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. 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. Anthony was born on August 27 1890, in Shelton, Knox County, MO, USA. Few were criticized as mightily as Baird over the lack of prosecution in McElroys murder. In the decades preceding his murder, McElroy terrorized the denizens of Skidmore. Hed leave, then hed come back, Monte said. Never miss a story by signing up for the newsletter now. He met his last wife, Trena McCloud (19572012), when she was 12 years old and in eighth grade. Shortly after, Strattons wife Margaret was headed to church when she saw a strange truck in the driveway. Trena McElroy fingered a local rancher as one of the gunmen, but he denied the claim. 1969 or 1970: Ken McElroy becomes involved with a young girl named Trena McCloud. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. Didnt see a thing. Thats the response investigators repeatedly received when they questioned people over the death of Ken McElroy. 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. Ken had 13 siblings: Hershell Eugene McElroy, Orvil O McElroy and 11 . Only July 10, 1981, there was a meeting at the town hall, down the street from D&G Tavern. On July 10th, 1981 Ken Rex McElroy was shot dead in the street in broad daylight infront of 60 witnesses. Ken Rex McElroy was an American known as "the town bully" of Skidmore, Missouri. An extensive federal investigation did not lead to any charges. Ken Rex McElroy 1934-1981. Of the potential 40 or so witnesses, with the exception of Trena, none could name a shooter. Its probably accurate that few outside of McElroys family shed tears over his death, but many Skidmore residents still struggle with the spectacle of a man violently and publicly killed. He left town just as Ken and Trena McElroy were driving in, likely passing McElroys Chevrolet Silverado pickup in his cruiser on the road. 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. Ken Rex McElroy was shot dead in Skidmore, Missouri on July 10, 1981. The meeting broke up after participants learned McElroy and Trena were at the D&G Tavern. 2023, A&E Television Networks, LLC. McElroy was convicted of assault but let out of jail awaiting appeal. McElroy denied he was at the scene. In 1981, McElroy was convicted of shooting . He begins to rant about how he is going to ruin Bo Bowenkamp. As there were no witnesses, nobody was able to take the stand. 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. in the A&E App.]. Someone shot at McElroy while he was sitting in his truck. As many as 60 Skidmore residents attended, including the mayor and the sheriff. 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. When talking about McElroy, MacLean wondered how he was able to be so crafty. Ken McElroy was shot to death on the main street of Skidmore in July 1981, in front of 45 witnesses. Some of these things are simply assumed to be factual, Baird said. Missouri State Highway Patrol Trooper Richard Stratton, the only lawman in northwest Missouri ever known to stand up to McElroy, hunted McElroy down and arrested him on an attempted murder charge. August 18th, 1980: Ken's preliminary trial begins. SKIDMORE, Mo. McElroy was charged with assault with intent to kill. No one has been charged in connection with McElroys death. Witnessing the murder were McElroys wife, Trena, screaming in the passenger seat and dozens of local residents. April 25th, 1980: A few of Ken's children go to the local grocery store and is accused of stealing by Mrs. Bowenkamp. Tensions in Skidmore soared as McElroys trial neared. Richard Stratton was ready. He found a macabre scene. Local police, state investigators and FBI agents tried to break the towns silence, without success. Mable was born on February 28 1897, in Dover, Shawnee County, KS, USA. If we could have proved who done it, he would have prosecuted him, said Mr. Riddle, 72 and also retired, who describes the case as the most frustrating of his career. McElroys rear window was shot out and the front window as well. 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. They settle in Skidmore. About Press Copyright Contact us Creators Advertise Developers Terms Privacy Policy & Safety How YouTube works Test new features NFL Sunday Ticket Press Copyright . 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Biography Mini Bio (1) Ken Rex McElroy Jr. is known for No One Saw a Thing (2019). [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. This is far from what happened in the case of McElroy. 1964: Ken meets another girlfriend named Alice Wood. Sign up for free Patch newsletters and alerts. Do Not Sell or Share My Personal Information. All That's Interesting is a Brooklyn-based digital publisher that seeks out stories that illuminate the past, present, and future. Born in 1934, Ken Rex McElroy was a resident of Skidmore, Missouri. The story was thrust back to the forefront this month by No One Saw a Thing, a six-part Sundance TV docu-series exploring the moral ambiguity of frontier justice and the unspoken, yet universally intriguing, question: When, if ever, does someone like McElroy deserve to die? Absolutely not, he said. There were plenty of eyewitnesses, as well as the attack happened in broad. July 10th, 1981: The townspeople gather around Ken's truck once he and Trena exit the bar. And its likely to stay that way. He neutralized an entire criminal justice system.. [8] At the trial, two raccoon hunters testified they were with McElroy the day of the shooting away from Henry's property. 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In August of 1980, McElroy made attempts to intimidate the Bowenkamp family and their supporters to prevent them from testifying. On the morning of July 10, 1981, several townspeople met with the Nodaway County sheriff at a local hall to discuss what could be done about McElroy. If they thought it was getting too out of hand, they would send one of us up and down the aisle. There has been books written, movies, documentaries and more made about the killing. Ken Rex McElroy, a notoriously brutal man who had terrorized Skidmore, Mo., for years, was killed in 1981. When word spread that McElroy was in town, a couple of the men walked from the Legion hall to the D&G. The murder took place on July 10, 1981, the day after McElroy had threatened Bowenkamp at the tavern. Boyer was taking trajectory measurements at the crime scene when a town official chided him. In the ensuing confrontation, McElroy shot Bowenkamp in the neck; Bowenkamp survived, and McElroy was arrested and charged with attempted murder. 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. Often, witnesses changed their mind about testifying before trials began, MacLean said, and if a case did make it to trial, a juror might open the mailbox to find a rattlesnake. 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. But if tried by a jury of their peers, I doubt anybody around here would have convicted the shooters. They slept in shifts, with some friend or family member keeping an eye on the street. In 2019, the McElroy killing was the subject of a docuseries on SundanceTV. I dont know what happened,' Boyer recalls witnesses saying. Ken Rex McElroy was an illiterate hog farmer who lived on the outskirts of a small town in Northwest Missouri. A man who turned out to be McElroy pointed a shotgun at me, Margaret tells A&E True Crime. Trena McElroy accused Skidmore residents of turning her husband into a scapegoat. As Ken McElroy sat in his truck, he was shot at several times. 1998 - 2023 Nexstar Media Inc. | All Rights Reserved. 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. 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. Shortly after being released, McElroy was at D&G Tavern making threats about murdering Bowenkamp. No one bothered to turn it off. He was sure it was Mr. McElroy who had done the shooting. The rumor was that he had drowned her father in a bathtub when he had objected to what he was doing to his daughter. He was shot at several times and hit twice, once by a centerfire rifle and once by a .22 rimfire rifle. But even after a federal prosecutor forwarded to Mr. Baird what he called substantial new evidence, no one was indicted. If your child will play baseball or softball this spring, youll need to stock up on appropriate clothing and equipment. 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. However, he was also charged with various crimes. 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. Ken Rex McElroy was shot dead inside his pick-up truck on the 10th of July, 1981, via a storm of bullets. Del Clement, the man Trena named as McElroys killer, died of cirrhosis of the liver in 2009. The group heard McElroy and Trena McCloud were spotted heading to the tavern nearby. On July 8, 1980, McElroy drove to the alley behind the Bowenkamp general store. We went everywhere we could, but justice would stay delicately out the way, she said. There were as many as 60 witnesses, yet the crime remains unsolved. A memorial in the tiny downtown park displays the name of an expectant mother murdered six years ago, her fetus cut from her womb. The bar soon filled completely. She eventually filed a wrongful death against the town, the county, and some citizens but the matter was settled out of court. His eyes just really put you in defense modehe really looked like a mean person.. [9] McElroy was convicted at trial of assault, but freed on bail pending his appeal. The morning of July 10, 1981, a group of frustrated and angry men gathered at the Legion Hall in Skidmore, MacLean writes. 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. Farmers carried them to kill varmints, or for hunting displaying them in plain sight in rear window gun racks. How did this uneducated person how is he able to outwit the criminal justice system for 20 years? said MacLean. The citizens decided to go to the tavern en masse. When the shooting ended, McElroy was slumped over the steering wheel. The larger-than-life bully who menaced the farming community of Skidmore died in seconds. 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. MacLean doesnt believe the men gathered at the Legion hall that morning ever made a group decision to kill McElroy. One assumption Skidmore hasnt been able to shed is that McElroys killing was an act of vigilante justice. Everyone involved continues to keep the secret and gives no answers. [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. There is pretty much nothing in existence that was not stolen by McElroy during his 47 years. 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 was something that the "town bully," Ken Rex McElroy, staunchly rebelled against. Then you can read about chilling cold cases where the murderers and victims were both unknown. Another was McElroys intimidation tactics, MacLean writes. "[13], McElroy was buried at Memorial Park Cemetery in St. Joseph, Missouri. He was charged with wading through the sensational details and moral ambiguities of the case to ensure that, in his words, justice was served. We went to the police. Some people have attributed his strange behavior with this event. McElroy started his pickup and the sound of shots pierced the silence. A girl from a poor, rural family, McElroy had begun having sex with her when she was barely fourteen. No one has any idea what a nightmare we lived.. 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 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. [4], McElroy fathered more than 10 children with different women. They know how everybody thinks.. Please look at the time stamp on the story to see when it was last updated. 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. [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. The guns were never recovered. Boyer was out showing a trainee the ropes when he got the call of a shooting in Skidmore. 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. Part of his teeth were lying on the dashboard, Boyer recalls. 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. [2][3] In 1981, McElroy was convicted of attempted murder in the shooting of the town's 70-year-old grocer Ernest "Bo" Bowenkamp. I didnt see anything. [6] Trena and her baby were placed in foster care at a home in Maryville, Missouri. YouTubeThe towns local bar in Skidmore, Missouri. 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. [1], McElroy was born in 1934, the 15th of 16 children born to a poor, migrant tenant-farming couple named Tony and Mabel (ne Lister) McElroy, who had moved between Kansas and the Ozarks before settling outside of Skidmore. However, he was also charged with various crimes. Three grand juries heard evidence. Ken McElroy issues threats against the Bowenkamp family. One night after he pulled a speeding pickup truck over, Boyer came face to face with McElroy. 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. 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. 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. On this Wikipedia the language links are at the top of the page across from the article title. He was freed on bond. The person(s) responsible for firing the shots that killed McElroy remains unsolved. Alice and Ken eventually separate. June 12th, 1973: After continuing his involvement with Trena McCloud, Ken McElroy burns down Trena's parents' house. Instead, he continued to harass Bowenkamp. 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. In all, he was indicted 21 times but escaped conviction each time, except for the last.
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