Aug. 20, 2024

Ken McElroy: The Bully Who Met His Match

Show Notes
Transcript

Today, we're diving into one of the most infamous tales of small-town justice in American history. It's 1981, and the rural town of Skidmore, Missouri, is about to take a stand against the local menace, Ken McElroy. Known for his reign of terror and criminal exploits, McElroy was a larger-than-life figure who seemed untouchable by the law. From petty theft to attempted murder, his crimes went unpunished for decades, thanks to a clever lawyer and a hefty dose of intimidation.

But the townsfolk of Skidmore had had enough. On a fateful day, they gathered together, guns loaded and tempers flaring, to end McElroy's tyranny once and for all. In a story that seems ripped from the pages of a vigilante thriller, discover how an entire community came together to confront the man who had terrorized them for so long. With a gripping narrative that includes murder, intimidation, and a controversial act of justice, this episode is sure to make you question your beliefs.

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In nineteen eighty one, a rural and sleepy American town

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gathered together, a community united under one banner. The car

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park rings with the unmistakably deep clink of a shotgun

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shell loading before all hell breaks loose. This was the

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town of Skidmore, a town dead set on ridding themselves

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of a pestilence that had brought them to their knees.

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On the other side of the coin was Ken McElroy,

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a man who'd been born into abject poverty. He was fifteen,

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thin line of sixteen children born to Tony and Maybell McElroy,

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but by the end of things, he would become the

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most infamous McElroy to walk the streets of America. He

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dropped out of school when he was only fifteen years old,

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not to work or help support his family, but to

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learn a trade, a very specific trade. Ken was a

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burgeoning criminal, testing the waters and dipping his toes into

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the world of robbery and cattle rustling. By the time

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Ken was a grown man, he was six ' two,

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had thick, burly hair and sideburns, and was known locally

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to be a heavyweight criminal with a womanizing mean streak.

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Quote he didn't have a bank account, didn't have a

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social Security number, he didn't read. Author Harry McLain later

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wrote in a book about Ken, how did this uneducated person,

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how is he able to outwit the criminal justice system

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for twenty years? And that question has a complicated answer,

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the first part of which comes pretty easy. His name

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is Richard gen McFadden, a boisterous and quick witted defense

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lawyer who would represent Ken on the rare occasion that

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he did see the inside of a courtroom. Best client

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I ever had, Richard later spoke to the press. He

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was punctual, he always said he didn't do it, paid

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in cash, and kept coming back. He told me he

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would pay me whatever I needed to keep him out

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of jail. I mean, at least he's honest. For twenty years,

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Kin stole grain, gasoline, alcohol, antiques, and livestock from the

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community around him. A total of twenty one charges were

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brought against him, but Ken's lawyer could only protect him

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so far, and there were times when Kin had to

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look out for himself. Ken had a way of being persuasive.

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When his reputation wasn't enough to keep people from filing

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charges against him, Kin would pay them a visit often repeatedly.

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He was known to sit outside people's houses in a

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car for hours at a time. He would make threats

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to family members and friends. He would more often than

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not bring a gun. The prosecution had a hard time

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of making anything stick on Ken, especially when their witnesses

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would suddenly either drop the charges or completely change their stories.

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It looked like Ken had the town of Skidmore in

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an ironclad grip. That was especially true when it came

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to the women and young girls of the community. kN

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had a total of ten children with a slew of

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different mothers, but very few of those mothers were actually

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willing participants. His last wife, Trina McLeod, was only twelve

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years old and still in the eighth grade when Kin

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barged his way into her life. He was thirty five

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years old when he began sexually assaulting her, and there

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was nothing the young girl could do to stop it.

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When she felt pregnant at the age of fourteen, however,

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Kin realized that he was potentially about to get into

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legal trouble. To avoid the statutory rape charges headed his way,

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Ken demanded that she marry him, but that plan had

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a big snag along the way. Trina was still a

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minor and needed permission from her parents in order to

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get married. Needless to say that, when Trina's parents found

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out that it was Ken McElroy that wanted to marry

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their daughter, they were completely against it. They refused to

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give permission and hoped that this would be the last

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time that they would ever see Ken McElroy ever again.

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But Ken had a way of getting what he wanted,

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and it always came at the cost of those around him.

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Ken snuck his way over to the McLeod household and

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set a fire. The blaze completely demolished the home, but

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to make sure that he was getting his point across,

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Ken shot the family dog for good measure. This was

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their warning and a promise of much more to come

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if they didn't hand over their daughter to Ken. The

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Mclouds reluctantly signed the papers and Trina and Ken were married.

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After that, Trina dropped out of school and went to

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live with Ken and his second wife, Alice, who he

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had to divorce in order to marry Trina. The three

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of them shared a house while they waited for her

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to give birth, and then the women made a daring escape.

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Desperate to get rid of Ken, Alice, and Trina, wrapped

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the newborn baby up and ran away to Trina's family. Unfortunately,

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it didn't take long for Ken to track them down

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and bring them back to his house. After that, he

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waited until Trina's parents were away to go burn their

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house down again and shoot their new dog so they

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wouldn't get any more ideas about helping out their daughter.

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Trina then went to the police and told them what

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Kin had done to her and to her family. He

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was charged with arson assault and statutory rape, but then

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was released on a twenty five hundred dollars bail. Instead

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of focusing on his defense, Ki n left that bit

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to his lawyer and set his sights on tracking down

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Trina and her baby, who had been placed into foster

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care in an attempt to protect them from Ken, and

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somehow Ken managed to track them down again. He began

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sitting outside the foster home that had taken Trina in

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for hours at a time, and at least one occasion

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approached the home to speak with her foster parents. He

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told them that he was willing to make a trade.

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Girl for girl were the words that he used, and

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then he went on to explain that he knew who

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their daughter was and what way she came home from school.

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Quote hand Trina and the baby over, or I'll go

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after your daughter was the warning, but the foster parents

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daringly refused and filed charges against Ken instead. This did

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not deter Ken, however, he had over two decades of

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getting away with things behind him that bolstered his confidence

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and had taught him that he could get away with

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just about anything. He eventually managed to somehow wrangle Trina

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out of the system and back into his home, but

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by then he was also dealing with even more charges.

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On July twenty seventh, nineteen seventy six, local farmer Romayne

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Henry approached Ken about shooting weapons on Roman's property. Instead

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of being apologetic, however, Kin did the unthinkable and shot

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him twice in the stomach with a shotgun. Romayne miraculously

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survived the attack and filed charges against Ken. Ken, of

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course denied everything and used the time in between court

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dates to sit outside Romayne's property and tried to intimidate him.

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Ken was spotted there at least one hundred times. Romayne, however,

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held strong, but in an unbelievable twist in the case,

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Ken's lawyer, Richard Jen McFadden, revealed Romayne's criminal history. He

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had a petty conviction from about thirty years ago, and

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somehow this piece of information was enough to ruin his

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reputation with the jury and acquit. Kin had literally just

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gotten away with a tempted murder and this was not

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something he was going to forget anytime soon. Four years later,

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with the next generation of burgeoning criminals growing up fast,

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one of Kin's children got into an argument with the

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store clerk after trying to steal some candy. In retaliation,

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Kin began stalking the bowen Camps, the family who owned

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the store. The tensions between the two families reached their

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peak when Kin confronted seventy year old Ernest Bowencamp with

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a shotgun behind the store. During the struggle that followed,

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Ernest was shot in the neck. By some miracle, he

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survived the attack and was able to tell his story.

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Ken was arrested and charged with the tempted murder yet again,

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But the town of Skidmore had been down this road before.

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The attempt on Ernest's life was a turning point. Almost

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every member of the community had tried to stand up

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to Kin at some point in time, and most of

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them had filed charges against him that had gone absolutely nowhere.

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After Ken was released on bail again, he went to

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a local bar with a rifle equipped with a bayonet

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and began drinking. The more he drank, the more he

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bragged about the punishment he would dole out to Ernest Bohencamp.

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The community knew that Ken meant business. They organized a

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meeting with the local sheriff to ask for advice on

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what could legally be done to stop Kin's rampage. The

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sheriff suggested that the community form a neighborhood watch and

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advised against directly confronting Ken. The sheriff then did something

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rarely seen in cases like this one. He got in

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his police cruiser and drove straight out of town. He

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did this knowing that the men sitting in that meeting

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that day had just received word that Ken was already

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out drinking in the pub. Could the sheriff have known

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what was about to happen? Was there any way that

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he possibly didn't know? And was there any one in

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the small community of Skidmore who would find him at

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fault for walking away that day after the meeting with

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the sheriff. Around fifty members of Skidmore's community made their

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way over to the local bar. Ken was already fully

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drunk and up to his eyeballs with liquid confidence. He

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bought another six pack of beer before ordering Trina out

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to his pickup truck. Ken followed behind her and got

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into the driver's seat. Perhaps he'd already noticed the angry

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glares of the townspeople that had been sent his way.

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Maybe he was still too confident in himself and his

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lawyer to think anything would actually come of them. Several

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shots filled the air of the parking lot that day,

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only two of which actually hit Ken, but those two

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were enough to kill him. Trina remained unharmed in the

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passenger seat of the truck, and despite there being around

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fifty witnesses there on the scene, no one had seen anything.

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Nobody called for an ambulance, and nobody tried to help Ken.

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Ken had just been killed in broad daylight, but even

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the DA didn't feel the need to press charges. He

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was buried in the Memorial Park cemetery, and Trina settled

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a wrongful death case against several members of the community

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out of court for seventeen thousand six hundred dollars. They

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were fathers and grandfathers on the street and skidmore that day.

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Trooper Richard Stratton later said, ordinary hardworking people. They did

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what they did because we didn't do our job. Then

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they went home and kept their mouths shut and kept

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them closed all these years. That is ten minute murder

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for today, brief and bingeable true crime. My name is Joe.

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I'm the host, and thank you for taking the time

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to listen. If you are a new listener to the podcast,

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make sure you hit subscribe right now. Do it now

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so that you don't forget, and you will more easily

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catch up on all the back episodes when you become

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a subscriber, and you'll see all the new ones when

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they come out as well. In this case, man, I'm

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conflicted about this one. I do not like vigilante justice.

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I'm saying that from a perspective of someone that's never

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had to entertain the thought of doing it myself, so

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I can't really speak with any type of experience on this.

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As a general rule, I don't like vigilanting justice. However,

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it feels like he got what he deserved, but also

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that's not the way to do things. You get what

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I'm saying. I mean, I get it, but I don't

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get it, but I also get it. Hey, if you

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want to get in touch with me, Joe at ten

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minute murder dot com is my email address. Website is

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ten minute murder dot com and that's going to do it.

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That's your episode for today. Thank you so much for

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listening to ten Minute Murder.

Ken McElroy: The Bully Who Met His Match

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