NOTORIOUS MURDERS > TIMELESS CLASSICS

Ken McElroy

By David Krajicek

Keep an Eye on Him

  

No one should have been surprised when Ken McElroy showed up in Skidmore, Mo., on that miserably hot Friday morning in July 1981.

McElroy had gotten word that he was the subject of a rump session down at the local Legion Hall. Sixty frustrated, frightened men had demanded that the local sheriff brief them on what they could do to safeguard themselves from McElroy, a notorious bully and master manipulator of the criminal justice system.

Sheriff Danny Estes suggested a sort of neighborhood watch to keep an eye on McElroy.

Someone at the meeting said, “But isn’t that your job, sheriff?”

That simple question was the essence of what would happen in Skidmore that day, July 10, 1981. It was clear law enforcers had not done their job. And this compelled to action certain members of the community.

McElroy had shown up at an inopportune moment, just as some of the oppressed men of Skidmore finally decided to do something about their scourge.

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1. Keep an Eye on Him
2. McElroy’s Style
3. The Last Straw
4. Murder in Broad Daylight
5. On the Night Shift
6. He Loved Children
7. Power over Women
8. Another Teen Love
9. Saved by the Law
10. Invincible
11. Intent to Kill
12. A Mysterious Shooting
13. Fighting over Candy
14. The Last Word
15. The Law’s No Help
16. The Art of Intimidation
17. At Last, a Trial
18. The Town Reacts
19. Show of Support
20. The Investigations
21. Aftermath
22. Skidmore Shrinks
23. *New Chapter: Twenty-five Years Later
24. *New Chapter: Bowenkamp's Daughters Speak Out
25. *New Chapter: The Real Story about the Candy
26. *New Chapter: Raging Media Torrent
27. *New Chapter: Tarnish and Regrets
28. *New Chapter: Vigilantes or Necessary Justice?
29. Bibliography