In July 1981, Ken McElroy, a violent and abusive criminal, was shot dead in front of dozens of witnesses in Skidmore, Missouri. Despite this, no one was ever charged in his death
The detail that gets me is the $17,600 settlement — no admission of guilt, just a number to make the lawsuit go away. Forty-five years on and the whole town still keeps the same silence. There's something almost medieval about it: the community rendering its own verdict when the courts couldn't, then sealing it with a collective oath nobody will break.
The detail that stayed with me isn't the shooting itself — it's Trena's $5 million lawsuit settling for $17,600 with no admission of guilt. A number that small feels like the town delivering its final verdict through lawyers: we'll pay, but we're not saying we did anything. That said, I keep going back and forth on Trena herself — married at fourteen to the man terrorizing her own family, then the one person who tried to name names. Does the piece's 'no neat moral category' extend to her, or is she the one clearly sympathetic figure in a story that has no others? Genuinely curious where people land on that.
I’d say Trena is probably the closest thing to a sympathetic figure, but I still wouldn’t put her neatly in a “hero” category. Her situation was incredibly complicated, and the settlement itself doesn’t prove wrongdoing. That ambiguity is what makes her story so interesting.
People tolerated the stalking etc. for far too long. It seems local law did too.
Was there some local sentiment for tolerating the ‘town bad man’ ( up to a point)?
The culture here puzzles me. Most places would have shut this down pretty quick. The article did not say exactly how he got his last wife. He boarded a school bus, and took the 14 year old off, and back to his place, and so on.
You tell me. How would this work out in your town? There are some rather indifferent quality people where I live, but I can’t think of a single one of them that would dare to do that. They know what would happen. From the law, or otherwise.
I think it was less about tolerating him and more about fear. McElroy had intimidated people for years and repeatedly managed to get around the law.
As for Trena, he was dating her mother, which is how he came into contact with her.
I think that’s what made Skidmore so unusual. People weren’t necessarily indifferent to what he was doing; they were afraid to stand up to him because they knew what he was capable of. After years of the legal system failing to stop him, I think the whole town just reached a breaking point.
Makes sense. I was wondering why the legal system did put up with it. To some extent, that means the people put up with it. It’s strange to me, not the usual thing.
Not a murder victim anymore than a horse thief hanged on the plains was. It isn’t just the courts that are endowed with administering justice. Their failure left a vacuum the community rightly filled.
The hand wringing throughout this article is a greater indictment on the author than the community.
That’s a fair perspective, and it’s one many people share. My intention was just to present the events and the ethical questions without telling readers what to think.
Actually I think it fits neatly into a simple moral category: when the State fails the People may act. A State which collects taxes and does not uphold the civil order is just committing theft.
The reason Kenneth Rex McElroy was never punished is because he was part of the Southern Mob, which is linked to the Second and Third K.K.K, the Citizens' Councils, the Dixiecrats who joined the Stupublicans, and due to the origins of the militia movement Posse Comitatus and the Arm, Shield, and Sword of the Lord. The political realignment began with F.D.R and ended in C.E. 2007 when Obama became a serious contender, which means Kenneth Rex McElroy was linked to BOTH parties. Bullies would be beaten up by street thugs they provoke, and mobsters only act under orders from the boss of bosses - Don Schultz got himself killed by being a wild card - which means Kenneth McElroy had substantial support in the local counties. The reason the townsfolk didn't create a lynch mob - he can't kill ALL of them - was because they would have agreed with child marriage and mob justice like beating people up, and the animal rustling and burglary and thievery would have been considered protection money. The animal cruelty refers to using pokers and such to kidnap the animals. Whilst civil cases have less requirements for guilt than criminal cases, the fact that Kenneth Rex McElroy's friends ran the local counties but still couldn't get Del Clement sent to jail but DID manage to get him to settle out of jail implies Del Clement was guilty but no one talked.
Lee Harvey Oswald killed Kennedy but not everyone saw him, so I would think 20 people didn't see the killers of Kenneth McElroy, 16 saw but didn't talk out of fear of vigilantes, and 20 people didn't see the killing but heard it. Kenneth Rex McElroy's child molestation seems to be corruption of minors, and the fact he managed to start dating Trina in the first place can be explained by child marriage and thus adults exploiting children by courting them being common: this also fits with his crimes being motivated by power, as child marriages are about alliances, sexual dominance is about power over the males who are closest to the women people like Julius Caesar and Cinggis Q'an have sex with, and rape is not about sex but power. Kenneth McElroy's crimes seem to be linked to the social deprivation theory of crime, given his family were Upland Southerner tenant farmers who suffered under Jim Crow and moved repeatedly throughout the Upland South to escape it.
The only hope for the family was to use merit to join the ranks of the Southern elite, which Ken Rex McElroy did as a mobster who worked for the boss of bosses. The fact everyone was scared of Ken Rex McElroy implies that Del Clement and his friend belonged to a rival Southern Mob faction. What DO we know about Del Clement?
That’s an interesting theory, although I’d be careful about connecting McElroy to the Southern Mob or those political groups without stronger evidence.
I remember this case. The people could not get justice and finally someone did it for them until they learned to do it for themselves. What surprised me the most was nobody, nobody at all, talked. It was the most amazing display of solidarity I ever saw, and I imagine the pressure on all the residents must have been intense.
Keeping quiet is easy when you are motivated by fear - if anyone talked they would have been killed by Del Clement and their house burned down - and don't like the victim.
The detail that gets me is the $17,600 settlement — no admission of guilt, just a number to make the lawsuit go away. Forty-five years on and the whole town still keeps the same silence. There's something almost medieval about it: the community rendering its own verdict when the courts couldn't, then sealing it with a collective oath nobody will break.
The detail that stayed with me isn't the shooting itself — it's Trena's $5 million lawsuit settling for $17,600 with no admission of guilt. A number that small feels like the town delivering its final verdict through lawyers: we'll pay, but we're not saying we did anything. That said, I keep going back and forth on Trena herself — married at fourteen to the man terrorizing her own family, then the one person who tried to name names. Does the piece's 'no neat moral category' extend to her, or is she the one clearly sympathetic figure in a story that has no others? Genuinely curious where people land on that.
I’d say Trena is probably the closest thing to a sympathetic figure, but I still wouldn’t put her neatly in a “hero” category. Her situation was incredibly complicated, and the settlement itself doesn’t prove wrongdoing. That ambiguity is what makes her story so interesting.
People tolerated the stalking etc. for far too long. It seems local law did too.
Was there some local sentiment for tolerating the ‘town bad man’ ( up to a point)?
The culture here puzzles me. Most places would have shut this down pretty quick. The article did not say exactly how he got his last wife. He boarded a school bus, and took the 14 year old off, and back to his place, and so on.
You tell me. How would this work out in your town? There are some rather indifferent quality people where I live, but I can’t think of a single one of them that would dare to do that. They know what would happen. From the law, or otherwise.
I think it was less about tolerating him and more about fear. McElroy had intimidated people for years and repeatedly managed to get around the law.
As for Trena, he was dating her mother, which is how he came into contact with her.
I think that’s what made Skidmore so unusual. People weren’t necessarily indifferent to what he was doing; they were afraid to stand up to him because they knew what he was capable of. After years of the legal system failing to stop him, I think the whole town just reached a breaking point.
Makes sense. I was wondering why the legal system did put up with it. To some extent, that means the people put up with it. It’s strange to me, not the usual thing.
Exactly. It’s a strange case, especially considering how long it went on.
Karma is guilty, as it often is. I think this case deserves to stay unsolved.
Please read my LONG comment below.
Not a murder victim anymore than a horse thief hanged on the plains was. It isn’t just the courts that are endowed with administering justice. Their failure left a vacuum the community rightly filled.
The hand wringing throughout this article is a greater indictment on the author than the community.
Please read my LONG comment.
That’s a fair perspective, and it’s one many people share. My intention was just to present the events and the ethical questions without telling readers what to think.
Goes to show that most people are decent and good, but when pushed too far and without peaceful options, they do what they have to do.
Exactly. It’s one of those rare cases where every perspective feels understandable.
"To the people in town, this was not just another ugly scene. It was a warning. "
Fuck we're sick of AI diction, can you fucking cunts at least switch that up. Sit on a fucking bear trap
You almost made a point. Then the rest of the comment happened.
That was an order
I’ll let you know when I start taking orders from the comments section.
You're AI, all you do is take orders
And yet I’m still ignoring yours.
Actually I think it fits neatly into a simple moral category: when the State fails the People may act. A State which collects taxes and does not uphold the civil order is just committing theft.
The reason Kenneth Rex McElroy was never punished is because he was part of the Southern Mob, which is linked to the Second and Third K.K.K, the Citizens' Councils, the Dixiecrats who joined the Stupublicans, and due to the origins of the militia movement Posse Comitatus and the Arm, Shield, and Sword of the Lord. The political realignment began with F.D.R and ended in C.E. 2007 when Obama became a serious contender, which means Kenneth Rex McElroy was linked to BOTH parties. Bullies would be beaten up by street thugs they provoke, and mobsters only act under orders from the boss of bosses - Don Schultz got himself killed by being a wild card - which means Kenneth McElroy had substantial support in the local counties. The reason the townsfolk didn't create a lynch mob - he can't kill ALL of them - was because they would have agreed with child marriage and mob justice like beating people up, and the animal rustling and burglary and thievery would have been considered protection money. The animal cruelty refers to using pokers and such to kidnap the animals. Whilst civil cases have less requirements for guilt than criminal cases, the fact that Kenneth Rex McElroy's friends ran the local counties but still couldn't get Del Clement sent to jail but DID manage to get him to settle out of jail implies Del Clement was guilty but no one talked.
Lee Harvey Oswald killed Kennedy but not everyone saw him, so I would think 20 people didn't see the killers of Kenneth McElroy, 16 saw but didn't talk out of fear of vigilantes, and 20 people didn't see the killing but heard it. Kenneth Rex McElroy's child molestation seems to be corruption of minors, and the fact he managed to start dating Trina in the first place can be explained by child marriage and thus adults exploiting children by courting them being common: this also fits with his crimes being motivated by power, as child marriages are about alliances, sexual dominance is about power over the males who are closest to the women people like Julius Caesar and Cinggis Q'an have sex with, and rape is not about sex but power. Kenneth McElroy's crimes seem to be linked to the social deprivation theory of crime, given his family were Upland Southerner tenant farmers who suffered under Jim Crow and moved repeatedly throughout the Upland South to escape it.
The only hope for the family was to use merit to join the ranks of the Southern elite, which Ken Rex McElroy did as a mobster who worked for the boss of bosses. The fact everyone was scared of Ken Rex McElroy implies that Del Clement and his friend belonged to a rival Southern Mob faction. What DO we know about Del Clement?
That’s an interesting theory, although I’d be careful about connecting McElroy to the Southern Mob or those political groups without stronger evidence.
Well said. That’s what struck me most while researching it.
Some local dude should have done it at night when he stumbled home drunk.
He was a violent drunk, so it would have been too risky. Also, they were looking for the first opportunity to kill him to get it over with.
Wow - amazing. I bet they wish they had done it sooner...
I remember this case. The people could not get justice and finally someone did it for them until they learned to do it for themselves. What surprised me the most was nobody, nobody at all, talked. It was the most amazing display of solidarity I ever saw, and I imagine the pressure on all the residents must have been intense.
Keeping quiet is easy when you are motivated by fear - if anyone talked they would have been killed by Del Clement and their house burned down - and don't like the victim.
I agree. The collective silence afterward is what makes this case so extraordinary. It says a lot about what the people in that town had endured.
Good read. Ken McElroy was one of the world's all-time, championship dirtbags.
Thanks for reading! That’s probably the most fitting description of McElroy I’ve heard.
I am a moral nihilist.
Down with nihilism. It’s really nothing.
Please read my LONG comment.