Skidmore, Part Three - The Murder of Ken Rex McElroy

The murder of Ken Rex McElroy isn’t ‘unsolved’ in the typical sense of the word. 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. This is far from what happened in the case of McElroy. In fact, anywhere between thirty and ninety people witnessed the shooting of the 270lb brute of a man on that hot July day in 1981.

Someone saw something.

But not one person has come forward. A pact of silence was made between the witnesses. The truth is that the people of Skidmore, Missouri, were sick and tired of living their lives in fear under tyrannical reign of Ken McElroy, which by then had stretched over two decades. Someone had to put an end to it. And that’s exactly what they did.

Who was Ken Rex McElroy?

Born in Overland Park, Kansas, on June 1, 1934, McElroy was the fifteenth of Tony and Mabel McElroy’s sixteen children. The McElroys never had any money. They worked as sharecroppers and moved often before settling in Skidmore.

The children had little parental supervision, and for the most part ran free around town. McElroy dropped out of school in the eighth grade. It was widely reported that he was illiterate, but he did not let this hold him back from getting what he wanted in life.

Not long after leaving school, McElroy sustained a head injury when he fell from a hay wagon. It was reportedly so severe that he needed a steel plate implanted in his head. Many speculate that this traumatic injury was a cause of his volatility and aggression later in life.

By his teens, McElroy became known as the ‘town bully’ of Skidmore, notorious for his cruel treatment of anyone who dared challenge him. He ruled with an iron fist, inciting fear and causing a persistent sense of dread amongst townsfolk.

The Ultimate Intimidator

On leaving school (and likely even before) McElroy began stealing items such as antiques, alcohol, grain and gasoline. He would often be spotted hunting racoons and was notorious for rustling hogs and cattle in the small farming community.

It wasn’t long before he became a violent menace, his more serious crimes including rape, assault and child molestation. As a result, he was no stranger to the Nodaway County Sheriff’s Dept.

To describe McElroy as intimidating is putting it lightly. Each time anyone brought charges against him (which happened a total of twenty-one times), he would intimidate his accusers into dropping the charges, leaving them terrified and fearing for their lives.

His favored methods of intimidation included approaching people, hissing threats at them and shoving his shotgun in their faces. He would also follow them home, sit outside in his truck and stare at them with his dark, sinister gaze for hours on end.

Romaine Henry (source: newspressnow.com)

One time, a farmer named Romaine Henry caught McElroy trespassing on his property and attempted to chase him off. Instead of leaving, McElroy turned around and shot Henry in the stomach with his shotgun. Henry survived, and unlike the majority of McElroy’s other victims, actually went on to testify in court against him. Being shot in the stomach wasn’t enough though. McElroy was acquitted, thanks to his talented attorney. Many speculate that McElroy also threatened the jury.

There is no denying that McElroy was a skilled criminal; his long career of breaking the law resulted in pockets permanently stuffed with $100 bills. Much of his cash, however, went to Richard Gene McFadin, his lawyer. McFadin was a highly skilled attorney who got McElroy off the hook time and time again.

The more McElroy got away with, the more it seemed as though he was exempt from the law. The townspeople resented the constant feeling of anxiety McElroy’s presence left them with. But even more frustrating was the ineptitude of law enforcement in their handling of the monster that terrorized them day in and day out.

The Many Wives of Ken McElroy

Brace yourselves. This part is a rollercoaster.

McElroy pretty much got whatever he wanted, and women were no exception. However, most of his sexual affairs weren’t with women, but rather underage girls, with whom he collectively had at least ten children.

As far as I could find, McElroy was married three times. His first wife, Sharon, was fifteen when they met, while McElroy was at least twenty. McElroy was hardly a loving husband and regularly beat Sharon. Eventually, Sharon and McElroy had two children. By the time their second child was born, McElroy found another girlfriend, Sally, who was only thirteen, while Ken was around twenty-seven. McElroy moved Sally onto the family farm with Sharon and their two children. Sally had three children with McElroy and Sharon had another two.

McElroy soon bored of Sharon, Sally and his seven children, and found another underage girl, Alice Wood, who is widely referred to as McElroy’s second wife. McElroy moved out of his family home to be with Alice, but this relationship was no different from his previous ones. He abused Alice verbally and physically, and when she gave birth to their son, she moved out to live with her mother and stepfather In St Joseph, the next town over from Skidmore.

Enraged by Alice leaving with his son, McElroy called the home and began threatening Alice and her family. He told them he was coming to pick up his son, and if anyone tried to stop him, he would kill them. Alice’s stepfather, in so many words, told McElroy to shove it. McElroy drove to the house and shot him in the leg through his living room window.

McElroy was arrested on assault charges, but Alice’s stepfather would need to testify. In order to stop him from doing so, McElroy carried on with his usual scare tactics – he told him he would kill his entire family if he testified, followed him and sat outside his house for hours. Eventually, after an altercation at a bar during which McElroy threatened him with a shotgun, Alice’s stepfather dropped the assault charges.

Even after all that had happened between McElroy and her family, Alice moved back into the McElroy family home with her son. To welcome her back, McElroy had found yet another girlfriend, Trena McCloud, who was twelve years old, while McElroy would have been around thirty-five. When she was fourteen, Trena got pregnant. After giving birth, Trena and Alice, exhausted from living in constant fear of McElroy, took their children and left the McElroy farm to live with Trena’s parents.

Trena McCloud went on to become Ken McElroy’s third wife (lifedaily.com).

Needless to say, McElroy was having none of this. He went to Trena’s parents home, where he viciously beat Trena and Alice, then burned the McCloud house to the ground. He forced the two women and the children into his truck and drove them back to the farmhouse.

Trena had to go to hospital for the injuries she had suffered at the hands of McElroy. The doctor who treated her was appalled and called child services. Trena was admitted into foster care with her son.

McElroy was charged with arson, rape and brandishing a deadly weapon. His lawyer managed to delay the process for so long, however, that Trena, who was still a child and very naïve, got bored of foster care and ran away. She went right back to the McElroy farmhouse with her son. McElroy got a divorce from Sharon (or Alice, honestly I’m not sure who he was married to at the time) and married Trena so that she would not be compelled to testify against him. She ended up dropping the charges.

Ernst "Bo" Bowenkamp

In April 1980, two of McElroy’s daughters were shopping at a local corner store. The older daughter paid for her items, but as they were leaving, the younger daughter grabbed some candy out of a jar and headed for the door. A clerk saw what happened and warned the girl that she better return the candy or pay for it. The older girl snatched the candy from the younger girl, threw it back in the jar, grabbed her little sister’s hand and barged out the door.

The clerk thought nothing more of it, until Ken and Trena McElroy showed up. Both were fuming over the seemingly insignificant incident. Of course, McElroy had a gun. Trena, who was twenty-three by this time, began yelling at the clerk, which drew the attention of the store’s owners, Ernst and Lois Bowenkamp. The two came out from the back of the store, also becoming subject to the couple’s ranting. Lois soon became fed up and told the McElroys to leave the store and never come back.

They left, but for McElroy, it wasn’t over. The Bowenkamps became the new objects of McElroy’s intimidation scheme. He would sit outside of their house in his truck for hours in the evening. A couple of times, he got out of the truck and fired his shotgun into the air - all this over a couple pieces of candy. The Bowenkamps, who were in their early seventies at the time, tried their best to carry on with life as normal. But having this thug with serious rage issues breathing down their necks 24/7 meant it wasn’t easy. Then one day, McElroy drove to the corner store, found Bo Bowenkamp around the back, and shot him in the neck.

Bo survived, McElroy was arrested…but he got out on bail, and began harassing the officer who arrested him, Richard Stratton. This went on for months, thanks to his trial being subject to constant delays. McElroy swaggered around town as he always did and sat drinking for hours at his usual haunt, the D&G Tavern.

Ernst “Bo” Bowenkamp (source: morbidology.com)

McElroy’s Trial

For the first time in his life, McElroy was actually convicted of a crime. However, the outcome of the conviction was a slap in the face for Bo and Lois Bowenkamp. His conviction was for second-degree assault and he was sentenced to just two years - for shooting someone in the neck.

Skidmore residents were pleased that (some) justice was finally being served. But of course, McElroy filed an appeal of his conviction, and was let out on $40,000 bond while his appeal was pending. This was a punch in the gut to everybody in Skidmore. The justice system had failed them once again.

Out For Revenge

On his release, McElroy strolled into the D&G Tavern, holding a rifle with a bayonet attached. Despite his conviction, he was still the arrogant goon he had always been. He waved the gun around inside the tavern, proclaiming that he was going to finish off Bo Bowenkamp. Several patrons witnessed McElroy’s display at the tavern and called the prosecutor, who revoked McElroy’s bail. A hearing was scheduled, in which the witnesses would testify that they had seen McElroy in the bar in possession of a loaded weapon.

Then, on July 9 1981, Richard McFadin got the hearing delayed for two weeks. This is when the rage amongst locals reached boiling point. Close to fifty of them had come together and made a plan to protect the witnesses who were going to testify against McElroy. Now that the hearing had been delayed, and McElroy no doubt knew who the witnesses were, the entire town felt a sense of impending doom about what was to come.

Vigilante Justice

The next morning, people gathered once again, this time at the American Legion hall located across the street from the D&G Tavern. The plan was to discuss how they were going to protect themselves from McElroy for the next two weeks until the hearing. The authorities had let them down, so they had no choice but to take matters into their own hands.

The D&G Tavern in 1981; it has since closed. (source: Inside Edition)

While the meeting was going on, McElroy was back in the D&G Tavern drinking with Trena. When the meeting ended, the group made their way across the street to the tavern to confront McElroy. They felt a sense of safety in numbers.

Around forty of them stood outside, while another twenty crowded into the small tavern. They surrounded McElroy, shouting at him that they had had enough and that his days were numbered.

McElroy and Trena got up without saying a word, pushing their way through the crowd towards the exit. The group outside the tavern had grown and began jeering as they saw the couple emerge from the tavern. McElroy and Trena got into their truck. Before driving away, McElroy stopped to light a cigarette.

Just as he was taking his first drag, the sound of two gunshots rang out. The truck’s windows were shattered; at least one of the bullets hit McElroy in the back of the head. Blood covered the inside of the vehicle, as well as Trena, who was sitting in the passenger seat. McElroy slumped forward onto the steering wheel.

Somebody opened the passenger door and pulled Trena out of the truck and into another building nearby. She was in shock but not physically injured.

No one called an ambulance. McElroy died at the scene, surrounded by the people he had terrorised for decades. It would naïve to say they did not feel a sense of collective relief.

In Broad Daylight (source: harrymaclean.com)

“We Needed Your Help All This Time”

Harry MacLean, author of the award winning book In Broad Daylight about the McElroy case, spent several years living in Skidmore, interviewing those who were there that day. From talking to witnesses, he concluded that the killing of McElroy was not planned.

MacLean told Inside Edition: “Whatever had been done might not be morally right, but he needed killing. Not a one of 'em felt sorry for him. Not one of them felt bad. Somebody was going to get killed. It was either going to be him, or somebody else.”

Investigators never got anyone to confess or give information about who had fired the lethal shot. Unsurprisingly, Skidmore residents were upset by the police presence in town. Why were they diligently carrying out this investigation into the killing of the man who had made their lives miserable for so long? One man said to an officer examining the scene: “What are you doing here? Why are you doing this? You know what he was like. You know how he oppressed and threatened us. I don’t believe you’re coming now—after we needed your help all this time.”

Trena was the only person to come forward to investigators about who she believed had killer her husband. She had seen a man named Del Clement (the co-owner of the D&G Tavern) standing across the street with a rifle, at which point she told Ken they needed to get out of there because he was going to get shot. But it was too late. No one else corroborated Trena’s story. Del Clement has since died, and he never confessed. It is widely accepted that he fired one of the guns that shot McElroy. Secretly, Skidmore was extremely thankful to him.

Trena moved away from Skidmore, remarried and had more children. She died of cancer in 2012 at the age of just 55.

Ken Rex McElroy was buried at Memorial Park Cemetery in St Joseph, Missouri. He was 47 years old. On his tombstone are the words: ‘brave, fearless and compassionate’. I have a feeling his neighbors would have described him somewhat differently.