Born on June 16, 1934, Ken Rex McElroy was one of 16 children of migrant tenant farmers who eventually settled outside the rural community of Skidmore, Missouri.

A high school dropout, McElroy turned to petty crime as a teen. He also married three times by his 30th birthday. His fourth and final wife, Trena McLoud, became pregnant with their first child at age 14. When her parents objected to their relationship, he burned their house and killed their dogs.

Over the years, McElroy went from being known as the town bully to being suspected or accused of dozens of crimes, including theft, livestock rustling, burglary, arson, assault with intent to kill, rape, and child molestation.

The choice to stage McElroy's story as a one-actor, multi-character show struck the right notes for the collaborators. After all, the solo format emphasizes McElroy as an outlier, on one hand. It also makes for sly commentary about the fact that one person can contain multitudes — the good, the bad, and the predatory.

While he was charged nearly two dozen times, McElroy — who stood around 6’2” — managed to skate free or avoid serious punishment. One reason is because McElroy intimidated his accusers, law enforcement, jury members, and judges with the threat of violence or worse. He burned people’s property and killed pets to scare them.

McElroy was also able to sidestep justice thanks to Richard McFadin, a slick defense lawyer in his corner. “McFadin used every trick in the book to get McElroy acquitted on the many charges against him, and he took great satisfaction in his successes,” true-crime author Harry N. MacLean wrote in his book In Broad Daylight.

McElroy’s story comes to light on stage as a different lawyer, Nodaway County District Attorney David Baird, relates it to an FBI agent. Holden plays the two men and others with shifts in posture, cadence, and accent. The who’s who on stage includes McElroy, of course, plus McFadin, a local DJ, a bar employee, and McLoud, who begins the play (with a 911 call when her husband is shot) and ends it (with an indictment of the Skidmore residents).

In 1980, McElroy shot Bo Bowenkamp, a 70-year-old town grocer, in the neck following a months-old dispute over an accusation about a piece of stolen candy.

Bowencamp lived, and McElroy was arrested, charged with attempted murder, convicted of assault, and sentenced to two years but freed on bail pending appeal. Back in Skidmore in June 1981, McElroy threatened the grocer publicly while armed. On the morning of July 10, 1981, a few dozen Skidmore townsfolk gathered to discuss what to do about McElroy.

That afternoon, McElroy and McLoud pulled up to the D&G Tavern, a local bar, where the crowd of over 30 people surrounded his truck on Skidmore’s main street. He was shot at several times and hit twice. McElroy died, but McLoud was unharmed.

Despite an FBI probe into the shooting death, witnesses claimed they saw nothing. McLoud named one person as a possible gunman, but no one could — or would — identify who fired the shots.

McElroy’s disturbing story has been told in books, documentaries, and podcasts — and now on stage. The question of whodunnit in McElroy's murder remains a mystery. The question of why is clearer, but unsettling nonetheless.

Get Kenrex tickets now.