On July 10, 1981, Ken Rex McElroy was murdered in Skidmore, Missouri in one of the most bizarre cases authorities had ever encountered. There were dozens of witnesses to the crime, which occurred in broad daylight. It should have been an easy case to crack. But everyone in the town clammed up, and even today, police still don't know exactly who ended McElroy's life. Today, we're going to take a look at how an entire community made a vigilante pact to kill the town bully and kept it quiet for 30 years. But before we get started, be sure to subscribe to the Weird History channel. And after that, we'd be much obliged if you would leave a comment and let us know what other famous crimes you would like to hear about. OK. Time to find out how an entire town banded together to kick Ken Rex McElroy off the planet like the bad guy at the end of Roadhouse. Ken Rex McElroy was born in 1934 to a family of poor migrant farmers. By the age of 15, he had dropped out of high school and begun to make a name for himself as a top tier son of a bitch. He was a cattle rustler and small time thief, and over the years he was suspected of stealing just about everything, including alcohol, gasoline, grain, livestock, and even antiques. You steal my grain? OK. You steal my antiques? You son of a [BLEEP]. Despite the frequent accusations, McElroy was able to avoid convictions with the help of good old fashioned hoodlum intimidation. More on that in a minute. Speaking of stealing things, McElroy met his future wife, Trena McCloud, when she was just 12 years old and he was more than 20 years her senior. McElroy's courtship consisted of routinely following her school bus, honking and yelling at the driver until the bus pulled over and allowed him to abscond with her. Kind of hard to avoid stranger danger when your a school bus driver can just be bullied into becoming an accessory to a kidnapping. But that's the kind of hold McElroy had on the people of Skidmore. Trena gave birth to the pair's first child when she was only 14, at which point, according to court records, she tried to escape him and return home to her parents. But McElroy reportedly found her and took her right back to his house. Yeah. Even Trena's parents were too afraid to stand up to him. Not without reason. McElroy grew angry when Trena's mother and stepfather refused to permit him to marry their underage daughter. So he allegedly returned to their home, killed their dog, and burned their house to the ground. He was indicted for statutory rape, arson, and assault, and Trena and the baby were placed in a foster home. This only infuriated McElroy, who was seemingly emboldened by years of never being held accountable for his increasingly heinous deeds. He would sit outside the foster home and threaten to kidnap the family's biological daughter unless they let him take Trena in what he described as a girl for girl exchange. McElroy was nothing if not a fan of blunt force abduction. According to Trena's accounts, McElroy did finally succeed in marrying her in 1974, which allowed him to avoid any criminal charges for impregnating a minor. Because apparently you can do whatever you want to a child as long as you marry them afterwards? I don't get it. McElroy moved the young girl into the home he shared with his common law wife, Alice. But even though he was legally married to Trena, McElroy continued to father children with Alice. All told, the man had 11 children with three mothers. And although Trena would later recant the story that led to McElroy's multiple indictments in an interview with People magazine after his murder, McElroy's audacious nature is a matter of public record. That's the drawback of doing all your crimes out in the open. You collect witnesses like Pogs. In another of his numerous criminal interactions with the people of Skidmore, McElroy allegedly shot a farmer named Romaine Henry in 1976. Henry claimed he confronted McElroy for firing guns on his property. Rather than leave, McElroy chose to fire at Henry instead. While waiting for his court date, McElroy repeatedly drove his pickup truck to Henry's farm to try to intimidate him into dropping the charges. But Henry stuck to his guns. Get it? Because of the-- the, uh-- yeah. You get it. Unfortunately, Henry's courage in the face of the town bully didn't amount to much. When a trial was finally set, McElroy managed to find two raccoon hunters who claimed he was with them and not on Henry's property on the date in question. In the end, McElroy was acquitted. Let's take a moment to talk about Scentbird. 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In cases where McElroy was arrested and charged, he would employ the same method he used against Henry and Trena's parents: coercion. As is probably obvious by now, McElroy was scary as hell. So scary that witnesses would typically refuse to testify, lawyers would balk at prosecuting him, and judges were reluctant to incite his wrath. So the people of Skidmore endured McElroy in his illicit actions without any hope of a conviction sticking. That is, they did right up until they didn't. The final straw came in 1980, when a store clerk accused McElroy's daughter of taking candy from the Skidmore town grocery, which was owned by 70-year-old Ernest "Bo" Bowenkamp and his wife Lois. When McElroy was confronted over the matter, his response, and we're totally serious here, was to offer Lois Bowenkamp money to fight his wife Trena. Apparently, he was looking to kick start a lucrative series of wife fight videos. Oh, the '80s. Lois did not go for it, and McElroy, a man with a documented history of holding grudges, began stalking the Bowenkamps outside of their store in his pickup truck with his gun in hand. The situation escalated until July of that year when McElroy cornered Bowenkamp on the store's loading dock. Two young boys were watching, so McElroy gave them some money to go buy soda, eliminating any witnesses. Once the boys had cleared out, McElroy shot Bowenkamp in the neck. McElroy was arrested and charged with attempted murder. However, even though the case successfully went to trial, he was only convicted of the lesser crime of assault, and he was quickly released on bail pending appeal. As it would turn out, McElroy would have been better off staying in jail. This latest example of judicial wrangling made it seem like McElroy was going to find a way to escape punishment once again. But the people of Skidmore had had enough. The hearing to revoke McElroy's bond was scheduled for the morning of July 10, 1981. And the townsfolk decided to combine their efforts to protect the witnesses who were set to testify. McElroy, however, was able to get the hearing postponed, which was good for him but infuriating to the town. Soon after being released, McElroy made an appearance at a local bar called the D&G Tavern, where he brandished a rifle and made explicit threats against Bowenkamp, describing what he planned to do in, shall we say, legally actionable detail. Several people who overheard him wondered if there was anything they could do to prevent McElroy from hurting people, and a local sheriff suggested they form a neighborhood watch. That's some mighty fine police work, sheriff. Although in fairness, it was obvious at this point that the legal system wasn't going to do anything about McElroy. A town meeting was held to discuss McElroy, although outside of the people who attended, no one knows for certain exactly what was discussed. It could have been a meeting to iron out the details of a community watch program. But it's also entirely plausible that the attendees were planning McElroy's murder. And honestly, it could have been both. OK, everyone. The neighborhood watch has been formed. Let's see, item one on the agenda. Oh, shooting Ken Rex McElroy. On the day of McElroy's murder, he had returned to the D&G tavern with Trena. At the same time, the townsfolk were meeting about McElroy at the local legion hall. When they heard he was back at the bar, they all headed over and packed the place out. Perhaps sensing something was about to go down, McElroy hurriedly finished his drinks, bought a six pack, and headed back to his car. He climbed in his pickup truck with Trena, parked on the Main Street of Skidmore in broad daylight when he was suddenly surrounded by a disgruntled group of over 30 town residents. As McElroy nonchalantly reached to light a cigarette, several shots were fired into the truck. Bullets struck him in the head and neck while Trena screamed in horror. No one attempted to assist McElroy, and no one called an ambulance. Ken Rex McElroy died at the scene. Police knew there had to have been more than one shooter. One shot had come from behind the truck and another from a block away. Additionally, shell casings from two different guns were found at the scene. A .22 caliber magnum and an 8 millimeter Mauser. Having multiple shooters at the scene of the crime may have been part of a deliberate effort to heighten confusion, making it difficult for authorities to pinpoint who was responsible. Or considering McElroy's decades long track record of being a wanton bastard, it may have just been a case of more than one person wanting to take a shot at him. With so many witnesses to the crime and at least two people pulling the trigger, county prosecutor David Baird convened a grand jury, confident a suspect would be identified and detained. However, no suspect was ever named and no arrests were ever made. The FBI even got involved and conducted over 100 interviews but was unable to produce a single shred of evidence to tie anyone to McElroy's killing. The people of Skidmore simply refused to talk, so no indictments could be issued. McElroy's wife Trena eventually accused a rancher and business owner named Del Clement for firing one of the fatal shots. But Clement never confessed, and the police never charged him with anything. A coroner's jury conducted an investigation, but ultimately, they couldn't produce enough evidence tying Clement to the crime for an arrest warrant, and no one would corroborate Trena's accusation. In 1984, Trena filed a wrongful death suit against the county sheriff's office, the mayor, and Del Clement. Although she was seeking $6 million, the suit was settled out of court for just over $17,000, and no wrongdoing was ever admitted by any of the parties involved. In 1988, award winning true crime author Harry N. McLean wrote a New York Times bestseller about the whole ordeal titled In Broad Daylight. The book chronicles McElroy's life, beginning as the 15th of 16 children, dropping out of school at age 15, and embarking on a life of crime that ended in a mysterious case of vigilante justice. In 1999, a film adaptation of the book was produced for television starring Brian Dennehy is Len Rowan, a character very clearly based on McElroy. Meanwhile, Trena, arguably the biggest victim of both McElroy and the town of Skidmore, eventually remarried, left Skidmore, and moved to Lebanon, Missouri, where she passed away in January of 2012 on her 55th birthday. Be sure to check out some of these other videos from our Weird History. And make sure you check out Scentbird. Use W history to get 55% off your first month at scent bird.