McCloud was McElroy's third "wife," though all unions were suspicious due to the fact that some of his marriages overlapped. E-mail: ramzywritersofficial@gmail.com. As Trena told the story to reporters, a group of men followed them as they left the D&G. Everyone was so uncomfortable and scared.. Sixteen days after Trena gave birth, both she and Alice fled to Trena's mother's and stepfather's house. In Broad Daylight by Harry N. MacLean / Via. An extensive federal investigation did not lead to any charges. The people of the town keep their heads down and prefer to not speak about the incident. 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. Best client I ever had, McFadin said in an interview. But if tried by a jury of their peers, I doubt anybody around here would have convicted the shooters. The police would not or could not help us or Skidmore. 1964: Ken meets another girlfriend named Alice Wood. [4], McElroy fathered more than 10 children with different women. July 8th, 1980: The Bowenkamps filed a legal proceeding against Ken McElroy after the incident in their store. Joyce Monte, daughter of injured grocer. 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. After McElroy finished his drinks, he purchased a six pack of beer, left the bar, and entered his pickup truck. 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. Ken Rex McElroy was a 6-foot, 270 pounds, dark-complexioned, blue-eyed man who lived in Skidmore, Missouri. A girl from a poor, rural family, McElroy had begun having sex with her when she was barely fourteen. As a subscriber, you have 10 gift articles to give each month. April 25th, 1980: A few of Ken's children go to the local grocery store and is accused of stealing by Mrs. Bowenkamp. McElroy was found not guilty. And its likely to stay that way. Vigilante justice is certainly a slippery slope, but after years of dealing with Ken McElroy, the people of Skidmore reached their boiling point. 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. None of the witnesses called an ambulance or gave information about a shooter. Everyone was keeping an eye on us. Neither Baird nor MacLean, whose crime novel has been praised as an accurate account of McElroys killing, buy that. [12] The DA declined to press charges. In the decades preceding his murder, McElroy terrorized the denizens of Skidmore. She died in 2012. SKIDMORE, Mo. He was charged with wading through the sensational details and moral ambiguities of the case to ensure that, in his words, justice was served. Watch the new and 7th season of BuzzFeed Unsolved: True Crime! 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. 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. A lot of them didnt even tell their wives and children. YouTubeThe towns local bar in Skidmore, Missouri. They settle in Skidmore. So is Stratton. 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. Carjackers Steal More Cars Many With Kids Still Inside, After Indulgent Mardi Gras, Ash Wednesday Signals Abstinence, Fasting. The grocer lived and McElroy was again arrested and charged with attempted murder. His unsolved killing became the focus of international attention. Just to be aware, he explained. The case was later settled out of court by all parties for $17,600, with no one admitting guilt, for the stated reason of avoiding costly legal fees should the suit proceed. But justice is a loaded term in a case that challenges the usual assumptions of victim and perpetrator. 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. Missouri-based journalist Steve Booher described the attitude of some townspeople as, "He needed killing. We hold major institutions accountable and expose wrongdoing. 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. Refusing to argue, he and Lois went home. [14] Trena remarried and moved to Lebanon, Missouri, where she died of cancer on her 55th birthday on January 24, 2012.[15]. Born in 1934, Ken Rex McElroy was a resident of Skidmore, Missouri. 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. That was the last straw, MacLean said. I didnt see anything. More awful crimes have taken place in the small town. We went to the police. As there were no witnesses, nobody was able to take the stand. Ken McElroy died in a hail of gunfire on the morning of July 10, 1981, while sitting in his truck outside a local tavern. [2], In all, he was indicted 21 times but escaped conviction each time, except for the last. It's said the county's law enforcement officials were afraid of encountering McElroy, who was known to be heavily armed. [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. Still, the panel didnt return an indictment, giving rise to conspiracy theories about a law enforcement coverup, also a theme in No One Saw a Thing.. 1960: Ken moves his young girlfriendSally into his house with Sharon. McElroy was hit twice and died. As a result, he was arrested, but quickly released. Known as 'the town bully', his unsolved killing became the focus of international attention. 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. It was a misunderstanding, but one that made the Bowenkamps lives a living hell for months. 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. Ken Rex McElroy (June 1, 1934 - July 10, 1981) was a resident of Skidmore, Nodaway County, Missouri. Some people have attributed his strange behavior with this event. Never miss a story by signing up for the newsletter now. The people of Skidmore were becoming more and more frustrated with the failures to protect them in the justice system. If they thought it was getting too out of hand, they would send one of us up and down the aisle. According to court records, McElroy tracked them down and brought them back. Somebody would hear his name, and the legend grew bigger. In the summer of 1981, a jury handed McElroy his first-ever felony conviction for the lesser charge of second-degree assault. The guns were never recovered. They could have pushed and dug, pushed and dug and gotten nothing, said Huston. And despite there being dozens of witnesses, no one has ever been arrested or charged in connection with McElroys murder. Like so many other small towns, Skidmore has shrunk inside itself, watching businesses close and residents depart. 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. As the case dragged on without a court date, Henry said McElroy had parked outside his home at least 100 times. Didnt see a thing. Thats the response investigators repeatedly received when they questioned people over the death of Ken McElroy. October 20th, 1974: Ken McElroy marries Trena McCloud to get out of a statutory rape charge with Trena. Those in attendance felt the system had failed them, and it seemed like none of the authorities could stop McElroy. But in a dramatic act of . Once, a farmer who caught Ken red-handed stealing two horses filed charges but withdrew them after McElroy smashed him across the face with a rifle., Police also felt McElroys ire. Our law enforcement never went after him very hard, he said. 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. April 10th, 1972: After Alice runs away with their son, Ken McElroy gets into an altercation with Alice's stepfather and shoots him. When the call went out, State Police Cpl. They slept in shifts, with some friend or family member keeping an eye on the street. Bullet casings from two guns were found. Within hours, Mr. Baird heard that there had been a shooting downtown. You dont have a town full of people who were hiding a guilty conscience, he said. At least some of the witnesses surely knew who fired the bullet that shattered the back window of McElroys truck and blew off the back of his head. 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. The murder occurred in broad daylight, with as many as sixty eye-witnesses present . The meeting broke up after participants learned McElroy and Trena were at the D&G Tavern. 1. June 16th, 1934: Ken Rex McElroy is born to Mabel and Tony McElroy, the thirteenth out of fourteen children. It failed McElroy, too, because it failed to protect him from himself. Things reached a boiling point in 1980 when Ken McElroy got into a confrontation with the towns elderly grocer, Ernest Bo Bowenkamp. Del Clement, the man Trena named as McElroys killer, died of cirrhosis of the liver in 2009. Absolutely not, he said. 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. No one was ever accused of shoplifting, or stealing. When talking about McElroy, MacLean wondered how he was able to be so crafty. Bullet casings from two different guns were found. I dont know what happened,' Boyer recalls witnesses saying. She gathered her strength and put the car in reverse. McElroy and Trena returned to the truck, where he lit a cigarette while she was in the passenger seat. 1952: Ken McElroy marries his first wife Oleta. Watch the new and 7th season of BuzzFeed Unsolved: True Crime! For more than two decades, McElroy was suspected of being involved in theft of grain, gasoline, alcohol, antiques, and livestock, but he avoided conviction when charges were brought against him 21 timesoften after witnesses refused to testify because he allegedly intimidated them, frequently by following his targets or parking outside their homes and watching them. McElroy's appeal hearing was again delayed. After the sheriff left town, the group walked from the hall and went down the street to the tavern. 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. 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). One account even said that McElroy rode into town on a horse and was shot and killed, Baird, the former prosecutor, said. Additional charges were filed against McElroy.[7]. To the residents of the small town, he was the town bully. Many buildings are closed and falling apart. [10] No one called for an ambulance. McElroys wifewhom he victimized as a childremarried and moved to Lebanon, Missouri. Mable was born on February 28 1897, in Dover, Shawnee County, KS, USA. All That's Interesting is a Brooklyn-based digital publisher that seeks out stories that illuminate the past, present, and future. Is dumpster diving legal in Missouri and Illinois? 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]. We were so bitter and so angry at the law letting us down that it came to somebody taking matters in their own hands, said Bowenkamps daughter, Cheryl Huston. McElroy began stalking the Bowenkamp family, and eventually threatened Bo Bowenkamp in the back of his store with a shotgun in hand. Evelyn lived cross the street, and he made sure she could see them. Looking back, the justice system had as much to do with killing Ken McElroy as anyone in Skidmore did.. Stratton knew McElroy from a previous stop when he threatened the trooper with a shotgun. In what could only be described as vigilante justice, they conspired to kill Ken McElroy. Both Sally and Sharon begin having Ken's children. 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 indicted as many as 21 times, but escaped conviction all but once. Ken had 13 siblings: Hershell Eugene McElroy, Orvil O McElroy and 11 . 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. Ken was 18 and Oleta was 16. Shortly after, McElroy was arrested and charged with attempted murder. [Stream episodes of Accused: Guilty or Innocent? The police chief who oversaw the investigation, Hal Riddle, disagrees. He dropped out of school at age 15 in the eighth grade and quickly established a local reputation as a cattle rustler, small-time thief, and womanizer. But in a dramatic act of solidarity with the gunman, every witness, save the dead mans wife, denied seeing who had pulled the trigger. Boyer was among the first responders to arrive outside the D&G tavern where McElroy was ambushed. Posted on July 14, 2011 by Harry. 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. A deer slug in one chamber tore through Bowenkamps neck, coming within 3 inches of his head. Local authorities, including a coroners jury and a local grand jury, and even the FBI, investigated the killing but to no avail. He was sure it was Mr. McElroy who had done the shooting. Some of these things are simply assumed to be factual, Baird said. On July 10th, 1981 Ken Rex McElroy was shot dead in the street in broad daylight infront of 60 witnesses. Farmers carried them to kill varmints, or for hunting displaying them in plain sight in rear window gun racks. 1, it is murder. Self care and ideas to help you live a healthier, happier life. In the end, fear is what killed him, Goslee said. McElroy was spinning so hard out of control, I have no doubt he would have tried to kill my dad again, given the chance. I didnt know what to do. He would intimidate anyone who got in his way, usually by repeatedly harassing them or threatening them with a bullet. 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. Again, there were no indictments, and the McElroy murder case was tossed back to Baird. 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. Reached by phone, Mr. McElroys wife, who has since remarried and left the state, said she was not interested in talking about the case. 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.". 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. Search, watch, and cook every single Tasty recipe and video ever - all in one place! When Daylight Saving Time 2023 Begins, Will It Be For The Last Time. Shortly after being released, McElroy was at D&G Tavern making threats about murdering Bowenkamp. How could it? Many wondered: Why didnt Baird press charges against the man Trena McElroy fingered as her husbands killer? 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