We didnt have sufficient evidence to go to trial.. 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. Worse felonies included assault and arson. June 16th, 1934: Ken Rex McElroy is born to Mabel and Tony McElroy, the thirteenth out of fourteen children. Then you can read about chilling cold cases where the murderers and victims were both unknown. 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. 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,. His last wife, Trena, became pregnant with their first child at age 14. If those responsible for killing McElroy are vigilantes, its because the justice system made them that way, Monte said. 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. Many buildings are closed and falling apart. 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. [14] Trena remarried and moved to Lebanon, Missouri, where she died of cancer on her 55th birthday on January 24, 2012.[15]. April 25th, 1980: A few of Ken's children go to the local grocery store and is accused of stealing by Mrs. Bowenkamp. Retribution was slow coming to Ken McElroybut lightning fast when it happened. The justice system just crashed and burned over this case.. https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLD8iUdp33PqTsix2sGblEQZ8m5FQycC5D Vigilante justice, or cold-blooded murder?MERCH: We've got it! 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. Vigilante justice is certainly a slippery slope, but after years of dealing with Ken McElroy, the people of Skidmore reached their boiling point. August 18th, 1980: Ken's preliminary trial begins. April 10th, 1972: After Alice runs away with their son, Ken McElroy gets into an altercation with Alice's stepfather and shoots him. It was hours before he learned that it was Mr. McElroy who had been shot, sitting in the front seat of his pickup truck alongside his wife, after picking up some beer at the town bar. June 25th, 1981: Ken McElroy is sentenced to two years in jail. [Stream episodes of Accused: Guilty or Innocent? Ken Rex McElroy (June 1, 1934 - July 10, 1981) was an American criminal and convicted attempted murderer who resided in Skidmore, Missouri, United States. Everyone involved continues to keep the secret and gives no answers. The murder of Ken Rex McElroy took place in plain view of dozens of residents of this small farm town, under the glare of the morning sun. He 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. McElroy's appeal hearing was again delayed. In Broad Daylight: A Murder in Skidmore, Missouri. He was represented by defense attorney Richard Gene McFadin of Gallatin, Missouri. But not that one. 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. One reason was McElroys lawyer Richard Gene McFadin, a skilled defense attorney who ran rings around inexperienced prosecutors. It wasn't the kind of murder which goes unsolved for decades and eventually someone comes forward with the tip that breaks the case open. He raped McCloud repeatedly. She died in 2012. Those in attendance felt the system had failed them, and it seemed like none of the authorities could stop McElroy. Sign up for free Patch newsletters and alerts. Meanwhile, McElroy and his wife arrived at the D&G Tavern for a morning drink. He made no deathbed confession, but someone wrote in a memorial tribute that he . The people of the town keep their heads down and prefer to not speak about the incident. McElroy was never a popular man. Self care and ideas to help you live a healthier, happier life. 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. 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. McElroy made a living leasing land near his farm, and trading and racing dogs. He was charged with wading through the sensational details and moral ambiguities of the case to ensure that, in his words, justice was served. Born in 1934, Ken Rex McElroy was a resident of Skidmore, Missouri. The Cold Case Murders That Keep Retired Detectives Up at Night, Citizen Detectives Uncover Crime Clues on Websleuths Online Forum. 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. 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. Best client I ever had, McFadin said in an interview. Maryville, Missouri, lawyer David Baird, the Nodaway County prosecutor at the time, said the crime is fairly unremarkable in the context of current-day gang shootings witnessed by many, but seen by few willing to risk their safety by ratting out the crew. Another was McElroys intimidation tactics, MacLean writes. 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. 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. Once freed, McElroy didnt just quietly celebrate his victory. McElroy was also accused of abusing his first two wives, Sharon and Alice, but Alice defended him in an interview shortly after his death. 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. He found a macabre scene. The murder took place on July 10, 1981, the day after McElroy had threatened Bowenkamp at the tavern. I think its something thats going to define this town forever.. Dunbar talked to him, and [McElroy] pulled a gun on him, Monte said. His eyes just really put you in defense modehe really looked like a mean person.. He was sure it was Mr. McElroy who had done the shooting. That they had guns at the ready wasnt unusual. This led to several patrons deciding to see what they could legally do to prevent McElroy from harming anyone else. Evelyn tried to explain what had happened, that nobody had accused the children of stealing, and Trena said, Why would my effing daughter lie? . [2][3] In 1981, McElroy was convicted of attempted murder in the shooting of the town's 70-year-old grocer Ernest "Bo" Bowenkamp. In August of 1980, McElroy made attempts to intimidate the Bowenkamp family and their supporters to prevent them from testifying. Murder is still murder. 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. Del Clement, the man Trena named as McElroy's killer, died of cirrhosis of the liver in 2009. [6] Trena and her baby were placed in foster care at a home in Maryville, Missouri. No one called for an ambulance. [12] The DA declined to press charges. That was the last failure of criminal justice.. "[13], McElroy was buried at Memorial Park Cemetery in St. Joseph, Missouri. In 1981, McElroy was convicted of shooting . Everyone in town seemed to know McElroy had done it, yet he spent only a single night in jail for nearly killing the man. After McElroy fired a gun outside her house, Evelyn Sumy appealed to Dave Dunbar, the town marshal. He was known as the town bully, but they may be putting it mildly. On July 10, 1981, Ken Rex McElroy was killed in one of the strangest instances investigators ever saw. A writer and storyteller out in the world to write about True-Crime and History. McElroy was eventually convicted, but the charge was lessened from "attempt to kill" to "knowingly caused serious physical injury" to ensure a conviction. My experience is that trying a case is not always good at bringing closure, Mr. Baird said. And its likely to stay that way. Not only that, they recommended he spend no more than two years in prison. 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. Please look at the time stamp on the story to see when it was last updated. [4], McElroy fathered more than 10 children with different women. His unsolved killing became the focus of international attention. The story of Ken Rex McElroy began on June 1, 1934. Anthony was born on August 27 1890, in Shelton, Knox County, MO, USA. SKIDMORE, Mo. The meeting broke up after participants learned McElroy and Trena were at the D&G Tavern. 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. 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. Just to be aware, he explained. Only July 10, 1981, there was a meeting at the town hall, down the street from D&G Tavern. The bar soon filled completely. Allegedly, even the mayor was in on it. In fact, anywhere between thirty and ninety people witnessed the . Author Harry MacLean wrote a book McElroys story called In Broad Daylight. 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. Didnt see a thing. Thats the response investigators repeatedly received when they questioned people over the death of Ken McElroy. 1952: Ken McElroy marries his first wife Oleta. McElroy was found not guilty. There has been books written, movies, documentaries and more made about the killing. Everyone claimed they didnt see who fired the shots. Bullet casings from two different guns were found. Reached by phone, Mr. McElroys wife, who has since remarried and left the state, said she was not interested in talking about the case. Again, there were no indictments, and the McElroy murder case was tossed back to Baird. McFadin, McElroys lawyer, got the hearing postponed. July 1981: During the 1st week of July it was announced that there would be a delay in McElroy's bond hearing. Charismatic, with jet-black hair and piercing eyes, McElroy could sweet-talk his way around women and had been married three times by his early 40s. 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. He was arrested, booked, arraigned, and released on $2,500 bail. When he got off on a trial, it grew even bigger. Theoretically, [the murder] could be re-investigated, veteran Kansas City criminal defense attorney J.R. Hobbs tells A&E True Crime. This is an archived article and the information in the article may be outdated. He went back home and was shot within a couple of days, explains Conger, editor of the Bethany Republican-Clipper. 1964: Ken meets another girlfriend named Alice Wood. E-mail: ramzywritersofficial@gmail.com. Ken Rex McElroy was an American known as "the town bully" of Skidmore, Missouri. [5] She became pregnant when she was fourteen, dropped out of school in the ninth grade, and went to live with McElroy and his second wife Alice. Somebody would hear his name, and the legend grew bigger. As the story has been told by MacLean and others, McElroy showed up at the D&G tavern and pool hall the next day toting a rifle with a bayonet a violation of his bond and threatened to finish off the Bowenkamps. She died of cancer on Jan. 24, 2012; it was her 55th birthday. They know how everybody thinks.. More awful crimes have taken place in the small town. [9] McElroy was convicted at trial of assault, but freed on bail pending his 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. He quit.. I dont know what happened,' Boyer recalls witnesses saying. Some people have attributed his strange behavior with this event. It's hard to believe that this small town was once a bustlingcommunity. No one has been indicted for the murder of McElroy. 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. There may never be an answer to the question of who killed Ken Rex McElroy. 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. Ken McElroy died in a hail of gunfire on the morning of July 10, 1981, while sitting in his truck outside a local tavern. The noted sites in the story are gone or boardedup. 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. It's said the county's law enforcement officials were afraid of encountering McElroy, who was known to be heavily armed. The courts would not help us or Skidmore. He divorces Oleta and marries Sharon to get out of a chargeof assault after shooting Sharon during an argument. The person(s) responsible for firing the shots that killed McElroy remains unsolved. He was known as "the town bully",[1] and his unsolved killing became the focus of international attention. Many buildings are closed and falling apart. Trena McElroy remarried and had a fairly normal life, refusing interviews after she left Skidmore. They settle in Skidmore. His father was a tenant farmer, his mother a housewife swamped with feeding and caring for the sprawling family. Local authorities, including a coroners jury and a local grand jury, and even the FBI, investigated the killing but to no avail. Ken McElroy was born in 1934, one of 16 children, author Harry MacLean explains in his book In Broad Daylight, an account of the case. We stood up and did the right thing. The grocer lived and McElroy was again arrested and charged with attempted murder. Few were criticized as mightily as Baird over the lack of prosecution in McElroys murder. He left town just as Ken and Trena McElroy were driving in, likely passing McElroys Chevrolet Silverado pickup in his cruiser on the road. 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.". Ken McElroy was shot to death on the main street of Skidmore in July 1981, in front of 45 witnesses. 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. His father was a tenant farmer, his mother a housewife swamped with feeding and caring for the sprawling family. A couple of men hustled Trena to a nearby bank, away from the gunfire. 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. Watch the new and 7th season of BuzzFeed Unsolved: True Crime! No one bothered to turn it off. He was shot at several times and hit twice, once by a centerfire rifle and once by a .22 rimfire rifle. Title Directed by Original air date U.S. viewers (millions) 1 "The Killing of Ken Rex McElroy" Avi Belkin: August 1, 2019 (): N/A: Known as the town bully, Ken Rex McElroy terrorized tiny Skidmore, Missouri, for decades.On July 10, 1981, the town had had enough and 60 people surrounded his pick-up truck and shot him dead on Main Street--but no one claimed to have seen a thing. His unsolved killing became the focus of international attention. 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.. Ken McElroy issues threats against the Bowenkamp family. 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. A federal grand jury was convened. But in a dramatic act of . [6], Based on Trena's story, McElroy was indicted in June 1973 for arson, assault, and statutory rape. Once, he even got out and fired a shotgun up in the pine tree by their house. He knew which people to pick on the weak people and he followed through on his threats just often enough to make people believe he was going to do what he said he was going to do. Police had charged him with various alleged crimes from stealing hogs to assault, but nothing stuck. Ken was 18 and Oleta was 16. Estes, the sheriff some tried to implicate in a conspiracy, is dead. In what could only be described as vigilante justice, they conspired to kill Ken McElroy. The law wasnt going to help the people of Skidmore. When a court hearing was postponed, there was a meeting in town, with the mayor and the sheriff attending, to discuss Mr. McElroy. Boyer was taking trajectory measurements at the crime scene when a town official chided him. They settle in Skidmore. 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 couple then moved to Colorado. Im never going to answer that question. Some attributed his bizarre and violent behavior to a head injury suffered in this event. No. Instead, he continued to harass Bowenkamp. Reporting on what you care about. June 29th, 1981: McElroy enters a bar with an illegal firearm, due to him being out on bail. After dropping out of school in the eighth grade, it didn't take long for Ken McElroy to fall into a life of delinquency. 1969 or 1970: Ken McElroy becomes involved with a young girl named Trena McCloud. The citizens decided to go to the tavern en masse. 1958: Ken McElroy becomes involved with a young woman named Sharon. They just went stone silent. Ken Rex McElroy, a notoriously brutal man who had terrorized Skidmore, Mo., for years, was killed in 1981. No one was ever accused of shoplifting, or stealing. 1952: Ken McElroy marries his first wife Oleta. 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.