How a Small Town Took Out the Town Bully And Covered It Up for 30 Years
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- Опубликовано: 17 фев 2022
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Ken Rex McElroy was murdered on July 10, 1981, in one of the most bizarre cases authorities had ever encountered. It should have been open and shut - there were dozens of witnesses, and the shooting occurred in broad daylight - but it wound up being anything but. Despite the facts, the residents of Skidmore, MO, weren't so eager to talk and point fingers; in the end, no one came forward.
#KenMcElroy #ColdCases #WeirdHistory 
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😩 off to nutty history I go
whew it sure is whistory around here.
Make a video about the Gardner Museum Heist.
Seriously, look it up! ☝️
Loved the narrator and the story!
Murder is a charge, no one was charged.
Facts !
Coroner should've been like "Mcelroy was shot 17 times. Worst case of suicide I've ever seen."
LOL Sort of like the coroners for the suicides of Clinton associates.
😂
There was a case not long ago where the victim was stabbed over & over. Like over 30 times & the body was found in a shallow grave. The coroner ruled it a suicide!
This isn't Alabama
@@TwoAcresandaMule What?
When the justice system has a track record of preventing justice, then vigilantes are bound to bring it.
It's DISGUSTING how this Mcillory could commit VIOLENT felonies for 30 years with impunity ("justice" system failed for 30 years), YET, when he got shot, the FBI & local prosecutor wanted to take the "vigilante" down. It shows how people are COWARDS, and people respect that which could hurt them (instead of respecting those who deserve it, like the hero who shot Mcillroy).
@@terryadams2652 Power and money
I think the BLM org, their terrorist goons and organizers, and their sympathizers should take note...
@@ItsChuckT …the real terrorists are cops who kill POC based off their own oppressive values and the trump supporters that got themselves killed at the capitol. I can tell you majority of people who support BLM in itself are leading peaceful protests and demonstrations, that keep getting shut down by the same oppressive force
@@aiyannamays9522 here's the thing. Literally every Republican believes that black lives matter. But the ORGANIZATION is a marxist movement coatailing on the struggle of POC in America.
You're being duped by money hungry "leaders" of the BLM organization. Just check out what Patrice Colors said about her buying MILLIONS in real estate. Millions that she made through donations to the BLM org.
Research, dont believe everything they tell ya.
40+ years later and this town still hasn't given up it's secrets. That's something most people could learn from.
I come from a small town and most people would be surprised how often town "problems" disappear and no one outside the community ever knows about it.
Right like the mafia.
@@MK356BC but even the mafia has snitches. There's no snitches in Skidmore.
@@dmax64 your right.
Cause Trena probably did it.
It's like whenever someone gets bullied at school:
The bully does something bad, nothing happens to them
When the victim fights back, they're suddenly the bad guy.
it's good that this time no one found out who did it and we can agree it was karma that came for McElroy that day
Correct
Rex got what he had coming it's a shame they didn't get him long before then he definitely needed gone
It’s that way in a lot of situations these days. It was back in the 90s but my son got in trouble on the school bus for trying to take his watch back from the thief who stole it!
so true.
If only a whole class would turn on the bully.
You gotta give the people of Skidmore respect, they took his crap for years and hoped justice would be served but was never served so they decided to take it into their own hands and end the problem, and they never spoke about it to anyone.
Gangs nowadays talk about snitches get stitches but someone always rats, but THE entire town probably knows what happened and hadn’t said a damn thing about who were the shooters. That’s loyalty right there
Yup, all those people in the town are heroes
A lot folks from thesurronding areas expect their will be a deathbed confession or they will eventually find the guns somewhere but by that time the owners will likely be gone from this world. I am from not far from where this happened and a kid when he was shot.
If you think that than there is no need to even have police...
#twisted
@@pastorjillk they hemmed him up nicely, it should have happened a decade earlier tho
@@Fractal_blip read the book it was a crud ton darker and complicated
The crazy part to me is that the police and the FBI only really got involved only when the bully got what was coming to him rather than getting the S.O.B.
It's almost like they're just a clean up crew? Captain hindsight anyone?
he had a really good lawyer, unfortunately.
IIRC, the sheriff heard McElroy was at the tavern and decided to respond to call outside city limits. I'm pretty certain "form a neighborhood watch" was him saying "I can't do anything without violating my oath of office, y'all need to resolve this one."
He had a lawyer that kept getting him off the hook for various charges. Makes one wonder how corrupt the local law enforcement and court system was. They probably got involved after he was killed because the investigators were from outside agencies. Just my thoughts
@@andrewf0784 They were actively covering for him. They were all likely part of the same "secret society".
A friend I grew up in a small rural town loved to pick fights. He was an amateur boxing state champion. He didn’t care if you wanted to fight back, if you crossed him, real or imagined, he would attack you. He was shot and ran over by a car outside a bar one night. Nobody that knew him was surprised. No one was ever charged with his killing.
cd- brother off mine tryed the same too me in hastings - new zealand. - his wench was ginger ugly demon.''
Did you give ah fuck?
There was a guy in Sonoma I knew who was a friend of a friend who wasn't really a bad guy, he was just an idiot who used to try to get in fights with anybody when he was drunk and he was usually drunk. We all knew he was going to die some day - some people seem to want to be killed. Finally, a guy got pissed off because Bruce gave him lip instead of the $20 he owed him. The guy shot him and never got jail time. The guy didn't even try to get away with murder. The sheriff didn't care. The DA didn't care - the shooter was a friend. CA didn't care to take on the case. Nobody cared except for the one guy I knew.
You only get so many chances to straighten out in this world before you get sent on to another.
Good riddance!
@@neilreynolds3858 Be honest are you glad he's dead?
I remember reading this book in 1991. I was fascinated by it and never forgot the name 'Ken McElroy. What really upsets me is the failure of law enforcement and the court system to protect the citizens of Skidmore.
Too bad his attorney wasn't in the truck with him.
The failure of law enforcement? They did arrest him. But if no one was willing to be a witness, it's hard to get a conviction. It's like so many gang shootings today. If no one, including the victim, will tell the cops who did it or even who may have done it, what are the cops supposed to do? Now days they may get lucky & have a video but if no one will speak up, are cops just supposed to become clairvoyant?
My grandmother killed her last husband after he beat her eye out of head. He had choked down and thought he killed my uncle and moved to kill my mother. That man was just like the guy in your story. He constantly bragged at a local bar in 1950s Hobbs New Mexico about killing his family. The town was scared of him he had beat up all the cops and nobody would do anything to stop him and his thuggery. A local gunshop owner gave my grandmother the pistol and ammo as gift and told her protect your kids and yourself. She did!! She was arrested for murder in a show trail and and found not guilty and released.
Whew good for her she was cleared I was a little worried
If it went to trial, it is in the public record. So this happened in Hobbs, New Mexico. Can you tell me your grandmother's, the husband's name, or the case number? Thank you.
@@SHomaidan Dona Ward and his name was Earl Ward. I don't have a case number but feel free to share it when you get it. She had the news paper clippings of it when I was a teenager. The whole deal messed mom up her whole life.
Hilarious my comment got deleted guess people were offended
@@Bigdaddyslasher Thank you. I am sure it will be a great read. I'm glad your grandma made it and got acquitted. Sorry to hear your mom had to deal with all the trauma.
They didn't kill him. It was clearly self defense. Honestly, this man was horrifically violent at all times in all situations.
And yet, when they did so, they were considered as murderers
You mean they didn’t murder him. Self defense or not, They definitely killed him
No, it was absolutely criminal murder.
Ethically justified, I'd agree.
But still murder, all the same..
Only downvoting you for your butchery of the English language.
@@chrisgabele75 When you literally murder someone they call you a murderer, society is so unfair 😞
Respect for the people of the town for sticking together and keeping their mouths closed.
That’s probably the most impressive point. Nobody broke down. No one even tried to post online or anything
🫥
Years ago, when I worked in Kansas City Missouri I read a book about the Skidmore bully and I felt so sorry for the people of Skidmore. They were continuously terrorized by this guy and it seemed that the law was helpless against his antics. It was thought he had actually murdered a man but it was never proven because people were so afraid to testify. The shop owner almost died after having been shot by him. I drove up to Skidmore which was a beautiful little farming town on a hill and drove around town. I didn't talk to anyone because I thought they had suffered enough. I believe this was a case of kill or be killed, because the justice system failed these poor people at every turn. They finally had peace!
I'm amazed it took so long.
Crazy story. In most states the state police would take care of this guy very quickly, with no ties to local influence.
I read about this years ago, I believe in my grandfather’s Time Life books. My favorite quote was a townsperson saying something like “it’s a shame, that was a nice truck.”
🤣🤣🤣
Lol! That poor defenseless truck!
Yeah I agree with that townsperson lol trucks are amazing vehicles too 😂
I remember thinking just that when I watching the movie that was made about it. Brian Dennehy gave a great performence.
I have that very book. It was the True Crimes series, 'Unsolved Crimes,' with Jimmy Hoffa on the cover.
Truly, the most amazing part of this story is the fact that no one broke. Not a single one.
They where to happy to gossip
snitches get stitches.
When you know you right, you're conscience doesn't bother you. The guy's probably still asking for ice water.
I don’t think it turned out well for them. The town is like a ghost town & there was a lot of mental illness, suicide & drug abuse. Shame
I was charged with assault.
My girlfriend was waiting in the Jeep outside the grocery store.
I was walking to my jeep then I saw a guy grab a woman by her hair telling her to just get in the fucking truck.
I got to him and unhanded his grip on her hair and noticed she was his 3rd gf so I just hooked his neck and gave him a few good one to his gut. His other 2 ladies had bruises prior. Muscles are for protecting the lady not to hurt WTF.
All the witnesses said he fell down and hit the guardrail😁
My Mom was raised in Skidmore, one saying said a lot while she was growing up is "It's McElroy" meaning that no one is going to know or that your secret is safe.
For such a small, backwoods town, it sure is weird how many people are claiming to somehow know someone who has lived there.
Such a lie
kat- ''Should re name the town- 'Skidmarks'' iff it really iss a shitty Dogs town.''
So a man terrorizes a town for years and years and nothing is done about it. Then all authorities and even the FBI gets involved when he finally gets his comeuppance. Just… Wow.
Mad respect to all those people who suddenly found a penny on the ground when shots were fired...
No need for respect, they all just happen to drop it, nothing suspicious there
@@comradesam3382 All at the exact same time. And with the collective sound of pennies dropping and pinging on the ground, muffled the multiple gunshots.
@@RabuHina 'Ya know a penny dropping to the ground has the same force a gun unloading, right Tim?' 😎
'You ain't lying Haas' 🥸
When you're poor, a penny probably means a lot.
or needed to try their shoes at that particular instance
It's pathetic that they worked so hard to find his killer with even the FBI becoming involved but they did little to stop this bully. I, personally, am glad they never found the shooter. The town had enough.
Honestly the law got exactly what they deserve they did little to help the townspeople because this jerk probably bought his way out of Justice as I recall his lawyer was a known mob lawyer back in the day. I respect the town's folk for taking their secrets straight to their graves
I do not think they worked hard. Certainly not local law enforcement - he terrorized them, too. When the story was published nationwide the FBI had to be seen doing "something" Well they did, they conducted interviews. As no one would tell them anything of relevance, that was a safe activity that would not lead anywhere. You bet the the FBI agents (secretly) also had a lot of sympathy for the towns people.
Vigilante mobs often acted against people of color (who had done nothing or at least did not commit heinous crimes) - but in this case no one really blamed the people that took action. Of course law enforcement cannot _officially_ condone vigilante justice - that is a tricky issue. In this case it was justified though.
The FBI is a criminal enterprise.
The Understood what ‘OMERTÀ’ meant!!!!!
The thing is that Ken would never have stopped. He would have killed someone and Ken had to go and the people did what they needed to do.
An even bigger power move would have been everyone is the town claiming they were the one that killed him.
Can't arrest an entire town.
My grandmother used to tell a story that was really similar. There was a man in their town who was just an awful person everyone hated him and one day he was gunned down broad daylight in the middle of town and the sheriff’s only response was to declare it a mystery and close the case. They didn’t even bury him with a head stone. The local men just buried him in an unmarked grave. But my grandma always said that they probably just dumped in a ravine and let the animals take him since no one wanted to bother with digging the bastard a hole.
The Bloody Benders of Kansas supposedly fled Kansas once their crimes were discovered. Supposedly. There are reports vigilantes caught up, killed them, buried the bodies. If so, good.
Wow!
That's a great story! I love that the police just left it alone! The fact that the police wanted to find the person that killed McElroy, going as far as getting the FBI involved really irritates me. Why didn't the police go above and beyond for the town that was being terrorized? I think the Police should be held accountable!
@@JoBlo321 wasn't it the judges, lawyers etc that were the ones that prevented him getting charged?
@@tomlxyz They were doing everything in their power to charge someone. The town not cooperating with the police is why they never charged anyone...or at least that's what I got out of the video. It made me angry that the police wouldn't do anything about the bully who was terrorizing everyone, but when the bully was killed...they did everything, including getting the FBI involved to find and prosecute the killer. Seriously fck'd up!
It sounds like he got away with too many terrible things for too long and got what was coming for him.
Makes you think of how often people get away with heinous crimes without consequences 😬
@@dinkyboss Far too many far too often. More so if they have the money and power that lets them cover it up.
You reap what you sow.
this video just skims the surface of Ken....he was truly an evil animal....watch some of the longer docs on him here on boobtube...
@S A R A I A he’s the only one who didn’t lie 🙄
This is one case where vigilante justice was the way to go. You've been dealing with this guy for over a decade and the law doesn't do a thing. The only thing left is for the town to defend itself
It’s heavily implied that the sheriff told the town during the town meeting that he would not stand for vigilante justice in his town and expressed his belief that while he was gone out of town the day he expected everyone to be on their best behavior.
I’m starting to feel like “bully” is quite an understatement.
Exactly! I feel “psychopath” would’ve been more accurate.
He was literally a pedophile on top of being a damn thug...
I'D SAY ' PREDATOR ' WOULD BE MORE ACCURATE .
Criminally insane
@@muhacnt7988
Not insane.
Planned his every action.
funny how the FBI never tried to help when the bully did all the shit, but the moment they had a "mystery" they suddently started a investigation
Didn't look like they investigated too hard if they couldn't flip anybody
They only cared when he finally got SHAWt
Okay that one was really bad
Not the FBIs problem!!!! Anymore! RC
@@thevisi0naryy lmao
The FBI need to justify the great expensive of preserving their privilege. More credit in solving a high profile case.
I've heard of this story years ago. I was always curious how Ken got close to a 12yrs girl. He bully her off the school bus. Legal action should have been taken at that point.
He literally drove up next to the school bus told the bus driver I’m taking this girl and then left with her simple as that
@@sourpunk4277 and burned down the house of her parents (and before that shot the family dog).
A guy told me a story about Bolivar Tn. A woman was married to a Town Bully and called the police to request they come out and take her husband into protective custody because he was out drinking and she didn't want to be his punching bag when he got home. Police said they were " TOO BUSY" to respond and it was her problem. She called back 30 minutes later and said to never mind because he was now dead. Someone had shot him. They immediately sent a car out to investigate. Don't know if they ever found out who shot him.
The story of him stalking a little girl on a bus is chilling... I truly feel sorry for her
It seems to me that the police did much more work to try to catch the killer of the bully than to catch the bully that was actually causing all the problems for years.
Yes, you're right. Geez, they even called the FBI. Police did nothing when the bully shot the other guys or were stalking their family.
Isn't it just like schools. Teachers ignores the victim. If the victim retaliate and hit the bully the school takes action and punish the kid being bullied.
What’re you talking about the cops had the witnesses, the gun and the guy who shot the farmer in custody. It’s the courts who fucked it up. What more do you want the cops to do?
Turbo rich elites have human trafficking groups all over the world: The FED "I sleep"
Righteous Justice is served against a criminal bastard: The FED "HOL UP!"
Typical.
I feel sorry for Trena she was brainwashed since a child. She literally didn’t know any better
Stockholm Syndrome
She died of cancer relatively young. I hope that she repented when she met God, cuz otherwise she's not going into in a good place even if she was a victim
Brain washed or not she was just as violent and psychotic as he was towards the end of his story. Maybe she changed after but while he was alive she was fairly messed up too.
Stories like this illustrate why so many people don't have any faith or respect in our justice system. If our own justice system fails us (which it constantly does) than this is the right answer, It's too bad there aren't more stories like this. Too it doesn't sound like he suffered long.
I once read a statement from McElroy's niece years later who was angry that her Uncle's killer was never caught and wonder why would anyone would kill a "sweet man" like him. Either she didn't know or refuses to accept that her Uncle McElroy, while a great uncle to her, was a monster and bully to the town.
It's interesting that he openly groomed and abused a child and she thinks he was sweet. She must have realized what the age difference meant.
A form of Stockholm Syndrome, maybe?
@@heftytoddler yes pretty much, if you watch "No one saw a thing" here on youtube, they interview his children. they are pretty blase about the abuse both their mothers and they went through.
@@sassmacfru Yea Y'all makin some damn good sense here, cuz he jus kept reminding me of Deebo from Friday 🤣🤣🤣. In all seriousness tho, that justice system ovr there wasn't SHIT back then, combining that with his immense intimidation, so KARMA is a BITCH!!!!!!!
@@sassmacfru And Furthermore, thanx 4 the hookup on "No One Saw A Thing" cuz I'm so interested in how these family dynamics becoms so screwed up.
the fact that the justice system put more effort into trying to solve the death of the criminal than in any of HIS charges makes me speechless
Murders are actually pretty important to investigate
@@citrosoda5370 And child-raping terrorists aren't. Cool.
@@CornfedBread Well, there are specific protocols for homicide investigations that must be followed by investigators. We're a lot better off when the authorities follow them; you don't want to live in a country where the police never follow the rules they're bound by, especially when human life is involved.
And to be honest, I think that everyone involved in this case whose career wasn't strongly influenced by the result of the investigation was indifferent, at worst, to the fact that they couldn't nail the killer.
I never viewed myself as someone who would cover up a murder.
Apparently I would. In fact regarding this guy I would even sleep better at night and not even feel the slightest bit of guilt.
Taken care of like it would happen in old Wild West. Good for the folks but waited way too long to do the deed.
This wasn't a murder. This was a fair and just sentence of execution by firing squad.
That's how I see it anyway.
Fantastic story. There should be more community justice dispensed
Sometimes the community gets it wrong
@@Prussian7789 Yep. Remember the story of "Emmaline," the poor girl who was shunned for most of her life in her little village, for the sins of the man who seduced and abandoned her? Small communities get it wrong all the time.
One of my Air Force buddies grew up a couple of towns over from Skidmore. He remembers the stories about McElroy from an uncle who was a Deputy Sheriff. Whenever McElroy was arrested for some crime (and he had a lot of crimes under his belt) he would go after the witnesses and the cops. In his time McElroy had assaulted and injuring several witnesses and police officers (including ambushes when they were duty). The cops would arrest him, his family would alibi him, and his lawyer would get him off any charges. This went on for years. Even the cops were ready to find some excuse to put him down. It wasn't just the town covering up his murder, it was the local and state cops who were sick and tired of McElroy assaulting them and getting away with it. He didn't care if it was fists, two by fours, or a gun he would go after you if you testified against him, arrested him, or even challenged him in public. He was a psychopath with no empathy and no regard for law and order. Except for the FBI, no police agency in that state made a serious effort to find out who killed him. And the only reason the FBI got involved was his abused wife and shyster lawyer complaining to the Media and making a big stink about it.
It sounds like his wife was a POS too.
@@johnhamilton4677 no she had Stockholm syndrome
I couldn't figure why no one shot him in the face when he started diddling a little kid. Must be because they knew the law will side with the bad guy, seems to be a recurring theme now days 😥
I don't have kids but anyone who touches a little one should get 00 buck in the genitals . Fellow USAF Veteran.
@@johnhamilton4677 Look up Stockholm Syndrome
@@EldritchPursuit This was all in the 70s, he was killed in 1981.
Amazing how there was a bigger effort to find the shooter than to check this bully. But good on the people of Skidmore for keeping the ranks closed.
That's right. You pay them to do it and they fuck the dog, then when you have to do their job for them they start "working" to find who's "guilty" of this horrible, despicable "murder".
Those town folks didn't kill McElroy, "our joke of a judicial system" killed him. In my opinion the town's people did what the law and courts failed to do......serve justice. Power to the Skidmore people!!
His so called “widow “ shouldn’t have received any money for a wrongful death suit. Instead the whole town should have been rewarded for keeping their mouth shut.
There was never a man murdered who deserved it more I'm so glad that everyone stuck together and kept quiet
He wasn't murdered, he was killed. Like Ted Bundy.
@@Lonsoleil what's the difference?
@@Lonsoleil He wasn't killed. Justice was made
@lerf8 murder implies he was an innocent person who was killed for reasons that weren't his own fault
Awe the good old days when the community came together to kill the bad guy!!!🤗🥲🤩😂🥳😎
That wasn't a bully, he was an awful criminal
He was a Pedophile.
Yorick, you know its possible for him to be both! :)
He was a bully, a criminal, and a sex offender. TRifecta!
This is one of my favotire stories. It shows what justice looks like when the law fails you.
God, Trenna's life was a horror show. And anyome with that kind of traumatic history dying on your 55th birthday in rural areas alone usually happens by accidental OD or self-deletion. RIP Trenna. That really just gets glossed over on the last sentence of the video. But that evil guy basically stole her entire life, Stockholm syndrome her, and she ended up with 17,000, no family/friends, and dead at 55. Damn...
When the law fails to do it's job of justice, then it is up to the community to deliver it.
The irony there is that the community should be the law.
@@one-re2ub all it took was lawyers & judges to foul up the justice system. And the community finally had enough of it. So they took the law into their own hands old west style [Vigilance Committee ]
What are you batman? You sound like one of those kyle rittenhouse fellows just waiting for an excuse to kill a minority and blame “justice” then again, thats the police now too. So in a way justice is failing everywhere
@@Ottophil where did race come from? And rittenhouse and the people he killed were white!
The mob mentality is typically based on initial impression and emotion, along with bias. For example, if a woman accuses her boyfriend of cheating, friends, family, associates typically sympathize with the woman because men are usually seen as players. The truth could be that he broke up with her and she wants people to think he's a scumbag for any of his future relationships.
Thus you let a third-party with no emotional attachments to the accused or alleged victim investigate and come to conclusions based on collected facts.
It's not a perfect system. But the emotional mob mentality executes before both sides of the story can be told.
How was kidnapping a child from a bus NOT the last straw?!?
Not to mention, getting her pregnant at the age of 14. Dude was just the lowest of the low.
THere was a LOT more to it than this. Also the law at the time was the PARENTS had to press charges same with DV. He did not just "scare" them he threatened them and is likely who killed there dog. I grew up a little ways away and was a kid when this all went down. So this video was not able to cover a LOT and if you can get the book.
That happened in the early 70s. Certainly wasn't right per any sense of decency, but the woman's equality movement hadn't reached rural America. Back then, a female child was thought to inevitably serve but one purpose. 12 is crazy young, but 14 yr olds could marry with parental consent.
@@H1ST0RYWriter marrying with parental consent is still a long way off from forcibly kidnapping one off of a school bus and then impregnating her. Womens rights have little to do with it... I'd wager an intimidating rapist is an intimidating rapist regardless of the type of society.
@@blondegiraffe2023 that's a fair interpretation. I simply think the value such a society placed in females back then impacted their "final straw" assessment.
Bullies MUST be stood up to, PERIOD!! We need judges with b•lls! Plus, if someone used force against him, they should have no problem claiming self-defense!
I love this story & have heard it numerous times & still can't get enough of it. This was like... straight out of a movie, but its real & actually happened. Oh, it's so so so sweet. He deserved it
If you have a rabid dog attacking and biting people, it's a problem and needs to be put down.
But I'd feel sorry for the dog
@@bobross8786
Yup.
@@bobross8786 That's good to feel and for the dog. But it's Terrible to leave it to harm others on its way out....rabies is fatal...to the bitten and the biter.... don't let natural remorse cloud your judgement
@@babasidd6986 nope, anyone doing harm to others also follows the law and God's law. A tooth for a tooth and a life for a life.
@@babasidd6986 I don't think he was saying a rabid dog shouldn't be put down, he was saying he would have more sympathy for a rabid dog then this creep. I'd have to agree.
I drove school buses for many years. Now the idea of a grown man honking at the bus and trying to board to take a 12yo girl away from my care is like "over my dead body". It would not happen unless it was at gunpoint.
Maybe it was
Aren’t school buses like tanks. You could have run any assailants in their cars over easily.
@ Actually, modern school buses are not that sturdy, the body is made of fiberglass which disintegrates in an accident. The frame is solid steel but not enough to use a modern bus as a tank. Some buses had steel hoods in 1981 but the rest was either aluminum or fiberglass.
I would have took out a 74 and said: your move
I was attending Southeast Missouri State University in Cape Girardeau when McElroy was shot and killed. The people of Skidmore kept their mouths shut and law enforcement never got a clue from those people. I remember a story about McElroy stealing some cattle and was hauling them in a stolen trailer when the police got after him. He led them on a chase, started over a bridge, then jack-knifed the trailer across both lanes of the bridge. He hopped out of his truck, disconnected the trailer, then drove off. He was a ruthless SOB and the world is better off without him. His shooting was justifiable homicide as far as I'm concerned.
In this case, justice was finally served.
This story is almost an exact mirror of this guy that used to live in Eastern Kentucky back in the 40's and 50's, he was the town bully and finally one day he went too far, he grabbed some guys wife in a bar and sat her on his lap telling her husband he was taking her home with him , the next day the "bully guy" was found dead and nobody was ever arrested for it. My dad used to tell me the story because he was from that area and was a young teenager at the time...sadly a lot of really good stories about Eastern Kentucky in the old days were lost forever when my dad passed away in 2011....he knew so many wild things that happened back in the day....
Now the story lives in eternity unless RUclips takes it down.
I'm a old geezer now but I used to love to listen to the old farts tell stories. I met a lady nearly 100 who remembered the parade for the boys coming back from the Civil War when she was my age. Oral history is the best of history.
Where in eastern Kentucky ? I am from Owsley county Kentucky . That story sounds a lot like the killing of Pearl Barrett in Booneville !
@@waynestone6462 I’m from Morgan Co myself and was about to make the same comment but couldn’t remember names
Born and raised in Lawrence County here. Growing up I often heard about such stories but it's been so long (I'm 45) that I can't seem to recall any names. As anyone from around here will tell you, there's a LOT that's happened around here over the decades that only the locals really know about. And if your an outsider, I wouldn't recommend poking around. Having strangers showing up asking questions goes over like a lead balloon.
I feel bad for Trena, she was emotionally abused and physically used from the age of 12 throughout her life, to an extent after her captor and abuser was killed she should have been happy but her mind was so warped that she tried pursuing the murderer.
Some lawyer told her that she could get rich off it, so regardless of how she may have felt about his death, happy or not, she did what she had to do, to try to get rich off the whole thing.
I have to disagree. She just sounds like the sort of stupid girl that gets excited by being with the bad boy. She doesn't strike me as the type of girl that he had to twist into thinking anything.
In all fairness, plenty of girls will happily choose sides with profoundly antisocial people. Seen it myself.
Stockholm syndrome?!
She was with Stockholm Syndrome, plus in the end greed took her, not the "love" for the douchebag scumbag who forced to get married.
Every village, small town have one such ARROGANT BULLY .. and deserve this sought justice.
all i see here is people in their community performing a public service and the fact they all banded together and kept quiet for so long tells me that everyone in Skidmore are SOLDIERS!
I live in a small town in Alabama, we had a king shit cop, “had “being the optimal word.
Mr. King shit finally pissed off enough of the locals, and while he was in a neighboring town, having drinks at a bar, found out what three of those locals with 2x4’s could do to him.
Mr. King Shit spent 6 months recovering in a hospital after his “re-education “ and if you happen to meet him today, his new nickname is sweet willy.
Nicer than any other local law enforcement officer around.
Sweet Willy is polite and helpful and understanding now, amazing how the application of 2x4’s can rebuild a man’s entire attitude.
Sounds like he was humbled
A little "attitude adjustment" goes a long way in the South.🤭
@@smc1942 It works every time without fail
🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣👏🏾👏🏾👏🏾👏🏾👏🏾👏🏾👏🏾
@@Sean-uv8xy The Iron Sheik would approve of that.
Where I grew up there was a guy I knew who bullied people. He would beat guys up for no reason at all.
Couple years ago a friend who still lived around the area called and told me the bully had been beaten to death in his own house.
I guess he finally pissed off the wrong guy. No arrests, nothing. Karma.
- '''What town in New Zealand was that- ??????
Did ya love it?
Sociopath
"Top tier son of a b*tch" 😂😂😂 that got me good
That’s not even the weirdest stuff that goes on in Missouri. You guys should do a video on the Lemp family from St Louis. Their brewery empire was once bigger than Anheuser-Busch. But they assume lost everything including their lives. The story involves numerous suicides, suspicion of murder, and now one of the most haunted mansions in the world.
I've seen the A&E special on Skidmore. The whole thing leaves me with three questions.
- Why does anyone think that the folks in Skidmore did anything wrong? McElroy used to beat people, steal their property, and terrorized a whole town.
- Why does society think they have the right to dig into this town's history and act like they're the criminals?
- And just exactly how odd do some of you out there think this is? Sometimes the law is insufficient to get justice. Sometimes 'The People' of myth and legend have to take matters into their own hands and handle their own business. Would society be happier if the town had lynched him?
Seriously, people need to leave Skidmore alone. The killing of Ken McElroy was the putting down of a rabid dog. The sonofabitch got what was coming to him, every single grain of powder's worth.
I’ll tell ya why, it seems incredibly one sided. The man may have been suffering from undiagnosed mental health issues and he was murdered instead of treated. People like to throw stones at outcasts because it feels good to be in a group, but group empathy in the face of unyielding aggression can go a long way against someone who’s undiagnosed and misunderstood. The justice system failed to do its job so the lizard brain reactionaries took over. Much like Reddit
@@namelesswalaby Well, Nameless, I'm not unsympathetic to the mental health argument. I have PTSD and couple other mental health issues that I'm in treatment for.
But....
Mental illness is not a free pass to act as you wish. Neither is it an excuse to terrorize your town. It's not an excuse to beat your neighbors, or threaten children. It's not an excuse for theft or marrying 14 year old niece. McElroy did all of this. And when people tried to use the remedy of the law to deal with the problems caused by McElroy, he terrorized them into dropping the complaints.
After awhile, enough people in town got tired of his nonsense and solved the problem ballistically.
Empathy and sympathy only go so far. When someone violates the social contract so often as to make mockery of it, then something's got to give.
@@mikej5541 Mike, we've both seen conservative media and towns go on witch hunts just as senseless and just as dumb. This isn't a 'liberal v. conservative' thing. It's easy for anyone, liberal or conservative, to judge a situation from the comfort of the chair 1000 miles away. Everybody points fingers at other people's problems, after all.
What really ought to be examined here is how the legal system failed the people of Skidmore and what can be done to see to it that communities don't have to resort to vigilante justice in the future.
@@carlhicksjr8401 im not saying it gives him a pass, but he was murdered in 1980. they knew nothing about autism and very little about PTSD at that time. I'm not saying what he did is excusable, I'm just saying he was probably misunderstood and did not have sufficient care.
@@namelesswalaby Well, I'll grant you that autism wasn't as well understood at the time, but great strides were being made in PTSD research even back then. Not as helpful as now, granted, but it had been identified as an anxiety disorder by then and treatments were becoming available.
I see your points here, but I also see the necessity of McElroy's killing at that time.
Love this story, a scumbag Bully finally gets what he deserved from a WHOLE town!! Doesnt get any better than that!
The cherry on top was embarrassing the law enforcement I think this was payback for allowing this fool to get away with his fuckery for years. And I know one thing the people knew how to keep a secret back in the day and they took their secrets straight to the grave.
My town had a bully who eventually met his match. Probably the biggest, strongest guy in our high school and had a roid rage problem. He failed to get a football scholarship so he took up boxing, which just made everything worse because he would regularly pick fights with everyone. One day he starting beating up some kid, and the kid stuck a knife in him. That's how karma works though. Eventually you cross paths with the wrong person.
No matter how big and mean they are, they can still get holes poked in them until they leak out.
Having read up on this case, I wish there had been time to mention that for all of McElroy's thefts, he didn't need to steal. He bred, raised, and trained the best hunting dogs in the state and made so much money from them that he could afford the best defense attorney in Missouri.
I’m from a small town in Nebraska; this happens far more often than people know. That is why the small towns are more safe, and peaceful to live in. Don’t be McElroy, and you will live a happy existence in a small town.
It’s awfully strange that it took so long for Skidmore to finally deal with this guy.
Nah its not strange it took the town that long, as the were likely mostly peaceful and law abiding citizens and probably all had hopes eventually law would catch up with him. After that didn't seem to be the case enough people in unison agreed enough was enough and was ultimately for the greater good of the whole town minus that 1 huge problem
Is there any kind of flip side to this kind of small town, in people whose faces 'don't quite fit' having a harder time too, when they're essentially harmless?
@@timothydraper3687 absolutely. However, there are white towns, Hispanic towns, Indian reservations,...I am not aware of any black (small) towns. It’s really no different than cities that have “segregated” sections. Whites, like me, don’t dare to move into black neighborhoods, and vice versa. A few people of other colors are usually fine as long as they aren’t causing trouble.
I'm from a mid size suburbia in Massachusetts. When my parents were getting a divorce my father use to kidnap my sister and I. A cop offered to take care of the problem for my mother. It happens far more often everywhere.
@@mistered9435 my husband happened on a “Black” small town: Edwards, Mississippi. It apparently used to be the slave quarters for the plantation. Any Mississippians, please chime in and correct me if I have it wrong.
Needed the vigilantes as soon as he started stalking the little girl.
I remember this when it happened. The fact that no one ever ratted in the 'SHOW ME" state is a tribute to the fine people of that town.
This is community justice at it's finest.
I live a couple of hours' drive from Skidmore, and this story is pretty well-known in the general area. Most of us agree that McElroy got what he deserved and deserved what he got.
I think he deserved worse but , all's well that ends well, I am surprised that it took so long , that town was too patient.
He did not receive it soon enough though.
Me Marceline. What town u from
I live quite close as well, St. Joseph
@@ddstanfield9259 Council Bluffs, Iowa.
I met and shook Ken Rex McElroy's hand in the middle 70's at a farm in South Central Iowa. I was probably 14 or 15 years old then. I use to run with and stay with a family who farmed and they were also avid coon hunters. Ken Rex was in the area looking for new hound dogs and stopped by to look at my friends dogs in hopes of buying one. My buddy and I were out in the yard when they pulled in the drive and when he got out, he introduced himself to us and shook our hands. My buddy's Dad came out, they visited, looked at the dogs, but I don't think any deals were made. I had no idea at the time that Ken was a town bully and had committed so many crimes.
I love happy endings. Great story and you’re a great narrator, too.
They did so very little to stop the bully from committing crime after crime, but then fought so hard to try and find the people that finally had to take it into their own hands. And the girl he kidnapped and raped was actually upset about his murder in the end... I guess because she was so let down to begin with, with what the town allowed this to happen to her. But still, I wouldn't want the people who finally stopped him to be punished for this, yet on the other side, the town owed her a lot more than a tiny dab of money.
My heart breaks for Trina… I can not imagine what it would be like to be groomed and taken advantage of while my parents watched.
Hmm, that was kinda cowardly. She was their child FFS and they're supposed to protect her no matter what. If it's sharks shooting lasers, an angry manbearpig, or especially an abusive perv they're supposed to protect her. If that was my mom, she would've saved everyone the trouble and shot his ass waaaaaay before that. And I'd have done the same.
Yes, that's true. But on the other hand she did name one of his killers. if I was her, I would have been thankful to his shooters for the rest of my life for saving me from that monster. That in my opinion, was very lowly of her.
@@livelikeacat9955 Her poor brain was probably so very messed up, she probably couldn't think straight. I had a childhood of bad, bad abuse, and finally escaped just to be raped by someone. It took me an entire year to comprehend that a crime was commited against me, and not me just not being strong enough to say no enough (which I did a lot. Unfortunately, I came off of an extraordinarily exhausting shift and had no fight in me, just the words no, no, no, etc.). Considering her life, don't be so quick to blame her. She may have had no livelihood, and any available support may have not seemed obvious to her. She was kidnapped at 12! Poor girl🥺
@@Lonsoleil I'm gonna tell you in that era it was up to the parents to file charges and this fails to mention Trena had much younger siblings that he threatened and he killed the family pets. Read the book. This video does not cover the full horror he unleashed on the town . I lived a couple counties over as a kis when this was going on
What's even worse is that he succeeded in brainwashing her. He literally groomed and traumatized her so well that she maintained his innocence after his death and actually sued the town for wrongful death after the fact.
_Kens truck gets riddled with bullets_
Skidmore residents: “oh no! Anyway…”
Trena kept attempting legal actions against the townspeople. That is, until her house mysteriously was set on fire one night, and burned to the ground. 😁
Your commentary cracks me up, awesome job, keep it up!
I never get tired of hearing this story. Hell, I read the book a million years ago, seen it featured on 60 Minutes, etc. It still warms the cockles of my heart.
I remember the TV movie starring Brian Dennehey.
@@breebarry4422 Yep.
Back in the day when I was living in the Bronx, NY -- my neighborhood was terrorized by a dude who was just as evil as McElroy. Which, just like McElroy -- this dude got away with everything and anything. And just like McElroy, the police as well as the court system seemed incapable of stopping this dude. The people in my neighborhood who had had enough -- did a enemy of my enemy is my friend gang up on this dude and took care of business. About six months after the neighborhood took care of business, a friend of mine informed me of the dude's demise. He wouldn't tell me who was involved only that the dude got sawed into pieces. As far as I know, no one was caught in conjunction with the dude being taken out. As well, no one -- including me -- was sorry about what happened to the dude -- because the neighborhood was finally free from his evil.
He became a "missing person" who wasn't missed at all... 😁
The Inuit of the Far North had a practice that when somebody was a Ken Rex type, sooner or later there'd be a 'tragic accident.'
Makes sense, when living where everybody must work together or all die, jackasses endanger all lives.
I had just moved from West Plains to Springfield, MO to work one of the ambulances and attend computer school.
The story went around like wildfire and many people drove up to Skidmore to see the scene of the crime and ask the locals who "done it!"
Needless to say, no one talked, and a few years ago I went with a friend to Maryville on business (he had to get some personal government documents there) and the bar is no longer operating, and i think another bar is where the former grocery store was.
How any parent could let a a man take their 12 year old daughter out of their house is the most cowardly thing I have ever heard !
The justice system failed to hold him appropriately accountable, and also failed to to catch those who finally gave what was comin to him. Thank god real world justice prevailed 👌🏻
Ir wasn’t even murder lol
Pedophiles and sexual predators have no idea what's in store in the near future. I've been doxing sex offenders and pedophiles for about a year now. I'm collecting all of their personally identifiable information even biometric info when possible. Each and every time I see a comment from a scammer / spammer on facebook, I copy the contents from that ever growing Microsoft word document and then paste it into a message that I send directly to that scammer.
Maybe it's more of these predators start being scammed and taken advantage of, they won't want to be a predators anymore.
There's only two ways that a sex offender can be removed from this list. If they voluntarily send themselves to the club Down Under or if they pay me a nice amount of money. But even then there is no guarantee that I will be nice and take their information off of that list.
@@mathewmclean9128 Nice job admitting to doxxing and extortion, you're such a selfless hero lol
@@user-ck7sf2xc6c actually, you're right. This isn't doxing. For two reasons. Pedophiles, rapists and sexual predators have legally consented to giving up all rights even the right to privacy and protection of their information. And then the other reason, since sexual predators have to register on the Megan's Law registry, that information is already freely available to anyone who wants it. I'm just helping spread the information across the world.
Now why does the average sexual predator have a credit score in the low 400s?
The worst thing about this story is that he had 11 children…
I really hope it's from consensual sex but something tells me maybe not
Then the town did them a favor. Hopefully they were adopted to loving families!!!
I hope that none of those children or their children pass on his character traits of bullying and violence.
@@Luka-DanteGodofMischief His 'wife' gave birth at 14 after being kidnapped at 12. How consensual do you think it was.
@@cam4636 umm clearly when I first made the comment I was new to learning about this individual and even then I said "something tells me it's not". FFS ppl think they know something about a topic and then become condescending assholes when others become new to the topic. Sir, mam whatever you identify as bye bye
One of the most satisfying videos I’ve ever watched 🙏🏾
“Friends come and go, but enemies accumulate.”
Murphy’s Law
I cannot believe the wife sued the city when she should have thanked them for freeing her!
got to remember Trina was groomed by him since she was 12. in the documentary "no one saw a thing". they interviewed his kids and they talk of their mothers getting beat up by him like it was normal.
Stockholm Syndrome. To them that kind of life was normal.
Why did Trina die so young at 55 years old? So sad for her to live in such misery most of her life.
@@josephj6521 she died of cancer.
@@sassmacfru so sad. Thanks for your reply.
It’s crazy that someone can have that kind of hold over an entire town like that.
Exactly!
I'm surprised all the armed citizens of the Town didn't take action sooner. Surround that pervert's house at midnight when he was sleeping and then done something that I shall not post here.
@@mathewmclean9128 this was a very precise execution. Trena was sitting right next to him in the passenger seat but she was not hit. The townspeople helped her out of the truck and let her live her life even after she tried to sue the town. Only Ken was killed. All of his children, his wives - they are still alive, even if twisted by his abuse. In a way, this was the best way it could have ended.
You would be amazed how much crap ordinary people can take ONLY to not get involved into open conflict. The overwhelming majority of people in the developed world are extremely anti-confrontational. Considering this fact, what amazes me the most is how few bullies like this fella really exist.
Kinda like the few in politics can a hold on a nation
I am so fascinated by this story. I love vigilante justice
I can honestly say that if more cities did this crime would almost cease to exist
There is a documentary where the State Trooper who investigated the killing was interviewed. He says: "Every witness we interviewed said they were inside the bar hiding under the pool table. Biggest pool table I've ever seen in my life." LOL. Not sure a lot of effort was really given to investigating who all pulled a trigger past that point.
I'm cracking up lol
Ah, the famous Olympic sized pool table.
I love this story. He got what he had coming to him. Just way late. Hats off to the townfolks for their patience and bravery. And the pact of silence. 100% respect!
This happens in big cities too, all you need is a DA that is either unwilling to prosecute the case, or is too overwhelmed to prosecute the case, an unavailable or unproven perpetrator, and a general lack of apathy from most people involved. It happens actually a lot more than people think. Look at New York city. In Chicago
That town said nope. Eye for an eye. Great job! Stop the wicked
I remember the Skidmore story, we lived in KC then, is seemed like justice was served. If you check years ago, like maybe 90 years ago there was a town thief in South Florida down in what in is now Everglades National Park. They told the thief to stop, he did not. So everyone in the small town shot him once. Then they notified the authorities about the murder. That took a few days, then the cops show up. The locals are clueless to who killed him, no witnesses. Then a couple of days more to get the body up the coast. No charges ever filed, the body has now been sitting in hot Florida weather for about a week and is really ripe, so they just bury it.
I love this story. I live in Missouri, although I’ve never been to that town, but I have no doubt in that story, based on what I know of other small Missouri towns. That bastard sure got what was coming to him.
@Account NumberEight Mormons are well aware of this. You should hear the stories they tell.
@Account NumberEight I don't care about your prejudices.
I cant help but feel like this inspired the premise of the movie Roadhouse….which, ironically, takes place in a small town in Missouri.
It’s not murder when a whole town gives you the death penalty.
It's extremely satisfying that the whole town took action and entirely trusted one another to take this secret to the grave. He was absolutely vile if he ran down a school bus so he could hang with his future wife? So horrific.
I remember seeing this story on "60 Minutes" a few years after it happened. Surprisingly, "60 Minutes" was objective, giving both sides equal treatment (as I remember it). At least one of the shots that hit McElroy came from a high powered hunting rifle across the street from the pickup. Don't mess with experienced hunters.
That "high powered hunting rifle" was probably a sniper rifle fired by a Vietnam or Korean War vet. The video stated that the shot was from a block away, not across the street. This happened in 1981 which means most Vietnam and Korean War vets (and many WWII vets although they would have been almost retirement age) were still alive at the time. It would be extremely difficult for even a trained sniper with the appropriate gun and scope to make a shot from anywhere other than the roof of one of the buildings in the area if it was truly from a block away. For reference there are eight Michigan blocks to a mile (IDK how many blocks to a mile in other states). Walk one full block from your house and you have walked approximately 1/8 mile. Most people can't make a shot from that distance in perfect conditions and it is almost impossible to do so from the ground in a town with obstacles.
@@mharris5047 I do wonder about a sniper shot from a block away since the sniper could just as easily been part of the group surrounding the car where marksmanship wouldn't be so important. Also, there would have been the danger of hitting one of the men milling around the car unless they were deliberately standing back. Not questioning the facts; just puzzled at the sniper's thinking.
It could have been up close and the shell not have been ejected and the across the street casing could have just fallen out of somebody's truck bed.
I also remember seeing this story on 60 minutes. The McElroy killing happened in July of 1981. Morley Safer covered this story on 60 minutes in early 1982. It wasn't a few years after the killing but yeah it was a very interesting and accurate report. Back when we had actual journalism. Not like the garbage media of today. I remember the McElroy killing very well as I lived near Skidmore Missouri at the time. It was on all the local news channels. I believe you can find the original 60 minutes segment on RUclips.
@@donguess4332 'Skidmarks.''
You cannot fault the townsfolk, justified & righteous. When the system fails, you need to step up. Good for them.