That was the last straw, MacLean said. Stratton knew McElroy from a previous stop when he threatened the trooper with a shotgun. Now, nearly 30 years later, that prosecutor, David A. Baird, is preparing to leave office with his first and most famous case still unsolved. What set off McElroy and put the local grocer in his crosshairs was the pettiest of offenses. 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,. 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[4], McElroy fathered more than 10 children with different women. Allegedly, even the mayor was in on it. 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 son of a bitch would just as soon shoot them as anyone else.. On July 10, 1981, Ken Rex McElroy was killed in one of the strangest instances investigators ever saw. It's hard to believe that this small town was once a bustlingcommunity. 1969 or 1970: Ken McElroy becomes involved with a young girl named Trena McCloud. It's worth noting that the abused defending their abuser often occurs in domestic violence cases. 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 . 1 or 2 men (unclear) took guns and shot Ken Rex McElroy dead in his truck. [2], In all, he was indicted 21 times but escaped conviction each time, except for the last. 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. What started with hunting raccoons escalated into petty crime until McElroy ultimately emerged as a full-fledged criminal. Ken Rex McElroy sat in his truck for over an hour before the law was called. Is dumpster diving legal in Missouri and Illinois? Born in 1934, Ken Rex McElroy was a resident of Skidmore, Missouri. 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 case dragged on without a court date, Henry said McElroy had parked outside his home at least 100 times. [10] No one called for an ambulance. She took her complaint to at-the-time Nodaway County Sheriff Roger Cronk. Bullet casings from two different guns were found. Anticipating McElroys typical moves, Stratton waited on a back road near the Kansas border. 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. In the decades preceding his murder, McElroy terrorized the denizens of Skidmore. 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. Boyer was among the first responders to arrive outside the D&G tavern where McElroy was ambushed. I got in the car and was shaking so bad.. Neither Baird nor MacLean, whose crime novel has been praised as an accurate account of McElroys killing, buy that. Retaliation would be severe. The town got away with murder, Mr. McFadin said. In the summer of 1981, a jury handed McElroy his first-ever felony conviction for the lesser charge of second-degree assault. You know what he was like. She gathered her strength and put the car in reverse. 1948: Approximately the time when Ken begins his small thefts as a young teenager. Worse felonies included assault and arson. E-mail: ramzywritersofficial@gmail.com. Ken Rex McElroy was shot dead inside his pick-up truck on the 10th of July, 1981, via a storm of bullets. There wasnt much parental supervision, but McElroy had a knack for taking care of himself. But the silence of the townspeople held. The McElroys eventually left the store, but when Bowenkamp closed up that night, he was outside, waiting. We had shoplifting, but a lot of people were on hard times. 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. His unsolved killing became the focus of international attention. 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. We went everywhere we could, but justice would stay delicately out the way, she said. [14] Trena remarried and moved to Lebanon, Missouri, where she died of cancer on her 55th birthday on January 24, 2012.[15]. Investigators dug and dug, but Skidmore residents maintained their silence. 1954: While working for his sister's husband in construction, McElroy suffers a traumatic head injury that leaves him with lifelong pain. Still working within the justice system, witnesses who saw McElroy with the gun gave the information the county prosecutor needed to request a bond revocation hearing. She died in 2012. Alas, the victory was short-lived. MacLean doesnt believe the men gathered at the Legion hall that morning ever made a group decision to kill McElroy. For over twenty years he raped, robbed and burned almost at will. When Daylight Saving Time 2023 Begins, Will It Be For The Last Time. The townsfolk were infuriated. During the meeting, McElroy arrived at the D&G Tavern with Trena. The citizens decided to go to the tavern en masse. One assumption Skidmore hasnt been able to shed is that McElroys killing was an act of vigilante justice. No. Mable was born on February 28 1897, in Dover, Shawnee County, KS, USA. Many buildings are closed and falling apart. A man who turned out to be McElroy pointed a shotgun at me, Margaret tells A&E True Crime. McElroy began stalking the Bowenkamp family, and eventually threatened Bo Bowenkamp in the back of his store with a shotgun in hand. . [1] To date, no one has been charged in connection with McElroy's death. Please look at the time stamp on the story to see when it was last updated. 2023, A&E Television Networks, LLC. The sheriff said, If you have to shoot him, let us know and well come get him before he starts stinking, Monte said. When you didnt know where he was, you didnt dare take the chance of not being on your guard.. 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. 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. We didnt have sufficient evidence to go to trial.. McElroy burned down the girls home and shot her familys dog to force her parents to agree to the marriage. 1998 - 2023 Nexstar Media Inc. | All Rights Reserved. They delivered messages in code. Everyone involved continues to keep the secret and gives no answers. Almost everyone, with the exception of Bo Bowenkamp, backed down. 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. [6] Trena and her baby were placed in foster care at a home in Maryville, Missouri. Once freed, McElroy didnt just quietly celebrate his victory. Five or six of us were standing in front of the Skidmore Caf, waiting and passing the time. 1, it is murder. Two people decided in the midst of that whole incident theyd had enough, MacLean said. Refusing to argue, he and Lois went home. Ken Rex McElroy was shot dead inside his pick-up truck on the 10th of July, 1981, via a storm of bullets. It was a matter of self-preservation. A lot of people were not happy about what happened, MacLean said. in the A&E App.]. The group heard McElroy and Trena McCloud were spotted heading to the tavern nearby. The law had plenty of chances, plenty of times to lock him up., Added Monte: Justice failed everybody. Once you boil away to the facts of what occurred, you can probably point to hundreds of similar reports every week across the United States., If McElroy had been shot by a lone gunman on a dark road at night, it would have made the Maryville paper for a day, MacLean said. No. There has been books written, movies, documentaries and more made about the killing. Richard McFadin, 87, a lawyer, now retired, who represented Mr. McElroy in numerous cases and, after the killing, his widow, said he believed there was enough evidence for a prosecution. 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. There were as many as 60 witnesses, yet the crime remains unsolved. Instead, he continued to harass Bowenkamp. Meanwhile, McElroy and his wife arrived at the D&G Tavern for a morning drink. He appeared in a local bar, the D&G Tavern, armed with an M1 Garand rifle and bayonet, and later threatened to kill Bowenkamp. Evelyn lived cross the street, and he made sure she could see them. They slept in shifts, with some friend or family member keeping an eye on the street. He left town just as Ken and Trena McElroy were driving in, likely passing McElroys Chevrolet Silverado pickup in his cruiser on the road. It was hours before he learned that it was Mr. McElroy who had been shot, sitting in the front seat of his pickup truck alongside his wife, after picking up some beer at the town bar. The story of Ken Rex McElroy began on June 1, 1934. There has been books written, movies, documentaries and more made about the killing. According to reports, some 50 people were outside the tavern when the shooting started. McElroy first began his relationship with McCloud when she was 14 and the two had a child shortly thereafter. https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLD8iUdp33PqTsix2sGblEQZ8m5FQycC5D Vigilante justice, or. 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