Good Ole Skidmore, Missouri

[MaryH]

Now we have a woman killed and her unborn child kidnapped.

Does anyone else remember the murder in Skidmore in 1981. They had a terrible bully in town that no one could control. And he was shot down on mainstreet in broad daylight - with 47 witnesses (or something like that) and no one saw a thing.

To this day no one has ever talked.

[RUDUing2]

1. he wasn't just a *bully* he was a rapist, arsonist & murderer too...

but he would intimidate witnesses so he never was convicted of anything...and there was no local law to protect the town...they were dependant on the county sherrif about 45 mins away...

[tk2kewl]

2. was that the guy played by Brian Denehey in some TV movie?

[Dees]

3. Yes he did. He played Kenneth Rex McElroy.

The bully of Nodaway County. McElroy was one bad dude.

[MaryH]

4. Yes!

It seems like every state has a town like Skidmore. When I lived in Spokane it was Wallace, Id - an old mining town that was just wide open.

[Loki]

5. Oh yeah, I remember that one.

When justice turned it back on the citizens of Skidmore, they took justice into their own hands. What a story.

[amandae]

6. That would happen in Butte, MT, too

On a few occasions, after something big happened and the police were looking for suspects (or a suspect) you could find people EASILY who knew where the person was or who did it or both. It was amazing that in a town that small the police force couldn't find out what the natives knew.

Although their police department is grossly underfunded and doesn't have the resources to do the job needed in the town.

[MaryH]

7. A friend of mine has family in Skidmore and he said that

even today if you bring up what happened in 1981 the room just goes quiet. No one wants it mentioned. And no one talks about it. Probably everyone in town knows what happened but the guy was so awful that someone had to do something.

[proud2BlibKansan]

8. There were 45 witnesses

to the shooting. And if I had been there, I wouldn't talk about it either. McElroy was a slime. The justice system couldn't nail him, so the people did. It's a great story.