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Vigilante Justice and the Small Town Bully – A Crime That Shocked America

Khalid Elhassan December 7, 2024 13 min

McElroy - Ken Rex McElroy, as depicted in film — Ken Rex McElroy, as depicted in film. Pinterest

3. A Media Firestorm

McElroy - Trena McElroy with her stepson, Ken McElroy Jr, and an unidentified man, after Ken Rex McElroy's funeral — Trena McElroy with her stepson, Ken McElroy Jr, and an unidentified man, after Ken Rex McElroy’s funeral. Maryville Daily Forum

The media, print, radio, and TV, along with hordes of the merely curious and morbid, descended upon tiny Skidmore. The event would eventually be narrated in a New York Times bestseller, and made into a Hollywood movie. The story was not so much about the killing, but about an entire town that refused to talk, and continued to stay mum and keep the secret for decades since and into the present. Aside from local and state investigations, the FBI conducted more than 100 interviews. State and federal grand juries were convened. Other than McElroy’s wife Trena, however, nobody was inclined to say anything, and her testimony, absent corroboration from anybody else, was deemed too weak by prosecutors.

Written by

Khalid Elhassan

A lifelong history buff, I developed a particular passion for WW2 history as a child, when I spent hours listening to my grandfather, enraptured, as he recounted his wartime experiences in the British East African Campaign and with the British 8th Army in North Africa.

I graduated with a history BA from George Mason University, then went on to get a JD from the University of Virginia School of Law. After lawyering for a decade, I moved to sunny Rio de Janeiro and a less demanding career, opening a tourism agency in Copacabana.

A big chunk of my free time is spent blogging (you can follow me on Quora https://www.quora.com/profile/Khalid-Elhassan ) or freelance writing, mostly about my favorite subject, history.