IN BROAD DAYLIGHT A Murder in Skidmore, MissouriBy Harry N. MacLean You know the story. Ken Rex McElroy, an illiterate “hog farmer,” terrorized all of northwest Missouri for over twenty years. He committed nearly every crime in the book, including rape, assault, arson and kidnapping. With the help of his Kansas City lawyer, he outwitted the criminal justice system time and again. The townspeople of Skidmore felt helpless. Finally, on July 10, 1981, McElroy met his end. He was shot to death as he sat in his truck with his wife on the main street of Skidmore at ten in the morning. At least forty-five people witnessed the shooting. Authorities convened county, state and federal grand juries in an attempt to bring the killers to justice. The witnesses were called to testify, and all claimed to have seen nothing. McElroy's wife testified that she had seen the shooter, but the individual she named was not charged. Today, twenty-five years later, still no one has talked. McElroy's killers remain free. It is the most infamous cold case on record. In Broad Daylight, published in 1989, tells the story of McElroy's reign of terror, the killing, and the aftermath. The book won an Edgar Award for Best True Crime and was made into an NBC Movie Of The Week, starring Brian Denehey, Marcia Gay Harding, Chris Cooper and Cloris Leachman. The book was also a New York Times bestseller, reaching number two on the list for eleven weeks, and selling over a million copies. In Broad Daylight relates the story from the town's point of view, although I tried to be balanced in my presentation of the facts. It was difficult to present McElroy as a sympathetic character. His gross indifference to the well being of others, his willingness to beat or shoot others who crossed his path, or whom he thought crossed his path, or looked as if they might cross his path, reveals a man who was unable to see beyond the satisfaction of his own desires. This is nowhere more illustrated than his rape and kidnapping of Trena, the thirteen-year old girl who would later become his third wife. As to whether his violent misconduct, and the law's failure to deal with him over a twenty-year period justified his murder involve both legal and moral questions. Murder ouside the law cannot be tolerated in a civilized society. A creative lawyer could argue that the town suffered from something called the “battered town syndrome;” that is, the murder was a sort of delayed, larger act of self-defense. Before judging the town for what happened that day, it is important to remember that only two individuals—possibly three—actually shot McElroy. There was no evidence of any agreement to kill McElroy. It is difficult to actually envision what it was like to live in that small town during McElroy's reign of terror. A man shoots another man in the stomach, and the law acquits him. He pulls a gun on a cop, and nothing is done about it. Even the law was scared of the man. If you were a witness to one of his crimes, your life could be in danger. This left the town feeling as if it had no choice. It is, however, stunning that in the twenty-five years since the killing no one has been brought to justice, in spite of the forty-five witnesses. One must wonder if at least one person's soul would not suffer sufficient torment to require confession and absolution. There was one person who talked, a few days after the murder. He signed a written statement identifying the two killers. Read the epilogue and find out the details. http://www.inbroaddaylightbook.com/content/index.asp IN BROAD DAYLIGHT
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