Justice or Murder? The Ken Rex McElroy Story cover art

Justice or Murder? The Ken Rex McElroy Story

Justice or Murder? The Ken Rex McElroy Story

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Welcome legends to your Research and True Crime Episode!

Skidmore, Missouri is the kind of town you’d usually drive through without ever taking off your sunglasses. One main street, a couple of brick buildings, fields on every side.

And in 1981, that quiet little dot on the map did something unthinkable.

In broad daylight, in the middle of Main Street, the town bully Ken Rex McElroy was shot to death while sitting in his red pickup truck.
Dozens of people were there.
No one “saw” who did it.
No one was ever charged.

What you’ll hear in this one

In this story, I walk you through:

  • Who McElroy was, and how one man could hold an entire town in fear for years

  • The shooting of an elderly grocer that should have put him away

  • The tense town meeting at the Legion Hall, where people quietly realised the law wasn’t going to save them

  • The slow, silent walk down Main Street

  • The red truck, the gunshots, and the instant, perfect wall of “I didn’t see a thing”

And because this is Stories Fables Ghostly Tales, we thread it all through one extra chill:

A teenager with a camera.
One photo taken seconds before the shots.
And a strange shape caught in the truck’s window…

Maybe it’s a trick of the light.
Maybe it’s guilt.
Maybe it’s the moment a whole town becomes something it can’t easily explain.

This one isn’t about jump scares or gore.
It’s about fear, power, and what people do when they’ve run out of “proper” options.

If tiny towns, unsolved justice, and the feeling that something is still standing on that empty street at night gets under your skin…

WHAT would you have done mates....let Ken rule your town even though he's almost taken a life? Tell me your thoughts...

Hit play...and...
Welcome to Skidmore.

Pictures of the man and the town:

A black-and-white portrait of Ken Rex McElroy.

Main Street, Skidmore

  • A current-day photo of Skidmore’s main drag: cracked road, small storefronts, flat Midwestern horizon. Great for getting the “tiny, worn farm town” feel.

Gratefully yours....Here's to more True Crime Stories legends!

Your Tale Teller! 💜💜💜💜💜💜

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