Violent felon who was shot to death by local vigilantes in a crime that was never solved.
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Ken Rex McElroy for years had terrorized the small town of Skidmore Missouri and was considered the town bully. He had been charged with more than 20 felonies, including robbing, raping, burning, and shooting. He intimidated people by driving by at night and firing a shotgun blast, putting a rattlesnake in their mailbox, or starting fires. On July 10, 1981, his reign of terror came to an end. While parked in front of the D & G Tavern on Main Street, in broad daylight, with a crowd estimated at 45 people around his pickup truck, Ken McElroy was shot in the head with a high-powered rifle while his wife Trena sat in the seat beside him. Three grand jury investigations and an FBI probe resulted in no arrests or indictments. The citizens of Skidmore Missouri apparently protected the person or persons who fired the shots. The incident received worldwide press coverage and was the subject of a TV movie and a book.
OBITUARY

Kenneth McElroy MARYVILLE, Me. Kenneth McElroy, 47, of Skidmore, died Friday at Skidmore. He was the victim of a shooting that is being investigated by Nodaway County authorities and the Northwest Missouri Major Investigation Squad. Born at Quitman, he was a fanner In the Skidmore area. Survivors include his wife, Trena McElroy, and six daughters: Tammy McElroy, Tina McElroy, Debbie McElroy, and Oleta McElroy, all of Skidmore; Teresa McElroy, Helena, and Tonia McElroy, Faucett, and five sons, Derome McElroy, Fon-tana, Juarez McElroy and Kenneth McElroy both of Faucett and Derome McElroy and Reno McElroy, both of Skidmore. Additional survivors include his mother, Mabel McElroy, Skidmore; six brothers, Orvell McElroy. Maryville; Tony McElroy, Quitman; Bob McElroy and Lloyd McElroy, both of Clearmont, Leonard McElroy, Thermal, and Tim McElroy, Skidmore; and. six sisters, Mrs. Weldon Hughes, Maitland, Mrs. Harold Hoyt, Quitman; Mrs. Fred Strough, Gravity, Iowa; Mrs. Gary Totten, Pickering, Mrs. Gene Hecker, Denver, and Mrs. Charles Curley, Fontana.

Private services will be held Tuesday at the Price Funeral Home here. Burial will be in Memorial Park.

Published by The St. Joseph News-Press on Sun, Jul 12, 1981.