On July 10, 1981, Ken Rex McElroy was killed in one of the strangest instances investigators ever saw. 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. in the A&E App.]. Sign up for free Patch newsletters and alerts. 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. Ken had 13 siblings: Hershell Eugene McElroy, Orvil O McElroy and 11 . I heard shooting and got down. [Stream episodes of Accused: Guilty or Innocent? The larger-than-life bully who menaced the farming community of Skidmore died in seconds. This is How a Town Ganged Up Against a Serial Bully [12] The DA declined to press charges. 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. McElroy burned down the girls home and shot her familys dog to force her parents to agree to the marriage. 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.. [2][3] In 1981, McElroy was convicted of attempted murder in the shooting of the town's 70-year-old grocer Ernest "Bo" Bowenkamp. He quit.. Boyer was among the first responders to arrive outside the D&G tavern where McElroy was ambushed. He was nonplussed. In 1981, McElroy was convicted of shooting . In the ensuing confrontation, McElroy shot Bowenkamp in the neck; Bowenkamp survived, and McElroy was arrested and charged with attempted murder. Now, nearly 30 years later, that prosecutor, David A. Baird, is preparing to leave office with his first and most famous case still unsolved. October 20th, 1974: Ken McElroy marries Trena McCloud to get out of a statutory rape charge with Trena. Everyone was so uncomfortable and scared.. I didnt know what to do. Anyone can read what you share. 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. 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. Is No One Saw A Thing A True Story? The Real-Life Murder - ScreenRant US residents can opt out of "sales" of personal data. 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. One assumption Skidmore hasnt been able to shed is that McElroys killing was an act of vigilante justice. He was freed on bond. *In Broad Daylight by Harry N. MacLean 1988. Everyone was keeping an eye on us. And its likely to stay that way. July 1981: During the 1st week of July it was announced that there would be a delay in McElroy's bond hearing. 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.". Nobody wanted to talk to us, retired Missouri State Highway Patrol Trooper Dan Boyer tells A&E True Crime. Both Sally and Sharon begin having Ken's children. No. Estes then drove out of town in his police cruiser. He appeared in a local bar, the D&G Tavern, armed with an M1 Garand rifle and bayonet, and later threatened to kill Bowenkamp. 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. 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. McElroys wife named one person as a possible gunman, but no one couldor wouldidentify who fired the shots. The mere mention of his surname was enough to cause anxiety, if not full terror. 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 made a living leasing land near his farm, and trading and racing dogs. 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. More awful crimes have taken place in the small town. No One Saw a Thing - Wikipedia McElroy was in town and behaving belligerently. Its been over 30 years. It's worth noting that the abused defending their abuser often occurs in domestic violence cases. On the morning of July 10, 1981, townspeople met at the Legion Hall in the center of town with Sheriff Estes to discuss how to protect themselves. Then McElroy, described by veteran journalist Phil Conger as a big brute of a guy with slicked-back hair like Elvis, took the stand. McElroy sat outside the foster home for hours at a time staring at it. In the summer of 1981, a jury handed McElroy his first-ever felony conviction for the lesser charge of second-degree assault. Some people have attributed his strange behavior with this event. McElroy was eventually convicted, but the charge was lessened from "attempt to kill" to "knowingly caused serious physical injury" to ensure a conviction. He had a legendary status, and it all got to be bigger than he was. [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 people of the town keep their heads down and prefer to not speak about the incident. 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. Case #8: the Mysterious Death of Ken Rex Mcelroy I got in the car and was shaking so bad.. 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. After McElroy fired a gun outside her house, Evelyn Sumy appealed to Dave Dunbar, the town marshal. Investigators dug and dug, but Skidmore residents maintained their silence. Local authorities, including a coroners jury and a local grand jury, and even the FBI, investigated the killing but to no avail. It was a matter of self-preservation. 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. A writer and storyteller out in the world to write about True-Crime and History. His foot fell to the accelerator when he was shot, causing the engine to run at full bore. No. Ken Rex McElroy was an American known as "the town bully" of Skidmore, Missouri. Town Mute for 30 Years About a Bully's Killing - The New York Times 1955 or 56: Ken and Oleta McElroy move back to Missouri after Ken's accident in Colorado. So what was left?. No one has been charged in connection with McElroys death. Again, there were no indictments, and the McElroy murder case was tossed back to Baird. Trena McElroy accused Skidmore residents of turning her husband into a scapegoat. June 25th, 1981: McElroy returns to Skidmore out on bail until an appeal hearing. He went back home and was shot within a couple of days, explains Conger, editor of the Bethany Republican-Clipper. 1 or 2 men (unclear) took guns and shot Ken Rex McElroy dead in his truck. But even after a federal prosecutor forwarded to Mr. Baird what he called substantial new evidence, no one was indicted. Ken McElroy - Wikipedia This is an archived article and the information in the article may be outdated. Bullet casings from two different guns were found. In what could only be described as vigilante justice, they conspired to kill Ken McElroy. 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. Do Not Sell or Share My Personal Information. One of these women was 24-year-old Trena McCloud, who was McElroy's partner. Ken was 18 and Oleta was 16. 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. Many buildings are closed and falling apart. McElroy for the most part escaped prosecution and, certainly, conviction for various crimes. He went about making public threats against the grocer while armed with a rifle. 1, it is murder. Almost everyone, with the exception of Bo Bowenkamp, backed down. 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. A conviction should have been a victory for the people of Skidmore, but the jury set a maximum sentence of two years, and the judge, without protest from Mr. Baird, released Mr. McElroy on bond pending appeal. He was known as "the town bully", [1] and his unsolved killing became the focus of international attention. 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. His hunch paid off, and McElroy found himself handcuffed and charged with assault. 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 . 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. As many as 60 Skidmore residents attended, including the mayor and the sheriff. 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. A few days later, a pickup truck showed up in the wee hours outside Boyers remote country house. They could have pushed and dug, pushed and dug and gotten nothing, said Huston. In a trial for shooting a Skidmore man in 1976 two witnesses appeared saying they had been with McElroy hunting miles away from the scene. McElroy was convicted of assault but let out of jail awaiting appeal. Recent leaks into killing of town bully Ken Rex McElroy - reddit This was something that the "town bully," Ken Rex McElroy, staunchly rebelled against. The justice system just crashed and burned over this case.. A girl from a poor, rural family, McElroy had begun having sex with her when she was barely fourteen. To the residents of the small town, he was the town bully. As the case dragged on without a court date, Henry said McElroy had parked outside his home at least 100 times. He was very cunning, MacLean told Patch. The grocer lived and McElroy was again arrested and charged with attempted murder. 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. He would intimidate anyone who got in his way, usually by repeatedly harassing them or threatening them with a bullet. He divorces Oleta and marries Sharon to get out of a chargeof assault after shooting Sharon during an argument. 'No One Saw a Thing': A town torn apart by 38 years of violence No one was charged, and the FBI closed the case. Calling the sheriff about his threats was risk few were willing to take not that it would have done much good, Goslee said. Ken stalks the family afterwards, and on the 8th, Ken shoots Bo Bowenkamp. Perversely, the towns share of tragedy has grown. Someone shot at McElroy while he was sitting in his truck. The police would not or could not help us or Skidmore. 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. McElroy was a big man with cold eyes who always carried a gun. McElroy escaped jail on an appeal bond and could remain free until he exhausted his appeals, free to taunt his victims with what had become painfully clear: He would never go to jail. No one was surprised. April 25th, 1980: A few of Ken's children go to the local grocery store and is accused of stealing by Mrs. Bowenkamp. 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. Evelyn tried to explain what had happened, that nobody had accused the children of stealing, and Trena said, Why would my effing daughter lie? . That became the pattern. Genealogy profile for Ken Rex McElroy Ken Rex McElroy (1934 - 1982) - Genealogy Genealogy for Ken Rex McElroy (1934 - 1982) family tree on Geni, with over 230 million profiles of ancestors and living relatives. No one has been indicted for the murder of McElroy. Despite being shot in broad daylight in front of various witnesses, the . Nodaway County Sheriff Dan Estes suggested they form a neighborhood watch. 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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