Doomed to Fail

Ep 19 - Part 2: You're the worst - Ken McElroy

Episode Summary

Picture it - the worst person you know is finally in a corner. Everyone you know agrees that this person needs to go - what do you do? This week's re-release we are accusing an entire town of murder and also letting them go with a warning.

Episode Notes

Picture it - the worst person you know is finally in a corner. Everyone you know agrees that this person needs to go - what do you do?

This week's re-release we are accusing an entire town of murder and also letting them go with a warning. 

Episode Transcription

Hi Friends! Our transcripts aren't perfect, but I wanted to make sure you had something - if you'd like an edited transcript, I'd be happy to prioritize one for you - please email doomedtofailpod@gmail.com - Thanks! - Taylor

 

hello Taylor from Doom to fail today

we're be relasing episode 19 part two on

Ken mroy meroy um he was the town bully

all around jerk to humans and animals

alike and one day they had enough and

someone shot him but the whole town

won't tell who so um yeah don't be a

jerk I mean don't kill people but also

don't be a jerk um lots of lessons in

this one so um if you have any questions

or ideas we're at doomed to Filip pod

gmail.com we're on spring break so we

are re-releasing some of our past

episodes hope you enjoy thanks in a

matter of the people of State of

California versus orthal James Simpson

case number ba09 and so my fellow

Americans ask not what your country can

do for you ask what you can do for your

[Music]

country

side of the equation so we're GNA we're

going to discuss AI again in this bit so

I thought I'd do today's episode on a

topic kind of similar to last week which

touched on a True Crime theme that seems

kind of rare which is crimes and people

that were glad things H bad things

happened to kind of like last week yeah

okay that makes sense with March yeah so

I kind of discussed this to like where

you know where people have a tendency to

Rize the dead and say that they're

people are amazing once they die when we

all know that that's just not always

true and there are some cases where

people just like tickled pink that

somebody was killed and think that they

got their Just Desserts so I will say

that these stories are kind of tough to

find because very few people are eager

to celebrate publicly the death of other

people right it's just not considered

like it's considered UNC I would say

yeah so I scoured the internet and kept

trying to find these stories and I had a

hard time so I went to our AI friend

Chad gbt oh and I asked the question

quote what are some situations where

people were glad someone was murdered

and here's what the AI replied with

quote as an AI language model it is not

appropriate or ethical to provide

examples of situations where people were

are glad someone was murdered

celebrating or justifying The Taking of

a human life goes against fundamental

principles of respect for human dignity

and the value of human life yeah murder

is a serious crime that should never be

condoned or celebrated regardless of the

circumstances it is important to promote

peace Justice and nonviolent solutions

to conflict I felt like I was getting

lectured sheesh yeah it's judging you

you're on a list I'm definitely on a

list

now

how elaborate is that it's really it's

so funny but it's also like it's kind of

gross because it's like this weird

response of like the Dignity of human

it's like are we really that sad that

Bin Laden's dead like do we really not

think that all human life is really

equally valuable no of course it's not

yeah it's just like this weird response

that I don't know it's t deaf at the

very least I but I definitely definitely

am on a list now so so anyways finding

info on people the world is glad is dead

it's it was kind of hard to do but I did

find two stories I thought were

basically that and they all had they

both had one centralized red flag which

was don't be a dick and if you are

consistently a dick to enough people

expect people to kill you so I'm not

going to do both stories today I'm going

to do one of them and I'm putting the

other one in the back pocket to use

another time uh but I'm going to start

with a story of a man named Ken rex mroy

have you heard that name before I know

story about this topic I don't know if

it's the one that you're going to do but

I don't want to say anything so you just

go okay it probably is okay it's a very

famous story okay so Ken was murdered in

1981 at the age of 47 and to say people

were thrilled to see him go would be an

understatement so Ken lived in Skidmore

Missouri which is a small farming town

that is only known for Ken's murder and

for What's called the punkin show not

pumpkin punkin show which S I mean I

researched this a little bit it's kind

of like a festival there's like tractor

PS there it's like a it's like a county

fair but even like smaller and more

isolated than that are there are there

pumpkins can you bring one there's there

was no pictures of

pumpkins it looked like it was a it

looks like a thing where you just go

there and eat funnel cake and watch like

tractor poles which I don't even know

what a tractor pole is I don't either

but I know what funnel cake is and I

like funnel cake funnel Cake's great

what don't they call them elephant ears

too yeah I think like New Jersey they

call that yeah right yeah so uh going

back to Ken sorry Sidetrack Ken's

childhood is basically what you would

expect he had 15 siblings and so his

parents did what they could yeah they

these people hated protection oh my God

they really really hated protection

that's hilarious but like obviously when

you have 16 children total CU K's one of

them and he had 15 siblings he kind of

just raised himself yeah totally and and

by virtual raising yourself you become

kind of a small time criminal yeah Ken

would have 21 charges brought up against

him for basically just various stealing

of various things in all 21 times the

charges were dropped because the main

witness would be intimidated into not

showing up for court and test playing

against Ken so that was his tactic he

would just do terrible things and then

intimidate the people they could

actually put him in jail for doing those

Terrible Things amazing how many people

are in the town I don't no I should look

that up I'm going to look that up right

now population of Skidmore so as of 2020

it was 1400 so back then probably a

thousand give or take oh yeah that's

real small and like most of them are his

siblings yeah most yeah he's related to

most of them yeah like 10% of the city

is the

siblings so and also his progeny so as

Ken grew up he was kind of a womanizer

which I don't even know how that works

when you're this scummy

mhm so Ken had 10 kids with various

women e yeah all he does is steal [ __ ]

and he's having like he would want to

have his kids it's the weirdest thing he

ended up marrying a woman named Trina or

Tren I think it's

Trina who she'll become important later

on in the story I read the following and

decided to just quote it directly

because I literally had no other way to

paraphrase this

description this is describing Trina

okay quote they met when she was 12

years old he raped Trina repeatedly her

parents initially opposed the

relationship but after Ken burned their

house down and shot the family dog they

begrudgingly agree to the marriage end

quote I think it's more begrudging that

just throws me a loop like what are you

talking about like oh my gosh who are

these people it says I'm not I'm not it

literally says they be grudgingly agreed

to the marriage after he raped her

burned down their house and shot the

family dog which will be a theme by the

way oh my God yeah begrudging I can see

I can see them being begrudged by that

yeah oh that that's a little a little

inconvenient yes

Jesus so it's like the equivalent of

like a traffic jam is basically how

they're describing It Anyways okay so

Trina gets pregnant at 14 years old oh

my God and at this time mind you Ken's

already married to a woman named Alice

and then Trina comes and lives with Ken

and Alice and Ken marries Trina at this

time because she's pregnant and it is

the only way he can avoid statutory rape

charges so he tells his wife honey I'm

sorry we got to bring this child into

the marriage and and I need to divorce

you and marry her so I don't go to jail

for statutory raping this 14 like who

are these people like I doubt he said

I'm sorry definitely not say I'm

sorry I'm like who are these people like

oh my God awful so at one point the two

girls Alice and

Trina have to flee Ken's house this is

like right after she gives birth I think

it was like a week after she gives birth

their kid because he turns to like a

violent raging alcoholic [ __ ] and

Trina's like let's leave Alice let's run

to my parents house so they leave Ken's

house to go to Trina's parents house not

joking once again Ken goes over there

burns the house down and shoots the new

family dog oh

no oh my God this town sounds like

everybody in it shared like a tooth oh

my god um so there are various other

stories here that if I were to go

through them it would literally take a

lifetime basically this guy was a piece

of [ __ ] he he he treated shooting people

shooting people's dogs and burning

houses down like it was a game of

dingdong ditch like it was nothing to

him like he walked around they would

they would constantly talk about how he

would just drive around town and he have

his arm slung out of the the side of his

truck holding a gun like just waiting

for a reason to shoot people like it was

crazy and nobody and you ever go to jail

because you just shoot you if you if you

if you ttif fighted against him oh my

God people shouldn't have guns I'm G to

say that again keep going yeah I wrote I

wrote down his prank like his act his

way of pranking people basically just

like shoot you in the knees like it was

the craziest thing so there's countless

stories of people in town who had the

exact same experience that Trina and her

parents had but it all kind of escalates

in 1980 when one of Ken's kids like a

young kid like not an adult R like he

was still a child got into an argument

with someone at a grocery store in town

owned by a 70-year-old man named Ernest

Bo camp

Rowan Camp apparently this kid stole

something because of course he did

because he's inny yeah he's not gonna be

a good kid no yeah like it so like I

said like these these kids like they're

not doing Dennis the Menace type things

they're doing like Damen from The Omen

type things yeah and because his kid was

also a piece of [ __ ] Ken gets pissed off

at this owner of this Market Ernest and

his wife Lois this is a 70-year-old

couple

right he's mad at them because his son s

something this is a type of person that

I hates he's such a p [ __ ] so he starts

constantly threatening them that's his

like again the guy doesn't have a job

right all he does is Right shoot people

in the knees so at one point he actually

shoots Ernest in his store in the neck

oh my God this 70y old man somehow he

survives he survives and in this case he

actually was arrested and then released

on bail and being the person that he is

he immediately goes to Local Tavern with

his gun and starts openly threatening

Ernest that I'm gonna kill this guy like

you know he just oh my god really

talking about this yeah he I wrote down

it's hilarious because like he's pissed

that he shot Ernest in the neck got

arrested for it and he's upset at nnest

about this turn of

events crazy how

there's no I can't make any logic out of

that that makes no sense yeah yeah so

the people at the tavern really didn't

like this because a Ken has done this to

a lot of people in town he's just a

horrible piece of [ __ ] and then there's

this sweet 70-year-old couple who owns a

local market and they basically decide

one morning that the town is just going

to come together at I forgot what it was

it was like some meeting spot and and

the goal was let's just figure out what

we're going to do about Ken apparently

the sheriff is there too and he's just

like trying to like appease people he's

like guys don't get involved in this

like just whatever so he's the sheriff's

trying to chill people out saying like

wink wink probably gonna go to jail yeah

exactly he's trying to but he also

doesn't do anything to stop anyone he

like drives out of town after this

meeting during the meeting that the town

folks are having somewhere Ken and his

wife Trina go to the Local Tavern for

some drinks people in the meeting find

out that Ken was there and the citizens

decide let's all go to the tavern mhm

from what I could gather it wasn't

obvious that Ken understood what was

going on like it seemed like he was just

kind of drinking and then the bar just

filled with people but like nobody was

like surrounding him or anything it was

just like let's all just be there you

know right so Ken leaves the bar he gets

in his truck and it is there that he is

shot twice well there's a lot of bulls

was flying but he actually shot twice by

two different caliber

weapons in total 46 people witness the

shooting including Trina who was in the

truck with Ken when the firing started

or the shooting started and Trina

identifies a gunman but was countered by

46 other people who said they didn't do

it or they didn't see anybody who did it

is kind of now agreed upon that the

person Trina identified is probably the

person who started the shooting MH it's

assumed it's a guy named Dell Clement

and probably his brother who killed him

but it doesn't seem like they did it

because Ken's a jerk it kind of seems

like they did it because it was a

business move for them so Dell and his

brother owned that Tavern that bar in

town the only bar in town and apparently

anytime Ken came into that bar which he

came in a lot people left because nobody

want to be around him he's a jerk off I

bet and so

it wasn't thought of as like oh this was

in retaliation for being the biggest

jerk in town it was like no I got to

kill this guy because he's driving away

my customers I got I gota like get rid

yeah because he's the biggest jerk in

town well yeah okay yeah expo Expo facto

yeah I think I said that

right so what what's interesting is a

lot of these people like these Town

folks I mean this happened in like ' 81

right yeah a lot of these people like

are dead nobody said anything that like

on their deathbed so it was it was

presumed Dell's going to like confess

this like obvious obviously all these

people died of psorasis psorosis of the

liver so like it was a slow death nobody

was like being killed in car ACX since

but nobody said anything it was all

assuming like Dell on his death but it's

be like yeah whatever it was me Su me

nothing nothing nobody's talking about

this I did read in one um in one it was

like a forum where this guy who said he

was like 12 years old at the time uhuh

commented saying I was there my mom took

me down there and we all know who did it

and I know who did it and I'm also not

like it was I don't know it's like it's

it's like the the claim to fame this

town is killing of this one guy so

nobody wants to talk about it yeah

because the da wouldn't press charges

yeah the FBI actually investigated

because the FBI was like guys we can't

have vigilante justice like somebody

should do something about this and still

nobody went to jail for it because it

just seems like in general the entire

town was happy that this guy was dead

it's funny I read this part this is so

human Ken Ken was buried obviously in

his Tombstone reads this is incredible

quote beloved Ken Brave Fearless

compassionate end quote and they left

off the [ __ ] child rapist and Elder

abuser part where he shot a 7-year-old

man in the neck and raped a 12-year-old

it's just like why none of those things

he was none of those why would you rate

that

yeah chat Chad gbt sitting there

lecturing me on like the the Dignity of

human life it's like come on like so

ridiculous Trina in her defense she sued

the city I don't get this woman it

sounds like Ken was the worst thing that

ever happened to her but she like still

wanted to like make something out of

this she sued the city and the sheriff

for $5 million again the town wait no

this is Skidmore Texas I looked up as

1400 what's Skidmore Missouri

oh my God Taylor what guess how many

people are in Skidmore Missouri as of

2021 500

225 no dude that means Ken and his

family probably back then were

legitimately 10 to 20% of the Town

that's crazy let's Zillow it yeah you

you could probably be the richest person

in Skidmore

Missouri I mean is it even possible they

have Zillow there Skidmore there's one

house for sale for

$49,000 two bedrooms one bath 681 square

feet oh God it's

broken it's broken yeah this house this

house is broken yes it is windows are

broken it needs to be torn down oh my

God wait let's see if they have condos

and town homes there yeah that's a tear

down wow um there's nothing for rent you

can't move there yeah it's like two it's

like one big street and then like a

bunch of small streets it's very small

wait I'm going to Yelp and see if they

have a diner there I bet the diner got

to be really good is that bar still open

let's find out Skidmore

[Music]

Missouri Google along with us friends oh

wow they have a place it's called Good

Time Charlies nice let's look at the

they don't it 97 Stars I'm on their

Facebook oh it's CL great service

waitress was so friendly and

accommodating clean restaurant awesome

tender loins definitely going back Tina

loves it oh four years ago it's it it's

sold it's sold yeah everything was just

purchased in the restaurant there's

nothing left the building is for sale

you can buy the building for

$59,000 wow well so okay so Factor all

this that in when I tell you this that

Trina sued the city for $5 million oh my

God they don't have million like what on

Earth are you thinking yeah and

eventually they settled at 177,000 so

yeah she ended up moving away she ended

up uh getting remarried and dying at the

age of 55 probably of like lung cancer

because of course I don't mean to be

like this but we get the kind of people

we're talking about here so are they how

how are how are the children Ken's 12

children or 10 I don't know let's find

out what happened to Ken's children Ken

Rex mroy

children they they all have to be on

death row probably right right I mean I

can't imagine that there aren't a bunch

of them in jail gosh with Good Time

Charlie's being closed like what else do

they have

there nothing you just go there to die

I'm sure there's other places you can go

I mean my Town's very small but still oh

one place called The Pub Jeffrey manag

to locate one person is talking about

Jeff who's one of Ken's

kids I worked with him at uh school for

behavioral problems for children because

of of course he is an absolutely amazing

man he is smart attractive sweet caring

and has a bigger heart than anyone I've

ever met he is patient kind and very I

mean all right maybe maybe some of them

turn out okay I mean there's a lot of

them some of got turned out kind of okay

he taught me a lot about life I mean

Janetta are you a real person Janetta P

Linsky are you like for real that sounds

a little fake you're you're not wrong

yeah I feel like you're like is it is it

Jeff who's writing

this what is going fundraiser by Jan Oh

my God who the [ __ ] is this my

30-year-old cousin was found dead today

his father passed away and his mother is

in a nursing home she can't afford to

have a funeral cream of the body he's an

only child please help if you can okay

man now you're just getting sad how do

these people all know each other it's

weird how they just like combine forces

and like good Lord anyways that's um it

can't looks awful oh there's a picture

of Ken with a dog please yeah I mean he

probably took that dog out and summarily

killed it right after the picture was

taken wow that's all so far in the story

he killed two family dogs and burn down

two family homes so like he's not doing

good Wella so there's been other bad

things in Skidmore there's a boy in 200

one a

20-year-old that

disappeared and they can't they couldn't

find him there's something weird in like

a but possibly he was connected to a

pedophile Boy Scout leader who was like

being someone on the internet that he

wasn't so that guy's gone and then the

third thing

happened in oh I think someone this is

some I recent someone cut a baby out of

someone's womb and tried to steal it in

Skidmore really yeah wait there's a

website called The Curse of Skidmore oh

God that's wild yeah skidmore's Skidmore

is like a haunted place it sounds like

it is it doesn't seem good I kind of

want to go there now I know we should

buy the whole town did you see the new

Texas Chainsaw Bas where they try to buy

the town yes like that you would

absolutely there would absolutely be too

many Confederate flags and you would get

murdered I would get Mur you would be

fine I would maybe be fine but I'd have

to like hide my personality wow hold on

in on October 16th 2000 Greg Dru beat

and strangled his girlfriend Wendy

gillenwater on the day of her death he

beat her brutally tied her to his truck

and dragged her up and down the road in

skidor Jesus only like one Road in

Skidmore that's terrible and then in

2001 Branson Perry disappeared he was 20

at the time of his disappearance there

are rumors that he was involved in

methan of course of course he was

involved in methan

then another person Bobby Joe was killed

that's the one that's the one who got

her baby ripped out of her oh God so

terrible yeah steal stole her baby

because she faked a pregnancy well yeah

I mean all the time in the news I feel

like like that's

crazy look anytime you fake a pregnancy

the story arc ends with you cutting a

fetus out of a pregnant woman yeah it

end I don't know I don't know how else

it could possibly end yeah Jesse James

was killed there really yeah we need to

go to Skidmore Taylor I'm afraid what is

going on there I don't want to like I

don't know that's that's too much too

much stuff G it's like G it is like da

yeah almost

exactly all righty well that was our

story there was there was a lot of

Googling on this show on this episode so

we hope that you weren't driving when

you were listening to it so that you

could Google along

um with my editing skills you're never

going to even know oh nice yeah that's

wild I I've heard that story before and

I love that just like people were like

no this guy had to go and at least they

like there's enough sane people at least

a little bit in that town to be like we

can't put up with this anymore and he's

a piece of [ __ ] celebrating or

justifying The Taking of a human life

goes against fundamental principles of

respect for human dignity and the value

of human life he had no respect for

human life you know he was shooting

man yeah don't you lecture me chat

gbt what a

farce um anyways yeah that's a story

that's crazy well thank you I'm glad

that we talked about that and I

definitely want to hear the other one

sometime that you found you will

definitely know the other one I

will I'm not gonna start goog I don't

want to be on the list that you're on so

I'm not going to Google

that so funny yeah super fun I'm excited

that I went a little bit further back

this time I'm trying to find stuff

that's like even further back I got some

stuff in the hopper that's like also

like during like Katherine the Great

American Revolution time but I want to

go further back more so let me know if

you have any ideas anyone because

there's so many cool stories that

happened and if you know somebody that

should be killed let us know one of my

friends she was from Virginia in in

college and she I think her Grandpa was

killed like by the town and no one would

ever tell them what happened was he a

jerk off he must have been like she was

like her like her mom was like I just

want to know what happened to my dad and

the town was like

nope and we were like why would anyone

tell you and she was like she kind of

like brushed it off and we were like

what like what are you talking about

like that makes no sense like I need to

hear more about the story but like she

didn't know anymore so I wonder what

that one was it does feel like a Texas

thing you know yeah like I could see

that happening and for like most of

History

that was probably fine you know like the

hats and M kill each other all the time

you know what I mean like people kill

each other all the time like whatever I

still think it's fine yeah so I feel

like only recently they'd be like all

right everyone I love the sheriff's

leaving town being like I'm GNA go to

the store I'll be back I see nothing I

see back in a few hours um hope nothing

bad happens while I'm gone yeah yeah

that's one way to remove all

accountability for yourself is just dip

to leave good for him all righty Taylor

well that is our stories for today I

will go ahead oh do you want to give any

shout outs or do anything uh no I just

want to say thank you for everyone who's

following us please continue to follow

us um I'm posting Snippets now on

Instagram that I learned how to make

those are fun so share those and then

far as we need to talk about actual

advertising I know we will get we will

we will we definitely need to get to

that talk to your business friends when

you're in Ireland yes all my friends are

business people they all have briefcases

you have a lot of business friends talk

to them it's Jeff Dunn and Dana Sak in

Dana's a business Dana's A A salesperson

what does she know about podcast

advertising talk to your business

friends I bet they know someone okay

talk sweet thanks okay bye stop

recording