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Nancy Avelino
Connie White
QS 114B
6 May 2014
The Uncomfortable Truths of Matthew Shepards Murder
There were various media reports stating consistent knowledge of the murder that made
headline days after the Matthews discovery, and this is what we know to be true: Twenty-two
year old Matthew Shepard, an openly gay college student in Laramie, Wyoming lost his life in
October 1998. On the night of October 6, 1998 at Fireside Bar, Matthew met two people, Aaron
McKinney and Russell Henderson, and was then invited to leave with the two men that night. As
they drove to the edge of town; they made a stop in a prairie where Matthew was tied up to a
fence then robbed. With thirty dollars in his wallet, Matthew was pistol whipped with a .357
Magnum; practically dead and bleeding, Matthew Shepard was left behind. Even though
Matthew would be found the next morning still hanging from the fence, his hands tied behind his
back, he would never wake up from his coma and died five days later at a nearby hospital. All
the media attention that this murder received has been based on an important central premise:
that Shepard was targeted solely because of his sexual orientation. But now it appears that the
anti-gay murder motive for killing Matthew may be wrong. A new book by investigative
journalist Stephen Jimenez has challenged many of the central assumptions about Shepards
murder and argues, correctly, that anti-gay hatred was not the primary motivation for his killing,
if it was a factor at all.
The motives behind the murder of Matthew Shepard have had various interpretations
that were influenced by the media. This story caused great uproar throughout the nation and
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caught the eyes of gay and anti-gay communities throughout America. Based on all media
reports, Matthew had never met these two men, Aaron McKinney and Russell Henderson and at
first meeting them, he entrusted them enough to let them know that he was gay. According to
all media reports, this knowledge of Matts sexual orientation caused the murder soon after they
left Fireside bar. Even the film, The Matthew Shepard Story depicted the exact same thing that
the media reported on but took a different perspective. This movie televised on NBC that aired in
March 2002 details the emotional struggle of Matthews parents, Judy and Dennis Shepard, as
they decide whether to ask for the death penalty of one of the murderers. The movie contains
flashbacks to Matthew Shepards life, including heartwarming moments and depictions of sexual
assault and homophobic brutality that Matthew faced before his murder in Wyoming. The
development of the movie came out of early news media coverage of the murder and was
successful at communicating with their audience because it retained what the audience already
knew and only adding more information about the familys struggles after the murder.
Through the film and news reports, communities like the gay and anti-gay forces caught
the significance and surrounded the case of Matthew Shepard. The anti-gay groups saw this
murder as a welcomed event; they were glad that the Matthew, as a gay man, was the victim of a
hate crime. On the opposite direction were the gay community organizations like GLADD that
showed their support but were also forced to rethink the safety and security that they thought
they already gained. The civil rights movement was not over yet. The murder left a mark in the
minds of many Americans and large debate about what his murder meant, how he would be
remembered, and how those memories could point to a future for gays and lesbians in this
country. The gay organizations made Matthew into a gay icon for civil rights and mobilized in
order to stop hate crimes from reoccurring. Since that time, much has changed in the movement
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toward equality, and looking back, we are reminded of how far we have come and how much we
have left to go. Until recently, however; the stringent jurisdictional limitations of existing
federal legislation made it difficult for the federal government to prosecute these crimes
(Subverting Symbolism: 1). In October 2009, President Obama signed into law the Matthew
Shepard James Byrd Jr., Hate Crimes Prevention Act (the "HCPA"). The HCPA expands the
federal government's authority to prosecute defendants accused of hate crimes by eliminating
previous jurisdictional requirement that made it difficult to prosecute many such crimes. In
addition to protecting victims of violent acts based upon race, color, religion, or national origin,
the HCPA is the first federal legislation to protect victims of crimes where the underlying
motivation was the victim's sexual orientation, gender, or gender identity.
Even though Jimenez had the intended on reporting on Matthews hate crime, soon after
coming to Laramie, Jimenez encountered a letter that would make him believe that a hate crime
was not the real purpose Matthews murder. The anonymous letter stated new motives for the
crime and that Aarons gay panic was false because Aaron had sexual relations with other men.
Of course this anonymous letter was not credible, he could not possibly take it to court so he
decided to dig further into this. Journalist Stephen Jimenez spent ten years researching the case
and interviewing Laramie residents close to those involved, and this is what he has deduced in
The Book of Matt: Hidden Truths about the Murder of Matthew Shepard: not only did Matthew
Shepard know one of his attackers, Aaron McKinney, he had a sexual relationship with him.
Furthermore, their relationship centered around methamphetamine use and dealing, but Jimenez
argues that Shepards drug dealing was hardly a casual, extracurricular activity while he was
attending the University of Wyoming; Jimenez claims that Shepard was a major player in a
meth-dealing ring.
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In the book, Jimenez points to two friends of Matthew Shepard, Alex Trout and Walt
Boulden, as the prime influences on the media in the aftermath of the killing; they stated that he
had been attacked because of his sexual orientation in order to gain media attention. Neither of
them had direct knowledge of the crime but they were successful in making the main premise for
the media attention revolve around the tragic story of a young man, killed because he was gay. In
Aaron McKinneys confession, he stated that his reason for killing Matthew was due to Matthew
being gay and a robbery gone wrong. Aaron explains that he had been swept up in a gay panic
and was not fully in control of himself. Police officers, with effective information about
McKinney also stuck with Aarons story of this crime being caused by hate towards gay people.
In Jimenezs research, we later find out that Aaron not only knew Matthew based on
witnesses that saw them together since they were part of similar circles, revolved around drugs
and drug dealing. After finding out that police not only knew about McKinneys history of drug
use and drug dealing but based on what a former prosecutor, Cal Rerucha stated, Aaron had been
under investigation once before for position and/or distribution of drugs. After talking to
witnesses, as well as Doc OConner that the anonymous letter mentions by name, they all
confirm Aarons bisexuality. Jimenez also finds out reasons why Aaron needed for everyone
involved to state that this was an anti-gay hate crime and that he and Matt didnt know each other
previously. The first reason was to protect himself from being exposed as a bisexual who had sex
with men for money; since he had a girlfriend and a baby, he did not want them to know what he
did to get money. Since Aaron was a drug dealer, caught in a court case, he needed to keep his
drug activities hidden as to not expose his drug circle and those who were in charge of the
distribution.
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After researching on Matthews past through his friends, Jimenez came to find out that
Matthews circle all dealt with drugs and most were trying to recover from their drug addictions.
Aaron McKinney was addicted to drugs as well and his methamphetamine addiction revolved
out of control when he suddenly became in possession of a large amount of meth. According to
Aarons friends, he was going to share this large load with them but they later found out that he
used all the drugs on himself for weeklong binge. This weeklong binge had ended a couple of
days before the murder of Matthew Shepard. When doing further research on the effects of
methamphetamine, I found the grim realities of meth and how its addition can cause severe
problems on a person. This drug proved to be strong enough in keeping people wanting more,
especially if they have been on a weeklong binge like Aaron. When Aaron suddenly stopped
taking the drugs due to running out, Jimenez mentions in his book, the shadow people and asks
specialists and Aaron what one experiences while being off meth after a weeklong binge. The
results explain how the effect cause people to hallucinate, experience paranoia, and can make
people feel invincible like they can do anything they couldnt do before. After finding out about
the affects of meth that might have caused Aaron to hallucinate and feel sudden anger towards
Matthew, I conclude that Aaron made his decisions that night based on how the drug, meth, had
affected him. This is not an excuse for his crimes but it was what caused the death of Matthew
Shepard.
Critics say that this new book brings change to the legacy of Matthew Shepard as a
symbol for LGBT violence and hatred. Its hard to introduce this new book with completely
different information which undermines the accepted story of Matthews death. Stephen
recognizes the tragedy between Matthew and Aaron; as they were competitors in a highly
charged meth trade in Laramie. Both happen to be gay and bisexual respectively. There is also
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the tragedy of Russell, who shouldve restrained McKinney and now in serving his life sentence
despite playing no intentionally active role in Matthews death. Stephen has written a very
controversial book, as it makes people introduce new ideas about the murder .When talking
about his book in a podcast, he indicates that the reason for writing this book was not to prove
people wrong, but instead provide new information and he merely delivered his research and will
allow people to challenge him on his findings. While Matthew's attackers confessed to the
murder and are currently serving life sentences in prison, the motives have always been unclear:
was it robbery, as they said, or did they beat and murder Shepard because he was gay? Stories
have changed pretty frequently, but one outcome of Shepards murder was the Matthew Shepard
and James Byrd, Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act (commonly known as the Matthew Shepard
Act), signed into law by President Barack Obama in October 2009. A new book, however,
claims that Shepards death was the result of different motivations, and that his beating wasnt a
hate crime at all. This book was not intended to dispute the fact that Matthew Shepard was
violently tortured and murdered, that his apparent addiction was indicative of a larger problem
within the gay community at the time, and that his demise was, despite what one may argue
otherwise, a result of his and Aarons involvement with drugs.

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Works Cited
Jimenez, Stephen. The Book of Matt: Hidden Truths about the Murder of Matthew Shepard.
New York City: Steerforth, 2013. Print.
Spottiswoode, Rodger, dir. "The Matthew Shepard Story." NBC. 16 Mar. 2002. Television.
Dunn, Thomas. "Remembering Matthew Shepard: Violence, Identity, and Queer Counterpublic
Memories."Rhetoric & Public Affairs, 13.4 (2010): 611-652.
Savin-Williams, Ritch. "Matthew Shepard's Death: A Professional Awakening." Applied
Developmental Science, 3.3 (1999): 150-154.
Boulden, Walt. "A Tribute to Matthew Shepard."Journal of Gay & Lesbian Social Services,
13.1-2 (2001): 7-14.
Simmons, KC. "Subverting Symbolism: The Matthew Shepard and James Byrd, Jr. Hate Crimes
Prevention Act and Cooperative Federalism." American Criminal Law Review, 49.4
(2012): 1863-1912.