Nobody called an ambulance. According to reports, some 50 people were outside the tavern when the shooting started. If you were to go to Skidmore today, there isn't much to see. Anyone can read what you share. You dont have a town full of people who were hiding a guilty conscience, he said. Discover unique things to do, places to eat, and sights to see in the best destinations around the world with Bring Me! 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. He believes one of the gunmen was the suspect named by the widow. McElroy began stalking the Bowenkamp family, and eventually threatened Bo Bowenkamp in the back of his store with a shotgun in hand. A writer and storyteller out in the world to write about True-Crime and History. But Ken rarely had to wrestle with the McElroy appealed the case and was released on bond. That was the last failure of criminal justice.. As a result, he was arrested, but quickly released. [11] Only Trena claimed to identify a gunman; every other witness either was unable to name an assailant or claimed not to have seen who fired the fatal shots. September 2nd, 1982: Keven though there were over sixty witnesses, no one came forward to name the shooter. Ken Rex Melroy was born on June 1st, 1934 to a family of poor tenant farmers who moved to Skidmore. 1954: While working for his sister's husband in construction, McElroy suffers a traumatic head injury that leaves him with lifelong pain. It's hard to believe that this small town was once a bustlingcommunity. What started with hunting raccoons escalated into petty crime until McElroy ultimately emerged as a full-fledged criminal. McElroy was also accused of abusing his first two wives, Sharon and Alice, but Alice defended him in an interview shortly after his death. But justice is a loaded term in a case that challenges the usual assumptions of victim and perpetrator. In all, McElroy was indicted 21 times and managed to escape conviction every time. When word spread that McElroy was in town, a couple of the men walked from the Legion hall to the D&G. I heard shooting and got down. As Trena told the story to reporters, a group of men followed them as they left the D&G. Yes, its against the law, but you know, the law is not the final definitive word on him. None of the witnesses called an ambulance or gave information about a shooter. They could have pushed and dug, pushed and dug and gotten nothing., We were so bitter and so angry at the law letting us down that it came to somebody taking matters in their own hands, she said. 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. 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. Buzzfeeds Unsolved Network produced a 24-minute true crime documentary on the shooting. McElroy would just sit and glower at you just stare at you and youd never know what he was thinking.. Harry MacLean, author of "In Broad Daylight". They were witnesses. Those who witnessed the killing didnt speak of it again, not because they were part of a conspiracy, MacLean believes, but because theyre stoic by nature. Another was McElroys intimidation tactics, MacLean writes. He was known as "the town bully",[1] and his unsolved killing became the focus of international attention. Its never going to happen.. MacLean doesnt believe the men gathered at the Legion hall that morning ever made a group decision to kill McElroy. Additional charges were filed against McElroy.[7]. More awful crimes have taken place in the small town. 1969 or 1970: Ken McElroy becomes involved with a young girl named Trena McCloud. His unsolved killing became the focus of international attention. 2023 by Catlyn Brady, Jennifer Partridge, & Kara Severson. Local authorities, including a coroners jury and a local grand jury, and even the FBI, investigated the killing but to no avail. Women had a harder time with it than the men. 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. 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. McElroy was convicted of assault but let out of jail awaiting appeal. Many buildings are closed and falling apart. That they had guns at the ready wasnt unusual. McElroy for the most part escaped prosecution and, certainly, conviction for various crimes. Estes, the sheriff some tried to implicate in a conspiracy, is dead. Born in 1934, Ken Rex McElroy was a resident of Skidmore, Missouri. Part of his teeth were lying on the dashboard, Boyer recalls. Everyone was so uncomfortable and scared.. In fact, anywhere between thirty and ninety people witnessed the . Watch the new and 7th season of BuzzFeed Unsolved: True Crime! Reporting on what you care about. It's worth noting that the abused defending their abuser often occurs in domestic violence cases. The morning of July 10, 1981, a group of frustrated and angry men gathered at the Legion Hall in Skidmore, MacLean writes. That became the pattern. McElroy was never a popular man. SKIDMORE, Mo. He was known as the town bully , but they may be putting it mildly. See also Other Works | Publicity Listings | Official Sites View agent, publicist, legal and company contact details on IMDbPro Ken Rex McElroy Jr. The group heard McElroy and Trena McCloud were spotted heading to the tavern nearby. What could legally be done about McElroy, they asked Sheriff Danny Estes, who had been elected months earlier. Meanwhile, McElroy and his wife arrived at the D&G Tavern for a morning drink. Investigators found shell casings from two weapons a .22-caliber Magnum rifle and an 8 mm Mauser, a German World War I-era long-range rifle. https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLD8iUdp33PqTsix2sGblEQZ8m5FQycC5D Vigilante justice, or. July 10th, 1981: The Townspeople gather in the Legion to discuss what should be done about Ken McElroy. The man asked, what are you doing here? Boyer remembers. I got in the car and was shaking so bad.. The law had plenty of chances, plenty of times to lock him up., Added Monte: Justice failed everybody. The person(s) responsible for firing the shots that killed McElroy remains unsolved. Absolutely not, he said. She died of cancer on Jan. 24, 2012; it was her 55th birthday. He quit.. This is far from what happened in the case of McElroy. For example, one of the owners of the D&G tavern would send her young children to the grocery store for paper towels, keeping the children innocently unaware they were telegraphing an urgent message for the Bowenkamps to call the police. Everyone claimed they didnt see who fired the shots. I dont know what happened,' Boyer recalls witnesses saying. One night after he pulled a speeding pickup truck over, Boyer came face to face with McElroy. The media descended on Skidmore after the killing, an event that continues to define the people of the small town to the world at times with wildly exaggerated versions of what happened. The objective is to promote history on Medium and demonstrate the value of historical writing. The sheriff said, If you have to shoot him, let us know and well come get him before he starts stinking, Monte said. They thought about his wife and his children, and where it left them particularly the children.. Someone shot at McElroy while he was sitting in his truck. His last wife, Trena, became pregnant with their first child at age 14. He had been terrorizing Skidmore for years and he kept getting away with it. Evelyn lived cross the street, and he made sure she could see them. They settle in Skidmore. The death of Ken Rex McElroy is a perplexing case that has hung heavy over the town of Skidmore, Missouri for decades. But if tried by a jury of their peers, I doubt anybody around here would have convicted the shooters. 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. Road signs bear a picture of a young man who disappeared nine years ago and is feared dead. If you liked reading this story on Ken McElroy, the bully who was killed by his town, check out the story of Budford Pussers cold-blooded revenge. Shortly after, McElroy was arrested and charged with attempted murder. McElroy started his pickup and the sound of shots pierced the silence. On July 10, 1981, Ken Rex McElroy was killed in one of the strangest instances investigators ever saw. They delivered messages in code. The case inspired a book, In Broad Daylight by Harry McLean, and a 1991 TV movie of the same name starring Brian Dennehy. [6] Trena and her baby were placed in foster care at a home in Maryville, Missouri. Over the next two years, three grand juries were empaneled and testimony taken. 1, it is murder. His eyes just really put you in defense modehe really looked like a mean person.. Hed leave, then hed come back, Monte said. In the end, fear is what killed him, Goslee said. CHAPTER ONE. The witnesses all claimed they had seen nothing. The verdict was second-degree assault and two years. Alice and Ken eventually separate. They settle in Skidmore. McFadin, McElroys lawyer, got the hearing postponed. He torched the home and shot the dogagainafter the girl went into hiding with her and McElroys baby. Ken is later charged and arrested. Dozens of them gathered at Skidmores American Legion hall on the morning of July 10, 1981. 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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. There has been books written, movies, documentaries and more made about the killing. 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. 1958: Ken McElroy becomes involved with a young woman named Sharon. 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. We interviewed our tech expert, Jaime Vazquez, to learn more about accessible smart home devices. He was nonplussed. The final straw for Skidmore was when he was let out on bond. 1964: Ken meets another girlfriend named Alice Wood. Sign up for free Patch newsletters and alerts. This was something that the "town bully," Ken Rex McElroy, staunchly rebelled against. Its probably accurate that few outside of McElroys family shed tears over his death, but many Skidmore residents still struggle with the spectacle of a man violently and publicly killed. 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. 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. And he has already asked the sheriffs office to re-examine some of the unsolved cases. McElroy mounted a daily vigil outside Bowenkamps house, his daughter Cheryl Brown recounts in In Broad Daylight: The town emptied out every time he came to town. Then McElroy, described by veteran journalist Phil Conger as a big brute of a guy with slicked-back hair like Elvis, took the stand. Despite the efforts of police, prosecutors and McElroys family, no one has been charged in the murder. Heavy lids veiled cold, steel-blue eyes, making them look like half moons. 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. The justice system just crashed and burned over this case.. It's said that the meeting adjourned, and the crowd quietly descended upon the tavern, flanking McElroy's truck. We went to the courts. In all, there were 46 potential witnesses to the shooting, including Trena McElroy, who was in the truck with her husband when he was shot. According to court records, McElroy tracked them down and brought them back. [8] At the trial, two raccoon hunters testified they were with McElroy the day of the shooting away from Henry's property. He was charged 21 times in theft cases but was said to have avoided conviction through witness intimidation, either by direct confrontation or by parking his truck outside their home. Everyone involved continues to keep the secret and gives no answers. The meeting broke up after participants learned McElroy and Trena were at the D&G Tavern. Del Clement, the man Trena named as McElroy's killer, died of cirrhosis of the liver in 2009. He appeared in a local bar, the D&G Tavern, armed with an M1 Garand rifle and bayonet, and later threatened to kill Bowenkamp. The noted sites in the story are gone or boardedup. About Press Copyright Contact us Creators Advertise Developers Terms Privacy Policy & Safety How YouTube works Test new features NFL Sunday Ticket Press Copyright . You just didnt do that.. According to a report, no one called an ambulance. Immediately after being released at a post-trial hearing, McElroy went to the D&G Tavern, a local bar, with an M1 Garand rifle with a bayonet attached, and made graphic threats about what he would do to Bo Bowenkamp. 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. SKIDMORE, Mo. In Broad Daylight: A Murder in Skidmore, Missouri. One of these women was 24-year-old Trena McCloud, who was McElroy's partner. SKIDMORE, MO Four decades after Ken Rex McElroy was gunned down on the main drag of Skidmore, Missouri, in one of Americas most infamous cold cases, the story of the notoriously brutal town bully has refused to die with him no matter how much the farmers and blue-collar workers who live in the small farming town wish it would. Ken Rex McElroy Jr. - Biography - IMDb Edit Ken Rex McElroy Jr. July 10th, 1981: The townspeople gather around Ken's truck once he and Trena exit the bar. Is dumpster diving legal in Missouri and Illinois? We might not see him for three or four days, and then wed see him every day for weeks, Monte said. McElroys wife was not injured and escaped the vehicle. Within hours, Mr. Baird heard that there had been a shooting downtown. 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. We went to the police. But in a dramatic act of solidarity with the gunman, every witness, save the dead mans wife, denied seeing who had pulled the trigger. McElroy was found not guilty. I didnt see anything. Vigilante justice is certainly a slippery slope, but after years of dealing with Ken McElroy, the people of Skidmore reached their boiling point. McElroy was a big man with cold eyes who always carried a gun. 1960: Ken moves his young girlfriendSally into his house with Sharon. When the call went out, State Police Cpl. SKIDMORE, Mo. [1] To date, no one has been charged in connection with McElroy's death. There were plenty of eyewitnesses, as well as the attack happened in broad. 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. He found a macabre scene. So the townspeople held a meeting. Calling the sheriff about his threats was risk few were willing to take not that it would have done much good, Goslee said. Yet the identity of McElroys killer is a public secret Skidmore has kept for 38 years. It's said the county's law enforcement officials were afraid of encountering McElroy, who was known to be heavily armed. The Tylenol Murders: Is It Too Late to Solve the Famous Cold Case? Ken was 18 and Oleta was 16. The killing was a shocking end for a notoriously brutal man who had terrorized the area for years with seeming impunity from the law until he was struck down in a moment of vigilante justice. The courts would not help us or Skidmore. [2] He was struck by bullets from at least two different firearms, in front of a crowd of people estimated as numbering between 30 and 46. Three grand juries heard evidence. There were so many nights Dad couldnt go out and mow the yard or water the flowers because there was a truck parked down the street, and they were watching the house, Monte said. This led to several patrons deciding to see what they could legally do to prevent McElroy from harming anyone else. When the news that Ken and Trena went to the local bar that evening, everyone got up and made their way over. More awful crimes have taken place in the small town. On July 27, 1976, Skidmore farmer Romaine Henry said McElroy shot him twice with a shotgun after Henry challenged him for shooting weapons on Henry's property. They had to look out for themselves. Known for stealing livestock, harassing women, destroying property and threatening lives, Mr. McElroy had been charged with numerous felonies over the years his lawyer estimated at least three a year but had never been convicted. For more than two decades, McElroy was suspected of being involved in theft of grain, gasoline, alcohol, antiques, and livestock, but he avoided conviction when charges were brought against him 21 timesoften after witnesses refused to testify because he allegedly intimidated them, frequently by following his targets or parking outside their homes and watching them. 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. He reportedly began stalking the Bowenkamp family. He testified that Bowenkamp attacked him with a knife and he acted in self-defense, MacLean writes. Was justice served? A girl from a poor, rural family, McElroy had begun having sex with her when she was barely fourteen. 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. Neither Baird nor MacLean, whose crime novel has been praised as an accurate account of McElroys killing, buy that. 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. Despite being shot in broad daylight in front of various witnesses, the . The town, on the other hand, hated him. However, in 1981, Trena told People magazine that the fire was a result of "faulty wiring.". He neutralized an entire criminal justice system.. He put those skills to work rustling hogs and cattle, MacLean recounts. His father was a tenant farmer, his mother a housewife swamped with feeding and caring for the sprawling family. The stories of McElroy's relationships contain some troubling details, but the information is important to paint the full picture. But even after a federal prosecutor forwarded to Mr. Baird what he called substantial new evidence, no one was indicted. On July 9, 1984, Trena McElroy filed a $5 million wrongful death lawsuit against the Town of Skidmore, County of Nodaway, Sheriff Danny Estes, Steve Peters (Mayor of Skidmore), and Del Clement (whom Trena accused of being the shooter, but who was never charged). June 29th, 1981: McElroy enters a bar with an illegal firearm, due to him being out on bail. McCloud was McElroy's third "wife," though all unions were suspicious due to the fact that some of his marriages overlapped. He went about making public threats against the grocer while armed with a rifle. He would intimidate anyone who got in his way, usually by repeatedly harassing them or threatening them with a bullet. The towns local bar in Skidmore, Missouri. The law wasnt going to help the people of Skidmore. Anticipating McElroys typical moves, Stratton waited on a back road near the Kansas border. Worse felonies included assault and arson. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. Sheriff Estes instructed the assembled group not to get into a direct confrontation with McElroy, but instead seriously consider forming a neighborhood watch program. You dont take cases to trial to see what might happen, the former prosecutor said. June 16th, 1934: Ken Rex McElroy is born to Mabel and Tony McElroy, the thirteenth out of fourteen children. Both Sally and Sharon begin having Ken's children. The man identified by the widow as the main gunman recently died, something Mr. Baird raised in suggesting that the case may never be reopened. Everyone involved continues to keep the secret and gives no answers. There just wouldnt have been a story.. Everyone in town seemed to know McElroy had done it, yet he spent only a single night in jail for nearly killing the man. McElroy sat outside the foster home for hours at a time staring at it. There is pretty much nothing in existence that was not stolen by McElroy during his 47 years. McElroy divorced Alice and married Trena in order to escape charges of statutory rape, to which she was the only witness. The Mirny Diamond Mine Might Be The Most Mysterious Hole Ever, The Story Of Alain Lamare The Cop Who Moonlit As The Murderer He Was Trying To Catch, What Stephen Hawking Thinks Threatens Humankind The Most, 27 Raw Images Of When Punk Ruled New York, Join The All That's Interesting Weekly Dispatch. The local major-cases squad investigated, then the Federal Bureau of Investigation. 1998 - 2023 Nexstar Media Inc. | All Rights Reserved. There may never be an answer to the question of who killed Ken Rex McElroy. The rumor was that he had drowned her father in a bathtub when he had objected to what he was doing to his daughter. Not only that, they recommended he spend no more than two years in prison. They just went stone silent. Ken stalks the family afterwards, and on the 8th, Ken shoots Bo Bowenkamp. This six-episode true-crime docuseries comes from Sundance TV and premiered last August. McElroy was spinning so hard out of control, I have no doubt he would have tried to kill my dad again, given the chance. The town has seen more than its share of tragedy. There wasnt much parental supervision, but McElroy had a knack for taking care of himself. The couple then moved to Colorado. In July 1976, McElroy pulled a shotgun on farmer Romaine Henry and shot the man in the stomach. The trial collapsed yet all accounts are sceptical that the witnesses were telling the . Livestock owners looked the other way when a few head of cattle or hogs vanished in the night or gas barrels used to fuel farm implements were noticeably emptier. Again, there were no indictments, and the McElroy murder case was tossed back to Baird. document.getElementById( "ak_js_1" ).setAttribute( "value", ( new Date() ).getTime() ); Copyright 2023 Nexstar Media Inc. All rights reserved. The townsfolk were infuriated. McElroy made a living leasing land near his farm, and trading and racing dogs. Theoretically, [the murder] could be re-investigated, veteran Kansas City criminal defense attorney J.R. Hobbs tells A&E True Crime. The people of Skidmore were becoming more and more frustrated with the failures to protect them in the justice system.
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