Is a murder ever justified? On July 10, 1981 in Skidmore, Missouri local town resident Ken Rex McElroy was shot to death in his car in front of a crowd of over 30 people. Not one of them has come forward to testify who shot him and the case remains unsolved. Why? McElroy was a local town bully who in his lifetime commited over a dozen crimes ranging from assault, child molestation, statutory rape, arson, hog and cattle rustling, and burglary. He was never convicted of any of these crimes because people would be too scared to testify against them and he knew it. His crimes became more and more brazen until one day he went to far and shot 70 year old town resident Ernest "Bo" Bowenkamp in the neck over a dispute involving McElroy's daughter shoplifting from Bowenkamp's store. Bowenkamp was the town grocer and Methodist minister and was well beloved by the town. Bowenkamp amazing survived and McElroy was charged with attempted murder later bumped down to assault with a deadly weapon. McElroy was for the first time in his life convicted of a crime but was soon released on bail and spent all his time in the town's tavern with his shotgun making graphic threats about what he wanted to do with Bowenkamp. On July 10, 1981 the town had a meeting to decide what to do about McElroy but could not come to a conclusion. According to those in attendance everyone there felt hopeless. They soon got word that McElroy was drinking at the local tavern and so they decided to confront him. A crowd of up to 46 people walked to the bar and saw McElroy who had just finished drinking and was getting into his truck along with his wife Trena McCloud (she became pregnant with McElroy's child when she was 14 and when she tried to escape to her parents house McElroy burned down their house and shot their dog). McElroy saw the crowd approaching and according to witness dared them to do something. He got into the truck and before he could even start his engine shots rang out. McElroy was hit in the head with two bullets and died instantly. No one called an ambulance and no one testified to the identity of the shooter despite the large crowd that saw it happen. The case remains unsolved to this day.
Story added by on April 14, 2019
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(McElroy's lawyer who represented organized crime and who McElroy claimed could clear him of any crime)
