Front sight character witness statement11/23/2023 As the case dragged on without a court date, Henry said McElroy had parked outside his home at least 100 times. McElroy was charged with assault with intent to kill. 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. Additional charges were filed against McElroy. He told the foster family that he would trade "girl for girl" to get his child back, since he knew where the foster family's biological daughter went to school and what bus route she rode. McElroy sat outside the foster home for hours at a time staring at it. Trena and her baby were placed in foster care at a home in Maryville, Missouri. He was arrested, booked, arraigned, and released on $2,500 bail. Events prior to his killing īased on Trena's story, McElroy was indicted in June 1973 for arson, assault, and statutory rape. 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. ![]() According to court records, McElroy tracked them down and brought them back. Sixteen days after Trena gave birth, both she and Alice fled to Trena's parents' house. McElroy divorced Alice and married Trena in order to escape charges of statutory rape, to which she was the only witness. 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. 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. He met his last wife, Trena McCloud (1957–2012), when she was 12 years old and in eighth grade and he was 35. McElroy fathered more than 10 children with different women. He was represented by defense attorney Richard Gene McFadin of Gallatin, Missouri. For more than two decades, McElroy was suspected of being involved in theft of grain, gasoline, alcohol, antiques, and livestock, but he avoided conviction when charges were brought against him 21 times - often after witnesses refused to testify because he allegedly intimidated them, frequently by following his targets or parking outside their homes and watching them. He dropped out of school at age 15 in the eighth grade and quickly established a local reputation as a cattle rustler, small-time thief, and womanizer. McElroy was born in 1934, the 15th of 16 children born to a poor, migrant tenant-farming couple named Tony and Mabel (née Lister) McElroy, who had moved between Kansas and the Ozarks before settling outside of Skidmore. To date, no one has been charged in connection with McElroy's death. He was struck by bullets from at least two different firearms, in front of a crowd of people estimated as numbering between 30 and 46. The next day, McElroy was shot to death in broad daylight as he sat with his wife Trena in his pickup truck on Skidmore's main street. He appeared in a local bar, the D&G Tavern, armed with an M1 Garand rifle and bayonet, and later threatened to kill Bowenkamp. ![]() McElroy successfully appealed the conviction and was released on bond, after which he engaged in an ongoing harassment campaign against Bowenkamp and others who were sympathetic to Bowenkamp, including the town's Church of Christ minister. ![]() In 1981, McElroy was convicted of attempted murder in the shooting of the town's 70-year-old grocer Ernest "Bo" Bowenkamp. In all, he was indicted 21 times but escaped conviction each time, except for the last. 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. He was known as "the town bully", and his unsolved killing became the focus of international attention. Ken Rex McElroy (J– July 10, 1981) was an American criminal and convicted attempted murderer who resided in Skidmore, Missouri, United States.
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