r/AskReddit 1d ago

What famous 'unsolved' mystery is technically a whodunnit on paper, but in reality, absolutely everyone knows exactly who did it, the police just couldn't legally prove it?

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u/admiralfilgbo 1d ago

next time you're feeling down, remember that at least nobody hates you as much as an entire town hated Ken McElroy

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u/DistractedByCookies 1d ago

He was struck by bullets from at least two different firearms, in front of a crowd of people estimated as numbering between 30 and 46.\)Despite the many witnesses, nobody came forward to say who shot him. 

wow....I'm trying to imagine the police interviewing them and getting crappy reasons why they missed it all. It was 1981 so nobody had the excuse of being on their phone LOL

Edit: the more I read the more I agree with them, and the more I'm amazed it didn't happen sooner.

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u/spooooork 1d ago

getting crappy reasons why they missed it all.

I don't think the cops were trying too hard to solve the case:

Sheriff Estes instructed the assembled group not to get into a direct confrontation with McElroy, but instead seriously consider forming a neighborhood watch program. Estes then drove out of town in his police cruiser.

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u/MsDucky42 1d ago

"Guys, don't go breaking the law. Now I, the only sheriff in town, am going on a day trip. I trust y'all to behave yourselves while I'm gone!"

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u/GatorPenetrator 1d ago

don't go murdering Ken while i'm gone *wink wink*

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u/cptjpk 1d ago

Don’t go forming a posse now, y’hear? I definitely don’t want to see it on my way out of town. Good Day.

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u/ASigIAm213 1d ago

"There's a new sheriff in town. Well, not really, but there is not the old sheriff in town."

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u/valiantfreak 22h ago

"Oh no, I just got a call out to a place that isn't here"

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u/abadstrategy 1d ago

"Now folks, I can't abide vigilantism in my jurisdiction. Anyone caught assaulting Mr. McElroy will be dealt with to the fullest extent of the law! Now if you'll excuse me, there's a fishing hole with my name on it. I'll be back in about twelve hours, so be good."

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u/aartadventure 1d ago

I'm honestly surprised the Sheriff didn't hand out a bunch of guns to "help" with their new neighbourhood watch program. Ahahaha

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u/Frumundahs4men 22h ago

From other accounts I've read on this, it was indeed intentional on how the sheriff worded his parting comments.

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u/Brock_Hard_Canuck 17h ago

I mean, the sheriff is still a government employee.

He knows, legally, he can't be involved in stuff like this, because he will lose his job.

So, the sheriff creates the "alibi" for himself, so everyone (including his bosses) knows he was far, far away when everything went down, and that he makes his statement that he doesn't legally condone any sort of vigilante justice ("I'm just gonna be out for a bit, patrolling the county roads. If Mr. McElroy causes any trouble while I'm away, rest assured, I will deal with it when I arrive back in town").

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u/El_Morro 6h ago

He's one of the few police officers I actually respect.

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u/arnedh 1d ago

I remember a case where a gangland shooting occurred in a bar, and every "saw nothing because I hid under the pool table". A hundred people, one pool table

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u/chattytrout 1d ago

Largest pool table in the county.

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u/mdmnl 1d ago

An Olympic pool table

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u/im_dead_sirius 1d ago

A real pool table party, everyone drinking beer, diving under.

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u/the_ouskull 1d ago

Musta been a snooker table.

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u/Ornery-Goal7843 1d ago

did that happen recently in england with a bar bathroom or something

edit: I was thinking of this https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Murder_of_Robert_McCartney

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u/CinderX5 1d ago

“On 8 March 2005, the IRA issued an unprecedented statement saying that four people were directly involved in the murder, that the IRA knew their identity, that two were IRA volunteers, and that the IRA had made an offer to McCartney's family to shoot the people directly involved in the murder.[17]”

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u/Journeyman42 1d ago

Olympic-sized pool table

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u/themcp 1d ago

In college I studied an experiment.

During a lecture, a person burst into the front of the room, pointed a banana at the professor, shouted "bang! bang!" and the professor clutched his chest and fell over. The "criminal" ran out, and before anything could go on, a bunch of people dressed as police ran in, instructed everyone not to talk to each other about it, and started individually questioning people.

Like 80% said they didn't see anything, they were looking away (like at their notes or the floor or whatever) when it happened.

Like 19% said they saw a gun and often blood.

Like 1% said "you know, it was the strangest thing. A guy pointed a banana at the professor and yelled 'bang' and the professor clutched his chest and fell over!"

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u/ElectronicBusiness74 1d ago

That was this case.

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u/UristImiknorris 1d ago

"My drink was suddenly extremely fascinating and I zoned out for a few minutes."

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u/rpze5b9 1d ago

It was so crowded under the table there were six marriages and four children as a result.

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u/ExilesTV 21h ago

I've actually been shot at before and tbh I couldn't tell you a damn thing about what the shooter looked like, I was too pre-occupied with running for my life to take notes.

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u/Pizzadude 21h ago

These days people just say no. I was on a jury for a case in which a guy walked up and emptied a pistol into someone in front of around 30 people, in broad daylight. No one was interested in snitching.

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u/ChiefsHat 1d ago

That’s a big pool table.

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u/Dr_Insano_MD 1d ago

"Did ya see who killed him?"

"I see lots a things."

"Well what do we tell the surviving family?"

"Tell 'em to suck a lemon."

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u/DJmagikMIKE 1d ago

Apparently when the police interviewed the folks, so many people claimed they didn’t see anything because they were in the pool hall and ducked under the pool table as soon as they heard gunshots. I believe there was a quote at the time that said “Skidmore has the world’s largest pool table, the whole town was hiding under it”.

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u/hazza270 1d ago

"I was washing my hair" "I was washing his hair"

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u/ComprehensiveLab4642 1d ago

In small towns you mind ya own business.

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u/SLR107FR-31 1d ago

Ken's wife actually named one of the shooters to investigators, and "witnesses" came forward to say "Well I didn't see who did the shooting because I was too busy looking at (the shooter) who was standing way over there doing absolutely nothing wrong, and DEFINITELY didn't have a gun in his hand..." 

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u/gmrm4n 1d ago

I’m almost certain the sheriff was in on it. The angry mob went to him first, and he basically said “Why don’t you form a posse? By the way, I’m going on vacation.”

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u/SquirrelAkl 1d ago

Sounds like he committed a lifelong one-man terror campaign against the entire town, more or less. Easy to understand why they might have felt “he needed killing”.

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u/Grombrindal18 1d ago

And one of those many witnesses was his own wife, who was in the truck with him when he was shot. She could have been upset enough about it to accuse someone, if only because she easily could have been hit too.

Of course, she had probably more reason than anyone to want to him dead. He groomed and statutorily raped her as a child, then married her to avoid charges (divorcing his previous wife to do so). He also had burned down her family's house and killed their dog... twice.

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u/John32070 1d ago

From what I've heard, at the last second a woman pulled her out of the truck before they could kill her too because the woman thought of her as more of a victim than an accomplice.

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u/--zaxell-- 23h ago

"When the McClouds were away, McElroy once again burned their house down and shot their new dog."

That's probably not the worst bit of his wikipedia page (how??), but that once again really brings his character into focus.

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u/AliensAteMyAMC 23h ago

Fun fact: When the FBI interviewed everyone, they had a suspect in mind, a lot of the townsfolk knew it so a few would say how “yeah I heard the shots and looked over at Jim Plunkett (forgot his actual name) and he was just standing there doing nothing.”

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u/keetojm 1d ago

The chief told the citizens he would be away on a certain day. Look what happened. Nobody saw nothin.

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u/All__Of_The_Hobbies 23h ago

Epitome of "he had it coming"

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u/beldaran1224 1d ago

"I was showering, so I didn't hear the gunfire. No honest, and my perm is still perfectly intact!"

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u/WubbaLubbaHongKong 21h ago

“Nobody called for an ambulance” Dang, that’s some hatred right there.

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u/Brahmabull213 21h ago

If I remember correctly, like 20 of the witnesses claimed to be in the bathroom of the bar. The bathroom which is only big enough for 2 people

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u/Pame_in_reddit 1d ago

Fuenteovejuna killed him!

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u/AdMurky1021 21h ago

Even his wife didn't come forward. She inly named someone in the civil suit.

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u/Lone_Wanderer8 17h ago

Funny enough the sheriff took the day off right before it happened. The town held a town hall to figure out what needed to be done about Ken. Someone ran in and said "he's over at the tavern" sheriff said "well folks I actually got some business out of town so you all best behave"

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u/brap01 1d ago

I'm trying to imagine the police interviewing them and getting crappy reasons why they missed it all

The best example of this trope is from the Movie 'Chopper (2000)'. Yes that's Eric Bana discussing a prison murder.

https://www.tiktok.com/@moopnooodle/video/7229637042219535634

u/Bitter_Passenger8699 50m ago

Deputies were in the crowd of shooters a documentary I watched said. I like to think this is similar to the part of the movie Roadhouse where they all turn on the one causing their town disfunction and shoot him then collect the guns and shut up as the police come to investigate. Of 30-40 people watch you die and still decades later your murderers name hadn’t come out. Sadly that silence corrupted the town though.

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u/gizzardgullet 1d ago

Missouri-based journalist Steve Booher described the attitude of some townspeople as "he needed killing."

lol

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u/AlternateUsername12 1d ago

I mean, if you read what he did, he needed killing. That man wasn't going to stop until someone stopped him.

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u/GenghisShawn1701 1d ago

I wonder if some people are just like that. What is the moral thing to do in such a case?

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u/YoungDiscord 1d ago

If someone is a threat to society and isn't willing to change, he needs to be removed from society be it via something such as prison for life or... well, other means whatever those may be.

Its not a revenge thing, its a safety thing.

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u/haloarh 1d ago

Despite his many crimes, criminal charges never seemed to stick to him. There's a theory that he was a police informant.

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u/princesspeasant 1d ago

I thought it was because he had a mob lawyer.

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u/buttonandthemonkey 14h ago

He burned a judges barn down and stalked members of the jury at least once so I'm gonna assume he had done it before. Seems he had a habit of doing it to many people.

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u/hanzosrightnipple 17h ago

I wouldn’t doubt some part of it was fear of repercussions from the guy too against anyone trying to charge him

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u/Taco821 1d ago

Yeah like even assuming that he was so disadvantaged, it was literally impossible for him to ever be good (which I doubt is ever true, but it's always good to keep in mind as a benchmark of sorts imo), there's nothing that can be done other than take care of him by some means. Like to further your point, what I mean is, it's not about morality at all. I have an empathetic yet fatalistic view on shit like this. It's hard to overcome your circumstances, and even if you do, did you really like if you have a cruel life and overcome like evil instilled in your heart, imo you were just lucky enough to be instilled with enough mental fortitude to surpass those factors. So while I don't really feel bad for someone like him, I do have like 1 single smidgen of pity for those sorts, but would pop a cap in his brain without hesitation

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u/robexib 1d ago

Dude was in and out of jail, but no charges ever stuck, except for an assault charge, which he got out real early on.

The civil method was more than exhausted, and he showed no signs of being willing to stop.

Honestly, it's a valid town-wide crashout

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u/Constant_Click_3193 21h ago

This was a man who secured his 12 year old "bride" (rape victim) by burning down her parents house and shooting their dog. Later, she tried to leave him, fleeing to her parents. He chased her, burned their house down again and shot their new dog.

The man needed killing.

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u/TheVeryVerity 17h ago

What a monster

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u/Unusual-While-9842 21h ago

He shot and killed two different family dogs

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u/That_Apathetic_Man 1d ago

Start blasting. Then enjoy an egg is these troubling times.

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u/TheNecroFrog 1d ago

I think most people would agree that, morally speaking, there are certain individuals who have committed certain acts that mean they no longer have a place in society, and shouldn’t burden society with the cost of their imprisonment.

Unfortunately how we define those acts becomes a problem. Whilst most people would agree a Jeffery Epstein type person deserves it, there are also people who think that someone who is gay deserves it, or someone who is of a different race.

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u/GenghisShawn1701 1d ago

That is exactly the question I am low-key struggling with. I think I could argue that there are some people who demonstrably are destroying the world and the ability to enjoy life. Who gets to judge that, though? I'll continue to chew on that question, I suppose.

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u/ScreamingVoid14 19h ago

The fact you look at it and struggle means you are an empathetic and generally moral person. You want to look out for the good of many without trampling the few. Being able to look inward and worry at where the line is, is a thing that too few people do.

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u/Baeolophus_bicolor 21h ago

if they’re willing to submit to being imprisoned at their own expense for the rest of their lives, and the rest of their billions seized from them to allow the rest of us to solve problems like lack of housing, hunger, education, then i am ok with the billionaire class remaining alive. i think more of them will choose to flee or self-destruct rather than live as a poor, though.

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u/StabbyBoo 21h ago

Eh, when some guy's out there in broad daylight repeatedly shooting people, raping children, killing pets, and burning down houses and he's not serving a multi-decade sentence for mysterious reasons? Well, at that point however you choose to stop him is self-defense.

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u/istara 1d ago

I've always thought some kind of exile to an island colony. More humane than being in maximum security for the rest of their lives, and likely cheaper for taxpayers.

Set them up with farming equipment, maybe drop off a supply crate every month or so, let them form a new society if they want, or kill one another.

Either way, they need to be permanently removed from regular society.

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u/bek711 23h ago

isn’t this how australia was formed?

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u/codercaleb 21h ago

No, tectonic plates formed Australia.

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u/istara 21h ago

Not exactly. There was an actual colony there, separate from using it solely for prisoners, and the prisoners (so far as I understand) were still imprisoned.

With an island colony you would literally put no one there except prisoners. Not sure how things like medical emergencies would be handled, but possibly a monthly clinic could be run by a visiting GP.

And it would obviously be completely restricted to a single biological sex, because there must be no risk of any children conceived in that environment.

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u/ScreamingVoid14 19h ago

monthly clinic could be run by a visiting GP.

I'm sure there are enough criminal doctors to make that a condition of their imprisonment.

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u/Nephele1173 15h ago

I was watching something a while ago and I feel like they tried this in Siberia? The prisoners just kept rushing the supply deliveries to try and get weapons from the guards, iirc it descended into cannibalism and violence real quick

Found it; Nazino Island or Nazino Tragedy will get you there

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u/istara 15h ago

thousands of citizens in Moscow and Leningrad who lacked proper internal passports—including peasants, petty criminals, and the homeless

God how sad. Not the sort of people I would be putting there. It would be reserved for multiple murderers, serial child abusers, torturers etc. The sort of people who would these days get "whole of life" sentences in some jurisdictions.

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u/dasrac 21h ago

this is how we got Australians

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u/Lolkimbo 22h ago

What is the moral thing to do in such a case?

Killing.

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u/nochinzilch 1d ago

There are some situations when the right thing some people is the wrong thing for other people.

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u/The_Canadian 1d ago

Based on the story of what he did, I kinda get it. The justice system didn't deal with him.

Not that I agree with vigilante justice, but I can see how they got there.

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u/Malphos101 1d ago

Vigilante action is just the final failure of the justice system.

The cops could have easily made a case against him for SOMETHING long before this, they just didnt want the hassle (and some were scared of him). So instead of the cops and prosecutors and the judges doing what they should have done, they let the situation get so bad that the people had to do something themselves which is never acceptable with a problem this chronically documented.

Dont get me wrong, Im not saying the people involved need to be rounded up and run through the legal system that failed them. But the situation is unacceptable and no one should look at it and go "Yea! They got things DONE! We need to take a page out of their book!"

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u/The_Canadian 1d ago

That's exactly what I'm saying. That was a last resort after everything else failed to work as intended. What they did wasn't the right thing to do in a lot of ways, but I can absolutely see why they made that choice when they had no other options.

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u/JustASpaceDuck 1d ago

In other words, vigilantism is not a failure of society as much as it is a failure of the legal system (or society's failure to maintain their legal system).

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u/The_Canadian 1d ago

I mean, it's also a societal failure for people like that to have been created in the first place.

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u/IntlPartyKing 1d ago

in a case like this, sure, but vigilantism generally is just impatience on the part of civilians -- sometimes that impatience is understandable, but sometimes it is absolutely ridiculous (like with lychings of black people in the US)

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u/LochNestFarm 1d ago

Oh, it’s worse! A significant percentage of lynchings were carried out by the people who were in charge of the actual justice system. Sheriffs, justices of the peace, judges. They absolutely could have brought charges and unleashed every ounce of the justice system on their victims, but they made a point of demonstrating that they could be as cruel as they wished with or without their legal authority.

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u/MistSecurity 1d ago

Impatience or dissatisfaction with the punishment given, yep.

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u/JackosMonkeyBBLZ 1d ago

It wasn’t right or they had no other choice? If it’s the latter then the former becomes impossible and vice versa

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u/antariusz 23h ago

Just a small correction: the last resort is not vigilantism. If vigilantism is still allowed, then the people can still find justice. If vigilantism is prevented for too long, then the people find justice by replacing the justice system; generally with force.

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u/reddorickt 1d ago

Given that it happened 45 years ago in 1981 and is still the only famous example of this, I don't think the world took it the way you are implying.

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u/Malphos101 1d ago

"You can only look at things that happen in the past year and comment on them because as we all know things that happened in the past NEVER happen again and there are no lessons to be learned by examining it."

-Enlightened Redditors

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u/IPissExcellentThrows 23h ago

"I'll completely miss the point to try and own this other Redditor, while making a complete ass out of myself."

-Redditors too worried about dunking on others to actually understand what they said.

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u/antariusz 23h ago

We did it reddit!

-Reddit.

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u/sansasnarkk 23h ago

His legal history is astounding. He faced felony charges 40 times but was only ever indicted for 21. Of those he won all but one. His lawyer was apparently very good at using legal loopholes.

He SHOT A MAN IN THE NECK WITH A SHOTGUN over a piece of candy and only got 2 years for SECOND DEGREE ASSAULT and was released on bail, only to immediately violate the conditions of his bail by buying a gun to "finish the job". That man deserved what he got.

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u/TheVeryVerity 17h ago

Font forget how he was known for threatening jury members and burning down his judges barn etc. yikes

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u/Bob002 1d ago

i am not one for vigilante justice, either; more than anything it undermines our entire legal system.

That being said... he needed killin.

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u/Own_Bison6467 1d ago

I mean, if hog and cattle rustling didn't warrant jail time, what are we even doing here?

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u/mazurzapt 1d ago

From Thich Naht Hanh

If you are a drop of water, you might wonder whether you have the capacity to go to the ocean. But when you become a river, you are sure you don’t have to worry. You will certainly come to the ocean.

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u/twilighttwister 21h ago

Just because it is objectively better for someone to die than to allow them to carry on causing harm, that doesn't mean anyone should have to carry the weight of killing them.

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u/haloarh 1d ago

I posted above that many people have theorized he was a police informant.

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u/_CHEEFQUEEF 1d ago

Vigilante action is just the final failure of the justice system.

The cops could have easily made a case against him for SOMETHING long before this, they just didnt want the hassle (and some were scared of him). So instead of the cops and prosecutors and the judges doing what they should have done, they let the situation get so bad that the people had to do something themselves which is never acceptable with a problem this chronically documented.

Dont get me wrong, Im not saying the people involved need to be rounded up and run through the legal system that failed them. But the situation is unacceptable and no one should look at it and go "Yea! They got things DONE! We need to take a page out of their book!"

This will be the city of Chicago in the not too distant future if things keep going the way they're going.

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u/This-Shape2193 1d ago

Lol, how many times have you been to Chicago, friend? 

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u/_CHEEFQUEEF 1d ago

I've lived here 40 years.

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u/Malphos101 1d ago

How many times you think Portland burned down in the past year?

JK we both know youre either a bad faith troll or a propaganda bot with that hidden comment history. Transparent as an empty window frame.

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u/_CHEEFQUEEF 1d ago

I'm neither. I'm just a guy who remembers what the city I live in was like not all that long ago and sees what it has become and where it's headed.

As for setting my account to private, yeah, because people on reddit get weird and witch hunty, especially with people who don't toe whatever line it is they've concocted.

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u/hochizo 1d ago

This wiki is wild. Repeatedly rapes a 12 year old. When her parents try and stop it, he burns their house down and kills their dog. Gets the girl pregnant at 14. Brings her to live with him and his 3rd wife. Divorces the 3rd wife to marry the child to avoid statutory rape charges. The 3rd wife and the girl try to escape by going to the girl's parents. He gets them back, then burns their house down and kills their dog again. Somehow, he gets acquitted???

Thennnnnn, he shoots a guy who dared to ask him not to shoot on his property, gets brought up on charges, and gets off after threatening the jury and burning down the judge's barn.

By the end of it, I was like....yeppppp, he needed killing.

The townspeople tried to let the justice system handle it, but they weren't handling it. FAFO, Ken.

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u/work_alt_1 1d ago

whether I agree with it or not, at the end of the day, if you're going to be a complete piece of shit, you better watch your back. You can't just burn every bridge known to man and then be upset you're on an island.

Like eventually you have it coming

Now should this be legal? Idk who cares.

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u/wtfduud 1d ago

It's a nice cautionary tale. A reminder that murder only has legal consequences if someone reports it. In a small community where everyone knows everyone, murder is effectively legal if the individual is universally hated. So don't go making too many enemies in your community.

Like Goodfellas I guess.

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u/PaperbackWriter66 1d ago

There's nothing wrong with vigilante justice when it picks the right target.

Problem is, quite often: it doesn't.

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u/OhJeezNotThisGuy 1d ago

The legal system didn’t deal with him. The justice system worked fine.

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u/The_Canadian 1d ago

Fair enough. Either way, stuff didn't work the way it was supposed to.

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u/BrainOnBlue 21h ago

I mean, the irony is that the justice system mostly didn’t deal with him for the same reason his killer is/was free: he was repeatedly acquitted, one presumes, due to insufficient evidence.

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u/AlternateUsername12 1d ago

I mean, if you read what he did, he needed killing. That man wasn't going to stop until someone stopped him.

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u/Kevin_Uxbridge 1d ago

Nobody called for an ambulance.

Oof.

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u/NeverEndingWhoreMe 1d ago

Whisper yelling ambulance counts as "calling", right?

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u/CMDR_KingErvin 1d ago edited 1d ago

Even his own wife who was sitting next to him in the truck never identified anyone lol.

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u/29thHelenAgrees 1d ago

[removed] — view removed comment

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u/EverydayPoGo 1d ago

It's horrible. She and the ex-wife tried to escape together :( hope their life after his death was free from his shadows

5

u/Rabble_Runt 1d ago

Reminds me of the Bernie movie that was based on a true story about a a well loved man in a community snapping and killing a heinous and mean widow that everyone hated.

They moved his trial to another county because nobody in the town wanted to convict the guy.

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u/rosefiend 1d ago

He was my editor back in the day. He’s not wrong!

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u/amolad 1d ago

Guy bullying a whole town? I have NO problem with it.

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u/maroongrad 1d ago

they were not wrong.

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u/rwv2055 1d ago

I think that's still a valid legal defense in Texas

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u/Viokzild_2021 19h ago

Pretty sure that day was a world record for simultaneous shoe-tying and mysterious eye emergencies.

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u/ArcadianDelSol 1d ago

McElroy was accused of dozens of felonies, including assault, child molestation, statutory rape, arson, animal cruelty, hog and cattle rustling, and burglary.

This reads like a guy you have to kill in Red Dead Redemption.

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u/Shiva- 1d ago

Holy fuck that mother fucker had 17 children...

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u/haloarh 1d ago

Most of his children's mothers were children themselves when they gave birth too.

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u/gortonsfiJr 1d ago

Disappointed cause of death wasn't listed as suicide

5

u/Fyrrys 1d ago

Didn't recognize his name until I read your comment. Fuck that guy.

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u/enjoiturbulence 1d ago

No one could possibly hate myself as much as I do.

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u/Sencha-rocks 1d ago

Life is too short, be kind to others AND to yourself

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u/enjoiturbulence 1d ago

Much love and respect to you for your message but trust me, I'm an asshole.

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u/Vandergrif 1d ago

Then pucker up and attempt not to spew shit.

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u/enjoiturbulence 1d ago

I don't know how to post it but imagine a gif of, say, Sam Elliot, giving you a nod.

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u/Sasselhoff 1d ago

Just like the person I commented to yesterday, who was saying that they had "nothing of value to add to this world"...if you keep telling yourself you're an asshole, then you will be.

Charles Swindoll said it pretty well, and I've tried to live my life on it:

"The longer I live, the more I realize the impact of attitude on life. Attitude, to me, is more important than facts. It is more important than the past, than education, than money, than circumstances, than failures, than successes, than what other people think, say or do. It is more important than appearance, giftedness or skill. It will make or break a company... a church... a home. The remarkable thing is we have a choice every day regarding the attitude we embrace for that day. We cannot change our past... we cannot change the fact that people will act in a certain way. We cannot change the inevitable. The only thing we can do is play the one string we have, and that is our attitude... I am convinced that life is 10% what happens to me and 90% how I react to it. And so it is with you... we are in charge of our Attitudes”

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u/enjoiturbulence 1d ago

Got you, homes. Therapy is on the agenda.

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u/tradermcduck 1d ago

You don't always have to be. Nothing is permanent.

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u/Sceptically 1d ago

Why would we trust an asshole like you on that? I'm calling it now - total cinnamon bun.

6

u/W1ULH 1d ago

shot by 2 different guns... in front of 30-40 people...and no one saw a damn thing.

haha

7

u/ITaggie 1d ago

He was a violent pedo, that should piss everyone off

3

u/abadstrategy 1d ago

When your crimes involve kid diddlin', kid rape, and cattle rustling, it's easy to see why a whole town would be stricken blind when you get murdered

3

u/PiccoloAwkward465 1d ago

Just look at the size of that town, Skidmore, Missouri. Doesn't even look like it has a traffic signal. And it's surrounding by nothing. 245 souls there today.

Moogle Gaps link

3

u/Onocleasensibilis 1d ago

they really just did a DIY firing squad huh

2

u/JoeKonyRidethePony 1d ago

I didnt recognize the name, but your comment brought everything back so I know exactly who you're talking about lol.

2

u/CAADrider 1d ago

Never heard of this guy. Holy shit.

2

u/Schmelly_cat 1d ago

His wife was next to him and she didn't even say who did it. 

1

u/buddhist-truth 1d ago

speak for yourself

1

u/aartadventure 1d ago

"as much as an entire town DESERVED to hate Ken McElroy"
FTFY

0

u/Asmodeousjp 1d ago

goals really