On a hot summer day in 1981 a bullet ripped through the window of Ken McElroy’s Chevy
Silverado. It entered his body sending blood spraying onto the dashboard. His wife screamed in
horror as she was pulled from the vehicle and out of harm's way. As she was taken away more and more
bullets were unloaded into the truck. The smell of dust and blood filled the air as the engine idled.
Ken McElroy was dead. But who actually killed him? That question still remains a mystery.
The murder of Ken McElroy occured in July of 1981 in the town of Skidmore,
Missouri. At the time most of the town knew who the murderers were, but no one would give up their
names to the authorities. Why was this entire town willing to be accomplices to murder? In
order to answer that question we will have to explain a little about the man himself.
Ken McElroy was not a nice person. In fact he was a law breaking bully. McElroy
was a thief who threatened the lives of anyone that stood in his way. However, McElroy rarely
found himself behind bars, and when he did, it was not for very long. He had been terrorizing
the residence of Skidmore for decades before the townsfolk decided to take matters into their own
hands. If the police wouldn’t put a stop to McElroy’s crime driven behavior, they would.
McElroy was born on a farm near the Ozarks. He dropped out of school in eighth grade
and never learned to read or write. He got a job early on working as a laborer,
which eventually led him to Nodaway County, Missouri. Much to the dismay of its residents,
this is where McElroy would put down roots and live the rest of his life.
McElroy had no desire to continue working manual labor jobs. They were not lucrative enough,
and he desired to have a life of leisure. The only way he could achieve these goals
was through less than legal means. He started out small with petty theft
and eventually moved into the stealing of livestock from the residents of Skidmore.
McElroy would wait until nightfall and drive around town stealing other farmers’ animals.
He could then sell the stolen livestock at auction for a high price and make a large
profit. The business of selling stolen farm animals was lucrative, but McElroy needed more
money. He supplemented his profits by trafficking hunting dogs, which he had a knack for training.
Regardless of what illegal activity he was involved in at the time,
McElroy did not like to be called out on what he was doing. When someone confronted him he lost his
temper. And since McElroy was rarely without his firearm, someone would inevitably wind up
getting hurt... or worse. It was a relatively common occurrence that Ken McElroy would shove
a shotgun into someone’s stomach, or point it directly at their face when they made him upset.
In one particular case McElroy was trespassing on a man named Romaine Henry’s land when things
escalated rather quickly. Henry was making his rounds when he came across McElroy who was not
supposed to be there. Henry asked McElroy what he was doing and accused him of trespassing. But
instead of admitting his mistake, McElroy flew into a rage and pulled his shotgun on Henry. The
confrontation led to McElroy shooting Henry in the stomach on his own land.
Luckily Henry survived the gunshot wound. He rightfully took McElroy to court in hopes of
gaining some sort of justice, instead, Henry only received disappointment. When the court
date finally came around McElroy had witnesses swear he was at home when the shooting occured,
he claimed he was being falsely accused. These tall tales were fed to the jury who eventually
found McElroy not guilty. He was free to terrorize the citizens of Skidmore, Missouri once again.
The ability to get out of court cases seemed to be a specialty of McElroy’s, although he often
had help. His hunting-dog buddies would vouch for him and tell the court he was somewhere else
when he was accused of a crime. But the main champion for McElroy was his defense attorney,
Richard McFadin. Since McElroy had made a decent amount of money through criminal activity he
could hire a high priced lawyer to defend him. And Richard McFadin was really good at his job.
McFadin would use every trick and legal loophole he could find to
keep McElroy out of jail. He would get hearings postponed or delayed so
that McElroy had the time he needed to intimidate or harass witnesses,
scaring them into recanting testimony or not testifying at all. Inevitably the longer the
case waited to go to trial, the less strong the evidence and testimonies against McElroy became.
It was not uncommon for witnesses to find McElroy’s pick-up parked just outside their
property, or hear gunshots in the middle of the night as a warning to not testify
in court. McElroy was even reported to have threatened witnesses face to face before a trial,
and was not above telling them he would kill to stay out of prison.
McElroy’s life was like a tornado: anyone who got in his path was in danger and he left a
trail of destruction in his wake. The numerous offenses and acquittals of McElroy did not sit
well with the community of Skidmore, and they quickly began to lose patience with the system.
After the end of his first marriage Ken McElroy married Trena McCloud who he met
when she was 14 years old. The large age gap between the two was already uncomfortable,
but when McElroy burnt down Trena’s family home in a fit of rage, the town thought he had gone too
far. But Trena insisted it was only faulty wiring and McElroy had nothing to do with the fire.
Soon after the burning down of her parent’s house Trena became an accomplice to McElroy’s
illegal activities. She would vouch for him when he got into trouble
saying that they were somewhere else together. It was also not
uncommon for her to accompany her husband on visits to harass people around the town.
Trena was even said to carry her own firearm, just in case McElroy’s wasn’t scary enough.
The beginning of the end for McElroy began in 1980 when Trena went to the
grocery store with one of her husband’s daughters from his previous marriage.
The shopkeeper named Ernest “Bo” Bowenkamp accused the daughter of
stealing candy from the store. This turned out to be a misunderstanding, but McElroy
felt that his family was being attacked and that his daughter was wrongfully being called a thief.
So McElroy did what he was good at, he threatened and terrorized the Bowenkamp
family both at their store and at their home. The Bowenkamps told authorities that McElroy
would park his truck outside their store for hours, and knowing the stories of McElroy,
they were afraid his actions would eventually become violent. They were right.
One evening McElroy took things a step too far. He cornered 70 year old Ernest Bowenkamp near
the loading dock of the grocery store and began arguing with him. The verbal assault
eventually turned into a physical one. McElroy pulled out his shotgun and fired at Bowenkamp.
The buckshot exploded out of the gun and ripped through Bowenkamp’s neck.
Realizing that he would have a tough time getting out of this one McElroy jumped into his truck and
sped away from the scene of the crime. When the authorities arrived they alerted officers
in the area to be on the lookout for McElroy. An officer named Richard Stratton spotted the
fugitive and chased him down. This was not the first time Stratton had run into McElroy,
and he knew the criminal would try to get out of the county as quickly as possible.
Stratton captured McElroy before he could make his escape.
After his arrest McElroy contacted his attorney, McFadin, who began to work on getting his client
out of jail. The first thing McFadin did was ask for a change of venue for the trial,
this way he could portray Bowenkamp as the aggressor and the jury wouldn’t be stacked
with people who knew McElory and his exploits already. The story that McElory and McFadin
decided upon was that Bowenkamp approached McElory with a knife in hand ready to strike. Therefore,
McElroy had no choice but to defend himself, which he did by shooting Bowenkamp in the neck.
McFadin got McElroy out on bail which allowed him to start harassing the Bowenkamp family
once again. But the family did not give in, and McElroy was convicted of second-degree assault.
He was sentenced to two years in jail, but like so many other cases against him, the sentence
did not hold. McElroy was able to get out of jail by paying a $40,000 bond, until his next trial.
At this point McElroy probably felt invincible. He was angry that he had to fork over so much cash to
stay out of jail, and would sit in the town tavern holding a rifle with a bayonet on the end, vowing
to finish the job on Bowenkamp. This was obviously a violation of the rules of his release from
prison until the final trial, and several citizens of Skidmore testified to the judge that McElroy
was brandishing a firearm and making threats. He was called into court again, but in July of 1981
when he should have been answering for his crimes, he was still sitting in the tavern with his gun.
The people of Skidmore had had enough of the man who constantly threatened their
well being and caused chaos in their town. They were also fed up with the broken legal
system that allowed McElroy to escape justice, so they decided to take matters
into their own hands. A group of concerned citizens met at the American Legion Hall in
town while McElroy was drinking at the local tavern. Ideas were thrown around on what to
do with McElroy such as having a group of citizens follow him around at all times;
kind of like a neighborhood watch for one man. But this was not the final decision of the gathering.
The meeting concluded and the group of Skidmore residents walked over to
the tavern where McElroy was drinking. They surrounded the man and his wife,
Trena, at their table. No one said a word, but the tension between the two parties
was palpable. McElroy and Trena rose from their table and walked out of the tavern.
They climbed into his Chevy Silverado. McElroy turned the key in the ignition
and the engine rumbled to life. Then Trena saw something flash from the corner of her eye.
The back window shattered and the bullet from a smoking gun struck
McElroy in the back. Someone opened the passenger door of the truck and pulled Trena
out as she screamed for help. They took her to a nearby bank where she was locked inside.
For the next twenty seconds the sounds of gunshots and smell of spent powder filled
the air. When it was over the main street of Skidmore was eerily silent. The Silvarado’s
engine was still idling, but the truck was covered in bullet holes. McElroy was dead in
the driver's seat of the pickup. He had been shot to death by the citizens of Skidmore.
In the end Trena was the only witness on McElroy’s side. She claimed that the killer
had been a man named Del Clement who she had seen holding a rifle, but no one would
corroborate her story. In fact, not a single citizen of Skidmore would tell authorities any
details about what had transpired that day. There was a large group of people,
and since the shooting took place on mainstreet in broad daylight, there were multiple eyewitnesses.
But no one would admit to authorities who was involved in the killing of McElroy.
The local police were having no luck in getting the people of Skidmore to cooperate,
so the FBI was brought in. The authorities refused to let a murder in broad daylight
go unpunished. They canvassed the town going from house to house, and business to business;
but no matter who they talked to, the story was the same, no one saw anything. The citizens
admitted to hearing the gunshots, but didn’t see who started it, how many shooters there were,
or anyone fleeing the scene. The only witness with any information about the case was Trena,
and since no one could—or would—support her claims, the case eventually went cold
and the FBI announced that the investigation would be closed.
To this day no one has been charged for the murder of Ken McElroy. At this point
in time many of the eye witnesses have passed away or are long gone,
meaning that the mystery of who actually was involved in the killing of Ken McElroy will
most likely never be uncovered. The citizens of Skidmore literally got away with murder,
and whoever was not directly involved, was most certainly an accomplice.
Now check out “The Most Shocking Unsolved Murders In The World.”
Or watch “How Police Caught a Murderer From a Single Clue (The Rolex Killer).”