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[1] To date, no one has been charged in connection with McElroy's death. 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. Women had a harder time with it than the men. He didnt have a bank account, didnt have a Social Security number, he didnt read. Town Mute for 30 Years About a Bullys Killing, https://www.nytimes.com/2010/12/16/us/16bully.html. 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. You dont take cases to trial to see what might happen, the former prosecutor said. June 25th, 1981: McElroy returns to Skidmore out on bail until an appeal hearing. SKIDMORE, Mo. 1954: While working for his sister's husband in construction, McElroy suffers a traumatic head injury that leaves him with lifelong pain. And its likely to stay that way. Some people have attributed his strange behavior with this event. Those in attendance felt the system had failed them, and it seemed like none of the authorities could stop McElroy. He was represented by defense attorney Richard Gene McFadin of Gallatin, Missouri. 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. 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. 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. Despite being shot in broad daylight in front of various witnesses, the . Lessons from History is a platform for writers who share ideas and inspirational stories from world history. We hold major institutions accountable and expose wrongdoing. Everyone was keeping an eye on us. He quit.. The couple then moved to Colorado. Ken Rex McElroy was a 6-foot, 270 pounds, dark-complexioned, blue-eyed man who lived in Skidmore, Missouri. What started with hunting raccoons escalated into petty crime until McElroy ultimately emerged as a full-fledged criminal. In July 1976, McElroy pulled a shotgun on farmer Romaine Henry and shot the man in the stomach. Many buildings are closed and falling apart. Ken Rex McElroy was born on month day 1934, at birth place, Missouri, to Anthony Wyatt McElroy and Mable Marie McElroy (born Lister). 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. No. Murder is still murder. 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. 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. Few were criticized as mightily as Baird over the lack of prosecution in McElroys murder. A deer slug in one chamber tore through Bowenkamps neck, coming within 3 inches of his head. Trena McElroy accused Skidmore residents of turning her husband into a scapegoat. You could talk to everybody in this case, and theyd give you a different answer, he said in an interview at his office in the red brick county courthouse in nearby Maryville. Trena McElroy fingered a local rancher as one of the gunmen, but he denied the claim. 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. Ken Rex McElroy Jr. - Biography - IMDb Edit Ken Rex McElroy Jr. When the news that Ken and Trena went to the local bar that evening, everyone got up and made their way over. He grew up hearing the story. In the ensuing confrontation, McElroy shot Bowenkamp in the neck; Bowenkamp survived, and McElroy was arrested and charged with attempted murder. The murder of Ken Rex McElroy isn't 'unsolved' in the typical sense of the word. [3] McElroy was acquitted. McElroy divorced Alice and married Trena in order to escape charges of statutory rape, to which she was the only witness. 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 went back home and was shot within a couple of days, explains Conger, editor of the Bethany Republican-Clipper. One night after he pulled a speeding pickup truck over, Boyer came face to face with McElroy. 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. Im never going to answer that question. McElroy four years earlier had pumped a couple of rounds of buckshot into the stomach of local farmer Romaine Henry as he tried to run the blackguard off his land. As he sat drinking at the bar, word got back to the men at the Legion Hall that he was in town. Never miss a story by signing up for the newsletter now. The Vigilantemurder of Ken Rex McElroy still remains a mystery today. He then returned to Trena's parents' home when they were away and, once again, shot the family dog and burned the house down. Ken is later charged and arrested. 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. How could it? The bar soon filled completely. [1] McElroy successfully appealed the conviction and was released on bond, after which he engaged in an ongoing harassment campaign against Bowenkamp and others who were sympathetic to Bowenkamp, including the town's Church of Christ minister. Tucked away in the northwest corner of Missouri is a small, dusty town 46 miles north of St. Joseph with a decades-old secret. 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. But in a dramatic act of solidarity with the gunman, every witness, save the dead mans wife, denied seeing who had pulled the trigger. 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. Sheriff Estes instructed the assembled group not to get into a direct confrontation with McElroy, but instead seriously consider forming a neighborhood watch program. 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. As many as 60 Skidmore residents attended, including the mayor and the sheriff. 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. McElroy eventually left the tavern and got into his pickup truck with his wife, but the mob of people followed the pair outside. I dont know what happened,' Boyer recalls witnesses saying. Instead, he continued to harass Bowenkamp. On July 10th, 1981 Ken Rex McElroy was shot dead in the street in broad daylight infront of 60 witnesses. How did this uneducated person how is he able to outwit the criminal justice system for 20 years? said MacLean. No one was ever accused of shoplifting, or stealing. However, he was also charged with various crimes. McElroy burned down the girls home and shot her familys dog to force her parents to agree to the marriage. McElroy first began his relationship with McCloud when she was 14 and the two had a child shortly thereafter. They just went stone silent. Three grand juries heard evidence. Ken Rex McElroy, a notoriously brutal man who had terrorized Skidmore, Mo., for years, was killed in 1981. When Estes and state troopers arrived back in town, the streets were empty and quiet, save the rumbling, smoking engine of McElroys truck. Ken Rex McElroy was shot dead inside his pick-up truck on the 10th of July, 1981, via a storm of bullets. On this Wikipedia the language links are at the top of the page across from the article title. The local major-cases squad investigated, then the Federal Bureau of Investigation. There was a kind of silent charity on the part of my parents, and they never prosecuted. August 18th, 1980: Ken's preliminary trial begins. He was known as the town bully , but they may be putting it mildly. A lot of people were not happy about what happened, MacLean said. And Mr. Baird lost his first election, in the Democratic primary this year, by just 25 votes, a loss noted by The Kansas City Star because of his connection with the case. The streak ended when a jury convicted Mr. McElroy of second-degree assault in the grocers shooting. Shortly after, Strattons wife Margaret was headed to church when she saw a strange truck in the driveway. [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. What set off McElroy and put the local grocer in his crosshairs was the pettiest of offenses. All Rights Reserved. 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. I am a History Educator and a Lifelong Learner with a Masters in Global History. Missouri-based journalist Steve Booher described the attitude of some townspeople as, "He needed killing. Nobody called an ambulance. Evelyn lived cross the street, and he made sure she could see them. There wasn't much parental supervision, but McElroy had a knack for taking care of himself. According to a report, no one called an ambulance. It's hard to believe that this small town was once a bustlingcommunity. Tell us what you think in the comments below. July 10th, 1981: The Townspeople gather in the Legion to discuss what should be done about Ken McElroy. document.getElementById( "ak_js_1" ).setAttribute( "value", ( new Date() ).getTime() ); Copyright 2023 Nexstar Media Inc. All rights reserved. He reportedly began stalking the Bowenkamp family. Self care and ideas to help you live a healthier, happier life. Del Clement, the man Trena named as McElroy's killer, died of cirrhosis of the liver in 2009. He divorces Oleta and marries Sharon to get out of a chargeof assault after shooting Sharon during an argument. MacLean doesnt believe the men gathered at the Legion hall that morning ever made a group decision to kill McElroy. Get out of town, they said. In what could only be described as vigilante justice, they conspired to kill Ken McElroy. A federal grand jury was convened. 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. She took her complaint to at-the-time Nodaway County Sheriff Roger Cronk. He showed back up in front of their house that night, and he and Trena sat there and watched them, Monte said. If they thought it was getting too out of hand, they would send one of us up and down the aisle. After dropping out of school in the eighth grade, it didn't take long for Ken McElroy to fall into a life of delinquency. The people of Skidmore were becoming more and more frustrated with the failures to protect them in the justice system. 1955 or 56: Ken and Oleta McElroy move back to Missouri after Ken's accident in Colorado. Shortly after, McElroy was arrested and charged with attempted murder. He was known as "the town bully",[1] and his unsolved killing became the focus of international attention. When the shooting ended, McElroy was slumped over the steering wheel. A girl from a poor, rural family, McElroy had begun having sex with her when she was barely fourteen. He appeared in a local bar, the D&G Tavern, armed with an M1 Garand rifle and bayonet, and later threatened to kill Bowenkamp. Watch the new and 7th season of BuzzFeed Unsolved: True Crime! Within a few years, she had had four children by him. July 1981: During the 1st week of July it was announced that there would be a delay in McElroy's bond hearing. Do Not Sell or Share My Personal Information. A trial took place the following year and for the first time ever, Ken McElroy was convicted. A few days later, a pickup truck showed up in the wee hours outside Boyers remote country house. A man who turned out to be McElroy pointed a shotgun at me, Margaret tells A&E True Crime. Ken McElroy died in a hail of gunfire on the morning of July 10, 1981, while sitting in his truck outside a local tavern. Somebody would hear his name, and the legend grew bigger. A couple of men hustled Trena to a nearby bank, away from the gunfire. Richard Stratton was ready. 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. 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 finished his drinks, he purchased a six pack of beer, left the bar, and entered his pickup truck. 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. Just to be aware, he explained. If your child will play baseball or softball this spring, youll need to stock up on appropriate clothing and equipment. McElroy and Trena returned to the truck, where he lit a cigarette while she was in the passenger seat. Why are you doing this? The clerk, Evelyn Sumy, was at the back of the store when the doors swung open. [8] At the trial, two raccoon hunters testified they were with McElroy the day of the shooting away from Henry's property. But not that one. 2023 by Catlyn Brady, Jennifer Partridge, & Kara Severson. Biography Mini Bio (1) Ken Rex McElroy Jr. is known for No One Saw a Thing (2019). It's hard to believe that this small town was once a bustlingcommunity. CHAPTER ONE. You know what he was like. Actually, I think those shooters saved lives in the end, she said. Weighing in at approximately 270 pounds with bushy black sideburns, McElroy held the entire . McElroys wifewhom he victimized as a childremarried and moved to Lebanon, Missouri. It was Richard McFadin, the man who kept Ken McElroy out of jail 21 times, who said it best: The town got away with murder.. Another was McElroys intimidation tactics, MacLean writes. Not only that, they recommended he spend no more than two years in prison. 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. Ken McElroy was shot to death on the main street of Skidmore in July 1981, in front of 45 witnesses. Despite the efforts of police, prosecutors and McElroys family, no one has been charged in the murder. Tensions in Skidmore soared as McElroys trial neared. It went beyond just hammering people and being mean-spirited. Didnt see a thing. Thats the response investigators repeatedly received when they questioned people over the death of Ken McElroy. As a subscriber, you have 10 gift articles to give each month. 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. 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 accused or suspected of dozens of crimes, including theft, livestock rustling, burglary, arson, assault, rape, and child molestation. You just didnt do that.. Ken Rex McElroy sat in his truck for over an hour before the law was called. The police chief who oversaw the investigation, Hal Riddle, disagrees. 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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. Is dumpster diving legal in Missouri and Illinois? Ken Rex Melroy was born on June 1st, 1934 to a family of poor tenant farmers who moved to Skidmore. Calling the sheriff about his threats was risk few were willing to take not that it would have done much good, Goslee said. Everyone just went home. Ken Rex McElroy was shot dead inside his pick-up truck on the 10th of July, 1981, via a storm of bullets. Harry MacLean, author of "In Broad Daylight". McElroy was known to have stolen grain, alcohol, gasoline, antiques, and even livestock. About Press Copyright Contact us Creators Advertise Developers Terms Privacy Policy & Safety How YouTube works Test new features NFL Sunday Ticket Press Copyright . Within hours, Mr. Baird heard that there had been a shooting downtown. Heavy lids veiled cold, steel-blue eyes, making them look like half moons. 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. Shortly after being released, McElroy was at D&G Tavern making threats about murdering Bowenkamp. 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. 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. The justice system just crashed and burned over this case.. 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. You dont have a town full of people who were hiding a guilty conscience, he said. To the residents of the small town, he was the town bully. 1955 or 56: Ken and Oleta McElroy move back to Missouri after Ken's accident in Colorado. His eyes just really put you in defense modehe really looked like a mean person.. 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,. In Broad Daylight by Harry N. MacLean / Via. https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLD8iUdp33PqTsix2sGblEQZ8m5FQycC5D Vigilante justice, or cold-blooded murder?MERCH: We've got it! One account even said that McElroy rode into town on a horse and was shot and killed, Baird, the former prosecutor, said. The man asked, what are you doing here? Boyer remembers. McElroy was also accused of abusing his first two wives, Sharon and Alice, but Alice defended him in an interview shortly after his death. He was hit twice and died in his truck. McElroy was born in 1934, the fifteenth of sixteen children born to a poor . No one was surprised. [9] McElroy was convicted at trial of assault, but freed on bail pending his appeal. A&E, Rolling Stone, Playboy, 60 Minutes, and other media outlets covered the story in print or television. They could finally sleep peacefully at night, especially Bo and Lois Bowenkamp and their children. Everyone in town seemed to know McElroy had done it, yet he spent only a single night in jail for nearly killing the man. The Oscars will air on ABC and can be streamed on ABC.com and the ABC app as well as Hulu + Live TV, YouTube TV, AT&T TV or FuboTV. In the decades preceding his murder, McElroy terrorized the denizens of Skidmore. McElroy was charged with assault with intent to kill. After dropping out of school in the eighth grade, it didnt take long for Ken McElroy to fall into a life of delinquency. McElroy sat outside the foster home for hours at a time staring at it. *In Broad Daylight by Harry N. MacLean 1988. The town has seen more than its share of tragedy. Allegedly, even the mayor was in on it. Retribution was slow coming to Ken McElroybut lightning fast when it happened. Bottles, glasses for restaurants and barsincomible/Getty ImagesFull of Audienceuschools/Getty ImagesAn American police officer posing arms folded beside cop carDarrenMower/Getty ImagesCar Wash Truck SprayA-Digit/Getty ImagesCity People Setedge69/Getty ImagesSilhouette of people in action4x6/Getty ImagesCaucasian farmer standing in irrigated fieldHill Street Studios/Getty ImagesYoung woman on the streetSensorSpot/Getty ImagesShot Truck Driverwwing/Getty ImagesOlder Caucasian man standing with hands in pocketsSam Diephuis/Getty ImagesOutlines of rebellionsshironosov/Getty Imagesmain street remote rural prairie towndlerick/Getty ImagesBlank magazine on wooden backgroundgrinvalds/Getty ImagesEmpty Country Road In UsaDan Thornberg / EyeEm/Getty ImagesCaucasian farmer wearing gloves leaning on wooden fenceSteve Smith/Getty ImagesJudge holding gavel in courtroomChris Ryan/Getty ImagesAuthentic Cowboy Rancher Portraitavid_creative/Getty ImagesSilhouettes of three cowboys on a white backgroundheartbar/Getty ImagesCaucasian security officers posing with flashlightKirk Marsh/Getty ImagesPrivate investigator reports what he seestzahiV/Getty ImagesThis farm is my pride and joypixdeluxe/Getty Imagesdark portrait of a man in a hoodserikbaib/Getty ImagesWhite colored house with blue doorMableen/Getty ImagesYoung couple havi EXTERNAL CREDITSGrant Henderson - Editor+Rick Weller- GFX Artist Those who spoke out were taciturn. If those responsible for killing McElroy are vigilantes, its because the justice system made them that way, Monte said. 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. Then, on the night of July 8, 1980, McElroy shot 70-year-old Skidmore grocer Ernst Bo Bowenkamp, unwittingly setting up his own murder a year later. [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. McCloud was McElroy's third "wife," though all unions were suspicious due to the fact that some of his marriages overlapped. They were witnesses. It was a sunny, clear summer day. They settle in Skidmore. There were plenty of eyewitnesses, as well as the attack happened in broad daylight, therefore They slept in shifts, with some friend or family member keeping an eye on the street. So the townspeople held a meeting. April 10th, 1972: After Alice runs away with their son, Ken McElroy gets into an altercation with Alice's stepfather and shoots him. The meeting broke up after participants learned McElroy and Trena were at the D&G Tavern. The murder occurred in broad daylight, with as many as sixty eye-witnesses present, including the wife of the deceased. THE KILLING OF KEN REX MCELROY THIRTY YEARS LATER. The rumor was that he had drowned her father in a bathtub when he had objected to what he was doing to his daughter. October 20th, 1974: Ken McElroy marries Trena McCloud to get out of a statutory rape charge with Trena. 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. McElroy was hit twice by two different guns and died from injuries to his head and neck. Once the shroud of silence fell, there was going to be no one talking, said Cheryl Huston, whose elderly father had been shot by Mr. McElroy and who watched the killing of Mr. McElroy from her familys grocery store but, like the others, said she did not see the gunman. Evelyn tried to explain what had happened, that nobody had accused the children of stealing, and Trena said, Why would my effing daughter lie? . The last three decades have been tough on this agricultural community of 342, about an hour and a half north of Kansas City. 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. McElroy for the most part escaped prosecution and, certainly, conviction for various crimes. It was a commemoration of sorts: thirty years ago to the day after Ken Rex McElroy had been shot to death as he sat in his truck on the main street of . 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. Five or six of us were standing in front of the Skidmore Caf, waiting and passing the time. McElroys rear window was shot out and the front window as well. We stood up and did the right thing. Additional charges were filed against McElroy.[7]. 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. More awful crimes have taken place in the small town. Filmmaker Avi Belkin's 'No One Saw a Thing . When you didnt know where he was, you didnt dare take the chance of not being on your guard.. 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. We interviewed our tech expert, Jaime Vazquez, to learn more about accessible smart home devices. His successor, Robert Rice, already knew how Mr. McElroy died. His unsolved killing became the focus of international attention. One of these women was 24-year-old Trena McCloud, who was McElroy's partner. McElroy was eventually convicted, but the charge was lessened from "attempt to kill" to "knowingly caused serious physical injury" to ensure a conviction. The people of the town keep their heads down and prefer to not speak about the incident. The town got away with murder, Mr. McFadin said. Boyer was taking trajectory measurements at the crime scene when a town official chided him. 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 showed up to the towns local bar, armed with a rifle and bayonet, threatening to kill the elderly grocer. McElroys wife was not injured and escaped the vehicle. 1, it is murder. 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. 2023, A&E Television Networks, LLC. The noted sites in the story are gone or boardedup. 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 Ken McElroy sat in his truck, he was shot at several times. Dunbar talked to him, and [McElroy] pulled a gun on him, Monte said. The DA declined to press charges and the following investigation proved to be futile. The stories of McElroy's relationships contain some troubling details, but the information is important to paint the full picture. But in a dramatic act of . I heard shooting and got down. One reason was McElroys lawyer Richard Gene McFadin, a skilled defense attorney who ran rings around inexperienced prosecutors. 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. SKIDMORE, Mo. The story of Ken Rex McElroy began on June 1, 1934. Yet the identity of McElroys killer is a public secret Skidmore has kept for 38 years. McElroy allegedly stole livestock, grain, gasoline, and antiques. To the residents of the small town, he was the town bully.