The fanatically uncompromising
Len Rowan (
Ken Rex McElroy) and his family insult and terrorize the citizens of a small town for years. One day the comment of a saleswoman about Len's son not being able to pay his sweets triggers off his persecution complex. As revenge for the believed insult, the whole family starts stalking the shop owner and her husband
... until this escalates and the old man gets badly injured. Len is arrested, but gets off, free on bail. His clever attorney delays the court session for more than a year - while Rowan keeps threatening the witnesses. But then, the people feel they've had enough of this and decide to take the law in their own hands
In Broad Daylight is a true crime book by award-winning writer
Harry N. MacLean, detailing the killing of town bully Ken Rex McElroy in
1981 in
Skidmore, Missouri. The book won an
Edgar Award for best true crime writing in
1989, was a
New York Times bestseller for 12 weeks and was adapted into a television movie. The book was reissued in
2007 by
St. Martin's Press with a new epilogue.
In Broad Daylight: A
Murder in Skidmore, Missouri details the case of Ken Rex McElroy and his 21-year reign of terror throughout four counties in northwest
Missouri, and the ultimate murder of McElroy, who was shot to death as he sat in his pickup truck on the mainstreet of the town. Although there were more than 45 witnesses to the killing, and three grand juries considered the case, no one has been prosecuted for the killing. McElroy was indicted 21 times and acquitted 20 times for his life of crime - due in large part to the keen legal abilities of his
Kansas City attorney
Richard Gene McFadin.
Author Harry N. MacLean carefully details the background history of McElroy's childhood, early and later life, the endurance of the farmers and victims of McElroy's two decades of crime and terror, the failure of the criminal justice system to even superficially respond to McElroy's crime spree, the
State of Missouri's bemused reaction to McElroy's death, the federal government's sudden interest in pursuing McElroy's death as a civil rights violation, and ultimately the skewed and misinformed coverage of the story by the national and international press and media. Critics have praised MacLean's lyrical depiction of rural, bucolic agricultural life in
America's heartland - contrasted with a methodical and chilling description of the actions, causes and consequences of an ongoing
nightmare of domestic terror.
The book, as well as the movie, chronicles the story of McElroy's crimes, his killing on July 10, 1981, and the alleged cover up by the town of the identity of the killers for more than 30 years.
- published: 22 Dec 2013
- views: 20787