Comments on: In Broad Daylight: New Details on a Classic Case

By: Ken Jr.

Ken Jr. — Wed, 23 Sep 2009 03:42:25 +0000

They murdered my father, that is all that needs to be said – they MURDERED HIM!

By: Miss Watts

Miss Watts — Sun, 16 Aug 2009 19:43:16 +0000

I am not going to be politically correct nor am I writing this to be impressive, this is just the bottom line of what I think about this hog farmer named Ken Rex McElroy.

What the town of Skidmore had to do to rid themselves of the actions of an evil man should not be judged. The members of that town were correct in their actions.
When the law cannot protect the citizens of an entire community, and surrounding areas, then the community this evil man lived in had to take care of each other and end his reign of terror. They needed to take care of each other.

For the sake of his wife and all of his children, it had to be done. Imagine that if this was what McElroy did to the members of the community he lived in, can you imagine what his wife, the women who bore his children, had to endure?

If it is said he was a good father, the man did not respect his family enough to end his reign of terror the moment his first child was born and become a respectable man in his community.

For the sake of the young women he abused and beaten, leaving them traumatized for the rest of their lives, it had to be done.

For the sake of every member of Skidmore and surrounding area that he terrified, property he robbed, burnt and raided, it needed to end.

For the sake of the dogs, I imagine he had a hard hand when he disciplined and trained them. And every animal he abused and killed inhumanely during his life…

For a community to live in such fear and terror for so many years, it had to end. If ending it meant they had to raise a shotgun and stop the life of McElroy behind the wheel of his truck…

…so be it.

By: Bud

Bud — Thu, 22 Jan 2009 19:40:26 +0000

This was by far the best movie I have ever seen. I will always have it in my collection. Very powerful stuff.

By: James L. Feagin

James L. Feagin — Tue, 23 Dec 2008 19:00:47 +0000

America I believe has the best laws and justice system in the world, bar none. I believe that the justice system should be used in every extream situation to maintain a peaceful and orderly country and community. However our laws were still made from men however great of leaders they were then. Humans are not perfect.
Therefore there are those times when our law enforcement officers do fall short of our expectations in extream circumstances and something needs to be done outside of our legal system. Just like the Richard Biine charater in the old TV show Have Gun Will Travel. He told the new young lawer about such circumstances (a little differents). He said these words: What do you do when the laws that are suppose to help you are the problem. My friend he said, when common law fails you have no law, no laws except the laws of survival.
However my way that I would have handled it would be to find him out in thee field on his farm somewhere and shoot his knees out andhis pelvis.
That way there would be no murder and he would have never bothered anyone any more. He would still be alvie but a cripp. To my knowledge there is no such thing as a cripple bully. He would still live and be at the mercy of the town. A dose of hi own medicene.

By: Kim

Kim — Fri, 20 Jun 2008 19:25:28 +0000

Ann what I meant about the shooting of your boyfriend, how do you know it was true that Ken shoot him.

By: Kim

Kim — Fri, 20 Jun 2008 19:23:24 +0000

Well from what Ken’s children say he was a damn good dad took care of them always made sure that they had everything that they needed,they also said he was very loving to them. Sometimes people can act different towards others, but yet love and care to others they care about. I dont think that Harry lied about anything in his book. I think the town of Skidmore finally knew it was ok to talk about the story cause they weren’t scared anymore. But Ann did you ever think that maybe your boyfriend could of been making this story up about being shoot? But from what I have heard and know of his children he was a good person in their eyes and he took care of them and that is all that matters in this story. That town was heartless and did not think how much it might hurt people who really did have love for that man.

By: Ann

Ann — Thu, 29 May 2008 16:37:39 +0000

I met Ken when I was about 16 or 17 at a dog and gun trade. When a group of us (about 7 or 8)decided to go, my boyfriend was a bit skiddish and I didn’t know why. He decided not to go with us that day. On the way over, his brother told me that he was afraid Ken McElroy might be there and he didn’t want to run into him. I knew that my boyfriend had been shot in the mouth to keep him from telling the law what he knew about some stealing/burglaries that had happened in the area. What I didn’t know was that Ken was the one who shot him. Anyway, Ken seemed pleasant enough, knew a lot about dogs. He seemed a bit laid back, liked to flash around money, and watched everything going on around him. Of course, when I met him (and I met him a few more times after that), none of the things in Skidmore had happened yet. I was around that area in 1976, 1977 and early 1978. My boyfriend was from Stewardsville but was living in St. Joe at the time. I lived in a small town on 36, a little ways from St. Joe. I moved out of state for a while but came back in the 80s and still live in that same small town. The company I work for is out of St. Joe. I heard from my boyfriend and his brother a lot of stories about Ken and his escapades but the side you saw of him at the dog and gun trades was different. But you could also see that he seemed capable of being that mean and you didn’t want to get on his bad side.

And to the person who says the townspeople should have considered his children before they did what they did, maybe Ken should have considered his children before he did all the things he did. If he had spent more time with his family instead of harassing everyone, maybe none of that would have happened.

By: Donna James

Donna James — Sat, 05 Jan 2008 21:43:21 +0000

This latest version of the book is no more true than the last. It’s just another persons attempt to make money on someone else’s pain. What about all the people’s lives that were shattered by this whole situation, and now he is trying again to capitalize on it. There is no proof that the people he names in his book did half the things it says they did. His sources are less than credible to hang publish unverified and unsubstanciated claims on. And if these people didn’t trust anybody, then why would they give you correct information. You might as well just pulled names out of a phone book, there aren’t that many in such a small town.

By: Joseph Kiess

Joseph Kiess — Sun, 30 Dec 2007 23:30:18 +0000

The real shame in this case is the manner in which the police and judicial system treated McElroy. If they had done their jobs, it would not have been necessary to empoly vigilante justice. But because the authorities wimped out, the towns people had to take matters into their own hands. Now, (persumably) 2 people have to live with this hanging over them for the rest of their lives all because the people that were hired and paid to take care of these matters refused to do so. That is what I think of the police — chicken shits, more concerned with drawing their paychecks than doing their jobs.

By: kim

kim — Sat, 17 Nov 2007 18:48:34 +0000

but i think it was a shame that they took justice into their own hands. i live in a big town and you see this stuff all the time but you don’t see them out killing people for it. i grew up in a town called poplar bluff where that was a part of life to see the poor take up so much hate cause people made fun of them and always accused them of something even if they didn’t do it. so i can see why he grew up to hate the town. sometimes you need to give people a chance.