We will never forget you, Matthew Shepard
October 6, 1998 - Matthew Shepard, a gay student at the University of Wyoming, is kidnapped, beaten, and tied to a fence by two young adults in Laramie, Wyoming.
He dies six days later.
During his senior year in high school, Shepard and three classmates vacationed Morocco. Unable to sleep one night, he visited a local coffeehouse. On the way home, a gang of locals accosted him, raped him six times, and took his shoes. He suffered from depression and thoughts of suicide repeatedly until the end of his life. He feared people.
To compensate, Shepard would sometimes take risks, like walking home alone late a night or befriending total strangers.
In the summer of 1998, he went to a bar in Cody Wyoming, drank heavily, propositioned the bartender, and got punched in the mouth. He left the bar with strangers, passed out, and had flashbacks about Morocco.
Shepard spent the early part of the evening of October 6 attending a meeting of LGBT students. He had dessert with friends at the Village Inn, after which his best friend, Tina Labrie, dropped him off at his home.
At 10:30 PM, Shepard entered the Fireside Bar. (There are no gay bars in Wyoming.) He chatted briefly with bartender Matt Galloway, and ordered a beer. He spent the evening alone, having a beer, a cocktail, and another beer.
At 11:45 PM, Aaron McKinney and Russell Henderson entered the Fireside and ordered a pitcher of beer. McKinney and Henderson had decided to target gay men who came to the bar, kidnapping and robbing them. They would pretend to be gay to win their confidence, then offer the victim a ride home. They intended to then rob their victim's home as well.
At midnight, Shepard, McKinney, and Henderson left the bar. They climbed into a truck (owned by McKinney's father) driven by Henderson. After driving east on Grand Avenue to the outskirts of town, McKinney told Shepard he was being robbed.
The truck came to a stop near a Walmart, and McKinney and Henderson began beating the five-foot-two, 105-pound Shepard. McKinney pulled out a .357 Magnum pistol and pistol-whipped Shepard several times. They also punched and kicked him in the groin multiple times.
Henderson drove south and then went east through a new housing development on what is now Pilot Peak Road. At 12:30 AM, the truck came to a stop at Pilot Peak and Snowy View Roads. (Road names have since changed; the modern names are used here.)
Henderson and McKinney forced Shepard out of the truck, and used a clothesline to tie him to a buck fence. The two men beat Shepard for several minutes, repeatedly hitting him in the head with the butt of the .357 magnum.
After Shepard became unconscious, they took his shoes, credit card, and $20, and headed back to town.
At 12:43 AM, Henderson and McKinney parked in a residential area at E. 7th and E. Harney Streets. McKinney got into a fight with Jeremy Herrera and Emiliano Morales. McKinney pistol-whipped Morales with his .357 Magnum, and Herrera hit McKinney with a stick.
When the police arrived, McKinney and Henderson fled on foot, McKinney tossing the pistol into his dad's truck as he ran past. The police searched McKinney's truck, finding Shepard's credit card and shoes as well as the .357 Magnum (covered in Shepard's blood).
At 1:30 AM, McKinney returned to the mobile home he rented. Covered in blood, he told his girlfiend, Kristen Price, that he'd killed someone.
At 4:25 PM on October 7, Price told one of her friends that McKinney might be charged with attempted murder "for beating some gay guy up."
McKinney was admitted to Ivinson Memorial Hospital at 5 PM with a hairline skull fracture received during his fight with Herrera.
Shortly after 6 PM, University of Wyoming freshman Aaron Kreifels was riding his mountain bike on Pilot Peak Road. He hit something on the dirt road and fell off. As he got up, he thought he saw a scarecrow tied to a buck fence. When he got closer, he realized it was a human being. Kreifels cycled away, and called police at 6:22 PM.
Matthew Shepard was taken to Ivinson Memorial Hospital. Aaron McKinney was still there, receiving treatment.
At 8:45 PM, McKinney went to Poudre Valley Hospital in Fort Collins, Colorado, because Ivinson Memorial physicians did not have the equipment to properly treat him. Matthew Shepard was moved to Poudre Valley Hospital a half hour later.
On the morning of October 8, McKinney was released from Poudre Valley Hospital.
Matthew Shepard died at Poudre Valley 12:53 AM on October 12.
That was the day Gay Awareness Week began at the University of Wyoming.