Ken McElroy: The Town That Got Away With Murder
Wikipedia describes Skidmore, Missouri as a small farming community. As of the 2020 Census their population was fixed at a mere 245 people. Just ten years prior the town boasted a population of 284. While even small areas have something they’re known for, be it a local restaurant, a high school football team, a factory or plant, or even large Christmas displays, Skidmore is known for a much darker reason. They are known as the town with the biggest, and longest kept secret in the world.
DannyDutch.com’s detailed blog post on this case gives Ken Rex McElroy’s birthplace as Skidmore, Missouri. Born in 1934, he seemed to be trouble almost from the start. He dropped out of school in the eighth grade at which point his life quickly turned to crime. What started out as hunting raccoons took no time to escalate into much more serious offenses. Ken learned how to intimidate and harass people into getting his way from a young age. Rather than earn a living like everyone else, he used his experience as a thief and a bully to get whatever he wanted. Whether it was livestock, alcohol, or even a wife, he would bully, threaten, and intimidate everyone in town to get his way.
Ken would steal almost anything not nailed down to the floor. Grain, alcohol, gasoline, antiques, and livestock were his for the taking. It didn’t matter whose property it was sitting on. If he wanted it, he took it. According to Fox2Now, Ken McElroy was suspected or accused of dozens of crimes. Before his death, he managed to rack up twenty-one theft charges alone. Each and every time he was charged with a crime, Ken would worm his way out, leaning on the only skills he had. He would intimidate witnesses to ensure that he never saw a day in prison for the long list of horrible crimes he would commit. If he didn’t directly and violently threaten the witnesses, he parked his truck outside their homes and just sat there.
Missouri Life stated that Ken began stalking a twelve-year-old girl in the early 70s. Trena McCloud would be repeatedly raped by this monster until she became pregnant at the age of fourteen. In order to avoid the statutory rape charge he was facing, he divorced his wife and began terrorizing Trena’s family into allowing him to marry her. Knowing that Trena could not be forced to testify against him if she was his legal wife, he pursued her with a ferocity that left her family no other choice. Ken lit their house on fire and shot their dog. With no way to stand up to this menace, they were forced to allow the marriage.
The catalog of crimes that he had either been accused of or charged with have not been forgotten by those who suffered his reign of terror. Among his many theft charges were charges for burglary, livestock rustling, arson, assault, rape, statutory rape, animal cruelty, and child molestation. Each and every one of these he escaped through intimidation and violence. The residents of Skidmore likely thought that things couldn’t possibly get any worse. They were dead wrong.
In July 1976, Ken shot a farmer named Romaine Henry in the stomach with a shotgun. Miraculously, Romaine survived his jarring brush with death. Ken was charged with assault with intent to kill, but his attorney, Richard McFadin, made sure that it would never stick. The crafty lawyer came up with two witnesses that claimed to have been hunting with Ken that day, far from the scene of the crime. He was able to escape from the claws of justice yet again as his crimes grew worse and the town lived in fear.
All That’s Interesting stated that his next serious offense was committed in 1980. Ernest “Bo” Bowenkamp was a seventy year old grocer that made a grave mistake in accusing one of Ken’s children of theft. He was sure that the child had stolen a piece of candy and asked that it be returned. When the angry children left the store, their infuriated father came ripping into the parking lot shortly thereafter. Ken wasted little time arguing over what he considered an offense against his family. He shot “Bo” in the neck, and somehow he survived. Ken was finally convicted of a crime he committed. His assault conviction wouldn’t stick, though.
Ken appealed his conviction and was released on bond. Rather than celebrate his freedom with his family, he drove up to the D&G Tavern, armed with a rifle and bayonet. He threatened the old grocer with a crowd watching.
The town was fed up with the walking nightmare that wandered their streets day after day. He was a plague infecting the community. A parasite that needed to be removed. A town meeting was held, and the McElroys were not among the citizens informed. The frightened and weary townspeople met with the Nodaway County sheriff to discuss options for dealing with their tormentor on July 10, 1981. This was the very day after Ken’s encounter with “Bo”. The sheriff suggested that they form a neighborhood watch and avoid confrontation with Ken altogether. That wasn’t good enough for a community that felt as though they had been living under siege for years.
Leaving the sheriff and his ideas behind, the townspeople walked away with newfound determination and drive. They walked together to the D&G Tavern, where Ken happened to be having his morning drink at that very moment. Trena sat by his side, still his captive wife after all this time. Beleaguered and afraid, she remained ever-doting until his death. When Ken rose from his seat and left the bar, the crowd followed him out ominously. They gathered around his truck slowly and silently as he and his prisoner bride got in. Sudden and rapid gunshots shattered the silence as Ken slumped in the drivers seat with two bullet holes in his head. No ambulance was called for the town bully.
Forty to fifty people were standing outside the tavern when the shooting occurred. When witnesses were later interviewed authorities likely weren’t too surprised to find that no one saw a thing, considering their so-called victim. Only Trena identified a shooter, a man named Del Clement, but with no evidence and no one to back up her story no charges could be pressed. Every resident of Skidmore had a different account of that day. Many of those accounts had people ducking at the sound of gunfire, a reaction that no one could question. Police would never get any answers in the case of Ken McElroy. Even the FBI stepped in, hoping to unravel the town’s secret. They came up empty-handed as well.
Prosecutor David Baird retired from his office thirty years later with no more leads or evidence than they had to start with. He had come to terms with the fact that no one will ever know who really shot the town menace. The community had banded together in a way never seen before or since. They disposed of the trash and lived happily ever after. It seemed that no one could really hold a grudge against them for it.
Trena McElroy filed a $5 million wrongful death suit against the Town of Skidmore, County of Nodaway, Sheriff Danny Estes, Skidmore Mayore Steve Peters, and Del Clement. The suit was settled out of court by all parties for $17,600. This would be all Trena would get for years of fear, abuse, and forceful marriage to a man decades older than her. She remarried and moved to Lebanon, Missouri, where she would die of cancer on her fifty-fifth birthday, January 24, 2012.
In Harry MacLean’s book, In Broad Daylight, he states that Ken McElroy was not an educated man, even lacking the ability to read. He had no social security number, no bank account, no skills that anyone seems to recall. How did such a man manage to outwit the system for twenty years? How did it all come down to an angry mob and gunshots? The answer appears to be good representation and brute force.
David Dunbar had been Skidmore’s town marshal before Ken drove him to tender his resignation. He remembers their own local terrorist pulling a gun on him. He also recalls the department’s lack of response to the felony. Upon realizing that nothing was going to be done and this man was going to walk free, he quickly became disillusioned with the town’s law enforcement. Instead of sticking around to deal with the torment, he quit.
His attorney, Richard McFadin, remembers his old client fondly. He called Ken his “best client,” stating that he “was always punctual, always said he didn’t do it, paid in cash, and kept coming back.” The weaselly attorney defended him in three or four felonies every year. It’s not hard to figure out that he misses the money more than the client.
Retired Missouri Highway Patrol Trooper Richard Stratton says that he understands the town’s actions. “Those were fathers and grandfathers on the street in Skidmore that day. Ordinary hardworking people,” he stated. These people were pushed to commit a crime that freed them from the fear and anxiety of living under oppression. The retired trooper believes the only reason this murder was committed was because the justice system had failed an entire town, not just once, but repeatedly.
Richard McFadin stated, “I know why they didn’t talk — they were all glad he was dead. That town got away with murder.” That is probably the most fascinating part of this case. An entire town conspired to commit murder and followed through. They have also managed to stay mum about the affair for forty-two years. They say that two men can keep a secret if one of them is dead. In this case an entire town can keep a secret if they hated the bastard enough.