The Bizarre Events of Skidmore, Missouri

People have been talking about the town bully of Skidmore, Missouri for years. Skidmore is a very small town located in Nodaway County. I live in the midwest and I'm still learning about this town that's been rumored to be cursed and as such, has received a lot of national attention. Some people may believe that Skidmore is cursed.

Ken Rex McElroy

The country has many cases defined as bizarre, horrific, and unsolved. What makes Skidmore stand out was the vigilante form of killing of Ken Rex McElroy who was labeled as the town bully. If you study his history, you might be inclined to agree.

There were multiple witnesses who saw him get killed and no one came forward. Several shots were fired. Two shots from separate firearms killed him.

McElroy had been indicted for several charges including rape, but he had escaped being brought to justice for years for his actions. On one occasion, he had been indicted for shooting a man in the neck. He was released on bond which infuriated the town. He had appealed the indictment and before the hearing occurred, he was killed. On July 10, 1981, McElroy entered his truck after leaving a local bar. His wife was also in the truck. Shots began to fire. The town bully was dead.

No one stepped forward to cooperate. The residents wouldn't even help the FBI. McElroy's wife, Trena McCloud who eventually remarried, witnessed the murder. She wasn't successful in bringing his killer(s) to justice. She wasn't successful in her $5 million lawsuit against the town of Skidmore either. She ended up settling for $17,600. It's believed the town got away with murder, but many were satisfied that he was dead. Of interest, his grave marker states he was "brave, fearless, and compassionate." I don't think "compassionate" is a fitting description of this man.

Wendy Gillenwater

Death in Skidmore didn't end with McElroy. On October 16, 2000, Greg Dragoo violently killed his girlfriend, Wendy Gillenwater. Dragoo was charged with murder and is serving a life sentence at the Western Missouri Correctional Center in Cameron, Missouri.

Branson Perry

On April 11, 2001, Branson Perry just disappeared. There were rumors associated with some kind of drug involvement. The law enforcement believed the person(s) who caused Perry's disappearance were from Skidmore. But just like McElroy's case, no one knows what happened to Perry and he's been missing for 20 years. He had allegedly gone out to a shed to put jumper cables away and never returned. His case remains open.

Bobbie Jo Stinnett

A haunting occurrence that made national news was the death of Bobbie Jo Stinnett who was 8 months pregnant when she was murdered on December 16, 2004. She wasn't just murdered, her killer also cut her baby from its womb. Interestingly, Stinnett was also a cousin to Perry.

Fortunately, the baby was safely found safe in Topeka, Kansas, and returned to the father. The killer, Lisa Montgomery, was indicted and sentenced to death that occurred on January 13, 2021, by lethal injection.

Stories about Skidmore's history have inspired movies. In 1991, the release of the movie, In Broad Daylight, was based on a true crime book about McElroy. His murder continues to be unsolved but the terror he caused people who lived in Nodaway County might still be fresh.

In 2005, another movie, Without Mercy, about Ken McElroy under the horror genre was released. So the McElroy story has been kept alive for decades which continues to keep the shadow over Skidmore alive.

In 2019, a documentary crime series about the events described above in Skidmore were highlighted.

"Below the Fold"

A fictionalized movie, titled Below the Fold, based on the effects of these stories about Skidmore has some interesting history behind the story. The film focuses on a missing young girl named Susie Potter from Skidmore. A decade passes and two reporters come across some information associated with the missing girl.

Clayton Scott is the writer, director, and producer of the film. Scott grew up in northwest Missouri so he pulled from that experience to help make the movie.

"Branson Perry was a big influence," Scott said, referring to the disappearance of Branson Perry, the 20-year-old who disappeared without a trace in 2001. I remember growing up seeing billboards of his and over time seeing it fading. It was such a haunting, striking image that was hard to forget."

There are less than 300 people who reside in Skidmore. According to Scott, a part of the film was shot in Skidmore to show its "darkness."

"The aura of that town is almost a character upon itself. "It seeps into the performances. It seeps into the cinematography, the sound design," Scott said. "It affected every aspect of the film. It has a sense of foreboding and dread within it."

Beyond the Fold depicts a dark part of rural America. According to Rue-Morgue, the movie's "greatest success is what the film is able to achieve in terms of mood and tone, a perfect storm of setting, performances, and camerawork." Currently, the movie is available on some on-demand platforms. The movie was intended to premier in 2020 at the Kansas City Film Fest but due to the pandemic, Scott decided to wait. In April 2021, it was screened by the Panic Fest horror-thriller film festival and shown at a theater in North Kansas City, Missouri.

Sources: KQ2.com; IMDb; Bustle; Rue Morgue