The town of Skidmore, Missouri was under a reign of terror for decades. Finally, the town had enough. This is the story of the vigilante-like death of Ken Rex McElroy.
Ken Rex McElroy was born on June 1st, 1934. He was the 15th, and 16 children, and often suffered the brunt of his father’s violence. He was often known to act out, and be disruptive. Some suggest it was his way of coping with his father’s abuse. Others suggest he suffered a traumatic brain injury when he fell off a hay wagon as a young boy and incurred a head injury which required a steel plate implant.
Whatever the reason, McElroy soon earned a reputation as someone you didn’t want to cross under any circumstances.
Some sources say McElroy dropped out of school in fifth grade, others say he dropped out at 15 in the eighth grade. Either way, he left, illiterate, and earned a living as a raccoon hunter, cattle rustler, and thief. He wanted to live the high life, and in order to do so, he had to do whatever it took.
McElroy mostly took to stealing livestock from the farmlands around Skidmore. He’d take livestock and sell them at auction houses who didn’t ask too many questions, or to third parties who knew better than to ask questions at all. He also took to training hunting dogs – as a means for a legitimate occupation.
Through these means, McElroy was usually flush with cash, and not at all shy about showing it off, or gloating about his ill gotten gains. He was known to have a firearm on hand, and often used it to bully and intimidate community members to get his way.
If he was unhappy with someone, he would stalk them. He’d sit outside their home, holding his gun, and make threats. He’d call the house and do the same. Despite many arrests, charges, and court dates for any number of felonies, McElroy usually got away with it.
Any witnesses of members of the community who dared speak out against him faced his intimidation, bullying, and stalking. It made speaking out increasingly difficult. Usually, witnesses recanted, or simply went away.
McElroy’s reputation wasn’t just one of intimidation and bullying, he was also known for being fond of girls. Young girls.
Over his lifetime, McElroy had up to five wives, and a disputed number of children, though the consensus sits at around 16 or so. McElroy would target them young – when they were around 13 or 14. He would charm them, woo them, and groom them to his liking. Then, he’d marry them to avoid statutory rape charges, and they’d birth his children. McElroy was a predator, through and through.
In 1971, he met his last wife, Trena. She was 12 years old. At the time, he was married to Alice Wood, another young girl he preyed upon and groomed. For two years, the three of them – and a smattering of children – all lived together. Trena became pregnant at age 14, and dropped out of school to raise the child.
Trena’s parents tried to get her back. They threatened McElroy with charges for statutory rape. Maybe if he was behind bars, they could take their daughter – their child – home.
After a time, she tried to leave McElroy. He was enraged. He followed her to her parents’ home, and demanded she return. When her parents stepped in to stop him seeing their daughter, McElroy took action. He burned the family home to the ground, and shot the family dog dead. As a warning of what would happen if they didn’t let Trena marry him to avoid the aforementioned charges.
Trena had another opportunity to escape when a doctor took notice of her state. Due to her young age, the doctor reported her to a social welfare agency. Trena, and her child, were taken in and placed with a foster family. It didn’t take McElroy much time to find out where she’d gone.
He would sit outside Trena’s foster house, always holding his gun, and make threats. He would call, and follow members of the family wherever they went. He offered a trade – girl for girl. They could keep Trena, but he’d take their daughter in return. She was the same age as Trena, and he knew where she went to school.
It’s unknown whether or not the family alerted authorities about these threats or not, but what is known is that Trena returned with McElroy. He immediately went back to Trena’s parents and forced them to grant their permission for Trena to marry him. If she married him, he said, the statutory rape charges would go away, and he wouldn’t burn their home down to the ground.
By this point, Trena had been through the ringer. Anyone who tried to help her faced McElroy’s wrath. He’d been grooming her for so long, of course she believed he was a good man. She married him, blamed the arson of her family home on faulty wiring, and stood by him through all of his horrendous behaviour.
All in all, McElroy, at some time or another, had been indicted for, but not limited to, the following charges: child molestation, rape, attempted murder, and burglary. McElroy’s on-hand attorney, Richard McFadin, even admitted to representing McElroy in court for at least three or four felonies a year. McFadin never asked too many questions – not when McElroy placed a wad of cash on his desk and asked for help.
Even with his skilled attorney on his side, McElroy often resorted to his tried and true tactics to stay out of prison. In a measured tone, he would confront adversaries and witnesses face to face, and explain to them that if they stood against him, he would kill them.
Those threats hung over the entirety of Skidmore. Every resident of the small town lived in fear of unknowingly crossing McElroy. They were miserable. Until they had had enough.
In 1980, Trena and her daughter were in the grocery store shopping. The child was caught stealing, and the owners, a couple in their 70s, Bo and Lois Bowenkamp, took notice. They mentioned the theft, which enraged Trena. Trena told her husband, Ken Rex McElroy, and he made it his mission to right the wrong the Bowenkamp’s had inflicted on his family.
He stalked them, and harassed them in his usual manner. He would call the house, drive by, and sit outside in his truck, waving his gun around. Every now and then, he would fire a warning shot into the air. A warning. The Bowenkamp’s had better recant the tale of his child stealing candy. They refused.
In July of 1980, on a hot summer night, Bo Bowenkamp was outside on the dock of his grocery store, waiting for an air-conditioning repairman. McElroy was still on his campaign of terror. He drove around the block, and saw Bo outside. McElroy then took out his trusty shotgun, waved it around, and then fired at shot at Bo. It got him in the neck.
McElroy left in a huge hurry. He was stopped and arrested by Richard Stratton, a corporal with highway patrol. Stratton knew the risks, but arrested him anyway. He knew he might get shot – McElroy had threatened law enforcement with violence and death before. But he was taken into custody with little struggle.
Thankfully, Bo survived the attack. Finally, the residents of Skidmore thought. Finally, Ken Rex McElroy would face the consequences of his actions.
Predictably, he hired McFadin to represent him. First, they got a change of venue. Then, they claimed that McElroy shot the older man in self-defense. Bo had been the aggressor, McElroy claimed. Despite his attempts at intimidation, the Bowenkamp’s never backed down. McElroy was indicted for second-degree assault, and sentenced to two years in jail.
But that isn’t the end of the story. McElroy was allowed out on a $40,000 bond pending the appeal of his conviction.
McElroy immediately began exacting his revenge. The stalking, harassing, and intimidating increased tenfold. The town was at its wits end.
They tried going to the authorities to no avail. They wrong the governor and attorney general. They wrote to anyone in power who would listen that they needed help dealing with Ken Rex McElroy.
They finally thought they had him when McElroy entered the D&G Tavern. He had an M-1 rifle with a bayonet attached. This definitely violated the terms of his bond. But he wasn’t arrested. Instead, Richard McFadin, his attorney, managed to have his appeal hearing postponed twice.
The residents of Skidmore thought they’d never be free.
On July 10th, 1981, roughly a year after the attempted murder of Bo Bowenkamp, the town called a meeting. They met in the Legion Hall in order to discuss what to do. At the same time, McElroy and Trena were drinking at the D&G Tavern.
The exact nature of the town meeting is a bit of a mystery. Some say the community was discussing how to keep themselves safe. Others say they were discussing how to do what law enforcement seemed to refuse to do. There were rumours of money changing hands over the death of Ken Rex McElroy. No one is willing to say what transpired during that town meeting.
What happened next, however, is the stuff of legend.
As the meeting dispersed, some of the community members entered the tavern and surrounded McElroy – a silent protest.
McElroy, uncharacteristically, didn’t say a thing. He simply grabbed Trena and walked out, towards his truck. As they got into the truck, shots rand out. At the age of 47, McElroy was shot dead in his truck. The passenger door was yanked open, and Trena pulled out to safety. No one called an ambulance.
When police arrived and began their investigation, they found that McElroy had been shot by two different people – one from the front, the other from the back. Witnesses were interviewed. But no one saw a thing.
Trena was the only one not staying silent. She said she knew who shot her husband. She claimed that the co-owner of D&G Tavern, Del Clement, had shot her husband in the back.
Del was known to dislike McElroy. McElroy drove customers away from the tavern, and stole livestock from Del’s farm. He had motive. But with only Trena as witness, the authorities were hard pressed to do anything about it.
Even when Trena went to the FBI for help indicting Del Clement, the town stood fast, and didn’t say a word.
No one was ever charged with Ken Rex McElroy’s death. The man Trena named, Del Clement, passed away in 2009. Any speculation is a moot point, now.
Trena defended McElroy for a long time after his death. It’s important to remember that she was also one of his victims. He groomed her from the age of 12. She was a victim just as much as the town of Skidmore was.
Trena did move on, though. She left Skidmore, and married a kind man who respected her. She passed away in 2012, at the age of 55 of cancer.
To this day, the town has kept silent about what, exactly, transpired on the day of July 10th, 1981. Some begrudge what transpired. Some stand by it. Some have no opinion one way or the other. But one thing is for certain – the town came together as a vigilante unit and did what they felt they had to do in order to protect themselves.
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Sources:
The Town That Got Away With Murder – Emily Thompson – Morbidology
Killing Fields: The Town That Got Away With Murder – Jake Rossen – Mental Floss
Martinis & Murder podcast – Episode #136 – Murdered in Broad Daylight
Ken McElroy Wikipedia page