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Richard Stratton was ready. Ken Rex McElroy 1934-1981. You dont take cases to trial to see what might happen, the former prosecutor said. Skidmore, Part Three - The Murder of Ken Rex McElroy 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. 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. No One Saw a Thing S01E01 The Killing of Ken Rex McElroy He was charged with wading through the sensational details and moral ambiguities of the case to ensure that, in his words, justice was served. After McElroy fired a gun outside her house, Evelyn Sumy appealed to Dave Dunbar, the town marshal. McElroy wound up shooting Bowenkamp in the neck, nearly killing him. Of the most serious, McElroy was accused of child molestation and statutory rape. Once there, he threatened Bo, and shot him in the neck at close range with a shotgun. What happened in Skidmore that day wasnt much different than the completely predictable result from shaking a carbonated beverage until the top finally blows. There's a long list of crimes said to have been committed by McElroy, including shooting multiple people. Anthony was born on August 27 1890, in Shelton, Knox County, MO, USA. Those in attendance felt the system had failed them, and it seemed like none of the authorities could stop McElroy. Was justice served? 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. I said it in 1981, and Ill say it now, Baird told Patch. The local major-cases squad investigated, then the Federal Bureau of Investigation. No one was surprised. The town has seen more than its share of tragedy. McElroy was never a popular man. Five or six of us were standing in front of the Skidmore Caf, waiting and passing the time. This was something that the "town bully," Ken Rex McElroy, staunchly rebelled against. Hed leave, then hed come back, Monte said. As the case dragged on without a court date, Henry said McElroy had parked outside his home at least 100 times. That was the last failure of criminal justice.. After the sheriff left town, the group walked from the hall and went down the street to the tavern. My experience is that trying a case is not always good at bringing closure, Mr. Baird said. 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 was in town and behaving belligerently. 1969 or 1970: Ken McElroy becomes involved with a young girl named Trena McCloud. His father was a tenant farmer, his mother a housewife swamped with feeding and caring for the sprawling family. Is No One Saw A Thing A True Story? The Real-Life Murder - ScreenRant Ken is later charged and arrested. Vigilante justice is certainly a slippery slope, but after years of dealing with Ken McElroy, the people of Skidmore reached their boiling point. He put those skills to work rustling hogs and cattle, MacLean recounts. 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. Those who spoke out were taciturn. One of these women was 24-year-old Trena McCloud, who was McElroy's partner. A conviction should have been a victory for the people of Skidmore, but the jury set a maximum sentence of two years, and the judge, without protest from Mr. Baird, released Mr. McElroy on bond pending appeal. Tucked away in the northwest corner of Missouri is a small, dusty town 46 miles north of St. Joseph with a decades-old secret. In July 1976, McElroy pulled a shotgun on farmer Romaine Henry and shot the man in the stomach. 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. 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. Only July 10, 1981, there was a meeting at the town hall, down the street from D&G Tavern. Bully's murder remains a secret in Missouri town for 40 years - FOX 2 No. More awful crimes have taken place in the small town. There is pretty much nothing in existence that was not stolen by McElroy during his 47 years. They could finally sleep peacefully at night, especially Bo and Lois Bowenkamp and their children. Bullet casings from two guns were found. Gene McFadin, McElroys nickel-slick lawyer from Kansas City could get Ken off every time, Kirby Goslee, a 71-year-old Skidmore farmer who still works the land his family homesteaded six generations ago, told Patch. The Craziest Cold Case in History The Murder of Ken Rex McElroy He met his last wife, Trena McCloud (19572012), when she was 12 years old and in eighth grade. It really is that it was never spoken of they had an instinctive reaction to close up. He leaves Sharon to move in with Alice. McElroy was eventually convicted, but the charge was lessened from "attempt to kill" to "knowingly caused serious physical injury" to ensure a conviction. All That's Interesting is a Brooklyn-based digital publisher that seeks out stories that illuminate the past, present, and future. Sheriff Estes instructed the assembled group not to get into a direct confrontation with McElroy, but instead seriously consider forming a neighborhood watch program. The objective is to promote history on Medium and demonstrate the value of historical writing. He begins to rant about how he is going to ruin Bo Bowenkamp. Then, on a warm July night, McElroy shot my dad as he sat on the back loading dock of his store, waiting for an air conditioner repairman, Monte said. The sheriff suggested they form a neighborhood watch and advised the group not to confront the man. Some of these things are simply assumed to be factual, Baird said. McElroy allegedly stole livestock, grain, gasoline, and antiques. Shortly after, Strattons wife Margaret was headed to church when she saw a strange truck in the driveway. 'Below the Fold' movie based on Skidmore, Missouri released - WDAF-TV What could legally be done about McElroy, they asked Sheriff Danny Estes, who had been elected months earlier. Additional charges were filed against McElroy.[7]. Case #8: the Mysterious Death of Ken Rex Mcelroy The Chilling Murder of Skidmore Town Bully Remains a Mystery - Medium The clerk, Evelyn Sumy, was at the back of the store when the doors swung open. McElroy was known to have stolen grain, alcohol, gasoline, antiques, and even livestock. A girl from a poor, rural family, McElroy had begun having sex with her when she was barely fourteen. [8] At the trial, two raccoon hunters testified they were with McElroy the day of the shooting away from Henry's property. We had shoplifting, but a lot of people were on hard times. 18 Facts About The Murder Of Ken Rex McElroy, One Of The Most His foot fell to the accelerator when he was shot, causing the engine to run at full bore. 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 made a living leasing land near his farm, and trading and racing dogs. When Daylight Saving Time 2023 Begins, Will It Be For The Last Time. 10 Things You Need To Know About The Documentary No One - ScreenRant July 8th, 1980: The Bowenkamps filed a legal proceeding against Ken McElroy after the incident in their store. McElroy was hit twice and died. McElroy for the most part escaped prosecution and, certainly, conviction for various crimes. McElroy would just sit and glower at you just stare at you and youd never know what he was thinking.. 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 was a goodhearted person. Please look at the time stamp on the story to see when it was last updated. SKIDMORE, Mo. On July 10th, 1981 Ken Rex McElroy was shot dead in the street in broad daylight infront of 60 witnesses. Born in 1934, Ken Rex McElroy was a resident of Skidmore, Missouri. Ken Rex McElroy was an American known as "the town bully" of Skidmore, Missouri. Lessons from History is a platform for writers who share ideas and inspirational stories from world history. The story of Ken Rex McElroy began on June 1, 1934. 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. June 12th, 1973: After continuing his involvement with Trena McCloud, Ken McElroy burns down Trena's parents' house. In 2019, the McElroy killing was the subject of a docuseries on SundanceTV. McElroy was convicted of assault but let out of jail awaiting appeal. Biography Mini Bio (1) Ken Rex McElroy Jr. is known for No One Saw a Thing (2019). 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. A couple of men hustled Trena to a nearby bank, away from the gunfire. But unless a very credible witness came forward, its not likely to happen., The Burger Chef Cold Case: Four Murders Still Unsolved Over 40 Years Later. The couple then moved to Colorado. Not only that, they recommended he spend no more than two years in prison. You just didnt do that.. I think its something thats going to define this town forever.. A trial took place the following year and for the first time ever, Ken McElroy was convicted. Actually, I think those shooters saved lives in the end, she said. 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. The verdict was second-degree assault and two years. Nobody wanted to talk to us, retired Missouri State Highway Patrol Trooper Dan Boyer tells A&E True Crime. A few days later, a pickup truck showed up in the wee hours outside Boyers remote country house. 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. [4], McElroy fathered more than 10 children with different women. That it was a vigilante killing is not true for a lot of reasons; if they had decided to kill him, they wouldnt have stood in the street to watch the murder unfold, he said. 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. 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. Ken Rex McElroy was shot dead in Skidmore, Missouri on July 10, 1981. On July 10, 1981, Ken Rex McElroy was killed in one of the strangest instances investigators ever saw. July 10th, 1981: The Townspeople gather in the Legion to discuss what should be done about Ken McElroy. It's said the county's law enforcement officials were afraid of encountering McElroy, who was known to be heavily armed. Dec. 15, 2010. 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 first began his relationship with McCloud when she was 14 and the two had a child shortly thereafter. If you were to go to Skidmore today, there isn't much to see. E-mail: ramzywritersofficial@gmail.com. [9] McElroy was convicted at trial of assault, but freed on bail pending his appeal. The people of the town keep their heads down and prefer to not speak about the incident. Local authorities, including a coroners jury and a local grand jury, and even the FBI, investigated the killing but to no avail. On this Wikipedia the language links are at the top of the page across from the article title. So the townspeople held a meeting. As a subscriber, you have 10 gift articles to give each month. The son of a bitch would just as soon shoot them as anyone else.. McElroy was hit twice by two different guns and died from injuries to his head and neck. Get out of town, they said. Many buildings are closed and falling apart. He made no deathbed confession, but someone wrote in a memorial tribute that he . When you didnt know where he was, you didnt dare take the chance of not being on your guard.. He left town just as Ken and Trena McElroy were driving in, likely passing McElroys Chevrolet Silverado pickup in his cruiser on the road. Its been over 30 years. RELATED: 10 Of The Best Docuseries You Should Be Watching Now Each episode is around 40 minutes each and contains dramatic and intimate . A lot of people were not happy about what happened, MacLean said. 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. 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. But the silence of the townspeople held. His hunch paid off, and McElroy found himself handcuffed and charged with assault. Sign up for free Patch newsletters and alerts. The police would not or could not help us or Skidmore. There were as many as 60 witnesses, yet the crime remains unsolved. Do Not Sell or Share My Personal Information. Boyer was taking trajectory measurements at the crime scene when a town official chided him. The group heard McElroy and Trena McCloud were spotted heading to the tavern nearby. 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. He went about making public threats against the grocer while armed with a rifle. He was arrested, booked, arraigned, and released on $2,500 bail. He then returned to Trena's parents' home when they were away and, once again, shot the family dog and burned the house down. He didnt have a bank account, didnt have a Social Security number, he didnt read. The death of Ken Rex McElroy is a perplexing case that has hung heavy over the town of Skidmore, Missouri for decades. The guns were never recovered. He appeared in a local bar, the D&G Tavern, armed with an M1 Garand rifle and bayonet, and later threatened to kill Bowenkamp. 1, it is murder. 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. 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. Within a few years, she had had four children by him. Farmers carried them to kill varmints, or for hunting displaying them in plain sight in rear window gun racks. Why are you doing this? In Broad Daylight: A Murder in Skidmore, Missouri. McElroy sat outside the foster home for hours at a time staring at it. 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. The law wasnt going to help the people of Skidmore. [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. 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. On a steamy Missouri morning of July 10, 1981, a gunman took aim at the 47-year-old as he sat smoking in his Silverado pickup truck outside the local bar. He was represented by defense attorney Richard Gene McFadin of Gallatin, Missouri. 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On July 8, 1980, McElroy drove to the alley behind the Bowenkamp general store. 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. I had my service weapon drawn, and I wouldnt have been the least bit surprised if he tried to do something, Boyer recalls. 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. This led to several patrons deciding to see what they could legally do to prevent McElroy from harming anyone else. We went to the police. The noted sites in the story are gone or boardedup. The larger-than-life bully who menaced the farming community of Skidmore died in seconds. You know how he oppressed and threatened us. 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. 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. His attorney, Richard McFadin, said he routinely defended Ken McElroy in three or four felonies a year. Neither Baird nor MacLean, whose crime novel has been praised as an accurate account of McElroys killing, buy that. Over the next two years, three grand juries were empaneled and testimony taken. That became the pattern. Del Clement, the man Trena named as McElroy's killer, died of cirrhosis of the liver in 2009. 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. Another was McElroys intimidation tactics, MacLean writes. 1964: Ken meets another girlfriend named Alice Wood. 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. As many as 60 Skidmore residents attended, including the mayor and the sheriff. We didnt have sufficient evidence to go to trial.. June 16th, 1934: Ken Rex McElroy is born to Mabel and Tony McElroy, the thirteenth out of fourteen children. 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. Murder is still murder. 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. 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. There may never be an answer to the question of who killed Ken Rex McElroy. He never finished high school but knew how to hunt, drive fast and navigate the back roads of Nodaway County by his early teens. 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). 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. 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. Weighing in at approximately 270 pounds with bushy black sideburns, McElroy held the entire . 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. We hold major institutions accountable and expose wrongdoing. The people of the town keep their heads down and prefer to not speak about the incident. The stories of McElroy's relationships contain some troubling details, but the information is important to paint the full picture. 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. Carjackers Steal More Cars Many With Kids Still Inside, After Indulgent Mardi Gras, Ash Wednesday Signals Abstinence, Fasting. McElroy was accused of raping two young women, as young as 12 years old, both of whom he was said to have "married" to keep them from testifying against him. Here are 13 things you need to know about Ken McElroy and his death before you tune into No One Saw A Thing, premiering this Thursday, Aug. 1, pulled from sources including Harry MacLean,. Despite the efforts of police, prosecutors and McElroys family, no one has been charged in the murder. See also Other Works | Publicity Listings | Official Sites View agent, publicist, legal and company contact details on IMDbPro Ken Rex McElroy Jr. Estes, the sheriff some tried to implicate in a conspiracy, is dead. The Cold Case Murders That Keep Retired Detectives Up at Night, Citizen Detectives Uncover Crime Clues on Websleuths Online Forum. 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. A man who turned out to be McElroy pointed a shotgun at me, Margaret tells A&E True Crime. The couple then moved to Colorado. He testified that Bowenkamp attacked him with a knife and he acted in self-defense, MacLean writes. Worse felonies included assault and arson. 1960: Ken moves his young girlfriendSally into his house with Sharon. Ken Rex McElroy Jr. - Biography - IMDb Edit Ken Rex McElroy Jr. 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. When word spread that McElroy was in town, a couple of the men walked from the Legion hall to the D&G. When a court hearing was postponed, there was a meeting in town, with the mayor and the sheriff attending, to discuss Mr. McElroy. He was sure it was Mr. McElroy who had done the shooting. He was punctual, always said he didnt do it, paid in cash and kept coming back.. He was nonplussed. They delivered messages in code. One reason was McElroys lawyer Richard Gene McFadin, a skilled defense attorney who ran rings around inexperienced prosecutors. THE KILLING OF KEN REX MCELROY THIRTY YEARS LATER. McCloud was McElroy's third "wife," though all unions were suspicious due to the fact that some of his marriages overlapped. A bond hearing was ordered. Some people have attributed his strange behavior with this event. Talking Well Of The Dead: The Shooting Down Of Ken McElroy, USA. BuzzFeed McElroy allegedly stole livestock, grain, gasoline,. Just to be aware, he explained. 1948: Approximately the time when Ken begins his small thefts as a young teenager. Reporting on what you care about. 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. The last three decades have been tough on this agricultural community of 342, about an hour and a half north of Kansas City. But Ken rarely had to wrestle with the
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