Skidmore, MO and the death of local bully Ken Rex McElroy

Not sure how many are familiar with this story...

But on July 10th, 1981, a guy by the name of Kenneth Rex McElroy was sitting in his pickup, along with his wife outside Skidmore, Missouri's main drinking establishment.

In a brief moment, at least two rounds were fired at McElroy, from behind, striking him in the head and killing him instantly.

The interesting part of this is that this was done in broad daylight and there were dozens of citizens of Skidmore (and the surrounding area) around the pickup.

No one claimed to see the shooter, and it's believed there was more than one.

How did that happen?

McElroy (who was 47 at the time) had a long history of both run-ins with the law and bullying many throughout the area. At the time of his death he had shot two people (both survived) and threatened many others. Among his other crimes were livestock stealing and he was accused of rape.

Fortunately McElroy apparently had a little money and a very good attorney who managed to keep him out of jail even though he had shot a couple of people– It's said that his shooting was the result of the legal system not doing its job and folks became frustrated.

Anyway you can read more about the case here...

https://patch.com/us/across-america/who-killed-ken-rex-mcelroy-town-keeps-its-secret-38-years

Also a couple good videos on the topic:





A couple other interesting points about Skidmore...

Being up in western New York State, I'm use to seeing "dumpy little towns" both in western NY and north-western PA, but Skidmore takes the top prize for "small & dumpy". It wasn't much to write home about at the time of the shooting but the last nearly 4 decades haven't been kind to the town.

In addition to the McElroy shooting the town has had two other terrible incidents over the recent past...

In 2001 a 20 year-old left his house to simply go out into his garage to part for a car and has never been seen again.

In 2004 a very pregnant woman (supposedly some kind of relative to the kid that disappeared) was murdered by an acquaintance and the baby cut from her abdomen (the baby survived).

This is a town of only a couple hundred folks.

An amazing and horrible string of incidents for a town that size.

Interesting. Had never heard of this but just did some digging on the internet. Crazy!

SlammedZero said:

Interesting. Had never heard of this but just did some digging on the internet. Crazy!

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It is. Even just the McElroy case on its own.

I remember being awe-struck by it when "60 Minutes" did a segment on it in the mid-80's.

I was flying to Montana today (from FL) and catching up with backlogged Reader's Digest issues on my Nook and one of the issues dealt with "unsolved" murders. This was on of them. I remember this case from some other TV show years ago. I remember feeling the guy probably got what he deserved. I feel it's ordained I watch your links since I read about it in a Reader's Digest issue today from an issue a few months ago.

that town has gotta be haunted.

cowboyec said:

that town has gotta be haunted.

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By bigfoots.

This is like the real "Road House" when the good townspeople offed Brad Wesley in the name of justice.

I find it most interesting that they picked that location at that time with all the available witnesses.

They should make a movie "Skidmore, The Town That Takes Care of It's Own". Or "Skidmore, Home of the Parents of the Children of the Corn".

I forget what streaming service it was i but watched a documentary about this incident.

Really interesting and i remember feeling very sympathetic towards the towns residents.

CouchCoach said:

This is like the real "Road House" when the good townspeople offed Brad Wesley in the name of justice.

I find it most interesting that they picked that location at that time with all the available witnesses.

They should make a movie "Skidmore, The Town That Takes Care of It's Own". Or "Skidmore, Home of the Parents of the Children of the Corn".

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You wonder how desperate where these folks in order to do this? In full daylight, in front of dozens of witnesses.

I find it even more stunning that not a single person has come forward to tell their story of what they saw out of at least 50 people that were there that day.

dreghorn2 said:

I forget what streaming service it was i but watched a documentary about this incident.

Really interesting and i remember feeling very sympathetic towards the towns residents.

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Yep, obviously they felt the legal system had let them down– A lot, in order to go this route.

CouchCoach said:

This is like the real "Road House" when the good townspeople offed Brad Wesley in the name of justice.

I find it most interesting that they picked that location at that time with all the available witnesses.

They should make a movie "Skidmore, The Town That Takes Care of It's Own". Or "Skidmore, Home of the Parents of the Children of the Corn".

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I was thinking the same thing about "Roadhouse". I wonder if a bear fell on anyone.

MichaelWinicki said:

You wonder how desperate where these folks in order to do this? In full daylight, in front of dozens of witnesses.

I find it even more stunning that not a single person has come forward to tell their story of what they saw out of at least 50 people that were there that day.

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I am intrigued about how many knew in advance that was going down? Are there normally that many people in downtown Skidmore, a town of 250, at that time of day at that location? Were they willing witnesses to the execution? Who volunteered to be one of the executioners, maybe the rape victim?

Hell, now that I am wondering about it, his wife was in the truck. Was it her job to get him there at that time? If the guy was the awesome person they knew him to be, what kind of husband was he, abusing or loving? I have a hard time seeing the town bully as the model husband. Just like I have a hard time seeing the town drunk seeing.

And speaking of town drunks, and I was and you knew I'd get around to that, ever feel they should have given us more backstory and history on Otis? Just the fact he was the best dressed person in Mayberry piqued my interest. I always suspected he was scarred by walking in on Aunt Bea, the love of his life, and Gomer with her yelling "c'mon you grease monkey, fill her up......shhhhaaaaazzzzaaaaaam!"

CouchCoach said:

I am intrigued about how many knew in advance that was going down? Are there normally that many people in downtown Skidmore, a town of 250, at that time of day at that location? Were they willing witnesses to the execution? Who volunteered to be one of the executioners, maybe the rape victim?

Hell, now that I am wondering about it, his wife was in the truck. Was it her job to get him there at that time? If the guy was the awesome person they knew him to be, what kind of husband was he, abusing or loving? I have a hard time seeing the town bully as the model husband. Just like I have a hard time seeing the town drunk seeing.

And speaking of town drunks, and I was and you knew I'd get around to that, ever feel they should have given us more backstory and history on Otis? Just the fact he was the best dressed person in Mayberry piqued my interest. I always suspected he was scarred by walking in on Aunt Bea, the love of his life, and Gomer with her yelling "c'mon you grease monkey, fill her up......shhhhaaaaazzzzaaaaaam!"

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The wife most likely wasn't in on it.

She actually said she saw one person pick up a rifle (and named him), but no would collaborate her story.

She ended up trying to sue various entities, but all were thrown out of court.

She seemed pretty devoted to him for whatever reason.

MichaelWinicki said:

It is. Even just the McElroy case on its own.

I remember being awe-struck by it when "60 Minutes" did a segment on it in the mid-80's.

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Your thread and video took me down a YouTube rabbit hole. That first channel, Mobile Instinct, had some decent videos. I went from Skidmore to the Killdozer to Camp Scott in Oklahoma (sad story there).

MichaelWinicki said:

The wife most likely wasn't in on it.

She actually said she saw one person pick up a rifle (and named him), but no would collaborate her story.

She ended up trying to sue various entities, but all were thrown out of court.

She seemed pretty devoted to him for whatever reason.

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Well hell, thanks for ruining my fantasy.

SlammedZero said:

Your thread and video took me down a YouTube rabbit hole. That first channel, Mobile Instinct, had some decent videos. I went from Skidmore to the Killdozer to Camp Scott in Oklahoma (sad story there).

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Yeah I like his videos...


I'll start a thread at some point about "Camp Scott".

Just a brutal story.

And a head scratching investigation and trial.

But incredibly interesting.

CouchCoach said:

Well hell, thanks for ruining my fantasy.

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I watched interviews of her and she thought this guy, Ken Rex McElroy, was the greatest guy ever. Stunning really.

MichaelWinicki said:

I watched interviews of her and she thought this guy, Ken Rex McElroy, was the greatest guy ever. Stunning really.

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Any chance the whole town is in on throwing any suspicion away from her, or do you think she genuinely didn't see what everyone else saw?...or could this be like a horror movie, in which those two are the only good ones, and the rest of the town is evil?

Runwildboys said:

Any chance the whole town is in on throwing any suspicion away from her, or do you think she genuinely didn't see what everyone else saw?...or could this be like a horror movie, in which those two are the only good ones, and the rest of the town is evil?

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Yeah, I know what you're saying.

I think the townspeople were simply pushed to a point that most are not pushed too.

You read up on him and his list of crimes... And it's extensive, even without shooting two people.

Here's a thought...

I think if the town was much larger it wouldn't have happened. Law enforcement would have been more visible in a larger town.

There also would have been the likelihood of a segment of citizens pushing back against this type of vigilante justice.

I think it was a "perfect storm" for something like this...

-Little in the way of law enforcement
-Much of townsfolk are quite honestly similar... Similar education... Similar beliefs... In other words it was easy to create a "group think".
-A bad guy who was the ultimate button-pusher. He knew how to really p-off people.

She (his wife) is the type of woman who refused to see him for what he really was because she was probably scared of him and didn't want to end up out on the street– So she stuck with him through thick & thin.

When I first saw this post I thought you talking about Skidmore College in Saratoga, NY. A city that I grew up about 30 mins from.