This is How a Town Ganged Up Against a Serial Bully

You saw nothing!

Ken Rex McElroy was a 6-foot, 270 pounds, dark-complexioned, blue-eyed man who lived in Skidmore, Missouri. And his deeds were as daunting as his appearance.

Mr McElroy’s unofficial charge sheet was a parade of criminal activities ranging from petty theft to burglary, rape to child molestation, assault to arson and animal cruelty to several felonies. He was the complete illegal package.

But Ken rarely had to wrestle with the authorities, as people dare not testify against him. Prudence dictated that commoners steered their daughters away from Ken, remain tight-lipped on his animal cruelty, or pretend not to notice his boundless criminal indulgence.

For if Ken had set his eyes on someone, he would tail, torment and trash them. ‘You better not be the recipient of his wrath’ was the code by which the town lived.

Thus, Ken Rex was literally the town bully.

And he had a damn good lawyer on his side, who managed to pull Rex out of trouble, on the rare instances he had to be.

How do you think someone as intimidating and unassailable as Ken could be handled?

The town eventually found an answer.

The Rex-Trina marriage

Rex was a well-known womaniser who had raped and assaulted several women. One day, he cast his evil eyes on the 12-year-old Trina.

The marauding Rex forced himself upon her, leaving the young girl no chance to defend herself. However, her family was not going to turn a blind eye to this brutal rape. Charges were pressed against Rex, and he responded by burning Trina’s house and her dog.

Further, Rex forced the family to sign certain papers that would make Trina his legal wife . This was going to give him immunity against the rape charges.

The stoic resistance faltered away soon, and the family succumbed to his intimidation. The teen girl was now officially the wife of 40-year-old Rex.

Trina was forced to live with Rex and, a couple of years later, even bore his child. She tried to run away with her baby, but Rex tracked her down to her house, killed her new dog and burned her home again.

Rex was arrested for assault, rape and arson but later released on bail.

The candy nemesis

Trina’s baby was among as many as the ten kids Rex had, but who can say for sure how many wives or children he had!

One day, one of his children tried to steal candy from a grocery store owned by Mr Earnest Bowenkamp. The kid was caught red-handed, and the news found its way to Ken.

Rex didn’t like the audacity of the 70-year-old shop owner to accuse his children of stealing. He wasn’t going to let this go. So, Ken took it up as his next mission to make life difficult for the Bowenkamp family, as he stalked and threatened them day in and day out.

The threats culminated in Rex firing at Mr Bowenkamp, which the latter survived, albeit with severe injuries. Charges were pressed against Rex for attempted murder, and he was convicted, but he appealed and released himself on bail while the appeal was still pending.

Rex knew he had unfinished business with the Bowenkamp family. So, as soon as he came out on bail, Rex went to a local bar with a rifle, where he issued vociferous threats to the Bowenkamps.

The defence formation

It was about time someone raised a voice against Ken Rex. The townspeople, under the leadership of Nodaway County Sheriff Dan Estes, came together to protect Bowenkamps. They planned to launch a neighbourhood watch to keep an eye on the Bowenkamp’s safety.

While the meeting was progressing, Ken Rex had just walked into the D&G Tavern with Trina. The news of his arrival at the bar spread among the mass, and for once, they felt confident, for Rex was outnumbered.

As soon as the Sheriff drove out of the town, the rest started moving towards the bar.

The confrontation

Inside the bar, while Rex took a sip out of his beer glass, he felt invincible as usual. Sounds of footsteps- almost like a marching troop filled the entire room, but he didn’t even feel the need to turn back and check, for this was his domain.

But soon, Rex noticed that the gravity of the room was shifting. The bartender appeared tense, and there were too many footsteps approaching for this time of the day.

Rex felt someone standing so close to him, so much so that he could smell him.

He turned back to find almost a room full of determined people, and they all seemed to say — We mean business today. A few of them carried guns and stood close to Rex. He was being challenged.

Rex’s immediate instinct was to lash out at them, but he knew that the numbers were not on his side. Prudence kicked in as Rex walked out of the room, grabbing Trina.

Mighty and intimidating as he might be, Rex always picked his opponents. They were often weak, lone and old people. Today, he was against an army. So, the bully just fled the scene.

We mean business

Rex went outside the bar but, to his dismay, was greeted by a larger set of people. They all looked desperate and charged, staring at Rex. He knew that every moment he stood there was a risk. The bully made hasty moves to his car, pushing his wife to the passenger seat.

Rex fired up the engine, but before he could drive past the menacing gang, a loud gunshot was heard. Trina watched her husband in disbelief as he fell forward and his head hit the steering wheel.

Before she could process what happened, the car doors were swung open, and someone dragged Trina out of the car to safety.

As she was being guided out of the war zone, she turned back to see several residents of the town, all gunned up, walking towards the car from all directions.

For about 20 seconds, Rex was peppered with bullets from all directions. It was the end of a long episode of bullying.

You saw nothing

Nobody felt an iota of regret after killing Rex. There was absolute consensus and unity among the residents on what needed to be done after his death. So, nobody called an ambulance.

Every one of them walked away as if nothing had happened.

There were 46 witnesses in total to this shooting incident, but none of them testified to having witnessed anything, or they didn’t know the shooter.

The official police investigation reached nowhere, thanks to this unity where everyone stood by their initial word: “I didn’t see anything”.

Was Trina happy to have seen Rex dead?

I would think so, but it is worth noticing that she was the only one who claimed to have identified a shooter. However, her statement had no support from other corners, and therefore charges couldn’t be pressed.

Years later, a local was asked about the Rex murder, and he replied: “He needed a killing”.

He did, didn’t he?

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