You know what he was like. 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. They settle in Skidmore. Of the most serious, McElroy was accused of child molestation and statutory rape. 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. [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. 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. The murder occurred in broad daylight, with as many as sixty eye-witnesses present . The noted sites in the story are gone or boardedup. Anticipating McElroys typical moves, Stratton waited on a back road near the Kansas border. In all, he was indicted 21 times but escaped conviction each time, except for the last. 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. According to court records, McElroy tracked them down and brought them back. Ken Rex McElroy (June 1, 1934 - July 10, 1981) was an American criminal and convicted attempted murderer who resided in Skidmore, Missouri, United States. 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. But justice is a loaded term in a case that challenges the usual assumptions of victim and perpetrator. Farmers carried them to kill varmints, or for hunting displaying them in plain sight in rear window gun racks. 1952: Ken McElroy marries his first wife Oleta. Ken Rex McElroy sat in his truck for over an hour before the law was called. Joyce Monte, daughter of injured grocer. Ken Rex McElroy Jr. - Biography - IMDb Edit Ken Rex McElroy Jr. 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. As the case dragged on without a court date, Henry said McElroy had parked outside his home at least 100 times. Ken Rex McElroy was born on month day 1934, at birth place, Missouri, to Anthony Wyatt McElroy and Mable Marie McElroy (born Lister). He would intimidate anyone who got in his way, usually by repeatedly harassing them or threatening them with a bullet. That was the last failure of criminal justice.. Despite being shot in broad daylight in front of various witnesses, the . They could have pushed and dug, pushed and dug and gotten nothing, said Huston. However, he was also charged with various crimes. Skidmore townsfolk may not all have liked how he was killed it was murder, after all but when he died, most of the towns 435 residents let out a heavy sigh of relief. Road signs bear a picture of a young man who disappeared nine years ago and is feared dead. McCloud was McElroy's third "wife," though all unions were suspicious due to the fact that some of his marriages overlapped. 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. A girl from a poor, rural family, McElroy had begun having sex with her when she was barely fourteen. 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. So the townspeople held a meeting. Within a few years, she had had four children by him. Ken was 18 and Oleta was 16. Shortly after being released, McElroy was at D&G Tavern making threats about murdering Bowenkamp. [9] McElroy was convicted at trial of assault, but freed on bail pending his appeal. July 8th, 1980: The Bowenkamps filed a legal proceeding against Ken McElroy after the incident in their store. Estes, the sheriff some tried to implicate in a conspiracy, is dead. The law had plenty of chances, plenty of times to lock him up., Added Monte: Justice failed everybody. On April 25, 1980 at Ernest "Bo" Bowenkamp's general store, a clerk asked McElroy's 8-year-old daughter to return a piece of candy she had not paid for. When talking about McElroy, MacLean wondered how he was able to be so crafty. McCloud attempted to escape to her parents' house, but McElroy allegedly responded by burning down Trena's parents' home and shooting their dog. Why are you doing this? Once, he even got out and fired a shotgun up in the pine tree by their house. Both Sally and Sharon begin having Ken's children. 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. 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. He went back home and was shot within a couple of days, explains Conger, editor of the Bethany Republican-Clipper. About Press Copyright Contact us Creators Advertise Developers Terms Privacy Policy & Safety How YouTube works Test new features NFL Sunday Ticket Press Copyright . No one called for an ambulance. The guns were never recovered. Murder is still murder. A couple of men hustled Trena to a nearby bank, away from the gunfire. Somebody would hear his name, and the legend grew bigger. Bullet casings from two different guns were found. Things reached a boiling point in 1980 when Ken McElroy got into a confrontation with the towns elderly grocer, Ernest Bo Bowenkamp. Hed help anyone that needed to be helped, she said in an interview recounted in In Broad Daylight. It's hard to believe that this small town was once a bustlingcommunity. Reporting on what you care about. 1, it is murder. However, in 1981, Trena told People magazine that the fire was a result of "faulty wiring.". Looking back, the justice system had as much to do with killing Ken McElroy as anyone in Skidmore did.. All That's Interesting is a Brooklyn-based digital publisher that seeks out stories that illuminate the past, present, and future. 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. He didnt have a bank account, didnt have a Social Security number, he didnt read. No one was surprised. McElroy was born in 1934, the fifteenth of sixteen children born to a poor . Neither Baird nor MacLean, whose crime novel has been praised as an accurate account of McElroys killing, buy that. 1952: Ken McElroy marries his first wife Oleta. When the shooting ended, McElroy was slumped over the steering wheel. 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. As there were no witnesses, nobody was able to take the stand. It really is that it was never spoken of they had an instinctive reaction to close up. No. Del Clement, the man Trena named as McElroy's killer, died of cirrhosis of the liver in 2009. You know how he oppressed and threatened us. And despite there being dozens of witnesses, no one has ever been arrested or charged in connection with McElroys murder. 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. McElroy was also accused of abusing his first two wives, Sharon and Alice, but Alice defended him in an interview shortly after his death. Former Nodaway County prosecutor David Baird, Its proceedings are secret, but in news interviews at the time, McElroys widow said she told a county grand jury who murdered her husband. SKIDMORE, Mo. SKIDMORE, Mo. One of these women was 24-year-old Trena McCloud, who was McElroy's partner. She took her complaint to at-the-time Nodaway County Sheriff Roger Cronk. BuzzFeed McElroy allegedly stole livestock, grain, gasoline,. He raped McCloud repeatedly. 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). This is an archived article and the information in the article may be outdated. During the meeting, McElroy arrived at the D&G Tavern with Trena. Trena claimed to have seen someone pull a rifle from the back of the truck, take aim at McElroy, and fire shots that shattered the truck's windows. He was represented by defense attorney Richard Gene McFadin of Gallatin, Missouri. He put those skills to work rustling hogs and cattle, MacLean recounts. McElroy first began his relationship with McCloud when she was 14 and the two had a child shortly thereafter. A reported crowd of up to 60 men had largely dispersed, but some onlookers remained, staring at the pickup. McElroy sat outside the foster home for hours at a time staring at it. Ken Rex McElroy (June 1, 1934 - July 10, 1981) was a resident of Skidmore, Nodaway County, Missouri. But in a dramatic act of . In court, Bowenkamp testified about how McElroy confronted him in the loading dock of the grocery while he was cutting up boxes and shot him in the neck. He torched the home and shot the dogagainafter the girl went into hiding with her and McElroys baby. 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. He never finished high school but knew how to hunt, drive fast and navigate the back roads of Nodaway County by his early teens. 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. It was not the kind of justice they shouldve gotten, 60-year-old Joyce Monte, the Bowenkamps daughter, told Patch in a telephone interview from her home in Oklahoma. The meeting's entire purpose was to discuss what they could legally do to prevent McElroy from harming anyone else. A memorial in the tiny downtown park displays the name of an expectant mother murdered six years ago, her fetus cut from her womb. 1. document.getElementById( "ak_js_1" ).setAttribute( "value", ( new Date() ).getTime() ); Copyright 2023 Nexstar Media Inc. All rights reserved. The man asked, what are you doing here? Boyer remembers. They could finally sleep peacefully at night, especially Bo and Lois Bowenkamp and their children. His father was a tenant farmer, his mother a housewife swamped with feeding and caring for the sprawling family. His eyes just really put you in defense modehe really looked like a mean person.. Hed leave, then hed come back, Monte said. Trena McElroy accused Skidmore residents of turning her husband into a scapegoat. This past weekend marked the 40th anniversary of the killing of Ken Rex McElroy of Skidmore. [1] To date, no one has been charged in connection with McElroy's death. 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. Discover unique things to do, places to eat, and sights to see in the best destinations around the world with Bring Me! 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 testified that Bowenkamp attacked him with a knife and he acted in self-defense, MacLean writes. Evelyn lived cross the street, and he made sure she could see them. Anyone can read what you share. McElroy for the most part escaped prosecution and, certainly, conviction for various crimes. When word spread that McElroy was in town, a couple of the men walked from the Legion hall to the D&G. Get out of town, they said. Its never going to happen.. One account even said that McElroy rode into town on a horse and was shot and killed, Baird, the former prosecutor, said. As Trena told the story to reporters, a group of men followed them as they left the D&G. McElroys rear window was shot out and the front window as well. In Broad Daylight: A Murder in Skidmore, Missouri. He was known as "the town bully", [1] and his unsolved killing became the focus of international attention. When Daylight Saving Time 2023 Begins, Will It Be For The Last Time. They know how everybody thinks.. The Vigilantemurder of Ken Rex McElroy still remains a mystery today. His hunch paid off, and McElroy found himself handcuffed and charged with assault. I got in the car and was shaking so bad.. Actually, I think those shooters saved lives in the end, she said. 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. On July 10th, 1981 Ken Rex McElroy was shot dead in the street in broad daylight infront of 60 witnesses. Like so many other small towns, Skidmore has shrunk inside itself, watching businesses close and residents depart. Alas, the victory was short-lived. 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. Sheriff Estes instructed the assembled group not to get into a direct confrontation with McElroy, but instead seriously consider forming a neighborhood watch program. When they met him on the street, parents steered their children, especially their daughters, away from McElroy, a notorious womanizer who favored young women and was married multiple times including to a child bride he was accused of raping and fathered 15 children. All Rights Reserved. An extensive federal investigation did not lead to any charges. They had to look out for themselves. A&E, Rolling Stone, Playboy, 60 Minutes, and other media outlets covered the story in print or television. She died in 2012. Again, there were no indictments, and the McElroy murder case was tossed back to Baird. No one was charged, and the FBI closed the case. The people of the town keep their heads down and prefer to not speak about the incident. Ken Rex McElroy was an illiterate hog farmer who lived on the outskirts of a small town in Northwest Missouri. Harry MacLean, author of "In Broad Daylight". It's worth noting that the abused defending their abuser often occurs in domestic violence cases. Tell us what you think in the comments below. Five or six of us were standing in front of the Skidmore Caf, waiting and passing the time. 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. However, he was also charged with various crimes. E-mail: ramzywritersofficial@gmail.com. Ken is later charged and arrested. Del Clement, the man Trena named as McElroys killer, died of cirrhosis of the liver in 2009. Everyone involved continues to keep the secret and gives no answers. In what could only be described as vigilante justice, they conspired to kill Ken McElroy. McElroy and Trena returned to the truck, where he lit a cigarette while she was in the passenger seat. He dropped out of school before he reached high school, and by 13 was already a familiar character to the cops around Nodaway County. August 18th, 1980: Ken's preliminary trial begins. Ken Rex McElroy 1934-1981. Estes then drove out of town in his police cruiser. He was sure it was Mr. McElroy who had done the shooting. Buzzfeeds Unsolved Network produced a 24-minute true crime documentary on the shooting. Ive never thought there was a series of phone calls that went around dont say this or that. Those farmers have known each other since they were children. Dozens of them gathered at Skidmores American Legion hall on the morning of July 10, 1981. Weighing in at approximately 270 pounds with bushy black sideburns, McElroy held the entire . Everyone just went home. I didnt know what to do. In July 1976, McElroy pulled a shotgun on farmer Romaine Henry and shot the man in the stomach. 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Tucked away in the northwest corner of Missouri is a small, dusty town 46 miles north of St. Joseph with a decades-old secret. He leaves Sharon to move in with Alice. The 12-year-old's parents initially opposed the relationship, but after McElroy burned their house down and shot the family dog, they relented and agreed to the marriage. Witnessing the murder were McElroys wife, Trena, screaming in the passenger seat and dozens of local residents. [2][3] In 1981, McElroy was convicted of attempted murder in the shooting of the town's 70-year-old grocer Ernest "Bo" Bowenkamp. Meanwhile, McElroy and his wife arrived at the D&G Tavern for a morning drink. One of the killers has died. [12] The DA declined to press charges. What happened in Skidmore that day wasnt much different than the completely predictable result from shaking a carbonated beverage until the top finally blows. 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]. No. 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. Everyone involved continues to keep the secret and gives no answers. Those in attendance felt the system had failed them, and it seemed like none of the authorities could stop McElroy. The death of Ken Rex McElroy is a perplexing case that has hung heavy over the town of Skidmore, Missouri for decades. Many buildings are closed and falling apart. The murder of Ken Rex McElroy isn't 'unsolved' in the typical sense of the word. The citizens decided to go to the tavern en masse. He was shot at several times and hit twice, once by a centerfire rifle and once by a .22 rimfire rifle. Ken Rex McElroy was an American known as "the town bully" of Skidmore, Missouri. July 10th, 1981: The Townspeople gather in the Legion to discuss what should be done about Ken McElroy. Anthony was born on August 27 1890, in Shelton, Knox County, MO, USA. 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. No one has ever been brought to trial in Mr. McElroys death, and, although there is no statute of limitations on murder, most people around here suspect that no one ever will be. Worse felonies included assault and arson. Boyer was out showing a trainee the ropes when he got the call of a shooting in Skidmore. Our law enforcement never went after him very hard, he said. This is far from what happened in the case of McElroy. He spent the night in jail before posting bond, then sauntered menacingly back into the D&G tavern and pool hall and took his usual spot. 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. The local major-cases squad investigated, then the Federal Bureau of Investigation. I had my service weapon drawn, and I wouldnt have been the least bit surprised if he tried to do something, Boyer recalls. At some point in his life, McElroy was believed to have been seriously injured on a construction site, causing him to suffer from chronic pain. 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. He grew up hearing the story. Watch the new and 7th season of BuzzFeed Unsolved: True Crime! [6], Based on Trena's story, McElroy was indicted in June 1973 for arson, assault, and statutory rape. The town got away with murder, Mr. McFadin said. They just went stone silent. Lessons from History is a platform for writers who share ideas and inspirational stories from world history. There were plenty of eyewitnesses, as well as the attack happened in broad. Vigilante justice is certainly a slippery slope, but after years of dealing with Ken McElroy, the people of Skidmore reached their boiling point. I am a History Educator and a Lifelong Learner with a Masters in Global History. He dropped out of school at age 15 in the eighth grade and quickly established a local reputation as a cattle rustler, small-time thief, and womanizer. He had a legendary status, and it all got to be bigger than he was. Never miss a story by signing up for the newsletter now. In 1981, vigilantes in Skidmore, Mo., took justice into their own hands and killed town bully Ken Rex McElroy but no one was charged with the crime. He quit.. McElroy was a big man with cold eyes who always carried a gun. He met his last wife, Trena McCloud (19572012), when she was 12 years old and in eighth grade. He was accused or suspected of dozens of crimes, including theft, livestock rustling, burglary, arson, assault, rape, and child molestation. Almost everyone, with the exception of Bo Bowenkamp, backed down. One of the people shot was a local farmer named Romaine Henry, who McElroy shot in the stomach for trying to chase him off of Henry's own land. McElroy allegedly stole livestock, grain, gasoline, and antiques. 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 verdict was second-degree assault and two years. Someone warned her, Youre about to meet Ken Rex McElroy, Monte said. The Cold Case Murders That Keep Retired Detectives Up at Night, Citizen Detectives Uncover Crime Clues on Websleuths Online Forum. In 1981, McElroy was convicted of shooting . He said he was not at all disappointed to leave office with the case still unsolved. To the residents of the small town, he was the town bully. The Vigilantemurder of Ken Rex McElroy still remains a mystery today. 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. We went everywhere we could, but justice would stay delicately out the way, she said. Born in 1934, Ken Rex McElroy was a resident of Skidmore, Missouri. Ken Rex McElroy (June 1, 1934 July 10, 1981) was an American criminal and convicted attempted murderer who resided in Skidmore, Missouri, United States. He made no deathbed confession, but someone wrote in a memorial tribute that he was a good, brave man. McFadin, the lawyer who once told The New York Times the town got away with murder, is dead, too. 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. Author Harry MacLean wrote a book McElroys story called In Broad Daylight. 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. The police chief who oversaw the investigation, Hal Riddle, disagrees. 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 was known to have stolen grain, alcohol, gasoline, antiques, and even livestock. A man who turned out to be McElroy pointed a shotgun at me, Margaret tells A&E True Crime. More awful crimes have taken place in the small town. . This led to several patrons deciding to see what they could legally do to prevent McElroy from harming anyone else. Boyer was among the first responders to arrive outside the D&G tavern where McElroy was ambushed. Then McElroy, described by veteran journalist Phil Conger as a big brute of a guy with slicked-back hair like Elvis, took the stand. [10] No one called for an ambulance. 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. It cruised up the street, came back and just sat there for 20 seconds, says Boyer, adding he couldnt prove it was McElroy but waited behind a tree with his shotgun just in case. 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.