Қылмыскер Кен Рекс МакЭлройдың қазасы және халық қаһары

American criminal and murder victim, killed by vigilantes

Ken Rex McElroy (June 1, 1934 – July 10, 1981) was an American criminal and convicted attempted murderer who resided in Skidmore, Missouri, United States. He was known as "the town bully", and his unsolved killing became the focus of international attention. Over the course of his life, McElroy was accused of dozens of felonies, including assault, child molestation, statutory rape, arson, animal cruelty, hog and cattle rustling, and burglary. In all, he was indicted 21 times but escaped conviction each time, except for the last. In 1981, McElroy was convicted of attempted murder in the shooting of the town's 70 year old grocer Ernest "Bo" Bowenkamp. McElroy fathered more than 10 children with different women. He met his last wife, Trena McCloud (1957–2012), when she was 12 years old and in eighth grade and he was 35. He raped McCloud repeatedly. McCloud's parents initially opposed the relationship, but after McElroy burned their house down and shot the family dog, they begrudgingly agreed to the marriage. She became pregnant when she was fourteen, dropped out of school in the ninth grade, and went to live with McElroy and his second wife Alice. McElroy divorced Alice and married Trena in order to escape charges of statutory rape, to which she was the only witness. Sixteen days after Trena gave birth, she and Alice fled to Trena's parents' house. According to court records, McElroy tracked them down and brought them back. When Trena's parents were away, McElroy went to their home, where once again he burned the house down and shot the McClouds' new dog.

Based on Trena's story, McElroy was indicted in June 1973 for arson, assault, and statutory rape. He was arrested, booked, arraigned, and released on $2,500 bail. On July 27, 1976, Skidmore farmer Romaine Henry said McElroy shot him twice with a shotgun after Henry challenged him for shooting weapons on Henry's property. McElroy was charged with assault with intent to kill. McElroy denied he was at the scene. As the case dragged on without a court date, Henry said McElroy had parked outside his home at least 100 times. At the trial, two raccoon hunters testified they were with McElroy the day of the shooting away from Henry's property. Henry was forced to admit in court, under questioning by McElroy's attorney Richard Gene McFadin, that he had concealed his own petty criminal conviction from more than 30 years previous. Nobody called for an ambulance. Only Trena claimed to identify a gunman; every other witness was either unable to name an assailant or claimed not to have seen who fired the fatal shots. The DA declined to press charges, and an extensive federal investigation did not lead to any charges either. Missouri based journalist Steve Booher described the attitude of some townspeople as "he needed killing."

McElroy was buried at Memorial Park Cemetery in St. Joseph, Missouri. On July 9, 1984, Trena McElroy filed a $5 million wrongful death lawsuit against the Town of Skidmore, County of Nodaway, Sheriff Danny Estes, Steve Peters (Mayor of Skidmore), and Del Clement (whom Trena accused of being the shooter, but who was never charged). The case was later settled out of court by all parties for $17,600, with no one admitting guilt, for the stated reason of avoiding costly legal fees should the suit proceed. Trena remarried and moved to Lebanon, Missouri, where she died of cancer on her 55th birthday on January 24, 2012.

60 Minutes ran a segment on the story in 1982. A 1988 book about McElroy's murder, In Broad Daylight, by Harry N. MacLean, was adapted into the made for TV movie In Broad Daylight in 1991 starring Brian Dennehy, Cloris Leachman, Marcia Gay Harden, and Chris Cooper. On February 23, 2018, the webseries BuzzFeed Unsolved covered McElroy's murder. The event was the subject of No One Saw a Thing, a 2019 television documentary mini series on Sundance TV.