They know how everybody thinks.. [10] No one called for an ambulance. McElroy was hit twice and died. Three grand juries heard evidence. Nobody wanted to talk to us, retired Missouri State Highway Patrol Trooper Dan Boyer tells A&E True Crime. In 1980, McElroy shot the 70-year-old town grocer in the neck following a months-old dispute over an accusation about a piece of stolen candy. A museum dedicated to Skidmore, Mo., sits on Elm Street, the towns main drag. [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. I heard shooting and got down. The Vigilantemurder of Ken Rex McElroy still remains a mystery today. The objective is to promote history on Medium and demonstrate the value of historical writing. The Tylenol Murders: Is It Too Late to Solve the Famous Cold Case? Absolutely not, he said. I didnt see anything. 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 sat outside the foster home for hours at a time staring at it. McElroy was also accused of abusing his first two wives, Sharon and Alice, but Alice defended him in an interview shortly after his death. Trena McElroy fingered a local rancher as one of the gunmen, but he denied the claim. McElroy was convicted of assault but let out of jail awaiting appeal. 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. No. They just went stone silent. Ken McElroy issues threats against the Bowenkamp family. Biography Mini Bio (1) Ken Rex McElroy Jr. is known for No One Saw a Thing (2019). What happened in Skidmore that day wasnt much different than the completely predictable result from shaking a carbonated beverage until the top finally blows. A few days later, a pickup truck showed up in the wee hours outside Boyers remote country house. When the call went out, State Police Cpl. Posted on July 14, 2011 by Harry. His last wife, Trena, became pregnant with their first child at age 14. The McElroys eventually left the store, but when Bowenkamp closed up that night, he was outside, waiting. Estes, the sheriff some tried to implicate in a conspiracy, is dead. Once freed, McElroy didnt just quietly celebrate his victory. Local police, state investigators and FBI agents tried to break the towns silence, without success. Evelyn lived cross the street, and he made sure she could see them. 1964: Ken meets another girlfriend named Alice Wood. One night after he pulled a speeding pickup truck over, Boyer came face to face with McElroy. 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.. They thought about his wife and his children, and where it left them particularly the children.. McElroy was a resident of Skidmore, Missouri. Ken Rex McElroy 1934-1981. That became the pattern. This past weekend marked the 40th anniversary of the killing of Ken Rex McElroy of Skidmore. The streak ended when a jury convicted Mr. McElroy of second-degree assault in the grocers shooting. McElroy's appeal hearing was again delayed. Ken McElroy died in a hail of gunfire on the morning of July 10, 1981, while sitting in his truck outside a local tavern. Everyone was keeping an eye on us. 1998 - 2023 Nexstar Media Inc. | All Rights Reserved. Now, nearly 30 years later, that prosecutor, David A. Baird, is preparing to leave office with his first and most famous case still unsolved. Vigilante justice is certainly a slippery slope, but after years of dealing with Ken McElroy, the people of Skidmore reached their boiling point. Ken Rex McElroy was an American known as "the town bully" of Skidmore, Missouri. in the A&E App.]. [6], Based on Trena's story, McElroy was indicted in June 1973 for arson, assault, and statutory rape. When the shooting ended, McElroy was slumped over the steering wheel. June 16th, 1934: Ken Rex McElroy is born to Mabel and Tony McElroy, the thirteenth out of fourteen children. The meeting broke up after participants learned McElroy and Trena were at the D&G Tavern. The citizens decided to go to the tavern en masse. She died in 2012. The law wasnt going to help the people of Skidmore. McElroy for the most part escaped prosecution and, certainly, conviction for various crimes. The FBI entered the case stiff-arming and threatening people, is how Monte, the Bowenkamps daughter, relates it. The noted sites in the story are gone or boardedup. A bond hearing was ordered. [9] McElroy was convicted at trial of assault, but freed on bail pending his appeal. 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. 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. Meanwhile, major media outlets descended onto Skidmore and reports of its vigilantes became water-cooler talk across the U.S. For some residents, resentment against McElroy was projected onto the police. Despite the efforts of police, prosecutors and McElroys family, no one has been charged in the murder. CHAPTER ONE. In fact, anywhere between thirty and ninety people witnessed the . Things reached a boiling point in 1980 when Ken McElroy got into a confrontation with the towns elderly grocer, Ernest Bo Bowenkamp. Of the most serious, McElroy was accused of child molestation and statutory rape. In the end, fear is what killed him, Goslee 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. McElroy raped a 12-year-old girl and, to avoid statutory rape charges, he divorced his wife at the time and married the child when she was 14 and pregnant with their baby. 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. Sign up for free Patch newsletters and alerts. In the summer of 1981, a jury handed McElroy his first-ever felony conviction for the lesser charge of second-degree assault. On July 8, 1980, McElroy drove to the alley behind the Bowenkamp general store. To the residents of the small town, he was the town bully. More awful crimes have taken place in the small town. He grew up hearing the story. He was very cunning, MacLean told Patch. 2023, A&E Television Networks, LLC. 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. He never finished high school but knew how to hunt, drive fast and navigate the back roads of Nodaway County by his early teens. He quit.. Town Mute for 30 Years About a Bullys Killing, https://www.nytimes.com/2010/12/16/us/16bully.html. One of these women was 24-year-old Trena McCloud, who was McElroy's partner. Known as 'the town bully', his unsolved killing became the focus of international attention. 1948: Approximately the time when Ken begins his small thefts as a young teenager. 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. [8] At the trial, two raccoon hunters testified they were with McElroy the day of the shooting away from Henry's property. Farmers carried them to kill varmints, or for hunting displaying them in plain sight in rear window gun racks. We hold major institutions accountable and expose wrongdoing. Ken Rex McElroy (June 1, 1934 - July 10, 1981) was an American criminal and convicted attempted murderer who resided in Skidmore, Missouri, United States. Once there, he threatened Bo, and shot him in the neck at close range with a shotgun. 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. Tell us what you think in the comments below. Sixteen days after Trena gave birth, both she and Alice fled to Trena's mother's and stepfather's house. As a subscriber, you have 10 gift articles to give each month. 2023 by Catlyn Brady, Jennifer Partridge, & Kara Severson. Again, there were no indictments, and the McElroy murder case was tossed back to Baird. He leaves Sharon to move in with Alice. When you didnt know where he was, you didnt dare take the chance of not being on your guard.. Perversely, the towns share of tragedy has grown. We interviewed our tech expert, Jaime Vazquez, to learn more about accessible smart home devices. October 20th, 1974: Ken McElroy marries Trena McCloud to get out of a statutory rape charge with Trena. 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. Dec. 15, 2010. Not only that, they recommended he spend no more than two years in prison. No One Saw A Thing centers around the 1981 murder of Ken Rex McElroy in Skidmore Missouri and other crimes committed in the town and surrounding area over the years. He was known as "the town bully", [1] and his unsolved killing became the focus of international attention. During the meeting, McElroy arrived at the D&G Tavern with Trena. The man asked, what are you doing here? Boyer remembers. The larger-than-life bully who menaced the farming community of Skidmore died in seconds. I said it in 1981, and Ill say it now, Baird told Patch. That was the last failure of criminal justice.. 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. No one has been indicted for the murder of McElroy. 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. 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. The trial collapsed yet all accounts are sceptical that the witnesses were telling the . Those who spoke out were taciturn. McElroy was known to have stolen grain, alcohol, gasoline, antiques, and even livestock. 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.