Recently I returned to Northwest Missouri for some bird hunting at Bilby Ranch and while I was in the area I took the time to drive through Skidmore, MO; a town of some fame with two killings and the disappearance of a young man.
On July 10, 1981 Ken Rex McElroy, while sitting in his pickup truck with his wife was shot in killed in the middle of town in front of 45+ witnesses and yet to this day, almost 30 years later nobody has been charged with the murder. This despite the eye witness testimony of his wife. One place I wanted to stop at was the site of McElroy’s house on Valley Road, which is now called Delta Trail.
Although the house was set afire and burned to the ground approximately 18 months after the killing, I still was interested in taking photos of the site. So here are a few pictures of what was at one point in time the site of Ken McElroy’s homestead. Over the next few days I will post additional photos of the town, and add some additional comments.
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Who owns/lives on the McElroy prop now? Have you met any of his family? Is skidmore as creepy as people say?
signing off in philadelphia pa
To be honest, I am not sure exactly who owns the property now, it is basically just farmland at this point, the house long since gone and the garage barely standing the last time I was there.
I met his brother Tim at the Skidmore Food and Drink once; I was polite enough not to mention Ken’s name or bring up the issue, he was a quiet guy and seemed to be well liked. I would not say Skidmore is creepy, just that the town has had more than its fair share of tragedy and its weighed its residents down. Its not unlike a lot of small towns in Missouri, Nebraska, etc., a dying breed of the country.
interesting , I am from phila and theres alot of crime here so it seems to be normal to me, but I dont know why this story is so intriguing to me, I first seen the story on city confidential about 3 weeks ago, since then I read the book and just about every blog, I guess we here think of those areas as quiet small towns as u say but then when u see things like this its just weird, now in nyc or philly its the norm, any way thanks for answering my questions.
More than welcome, I will be returning to Skidmore in July to meet Harry Maclean, the author of “In Broad Daylight” for a photo shoot on the 30th anniv of the shooting. Far more pictures and commentary to follow at that time.
wow thats cool, will Jeff Dalsing be there as well? I posted a few comments on Harrys blog, I will be looking forward to the photos, I am so interested to know about Ken’s kids and there mothers, I only know that Trena moved and remarried, and one son Ken Jr was in some sort of trouble, but thats all I read, a few blogs had people on there making claims of being Ken Jr and a grandchild named bobby on the brandon perry website who made some attacks but thats all I can find…
any way I favored your site and will be on the look out for updates as well as Harrys blog,
thanks again…