solve the Famous Cold Case? Worse felonies included assault and arson. Henry was forced to admit in court, under questioning by McElroy's attorney Richard Gene McFadin, that he had concealed his own petty criminal conviction from more than 30 years previous. I didnt know what to do. There has been books written, movies, documentaries and more made about the killing. June 16th, 1934: Ken Rex McElroy is born to Mabel and Tony McElroy, the thirteenth out of fourteen children. McElroys wife was not injured and escaped the vehicle. After all these years, people talk about it still, said Marla Messner, 37, a restaurant manager who remembers being hurried inside her home for safety anytime Mr. McElroy came to town. McElroy was known to pay local kids for information about who was where in town at what time, so the Bowenkamps developed their own network of informants. Three grand juries heard evidence. Trena McElroy remarried and had a fairly normal life, refusing interviews after she left Skidmore. After Sally had had three kids, Ken kicks her out of the house. But in a dramatic act of solidarity with the gunman, every witness, save the dead mans wife, denied seeing who had pulled the trigger. The bar that provided the backdrop for the shooting is closed and for sale for $20,000. [14] Trena remarried and moved to Lebanon, Missouri, where she died of cancer on her 55th birthday on January 24, 2012.[15]. (Editors Note: Patch Deputy National Editor Beth Dalbey grew up on a farm about 10 miles from Skidmore, Missouri.). He knew which people to pick on the weak people and he followed through on his threats just often enough to make people believe he was going to do what he said he was going to do. The people of the town keep their heads down and prefer to not speak about the incident. Richard McFadin, 87, a lawyer, now retired, who represented Mr. McElroy in numerous cases and, after the killing, his widow, said he believed there was enough evidence for a prosecution. There just wouldnt have been a story.. The morning of July 10, 1981, a group of frustrated and angry men gathered at the Legion Hall in Skidmore, MacLean writes. Its been over 30 years. He was known as the town bully, but they may be putting it mildly. Evelyn lived cross the street, and he made sure she could see them. So is Stratton. Heavy lids veiled cold, steel-blue eyes, making them look like half moons. Ken Rex McElroy, a notoriously brutal man who had terrorized Skidmore, Mo., for years, was killed in 1981. Once you boil away to the facts of what occurred, you can probably point to hundreds of similar reports every week across the United States., If McElroy had been shot by a lone gunman on a dark road at night, it would have made the Maryville paper for a day, MacLean said. Get out of town, they said. Murder is still murder. In April 1980, Trena McElroy told her husband a clerk in the Bowenkamps store had accused their 4-year-old daughter of stealing penny candy. Alice and Ken eventually separate. I have no doubt hed have tried to kill my mom. The group heard McElroy and Trena McCloud were spotted heading to the tavern nearby. His eyes just really put you in defense modehe really looked like a mean person.. Estes, the sheriff some tried to implicate in a conspiracy, is dead. More awful crimes have taken place in the small town. They were witnesses. He was shot at several times and hit twice, once by a centerfire rifle and once by a .22 rimfire rifle. In 1980, one of McElroy's children got into an argument with a clerk, Evelyn Sumy, in a local grocery store owned by 70-year-old Ernest "Bo" Bowenkamp and his wife Lois, allegedly because the young McElroy child tried to steal some candy. McElroy wound up shooting Bowenkamp in the neck, nearly killing him. Ken Rex McElroy 1934-1981. Unsolved 'Vigilante' Murder in the Heartland: Missouri Town Goes Quiet After Bully Is Shot, https://www.aetv.com/real-crime/ken-rex-mcelroy-vigilante-murder-skidmore-unsolved. Still working within the justice system, witnesses who saw McElroy with the gun gave the information the county prosecutor needed to request a bond revocation hearing. Reporting on what you care about. Despite three grand juries, no one has been indicted for the . Meanwhile, major media outlets descended onto Skidmore and reports of its vigilantes became water-cooler talk across the U.S. For some residents, resentment against McElroy was projected onto the police. McElroy divorced Alice and married Trena in order to escape charges of statutory rape, to which she was the only witness. One account even said that McElroy rode into town on a horse and was shot and killed, Baird, the former prosecutor, said. American criminal and murder victim, killed by vigilantes, "3 decades on, who killed Skidmore town bully still secret", "Ken McElroy Murderer, rapist and consummate intimidator", "Skidmore, Revisited Part 1: The Death of Ken McElroy", "Ken McElroy Murderer, rapist and consummate intimidator Another Teen Love", "Ken McElroy Murderer, rapist and consummate intimidator Saved by the Law", "Ken McElroy Murderer, rapist and consummate intimidator Intent to Kill", The Death Of Ken McElroy *Interesting History* - YouTube, "AS her daughter Tami listens, Trena McElroy retells how she watched", "3 decades on, who killed Skidmore town bully still secret | McClatchy", "Ken McElroy Murderer, rapist and consummate intimidator Murder in Broad Daylight", "Wrongful death lawsuit settled in re Ken McElroy", "Trena McElroy Passed Away | Harry N. MacLean", "You Get What You Pay For, by Larry Beinhart", "Stream It Or Skip It: 'No One Saw A Thing' On SundanceTV, A Docuseries About How Skidmore, Missouri Has Kept A Murder Unsolved For 38 Years", https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Ken_McElroy&oldid=1136590059, Short description is different from Wikidata, Pages using infobox person with multiple spouses, Pages using infobox criminal with known for parameter, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License 3.0, Bo Bowenkamp (survived an attempted murder), This page was last edited on 31 January 2023, at 02:52. It was also the first major case for a young county prosecutor, not far removed from law school and just months into the job, who said he was confident that the case would be solved soon. Over the course of his life, McElroy was accused of dozens of felonies, including assault, child molestation, statutory rape, arson, hog and cattle rustling, and burglary. He didnt have a bank account, didnt have a Social Security number, he didnt read. A writer and storyteller out in the world to write about True-Crime and History. Hed help anyone that needed to be helped, she said in an interview recounted in In Broad Daylight. Buzzfeeds Unsolved Network produced a 24-minute true crime documentary on the shooting. Many buildings are closed and falling apart. Weighing in at approximately 270 pounds with bushy black sideburns, McElroy held the entire . One of these women was 24-year-old Trena McCloud, who was McElroy's partner. A memorial in the tiny downtown park displays the name of an expectant mother murdered six years ago, her fetus cut from her womb. Henry survived and McElroy was charged with assault with intent to kill. She took her complaint to at-the-time Nodaway County Sheriff Roger Cronk. His father was a tenant farmer, his mother a housewife swamped with feeding and caring for the sprawling family. She eventually filed a wrongful death against the town, the county, and some citizens but the matter was settled out of court. Boyer was taking trajectory measurements at the crime scene when a town official chided him. Someone warned her, Youre about to meet Ken Rex McElroy, Monte said. The courts would not help us or Skidmore. Allegedly, even the mayor was in on it. Why are you doing this? His lifelong career as a criminal started with petty offenses, but he increasingly became more violent, amassing a rap sheet that included nearly two dozen felony charges for assault, child molestation, statutory rape, arson, burglary, grain theft, and hog and cattle rustling enterprises that kept a thick roll of hundred-dollar bills in his pocket. McCloud was McElroy's third "wife," though all unions were suspicious due to the fact that some of his marriages overlapped. Richard Stratton was ready. Something for everyone interested in hair, makeup, style, and body positivity. The sheriff suggested they form a neighborhood watch and advised the group not to confront the man. July 10th, 1981: The Townspeople gather in the Legion to discuss what should be done about Ken McElroy. Maryville, Missouri, lawyer David Baird, the Nodaway County prosecutor at the time, said the crime is fairly unremarkable in the context of current-day gang shootings witnessed by many, but seen by few willing to risk their safety by ratting out the crew. A man who turned out to be McElroy pointed a shotgun at me, Margaret tells A&E True Crime. Ken McElroy died in a hail of gunfire on the morning of July 10, 1981, while sitting in his truck outside a local tavern. June 25th, 1981: Ken McElroy is sentenced to two years in jail. To the residents of the small town, he was the town bully. [10] No one called for an ambulance. [9] McElroy was convicted at trial of assault, but freed on bail pending his appeal. Search, watch, and cook every single Tasty recipe and video ever - all in one place! He was indicted as many as 21 times, but escaped conviction all but once. Obsessed with travel? The objective is to promote history on Medium and demonstrate the value of historical writing. [6], Based on Trena's story, McElroy was indicted in June 1973 for arson, assault, and statutory rape. Im never going to answer that question. Shortly after being released, McElroy was at D&G Tavern making threats about murdering Bowenkamp. During the meeting, McElroy arrived at the D&G Tavern with Trena. A bond hearing was ordered. 1. Get the Android Weather app from Google Play, Win a Midday Makeover from Studio STL and West County, Hold my beer its time to sign up for the St. Patricks, Tims Travels: Dreaming in silestone and slabs its, Downtown is turning green for St. Patricks Day Parade, The 7brew Crew brings kindness, joy and of course,, Freshen up finds: Give your skin a slug-hug, What the Cluck! Many buildings are closed and falling apart. . McElroy and Trena returned to the truck, where he lit a cigarette while she was in the passenger seat. The murder occurred in broad daylight, with as many as sixty eye-witnesses present, including the wife of the deceased. When the news that Ken and Trena went to the local bar that evening, everyone got up and made their way over. Some attributed his bizarre and violent behavior to a head injury suffered in this event. As the story has been told by MacLean and others, McElroy showed up at the D&G tavern and pool hall the next day toting a rifle with a bayonet a violation of his bond and threatened to finish off the Bowenkamps. Its never going to happen.. Evelyn tried to explain what had happened, that nobody had accused the children of stealing, and Trena said, Why would my effing daughter lie? . He begins to rant about how he is going to ruin Bo Bowenkamp. As he packed up his office last week, he gave his successor a memo that listed a dozen or so unsolved cases in Nodaway County including, down toward the end, the killing of Mr. McElroy. Luckily, Bowenkamp survived, and McElroy was charged with attempted murder. Not only that, they recommended he spend no more than two years in prison. You dont have a town full of people who were hiding a guilty conscience, he said. I dont believe youre coming nowafter we needed your help all this time.. Self care and ideas to help you live a healthier, happier life. It wasn't the kind of murder which goes unsolved for decades and eventually someone comes forward with the tip that breaks the case open. No one bothered to turn it off. It was so out of the blue, almost to the point of being surreal, said Monte, who occasionally worked in her parents store. Dunbar talked to him, and [McElroy] pulled a gun on him, Monte said.
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