100 Murder Cases

The Killing of Ken Rex McElroy

In Skidmore, Missouri on July 10, 1981, Ken Rex McElroy would be shot dead in the streets in broad daylight in this sleepy small town. There were amongst 60 witnesses that saw the event but, to this day, the crime remains unsolved.

Ken Rex McElroy grew up in a poor family and left school by the eighth grade. It was believed that he was possibly largely illiterate and at 18-years-old, he was injured by a metal slab falling on him at a construction site. The incident left him with chronic pain and some attested his bizarre and violent behavior to a head injury as a result of the accident. McElroy was reported as being a 270 pound giant of a man and a local farmer described him "I think that Ken simply wanted to be big and important and have people afraid of him when he walked down the street. And he got that. They were."

McElroy made a decent living by leasing the land off of his farm, trading and racing dogs, as well as allegedly stealing livestock, grain, alcohol, gasoline, and antiques. He was in constant trouble with the law. His lawyer estimated that he was charged with various crimes at least 3 times a year. By some counts, he was indicted as many as 21 times but escaped conviction all but once. McElroy used to brag that his lawyer, Richard Gene McFadin, also represented the Mob and would keep him out of jail. Another tactic McElroy would use to avoid jail time was to intimidate witnesses by following them or park outside their homes and watch them until they were no longer willing to testify. Some of his bigger crimes were robbery, harassing/assaulting women, destroying property, threatening lives, and shooting at least two people, all of which he avoided jail for. Police were also afraid of confronting McElroy since he was almost always heavily armed and didn't think twice before shooting a cop. The people of Skidmore felt abandoned by the justice system that couldn't stop McElroy from causing havoc in their town.

On April 25, 1980, in Ernest "Bo" Bowenkamp's general store, the store clerk, Evelyn Sumy, would ask McElroy's 8-year-old daughter, Tanya, to return a piece of candy that she didn't pay for. When McElroy learned of the situation, he became so enraged that he began stalking the Bowenkamp family. On July 8, 1980, McElroy drove to the alley behind the general store, once there he threatened Bo Bowenkamp and shot the 70-year-old grocer in the neck at close range with a shotgun. This was the second time he had shot someone (the first time was local farmer Romaine Henry whom McElroy shot in the stomach after Henry was chasing him off of Henry's land). Miraculously, Bo Bownkamp survived the shot, and McElroy was arrested and charged with attempted murder.

His preliminary trial was set for August 18, 1980, and, in his usual fashion, McElroy tried to intimidate the Bowenkamp family and supporters from testifying. Bowenkamp's wife said the following: "You can't know how intimidating it was after that. Before his trial, he'd drive up to our house in his pickup at night and just sit there. Sometimes, he would fire his gun. It was frightening." Nevertheless, McElroy was able to delay the trial almost 5 months to June 25, 1981.

During this time, the acting prosecuting attorney resigned and a new prosecutor, David Baird, was assigned the case. It is rumored that McElroy bullied the previous prosecutor to leave. Baird was only 3 years out of law school but accomplished the impossible. He was able to convict McElroy of a crime. Granted, he was only convicted of second-degree assault. The jury set a maximum sentence of two years and the judge freed him on a $40,000 bail bond pending the appeal. This is because Baird lessened the charge from "attempt to kill" to "knowingly caused serious physical injury."

Soon after he was released, he was bizarrely spotted with a rifle and bayonet at the town's local bar, D&G Tavern, where he was making graphic threats about killing Bo Bowenkamp. He was then arrested and then quickly released for violating bail by being armed.

On July 10, 1981, there was a local meeting at the town's Legion Hall, just down the street from the D&G Tavern. As many as 60 residents attended, including the mayor and the sheriff. During the meeting, the whole topic of discussion was what they could do legally to prevent McElroy from harming anyone else. County sheriff, Dan Estes, suggested a neighborhood watch but the mindset was said perfectly by an attendee: "we simply felt that the system had failed us. We all knew what McElroy was like, and there he was again and again. It seemed like no one could stop him."

During the meeting, a local said that they had spotted McElroy and his young wife, Trena, on their way to grab drinks at the D&G Tavern. The meeting was quickly adjourned and the 60 odd people who were at that meeting quietly descended on the tavern, flanking McElroy's truck. Some of the attendees went into the bar and waited for McElroy to finish his drinks. Upon returning to the truck, where Trena was sitting in the passenger seat, McElroy lit a cigarette. Trena then reported glancing over her shoulder and saw someone point a rifle towards the back of the truck, take aim at McElroy, and then shots were fired.

McElroy was shot at several times and hit twice, killing him. In all, there were 46 potential witnesses to the shooting, including Trena. No one called for an ambulance. Only Trena claimed to identify a gunman however, every other witness either was unable to name the person who had pulled the trigger or claimed not to have seen who fired the fatal shots. The DA declined to press charges. To this day, the person who shot Ken McElroy remains unknown.