As we bring in a New Year, grateful for the blessings we’ve had in this tough year and hoping for better in the new, I am reminded of an intriguing article that was in the paper a couple weeks back about the residents of the small town of Skidmore, Missouri and how this month marks for them 30 years of an entirely different kind of holiday cheer.
One little known casualty of the Republican sweep in November was Democrat David Baird of Nodaway County, MO who, after a tenure of more than two decades, lost his bid for reelection as county prosecutor by only 25 votes. The reason the defeat of this small town lawyer made the New York Times and various other papers was because of a notorious killing from 30 years ago that remains unsolved as Mr. Baird leaves office.
This is hardly the first time in 30 years that Baird and this little farming town north of Kansas City have made the national news. There have not only been numerous newspaper accounts of the shocking crime but also cover stories in major magazines, books, even a tv movie! Not only was the case thoroughly investigated by the major crimes units of Nodaway and Missouri State law enforcement, but also the FBI and three grand jury hearings. Everyone knows who did it; of the 342 residents of Skidmore, 60 of them witnessed the shooting. Yet in 30 years, there has been no trial, there have been no arrests. For three decades, Baird has been trying to make an arrest, but no avail.
The killing of Ken Rex McElroy in broad daylight on the open streets of downtown Skidmore on July 10, 1981 was one of David Baird’s first cases as a newly minted law grad and recently hired investigator for the prosecutor’s office, and the only one he’s never solved. I have deliberately not used the word "murder." Murder is, after all, a legal term defined as "the unlawful taking of a life." It seems that for thirty years there have been a great many people not only in Skidmore but around the world who believe this killing was not unlawful at all but a case of justifiable homicide if ever there was one.
I first learned of the case during a vacation in 1982 fresh out of grad school myself visiting Tim in New York. One day he tossed a copy of Rolling Stone in my direction and told me I might be interested in the cover story, that it might make a good screenplay. I read it and was instantly intrigued. 18 months earlier, an entire town had ganged up on this guy McElroy and gunned him down in broad daylight. McElroy, it seemed, had been a notorious bully who had terrorized the town of Skidmore for years. He had chronically come into town threatening to shoot people with his rifle, harassed women, stolen, vandalized and even shot the local grocer with a shotgun. For years he had on average been arrested and put on trial at least three times each year, each time acquitted, as there was no jury they could find that would convict unless they could be sure to put him away for life. Otherwise, they feared he’d be coming after them when he got out, more reminiscent of the Wild West than of a modern midwestern town.
This was a blatant case of a total failure on the part of the courts and law enforcement to protect a community from a thug. After years of putting up with this farce, the residents of Skidmore finally decided they had no choice but to take matters into their own hands. So on that fateful July morning in 1981, the entire town of 342 conspired to rid themselves of this monster. As he drove into town just as he had done every day for years, they cornered his vehicle and started blasting away. Nobody knows how many people were actually doing the shooting. We do know that at least 60 witnessed the incident. In 30 years, not one of these 60 has been willing to name the shooter or shooters, and not one of the 342 has been willing to cooperate with the authorities. So, sometime in the next couple weeks, David Baird leaves the office he’s held for an entire career, still unable to make an arrest, and probably not sure that he’d make an arrest even if he did know. The people of Skidmore will make sure neither he nor anyone ever does know.
The Rolling Stone article was definitely sympathetic towards the townspeople, making a strong case that their actions were justified given the total failure of law enforcement to protect them. About ten years later, 60 Minutes did a story about the incident and, much to my surprise, took the opposite point of view, sympathy for the victim and victim’s family and portraying the killing as an outright act of vigilantism. I haven’t read the book or seen the movie so I don’t know what tack they take.
There is one thing of which I’m fairly certain. For thirty years, the residents of Skidmore have been at peace and have known something the rest of us have always taken for granted, the ability to leave one’s house and take a walk without fear. For thirty years, it’s been a very different kind of holiday cheer for them. They’ve had thirty Christmases and thirty New Years knowing their loved ones are safe, but this has all come at the terrible cost of harboring this awful secret, a secret I’m sure they’ll take to their graves. I don’t know about the rest of you but, knowing their story, it certainly makes me appreciate the kind of holiday cheer that all of us have always been able to enjoy. Rather than wishing everyone a happy New Year, maybe it’s more appropriate to do something different this year. Here’s wishing everyone a safe year and thankful for small problems.
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