McElroy was a resident of Skidmore, Missouri. More awful crimes have taken place in the small town. 7 Good News Stories: Sense Of Belonging; Secrets To 70-Year Marriage, EPA Limits On Toxic Forever Chemicals Could Cost Utilities Billions, The Poop On Free-Range Cats And Your Lawn And Garden [Block Talk], Boeing Worker Claims $754.6M Powerball Jackpot, Barrier-Breaking Black Army Officer Finally Awarded Medal Of Honor, FL Blogging Bill Says Political Writers Should Register With State. Ken Rex McElroy was an illiterate hog farmer who lived on the outskirts of a small town in Northwest Missouri. Often, witnesses changed their mind about testifying before trials began, MacLean said, and if a case did make it to trial, a juror might open the mailbox to find a rattlesnake. He stood silently at the back of the store, but his wife tore into Sumy in an argument laced with four-letter bombs, Monte said. You dont have a town full of people who were hiding a guilty conscience, he said. The group heard McElroy and Trena McCloud were spotted heading to the tavern nearby. Five or six of us were standing in front of the Skidmore Caf, waiting and passing the time. McElroy was never a popular man. McElroy began backing out too, then tailed Margaret until she radioed Richard and squad cars showed up. But in a dramatic act of . June 16th, 1934: Ken Rex McElroy is born to Mabel and Tony McElroy, the thirteenth out of fourteen children. That became the pattern. But in a dramatic act of solidarity with the gunman, every witness, save the dead mans wife, denied seeing who had pulled the trigger. All Rights Reserved. Refusing to argue, he and Lois went home. Alas, the victory was short-lived. When the call went out, State Police Cpl. Didnt see a thing. Thats the response investigators repeatedly received when they questioned people over the death of Ken McElroy. McElroy was eventually convicted, but the charge was lessened from "attempt to kill" to "knowingly caused serious physical injury" to ensure a conviction. Evelyn tried to explain what had happened, that nobody had accused the children of stealing, and Trena said, Why would my effing daughter lie? . Trena jumped from the truck and a man helped her to safety. Some attributed his bizarre and violent behavior to a head injury suffered in this event. Missouri State Highway Patrol Trooper Richard Stratton, the only lawman in northwest Missouri ever known to stand up to McElroy, hunted McElroy down and arrested him on an attempted murder charge. Trena dove from the truck and was taken to safety. Town Mute for 30 Years About a Bullys Killing, https://www.nytimes.com/2010/12/16/us/16bully.html. Harry MacLean, author of "In Broad Daylight". Instead of playing out in court, the details emerged in newspaper and magazine accounts, as well as a best-selling book, In Broad Daylight: A Murder in Skidmore, Missouri, which was later made into a television movie. Born in 1934, Ken Rex McElroy was a resident of Skidmore, Missouri. It failed McElroy, too, because it failed to protect him from himself. The Vigilantemurder of Ken Rex McElroy still remains a mystery today. More awful crimes have taken place in the small town. The police chief who oversaw the investigation, Hal Riddle, disagrees. 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. MacLean doesnt believe the men gathered at the Legion hall that morning ever made a group decision to kill McElroy. 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. Many buildings are closed and falling apart. A few days later, a pickup truck showed up in the wee hours outside Boyers remote country house. McElroy was hit twice by two different guns and died from injuries to his head and neck. Someone shot at McElroy while he was sitting in his truck. In Broad Daylight: A Murder in Skidmore, Missouri. Again, there were no indictments, and the McElroy murder case was tossed back to Baird. [2], In all, he was indicted 21 times but escaped conviction each time, except for the last. 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. McElroy four years earlier had pumped a couple of rounds of buckshot into the stomach of local farmer Romaine Henry as he tried to run the blackguard off his land. A reported crowd of up to 60 men had largely dispersed, but some onlookers remained, staring at the pickup. Ken Rex McElroy was an American known as "the town bully" of Skidmore, Missouri. In all, McElroy was indicted 21 times and managed to escape conviction every time. The story of Ken Rex McElroy began on June 1, 1934. We went to the courts. https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLD8iUdp33PqTsix2sGblEQZ8m5FQycC5D Vigilante justice, or cold-blooded murder?MERCH: We've got it! McElroy was known to have stolen grain, alcohol, gasoline, antiques, and even livestock. When talking about McElroy, MacLean wondered how he was able to be so crafty. Somebody would hear his name, and the legend grew bigger. The justice system just crashed and burned over this case.. He had a legendary status, and it all got to be bigger than he was. I think he treated the whole town of Skidmore that way, the 78-year-old said, adding she didnt feel brave. But it got to the point it made me mad.. 1952: Ken McElroy marries his first wife Oleta. McCloud was McElroy's third "wife," though all unions were suspicious due to the fact that some of his marriages overlapped. And Mr. Baird, all these years later, is still unwilling to give his own view on whether justice was served even though or because the killer was never tried. Of the potential 40 or so witnesses, with the exception of Trena, none could name a shooter. Consisting of around 440 residents and a number of small family-run businesses, the farming town revolved around work ethic. He put those skills to work rustling hogs and cattle, MacLean recounts. However, when the matter came to trial, McElroys attorney produced a pair of witnesses who testified they were hunting with McElroy that day and he was nowhere near the scene of the shooting. Looking back, the justice system had as much to do with killing Ken McElroy as anyone in Skidmore did.. [Stream episodes of Accused: Guilty or Innocent? 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. Then McElroy, described by veteran journalist Phil Conger as a big brute of a guy with slicked-back hair like Elvis, took the stand. I am a History Educator and a Lifelong Learner with a Masters in Global History. 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. In the months before McElroy went to trial, the Bowenkamps and Sumy went to bed scared, woke up frightened and lived in terror with every breath. He was arrested, booked, arraigned, and released on $2,500 bail. As Ken McElroy sat in his truck, he was shot at several times. The people of the town keep their heads down and prefer to not speak about the incident. I got in the car and was shaking so bad.. Police had charged him with various alleged crimes from stealing hogs to assault, but nothing stuck. 1948: Approximately the time when Ken begins his small thefts as a young teenager. [2][3] In 1981, McElroy was convicted of attempted murder in the shooting of the town's 70-year-old grocer Ernest "Bo" Bowenkamp. He divorces Oleta and marries Sharon to get out of a chargeof assault after shooting Sharon during an argument. In the ensuing confrontation, McElroy shot Bowenkamp in the neck; Bowenkamp survived, and McElroy was arrested and charged with attempted murder. This was something that the "town bully," Ken Rex McElroy, staunchly rebelled against. As there were no witnesses, nobody was able to take the stand. If you were to go to Skidmore today, there isn't much to see. Best client I ever had, McFadin said in an interview. Absolutely not, he said. The murder occurred in broad daylight, with as many as sixty eye-witnesses present . He testified that Bowenkamp attacked him with a knife and he acted in self-defense, MacLean writes. The murder took place on July 10, 1981, the day after McElroy had threatened Bowenkamp at the tavern. Another was McElroys intimidation tactics, MacLean writes. Over the next two years, three grand juries were empaneled and testimony taken. 1960: Ken moves his young girlfriendSally into his house with Sharon. Ken was 18 and Oleta was 16. McElroy escaped jail on an appeal bond and could remain free until he exhausted his appeals, free to taunt his victims with what had become painfully clear: He would never go to jail. Author Harry MacLean wrote a book McElroys story called In Broad Daylight. Once there, he threatened Bo, and shot him in the neck at close range with a shotgun. McElroy was also accused of abusing his first two wives, Sharon and Alice, but Alice defended him in an interview shortly after his death. McElroy was spinning so hard out of control, I have no doubt he would have tried to kill my dad again, given the chance. If they thought it was getting too out of hand, they would send one of us up and down the aisle. In 1980, after a misunderstanding about a candy purchase from a Skidmore grocery store involving McElroys daughters, McElroy shot popular owner Bo Bowenkamp in the neck. Watch the new and 7th season of BuzzFeed Unsolved: True Crime! There is pretty much nothing in existence that was not stolen by McElroy during his 47 years. No. The law had plenty of chances, plenty of times to lock him up., Added Monte: Justice failed everybody. And he has already asked the sheriffs office to re-examine some of the unsolved cases. But not that one. In fact, anywhere between thirty and ninety people witnessed the . Ken McElroy issues threats against the Bowenkamp family. Ken Rex McElroy, a notoriously brutal man who had terrorized Skidmore, Mo., for years, was killed in 1981. They had to look out for themselves. Lessons from History is a platform for writers who share ideas and inspirational stories from world history. The people of the town keep their heads down and prefer to not speak about the incident. https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLD8iUdp33PqTsix2sGblEQZ8m5FQycC5D Vigilante justice, or. Carjackers Steal More Cars Many With Kids Still Inside, After Indulgent Mardi Gras, Ash Wednesday Signals Abstinence, Fasting. 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. By the time McElroy was shot dead under the glare of the morning sun on July 10, 1981, everybody feared his hair-trigger temper and brooding presence. Ken Rex McElroy Jr. - Biography - IMDb Edit Ken Rex McElroy Jr. On July 10, 1981, Ken Rex McElroy was killed in one of the strangest instances investigators ever saw. She took her complaint to at-the-time Nodaway County Sheriff Roger Cronk. Anywhere from 30 to 90 people watched the 47-year-old McElroy die in an act that ended his decade-long reign of terror over the people of Skidmore. Retribution was slow coming to Ken McElroybut lightning fast when it happened. Both Sally and Sharon begin having Ken's children. We didnt have sufficient evidence to go to trial.. Known as "the town bully", McElroy was accused of dozens of felonies, including assault, child molestation, statutory rape, arson, hog and cattle rustling, and burglary. Genealogy profile for Ken Rex McElroy Ken Rex McElroy (1934 - 1982) - Genealogy Genealogy for Ken Rex McElroy (1934 - 1982) family tree on Geni, with over 230 million profiles of ancestors and living relatives. But justice is a loaded term in a case that challenges the usual assumptions of victim and perpetrator. If your child will play baseball or softball this spring, youll need to stock up on appropriate clothing and equipment. It really is that it was never spoken of they had an instinctive reaction to close up. Everyone claimed they didnt see who fired the shots. It's hard to believe that this small town was once a bustlingcommunity. 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. No one was charged, and the FBI closed the case. Trena McElroy fingered a local rancher as one of the gunmen, but he denied the claim. The story was thrust back to the forefront this month by No One Saw a Thing, a six-part Sundance TV docu-series exploring the moral ambiguity of frontier justice and the unspoken, yet universally intriguing, question: When, if ever, does someone like McElroy deserve to die? Nodaway County Sheriff Dan Estes suggested they form a neighborhood watch. Ken Rex McElroy was shot dead inside his pick-up truck on the 10th of July, 1981, via a storm of bullets. 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. On July 10, 1981, McElroy was sitting in his truck with his wife Trena McElroy on Skidmore's main drag when a crowd of residents surrounded his vehicle and shot at him several times. Actually, I think those shooters saved lives in the end, she said. He was as mean as he looked, but there was more to his baleful demeanor, said Colorado lawyer and author Harry MacLean, who lived with a prominent Skidmore farm family off and on for about five years while he researched In Broad Daylight, a New York Times bestseller chronicling McElroys life and death. Additional charges were filed against McElroy.[7]. The death of Ken Rex McElroy is a perplexing case that has hung heavy over the town of Skidmore, Missouri for decades. We hold major institutions accountable and expose wrongdoing. Anthony was born on August 27 1890, in Shelton, Knox County, MO, USA. The Vigilantemurder of Ken Rex McElroy still remains a mystery today. Search, watch, and cook every single Tasty recipe and video ever - all in one place! We had shoplifting, but a lot of people were on hard times. The Cold Case Murders That Keep Retired Detectives Up at Night, Citizen Detectives Uncover Crime Clues on Websleuths Online Forum. That was the last failure of criminal justice.. Ken is later charged and arrested. He was accused or suspected of dozens of crimes, including theft, livestock rustling, burglary, arson, assault, rape, and child molestation. There just wouldnt have been a story.. Tensions in Skidmore soared as McElroys trial neared. No one was ever accused of shoplifting, or stealing. McElroy was reportedly a large man (270 pounds), and a local farmer's description of him (seen above) was that he wanted to appear "big and important" and make people "afraid.". Those who spoke out were taciturn. His unsolved killing became the focus of international attention. 1958: Ken McElroy becomes involved with a young woman named Sharon. Despite three grand juries, no one has been indicted for the . Mr. McElroy has been dead for almost three decades now, a round number that has residents here bracing for the next round of visits by reporters. You know what he was like. Yet in a conspiracy of silence that has spanned the past 38 years, the townsfolk have held the secret close. When Estes and state troopers arrived back in town, the streets were empty and quiet, save the rumbling, smoking engine of McElroys truck. [3] McElroy was acquitted. His father was a tenant farmer, his mother a housewife swamped with feeding and caring for the sprawling family. As many as 60 people were reported to have been at the scene, but not one of them would say who had wielded the weapons. He was known as the town bully, but they may be putting it mildly. It's said the county's law enforcement officials were afraid of encountering McElroy, who was known to be heavily armed. Despite the efforts of police, prosecutors and McElroys family, no one has been charged in the murder. Known as 'the town bully', his unsolved killing became the focus of international attention. He went back home and was shot within a couple of days, explains Conger, editor of the Bethany Republican-Clipper. He was represented by defense attorney Richard Gene McFadin of Gallatin, Missouri. McElroy and Trena returned to the truck, where he lit a cigarette while she was in the passenger seat. Ken Rex Melroy was born on June 1st, 1934 to a family of poor tenant farmers who moved to Skidmore. McElroys wife named one person as a possible gunman, but no one couldor wouldidentify who fired the shots. In the decades preceding his murder, McElroy terrorized the denizens of Skidmore. Hed help anyone that needed to be helped, she said in an interview recounted in In Broad Daylight. document.getElementById( "ak_js_1" ).setAttribute( "value", ( new Date() ).getTime() ); Copyright 2023 Nexstar Media Inc. All rights reserved. However, an incident would occur in 1980 that changed everything. His father was a tenant farmer, his mother a housewife swamped with feeding and caring for the sprawling family. Hed leave, then hed come back, Monte said. It was Richard McFadin, the man who kept Ken McElroy out of jail 21 times, who said it best: The town got away with murder.. 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. Anyone can read what you share. Ken had 13 siblings: Hershell Eugene McElroy, Orvil O McElroy and 11 . What could legally be done about McElroy, they asked Sheriff Danny Estes, who had been elected months earlier. Theoretically, [the murder] could be re-investigated, veteran Kansas City criminal defense attorney J.R. Hobbs tells A&E True Crime. A memorial in the tiny downtown park displays the name of an expectant mother murdered six years ago, her fetus cut from her womb. McElroy was a big man with cold eyes who always carried a gun. What gave rise to that theory is that they were in the Legion hall for a meeting, then went down to the D&G [when they heard McElroy was in town]. The verdict was second-degree assault and two years. There wasnt much parental supervision, but McElroy had a knack for taking care of himself. 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. As he sat drinking at the bar, word got back to the men at the Legion Hall that he was in town. I heard shooting and got down. Born in 1934, Ken Rex McElroy was a resident of Skidmore, Missouri. It's said that the meeting adjourned, and the crowd quietly descended upon the tavern, flanking McElroy's truck. Then you can read about chilling cold cases where the murderers and victims were both unknown. And its likely to stay that way. The final straw for Skidmore was when he was let out on bond. In 1981, McElroy was convicted of shooting . According to court records, McElroy tracked them down and brought them back. They were witnesses. 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. Never miss a story by signing up for the newsletter now. We were so bitter and so angry at the law letting us down that it came to somebody taking matters in their own hands, said Bowenkamps daughter, Cheryl Huston. This past weekend marked the 40th anniversary of the killing of Ken Rex McElroy of Skidmore. SKIDMORE, Mo. [1][3] The next day, McElroy was shot to death in broad daylight as he sat with his wife Trena in his pickup truck on Skidmore's main street. Ken Rex McElroy was an American known as "the town bully" of Skidmore, Missouri. In what could only be described as vigilante justice, they conspired to kill Ken McElroy. 2023 by Catlyn Brady, Jennifer Partridge, & Kara Severson. Bullet casings from two different guns were found. McElroy sat outside the foster home for hours at a time staring at it. (Editors Note: Patch Deputy National Editor Beth Dalbey grew up on a farm about 10 miles from Skidmore, Missouri.). Just months after Mr. Baird became county prosecutor a post he was encouraged to take because nothing exciting ever happens in Nodaway County he found himself in a courtroom for the first time with Mr. McElroy, who had shot an elderly Skidmore grocer in the neck with a shotgun. As many as 60 Skidmore residents attended, including the mayor and the sheriff. Alice and Ken eventually separate. The murder occurred in broad daylight, with as many as sixty eye-witnesses present, including the wife of the deceased. Why are you doing this? August 18th, 1980: Ken's preliminary trial begins. [14] Trena remarried and moved to Lebanon, Missouri, where she died of cancer on her 55th birthday on January 24, 2012.[15]. A bond hearing was ordered. They thought about his wife and his children, and where it left them particularly the children.. There was a kind of silent charity on the part of my parents, and they never prosecuted.
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