In Broad Daylight: A murder in Skidmore, Missouri

by Harry N. MacLean

Book Overview

Ken Rex McElroy was an illiterate hog farmer who lived on the outskirts of a small town in Northwest Missouri. For over twenty years he raped, robbed and burned almost at will. Cops were scared to arrest him, prosecutors were scared to prosecute him, judges were scared to judge him, and juries were scared to convict him. Over the years, Skidmore and many other small communities became convinced that the law was incapable of protecting them from...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1087800080
• ISBN13: 9781087800080
• Release Date: April 2021
• Publisher: Harry N. MacLean
• Length: 452 Pages
• Weight: 1.10 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.0" x 5.3" x 8.0"

Customer Reviews

Worth reading

I have seen the TV serious of this & it happened the year I was born & it’s an 1 & 24 minutes from where I live. There was a also another killing in Skidmore MO back in the 90’s. It was bobbie jo stinnett.

Love it!

Love it

Great book!

this is one of my favorite movies, and books as well, Brian Dennhey is the perfect fit for this film, and i have read it many times, i finally ordered the hard back , still love this book today,

Dangerous thoughts and ideas

The book is well written, which would get it a 5 star rating from me even if it didn't examine a fundamental paradox of civilization without actually saying so. A modern town, full of generally law-abiding citizens is forced to live with the kinds of fears law was created to protect them from. When the laws turned backward on themselves and became an instrument of the only person in the community who ignored the law completely, the law abiders all became accessories to a remedy forbidden by their own laws. Afterward, the machinery of justice finally cranked up and spent an enormous amount of energy trying to make these reluctant lawbreakers pay for the crime of doing what the law was hired to do, and failed. If you believe the machinery of justice is the friend to the common citizen, you don't want to read this book. If you have a crack-house the police `can't do anything about' operating in the abandoned house down the block from you, you don't want to read this book. If your wife or daughter is being stalked by some guy who has a history of rape or homicide, but the police can't stop him, don't read this book. If there's a guy in your neighborhood who's been in prison for child molesting, you definitely don't want to read this book. Probably no one should read this book.

In Broad Daylight

I live within 50 miles of Skidmore, Mo. I was 12 years old when the shooting happened.I remember watching scenes from Skidmore on Channel 2 news out of St. Joseph Mo the day of the shooting. The book tells the story quite well. If you have a picturesque mind, what you imagine as you read is how the town really looks. I have friends from Skidmore that were affected by Ken Rex one way or another and to this day if they know who did it they don't say a word. That's what makes rural America different from the big city. Justice will be done using the civil system or your own.

Interesting reading

I have visited Skidmore on numerous occasions since the book was first published, slowly driving up and down the streets, picturing what happened, how, why, etc. Despite the rumors of McElroy murdering people, he was never charged much less convicted for murdering anyone, nor was he ever found guilty of rape.I'll admit, he's no saint and deserved a jail cell, but I'm sorry I cannot condone a town killing a man in cold blood.What I find interesting to this day is that nobody from Skidmore has talked....nadda, nothing. MacLean certainly gives a lot of detail and brings you full circle; however, I would have liked to have seen his thoughts on who committed the killing.

Gripping

I was appalled to say the least that someone like Ken can run around terrorizing everybody and everything in his path. He stopped at nothing. He may have been a loving husband, and a good father, but he was a terrible uncaring person to live in the same town with. I have read hundreds of true crime books, but this was a definate page turner, not one paragraph did I skip.

Rivetting account of much more than its title suggests.

Open to any of many (mostly short) chapters, and you won't want to stop. If you think that heroes, terrorists, and ordinary people are interesting only on the grand scale or in the big city, this book could change your mind. The event described in the title had a fascinating build-up. The author tells this true story crisply but with an appropriate longer-term perspective and great empathy for the cast of characters.