July 14, 2022 • 44 mins
Rasha and Yvette discuss the brutal killing of Matthew Shepard, a 21 year old gay man who was beaten to death in 1998.
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Speaker 1 (00:04):
You're listening to Facing Evil, a production of I Heart
Radio and Tenderfoot TV. The views and opinions expressed in
this podcast are solely those of the individuals participating in
the show and do not represent those of I Heart
Radio or Tenderfoot TV. This podcast contains subject matter which
may not be suitable for everyone. Listener discretion is advised. Aloha,
(00:27):
Hi everyone, Welcome back to our new podcast, Facing Evil
from Tenderfoot TV and I Heart Radio. We are your hosts.
I'm Rosha Pecarrero and I'm Evette Gentil And if you
are just joining us, check out our first episode on
the Case of Lisa al or our episode zero, where
(00:48):
we share our crazy family history and our first foray
into podcasting. Each week we are joined by our amazing producer,
Trevor Young. Hey, I'm here and sweating because it is
super hot in l A right now where I live.
Isn't it hot in San Francisco? To event, it's very
hot in San Francisco. I have the blinds clothes, there's
(01:10):
no fan on. I don't feel bad for either of you.
I'm in Portland's and it's raining all the time. It's
not okay. This is why we all need to live
in the same city very soon, right right soon soon? Alrighty.
So now that we know the geography of where we
all live, let's get back to why we're here. Okay.
(01:33):
Most importantly, we want to discuss true crime stories that
we think that need to be brought into the light,
and we want to share our unique perspective on the
cases and people involved. And facing evil is about being
the light in the dark. It's about moving onward and
upward and never letting evil define who you are or
(01:55):
who you want to be. Already, Trevor, let's have you
tell us about this case. I hope that in the
grief of this moment for Matthew Shepherd's family, and in
the shared outrage across America, Americans will once again search
their hearts and do what they can to reduce their
own fear and anxiety and anger at people who are different.
(02:20):
It was a crime that shook the country to its
core and helped accelerate the march towards equality for the
LGBT community. He had blood all over him, and I
asked him what had happened, and he told me that
he thought maybe he had killed someone He couldn't tell
me everything that had happened. He just said that, yeah,
he had beat him with the butt of the gun.
(02:41):
Matthew Shepard was a one year old gay man who
was brutally beaten and killed. Back At the time, he
was in college at the University of Wyoming in Laryamie,
and one night he was at a local bar when
two men approached him. It's unclear why, but Matthew ended
up leaving with them in their car. Then the two
(03:04):
men took Matthew to a field where they beat and
tortured him, supposedly for being gay. They tied him to
a fence and left him there to die. It wasn't
until the following afternoon that a cyclist found Matthew and
called the police. He was rushed to a nearby hospital
in Colorado. This attack immediately became a national news story.
(03:27):
On one website, thousands of people posted daily well wishes
for Matthew and his family. Sadly, Matthew died of his
injuries six days after the attack. The two killers were
eventually captured and convicted of first degree murder, but this
was a wake up call for the entire country. In
the wake of Matthew's death. Conversations about hate crimes and
(03:51):
ways to prevent them were popping up in public forms everywhere.
So what really went down that faithful night, What were
the motives behind Matthew's assailants, and how does his story
reveal a need to address homophobia in America, especially in
small towns. I already know that this, I mean, this
(04:17):
story is going to be so tough for both of us,
right rash. Yeah. Every time I personally think about Matthew,
it's a mix between wanting to throw up and wanting
to cry. I know it's you know for me too.
I just I can just remember seeing Matthew's like beautiful
(04:41):
smile and I didn't know him, but he seemed like
such a bright light and just a really sweet soul.
And when you see how he was killed, it's just
it's inhumane loss for me. Um, of course, Uh, this
(05:02):
case hits home for me because I am an openly
gay woman. I'm forty years old. I came out at
the age of thirty, but to be quite honest, I
think I would have come out much sooner in life. Um,
if Matthew hadn't been killed. So Matthew was killed in
nine I was a senior in high school in ninet
(05:25):
and when I found out about the horrific way that
Matthew was killed, I, UM, I knew that if I
came out, I pictured myself brutally beaten like Matthew. I
didn't picture it at the hand of two assailants. I
might pictured it at the hand of my father. And UM,
(05:47):
knowing that Matthew was killed most likely because of his
sexuality and because of homophobia, UM, it's horrifying to me.
And that just I mean that just if breaks my
heart for so many different reasons, and it's I mean,
this is really a huge reason why this is so
(06:08):
so important and why this show is so important. So
we can really address, you know, important issues like this.
I think a good place for us to start is
by talking a little bit about Matthew's upbringing. So Matthew
Shepard was born in Casper, Wyoming, on December one, nineteen.
(06:30):
His parents, Judy and Dennis Shepherd. They would always say
that he preferred to be around adults, and I can
kind of relate to that because I just remember growing
up and being around mom, especially in my teens, like
I always wanted to be around older people. But for Matthew,
you know, he struggled to make friends his own age, right,
(06:51):
And I actually remember reading a quote from his mom, Judy,
and she said that he got teased a lot for
actually being small and unathletic, and that he always felt
sort of out of place, and that might have been why,
you know, it was hard for him to make friends
his own age. Um, it probably didn't help that his
(07:12):
parents up brooded Matthew when he was just seventeen. And Trevor,
do you know more about the details of what what
happened around that time. Well, Matthew's dad got a job
for Saudi Aramco in Duran, Saudi Arabia, so the parents
moved there. Matthew decided he didn't want to go to
Saudi Arabia, so instead he went to the American School
(07:34):
in Switzerland and he studied theater there and then in
May of Matthew had a very traumatic experience. That summer,
he went on a school trip to Morocco and there
Matthew was assaulted and raped by a group of men.
As you can imagine, the incident deeply traumatized Matthew. He
(07:57):
reportedly was in a near constant state of anxiety after
that point, he was regularly having panic attacks and this
plunged him into a very deep depression. So he was
also admitted to the hospital multiple times over the next
couple of years for clinical depression and even suicidal ideations.
I mean, how could you not after something that horrific happens.
(08:19):
We know that Matthew was, you know, somewhat able to
overcome to some extent, and he did eventually go to
college and he enrolled at the University of Wyoming and
Layamie and Russia. You know, this is a question for you.
I already know because I'm your sister and I know everything,
So I know when you you know, when you came
out to Mom, I know what she said. But for
(08:41):
those that are listening, can you share a little bit
of what Mom said to you when I came out? Yeah? So,
Mom as loving and kind and amazing as she was.
I remember the first thing she asked me was when
I told her because I literally said, Mom, I'm gay,
I'm a lesbian, And She's like, but baby, why do
(09:02):
you have to put a label on it? Like, don't
can't you just say that you love love and love
all people. I'm like, no, Mom, like I'm never sleeping
with a man again. I'm a lesbian and I love women,
you know. And that was the only question she asked me.
She was a hundred million percent supportive from that moment forward.
As of course, my beautiful sister, Evett, you were an
(09:25):
r UM. But that's not the case for the entire
queer community, sadly. Um, but Matthew and I were so lucky.
I had Mom and Matthew had Judy and another crazy
thing to even think about, Like, dating is super hard period, right,
(09:48):
but when you come out, and especially when you come
out during a time when you know homosexuality was it
used to be like a dirty word, it can be scary,
and dating it can be super hard for someone who's
just coming out, and it was for me. I mean
a lot of women came after me, not free from
me out. So I ended up marrying the first moment
(10:10):
I dated. And that's me in Vannah thirteen years later.
But UM, you know, from my understanding, I know I
know that Matthew did try dating, you know, when he
came out and um, well shortly after um, but in
nine we know for sure that he met a thirty
six year old named Brian Gooden on the Internet in
(10:32):
a chat room I think is what they used to
call him, right, Trevor Um. They ended up talking online
for months Um, but it's unclear if they ever actually
met in person. M Brian Gooden would later say that
Matthew was actually afraid to meet in person. And to me,
it just sounds like Matthew was afraid to be out
(10:53):
publicly in a small town like Larry. You know, it's
the nineties, you know, he probably had reason to fear
being publicly out, especially in a small place like Laramie
that's relatively rural and conservative. And we know this now
because later that year, in October, Matthew finally decided to
(11:14):
put himself out there. He finally, you know, tried, and
that one time that he did, that is when he
met the two men who would ultimately be responsible for
his murder. And that is what we'll talk about when
we come back from a quick break. So let's talk
(11:36):
about the night that led to Matthew's death. October six.
So that evening, Matthew went to an lgbt A meeting,
and I believe at the time lgbt A stood for Lesbian, gay, bisexual,
transgender alliance, So he went to the meeting on campus
(11:56):
to plan for Gay Awareness Week, and afterwards he to
the Fireside Lounge and Laramie. So they didn't really have
a gay bar in Laramie, so the Fireside was the
next best thing. But no one is really sure why
Matthew went there on that particular night. Still, we do
know that he got there around ten pm, Trevor, what
(12:18):
do we know about what happened next? Well, we know
that at around eleven pm, two guys walk into the bar,
Aaron McKinney and Russell Henderson, and they're both years old.
They ordered pictures of beer and sit down there there
for a minute. There was one interesting thing I read
where the bartender that night was actually interviewed and he
(12:41):
remembers them as both being like kind of rude and
somewhat like menacing, like sitting there like there was just
something off with these guys. Right, So anyway, around midnight,
the two men walk up to Matthew and the three
of them are talking for a few minutes, and then
finally Henderson and McKinney offer Matthew a ride home. Supposedly,
(13:01):
they reportedly all left the bar together right after midnight,
So they all pile into the front seat of Henderson's truck.
Henderson's driving, and then things take a turn. So McKinney
claimed that Matthew made a pass at him by grabbing
his leg, and so he reacted to this by apparently
(13:23):
hitting Matthew in the face with a gun that he
had with the butt of his gun. And where does
this gun come from? Is that normal in Wyoming? Like
you have a gun at a bar? I mean, it
is a rural state. I mean, I don't know. I mean,
so if you think about Henderson's driving, Um, I'm assuming
Matthews like maybe in the middle or in the kind
(13:44):
of passenger side, but they're all like in that kind
of like front, full seated area. It's likely there was
like maybe one in the dash maybe that's where it was,
and he hit him with that. And of course this
is all just what we know from their testimony, because
obviously we don't have Matthew's testimony. So right, right, right,
(14:08):
I remember. So there's two things that I have to
point out that comes right to mind when I'm thinking
about things that Aaron McKinney said. One, of course, you know,
there's an amazing article from Vanity Fair Work, which I
know we've gotten a lot of our research from there,
that Aaron said something along the lines of, you know,
guess what, we're not gay and we're going to jack
(14:29):
you up, like he said that to Matthew. And also
in his recorded confession when he actually admitted to killing Matthew,
he used multiple homophobic slurs like I'm not even going
to say the word. So it's like his homophobia was
like in him. You know. A big issue is like
what was their intent here and in this moment? And
(14:50):
I think already, based on what you've described, like the
intent feels clear already, right, I mean, I mean we
have to remember they were only in the bar for
what fifteen minutes, right, and they had ordered a picture
of beer, and now all of a sudden they're leaving
with Matthew. Something's not right. Yeah. I mean, if you
(15:12):
have a whole picture and you're gonna down it in
fifteen minutes, I think clearly they had a ulterior motives here.
Um how planned it is some unclear, but it only
does really get worse from this point on. Um So,
McKinney then orders Matthew to hand over his wallets, Matthew
complies and hands over the wallet containing all of thirty
(15:35):
dollars um and then McKinney continued to beat Matthew even
after getting the wallet. Hm ABC would later interview McKinney
and they asked him why he kept on beating Matthew
after he got his money, and he said, quote, sometimes
when you have that kind of rage going through you,
there's no stopping it. I've attacked my best friends coming
(15:56):
off of meth binges end quote. So yeah, this guy
is not great. I mean, it just seems like to me,
Aaron McKinney was violent and you know, hurt people, hurt people,
right right. It seems to me it was some sort
of internalized homophobia that was absolutely coming out. Absolutely, And
(16:22):
it's the reason I think that homophobia exists. There's I think,
you know a few really big things. One people can't
wrap their head around someone else being gay. And I
think that comes from or stems from, you know, religion.
There's certain religions that have said how awful homosexuality is.
That's why I have a very hard time walking into
(16:44):
any church. Um. But it's also that internalized homophobia stems
from possibly like people who are gay themselves, and they
hate themselves so much, you know that they're taking this
rage out of other people. Now I'm not saying that
McKinney was gay, and just you know, I'm not saying,
but maybe do you know what I mean? Like, why
(17:06):
else have so much rage? It just doesn't make any
sense regardless of what the scenario was. Matthew was his
target and his punching bag, and he he didn't stop
right um, Henderson, you know, ended up driving all the
way out to the eastern outskirts of laramie Um into
(17:28):
a neighborhood, this little housing development called Sherman Hills. They
drove down an unpaved road until they reached a wooden
buck fence. And a wooden buck fence is just a
fence that basically is built in an ex pattern, but
it's super secluded. And the two men ended up forcing
Matthew out of the car. So McKinney ordered Henderson, you know,
(17:53):
you know, McKinney's calling all the shots at this point,
he ordered Henderson to tie Matthew to the fence post
with a clothes line from the truck. Once Matthew was
actually tied to the fence, McKinney proceeded to again viciously
beat him with the butt of his gun. Yeah, and
just to give you an idea here, I actually looked
(18:14):
at the autopsy report and the corner set in the
report that Shepherd was struck nineteen to twenty one times
in the head with the butt of a I guess
it was a Magnum Smith and Wesson pistol, and that
final blow from that pistol irreparably damaged Shepherd's brainstem. It's
just the brutality of this is like, it's just it's
(18:37):
it's horrible. It's horrendous, right, It's like, I can't even
comprehend somebody raging out like this and killing someone. I mean,
I also read that Henderson supposedly supposedly tried to stop McKinney, yeah,
hold him back, but he tried to cool him down.
But the thing is, like, it's obvious that Aaron as
(19:00):
the aggressor of the two, right, right, And it kind
of seemed like McKinney definitely was in charge and Henderson,
I mean, was he just going along with it? Yeah,
I mean when Henderson tried to like stop him, I'm
pretty sure, like McKinney like smacked him in the face
with his gun and like just like beat him into submission.
You know. So I don't know if he's going on
(19:21):
with it, but it's weird that still doesn't take him
off the hook. No, No, like, no, he was okay. Maybe,
like you said, he wasn't the aggressor, he wasn't the
main person, but he still let it happen, right, and
he still drove to the fence where they did all this,
you know what I mean, he's so and if he
if he actually felt any remorse too, I mean, he
would have called the police immediately afterwards, called an ambulance.
(19:43):
But as we know that that doesn't happen, right, they
left him there to die? Like did they think he
wasn't going to die? I mean, like I wasn't even
thinking about that in my head, Like you know, like
you have this gun, Like why are you beating him
with the gun rather than one your fist? Or like
if you really want to kill him, why aren't you
shooting him? Right? I thought about that, And I'm like,
do you think maybe they thought that he was going
(20:04):
to survive and that they were just going to teach
this gay boy a lesson like maybe maybe maybe, but
we we just we don't know what they think. Obviously,
I get the impression they wanted to physically beat somebody,
you know, like that there was some sort of um
satisfaction that they got out of, like causing someone pain
rather than just like a quick death via a shot
(20:24):
to the head or something. Yeah, yeah, yeah, I mean
it was It's an it's an obvious rage, right, Like
we don't know what was building up and that was
behind that rage, what was behind that? Right? Well, anyways, um,
they end up taking Matthew's shoes and wallet and they
(20:44):
get out of Dodge, leaving there in cold freezing temperatures,
and then on their way back to Laramie, the two
men get into a fight with two other men for
some unrelated matter. I think they kind of stumbled upon
these other two guys who are like in the middle
of robbing a car, and they kind of called him
out for it, and they end up getting in this
like weird scuffle. So it's because of this little scuffle
(21:06):
that police are called to the scene and McKinney and
Henderson tried to run away from the police. Then they
left behind their truck with all of Matthew's belongings, like
the wallet and his shoes, and they also leave behind
the bloody gun that they used to beat him with.
They leave all the evidence, right, but one officer actually
chased and tackled Henderson to the ground, so Henderson was arrested.
(21:29):
But McKinney gets away. Wow, yeah, I mean this is
this story just gets crazier and crazier. So this is
the thing. McKinney. He goes back to see his girlfriend,
Kristen Price, and she said that he came home around
one thirty in the morning and he was completely freaking out, panicking,
(21:51):
and he just kept mumbling. She said, he kept mumbling
something like I did something horrible. I did something horrible.
So we need to take another break here, but we'll
talk about the aftermath and what happened to Matthew and
his assailants after we come back from a break. So
(22:12):
Matthew was left they're alone to die that night, and
he was not found until the following day at about
six pm. U a passing mountain biker noticed what he
thought was a scarecrow tried to offence, but as he
(22:34):
stopped to look a little bit closer, he realized it
was a human being, a very small man. Uh. He
ran to a nearby home immediately and used their phone
because of course they didn't have cell phones at the
time or it wasn't easily accessible, so he immediately called authorities.
Matthew was taken to a hospital in Laramie and then
(22:57):
later transferred to Puja Valley Hospital in Fort Collins, Colorado.
And just real quick, here was the official medical list
of injuries that Matthew sustained. Fractures to the back of
the head in front of the right ear, severe damage
to the brainstem like we mentioned earlier, and then around
a dozen small lacerations on the face, head and neck,
(23:21):
and so, of course Matthew was comatos. Matthew's parents, Judy
and Dennis, flew in from Saudi Arabia that Friday night,
and the doctors told them that Matthew would likely never
emerge from his coma. But meanwhile, the story of what
happened to Matthew it blew up and it turned into
a national news story. And weirdly, as it turns out,
(23:43):
the Internet was still pretty new at this point. I mean,
that's really hard to believe, but it was. It was,
and it was a big part of this case because
apparently the Puja Valley Hospital, they got eight hundred thousand
people that were have said to have checked in on
Matthew and they would go to this particular website to
(24:05):
see how he was doing every single day. This was like,
you know, the early version right of social media, right
social media, and a lot of the a lot of
the celebrities were speaking out and taking platforms, you know,
against this hate christ like Oprah, like Ellen, and even
(24:28):
Nathan Lane, who I had read, you know, he had
come out publicly to his family. But when this happened,
when this horrific act happened to Matthew, he wanted more
than anything to do it publicly and he did so. Ah,
he came out because Matthew, Yeah he did. And even
the Shepherds even got a call from then President Bill
(24:51):
Clinton and he sent his best wishes for Matthew. But sadly,
on October twelve, in the early hours of the morning,
Matthew Shepard succumbed to his injuries. Matthew never regained consciousness
after the attack. Matthew was just twenty one years old.
(25:17):
I remember his father's speech in one of the trials
and he said he was fifty days shy of turning two.
It's just a baby, So, you know, when you think
about it, his life was just beginning, and the life
that he wanted to be involved in was being an
(25:38):
advocate for change. One of the articles re read, I
think someone said that he had wanted to become president
one day, right, Like, that's the type of person Matthew was.
Like you you knew, at least from everything everyone said
about him, that he was supposed to make a positive
difference in this world in life, and you know now
he's doing it in death. Well, I'm sure one big
(26:00):
question that everybody has then is what happened to his assailants,
the people responsible for this, Aaron McKinney and Russell Henderson.
I want to know what happened. Well, if you remember,
McKinney fled from the police when Henderson was arrested and
went to his girlfriend, and both men had girlfriends who
(26:21):
helped them come up with alibis and kind of give
them cover. Kristen Price, McKinney's girlfriend, took him to the
hospital where he was admitted with a hairline fracture to
the school. I'm not really sure how that happened. Police
would later say that she and Russell's girlfriend, a girl
named Chastity Pasley, then tried to get rid of the
evidence for them. So they together drove fifty miles away
(26:44):
all the way to Cheyenne, Wyoming, and there they took
all of the evidence, Henderson's bloody clothes and all, and
they threw it away and then they stashed his bloody
shoes in a storage shed over at Chastity's mom's house.
I mean, but apparently didn't do much good because they
made themselves, they made themselves accessories to the crime and
(27:06):
bad ones right at that. I mean, they told everybody everything.
I mean, they write exactly. But the police still found
their boyfriends, I mean obviously pretty quickly with all of
the evidence that they left. I mean, it's pretty hard
not to find. And they then arrested Aaron McKinney at
the hospital. So, as you can imagine, both of them
are then charged with attempted murder, kidnapping, and also aggravated
(27:29):
robbery that was later upgraded to first degree murder, meaning
that they were both eligible for the death penalty. And
then the two men's girlfriends, Chastity Pasley and Kristen Price
were also charged as accessories to the crime. Yeah. But
but get this, Okay, Henderson actually made a deal to
(27:49):
avoid the death penalty. He agreed to testify against McKinney.
I mean, this really does not surprise me. Um, it
really doesn't mean based on how the whole murder happened,
who was in charge and yeah, all the things. Um,
So he ended up being sentenced to two consecutive life
(28:10):
terms and avoided a trial altogether. So I guess, um, yeah,
they weren't exactly the best of friends, I guess. And
know when we think about, you know, the whole story.
As I said earlier, we always knew in this story
that Aaron McKinney was the leader of this particular pack, right, so,
and we knew that he was an asshole to him,
(28:31):
and he did beat him and hit him in the
face and ordered him around, so we knew this was
to save your own life. Yeah, I get it. So
even crazier was McKinney's trial, and the prosecution put forth
the argument that the two men had pretended to be
(28:54):
gay in order to gain matthews trust and lure him
into their car, because why else would Matthew have gotten
into that truck. I mean, really, he would have to
feel safe, especially, you know, knowing how other people are
in that town. That was also actually backed up by
the testimony of Price McKinney's girlfriend, who said virtually the
(29:17):
same thing, that they were pretending to be gay to
get him into the truck. Well, because you know, McKinney
came home that night to her and essentially it just
confessed everything to her, right, right, So I mean she
got that straight out of McKinney's mouth. So that made
it pretty glaringly obvious testimony. Right, I did horrible things, Yeah, right,
Oh my gosh. But then the defense came up with,
(29:41):
in my humble opinion, they came up with two completely
assinine and disgusting arguments, and I'm going to get Piste
off about it, So Trevor, why don't you tell us
so that I'm not yelling into my microphone? Right? So
the first one was that it was just an attempted
robbery gone wrong, that you know, all of this was
just about getting the thirty bucks in Matthew's wallet, which
(30:02):
is crazy, um, of course not. And then the other
one they use is another one that we've heard about
before and is a big point of contention in public forums,
and that is the gay panic defense. So the gay
panic defense suggests that when a straight person has some
sort of unwanted sexual advance made upon them by someone
(30:24):
of the same sex, which is what McKinney claimed that
Matthew had done to him in the car, that they
then go into a fit of rage, kin do I
guess temporary insanity. McKinney's lawyers believe this would prove that
the attack was not premeditated, right, that this was just
like a reaction, It was just like a gut instinct,
and therefore was I guess less heinous in their eyes.
(30:45):
So people have used the gay panic defense before, and
I think since then we've all come to an agreement
as a society that it's nonsensical. This isn't a thing, no, no,
And thankfully, like in July of two thousand and nineteen,
in these particular states, they cannot use this at all.
It's been banned. And that's California, Illinois, Rhode Island, Nevada, Connecticut, Maine,
(31:10):
and Hawaii. That's every state that the gay panic defense
is not a valid argument, right right, it's banned. You
cannot use it. But how sad is that we have
fifty states in our beautiful country. And that's not You
did not read me fifty states, That's what I didn't. Yeah.
I mean my understanding reading online on Reddit about kind
(31:32):
of legal practices is that the gay panic defense is
still kind of widely considered a joke, like it rarely
actually makes it through any sort of legitimate legal proceeding anymore. Okay, Okay,
I'll calm down a little bit. No, No, I mean,
it's like a super valid concerned to have, and it
was a lot more common I think back in the
nineties and eighties and even early two thousand's, but it's
(31:54):
come a long way for what it's worth. Um, you know, really,
the only time you ever see it anymore is in
these kind of high profile cases where they're kind of
using it as a hail mary of some sort to
get them off. But um, you know, I think for
whatever it is worth, you know, the Matthew Shepherd case
was a big public example of how this panic defense
(32:16):
can be used very poorly and ultimately helped it, you know,
kind of get blacklisted from legal defense proceedings. So that's
why we're here right, We're we're here to make a
positive difference, and you're so right, because Matthew his case.
Thank goodness, Um, the judge dismissed the gay panic defense,
(32:38):
and so the jury ultimately found Aaron McKinney guilty of
first degree murder. But in a very interesting and compassionate twist,
the Shepherd's actually stepped in to save Aaron McKinney from
the death penalty. On November five, Judy Shepherd made a
(33:00):
deal with McKinney's lawyers to actually save his life, and
so Aaron McKinney was sentenced to two consecutive life terms
without the possibility of parole. And I have to say,
I know, I know, I honestly prior to today, not
that I didn't think that Dennis, you know, Matthew's father,
(33:24):
you know, was supportive of this. But I've always heard
Judy right, Um, Judy kept saying, you know how she's
forgiving him and and wanting to save his life. But
when I watched Yvette had me watched The Laramie Project today,
which is an incredible film, powerful based on you know,
(33:45):
a play, but it's it's taken from actual transcripts of
what the people in Laramie said, like, they came and
they interviewed all these people and they they re enacted
Dennis Shepherd's speech at Aaron McKinney's trial, and he basically
said to him, like Judy and I believe in the
death penalty. However, we believe in healing. And that is
(34:09):
why we're giving you life. You deserve to die, but
we're giving you the gifts of life. So that you
think about Matthew Shepard every every single day, every single day,
gives me chicken out. Was that was? That was so powerful.
So there was one sliver of good to come out
of this tragedy, and that was the Matthew Shepherd and
(34:29):
James Bird Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act. So, Chrevor, can
you tell us a little bit about this? I sure
can't um So. The other name on that bill is
James Byrd, obviously, and a little bit about him. He
was a black man who was decapitated by three white
supremacists after they dragged him behind their truck and the
same year. Those two names are attached to this bill.
(34:53):
And the bill does a few things such as in
the federal Hate Crime Statute, it removes the requirement that
victims are targeted because they are engaged in a federally
protected activity such as voting or attending school for example.
The bill also extends the hate Crime Statute to cover
violent crimes based on a person's gender, sexual orientation, gender identity,
(35:16):
or disability, and none of those things were there before.
The bill authorizes the Department of Justice to assist state
in local governments and investigating or prosecuting hate crimes so
they can get the support of the FBI or other
federal agencies you know when looking into cases like Matthews.
And then lastly, it authorizes grants to jurisdictions local police
(35:37):
forces to help investigate and prosecute these hate crimes. So
just giving them more money, you know, more feed on
the ground to make sure it gets the proper investigation
it needs. Anyways, this bill was signed into law in
two thousand nine by Barack Obama. To me, like, this
bill was so important, but it's also rather heartbreaking that
(35:58):
it took from to two thousand nine to be signed
into law. Right, um, I did find this report from
the Human Rights Campaign or better known as the HRC,
which tells us that hate crimes based on sexual orientation
represent sixteen point seven percent of hate crimes, and that's
(36:18):
the third largest category after race and religion, right, right,
And I mean I can only imagine how much worse
those numbers are, especially in a small town like Laramie, right.
I mean when we think about it back in the nineties.
I mean, I mean, we can think about it back
in the nineties, but we can think about it now
to write still to this day. You know, but the
(36:42):
the anti gay sentiment was was just even worse back then.
But we still have so much work to do still,
and you have to remember to that's like the height
of the AIDS epidemic, right, Um, it could not have
been easy for Matthew to to live in that environment
(37:05):
and be out in that environment, especially in Laramie. I mean,
he probably couldn't even say that he was was gay
because you know, homosexuality had this paranoia and this stigma
that was surrounding it. I think it's much better now personally,
but you know, yeah, I want to maybe dig into
that just for a second, which is you know, this
(37:27):
concept of being gay and small town America. I think
it's something you know, we don't really talk about a lot,
so Vanity Fair actually interviewed a number of local folks
over in Laramie just to get a better idea of
the culture and what people thought of gay people there.
And there's one quote in the article that says, quote,
a number of residents told me that they consider Matthew
(37:48):
Shepard the first gay person that they ever quote unquote met,
So obviously people aren't exposed to a lot of gay
people in small towns like Laramie. There was one interview
he named Milk Green, who said he thought matthews murder
was quote unquote a stupid crime. But he also said
I have a hard time relating to homosexuality. I don't
(38:08):
understand it end quote. So again, there's a lot of
I don't want to say ignorance, but just lack of
understanding of gay people in these small towns, right. And
I think it's just, you know, people are so accustomed
to growing up and being taught certain things right by
(38:28):
their parents, and they haven't stepped outside of that world
to do and know better. And that's why that's why
we have so much work to do, so much work,
especially like educating folks on on everything, on gay people,
on gay issues, right, And this this show and talking
(38:50):
about these cases, like it really inspires me as a
human being just to do better, to be better at
all times. Yeah, I think Matthew being in this kind
of small town was maybe not the best thing for him.
I think it made him especially vulnerable two you know,
be gay, having gone through what he went through, you know,
(39:12):
when he was sexually assaulted, and then having to be
you know, in this small town that doesn't really understand him,
especially in the nineties. Like we're all saying, um, you know,
I mean, Rashia, you live in Portland, I live in
Los Angeles, that you live in San Francisco. I think
for places like this, it's so much easier, too much safer. Yeah,
(39:32):
it's safer, you know, as like queer people. We can
you know, walk down the street and not really fear
as much for our lives but as those Yeah, but
as those kind of um, you know, testimonies from those
local Laramie people say, you know, they just they don't
understand gay people. They don't really know anything about gay people,
and that leads to problems, just like what happened to Matthew. Um, so,
(39:55):
I guess the big question here is what do we
do about that. I mean, we're making progress, but how
we changed that. I think there's two huge things that
we can do. One, I truly believe that representation matters.
Like the great Harvey Milk, that one of the most
(40:15):
amazing gay icons. You know, he told people like come out,
like come out, be out. Like the more gay people
that people know, they'll realize like, oh, like rash is
just you know a great, nice person. Trevor is a nice,
beautiful person. You know, Like, representation matters. I think the
more people that are out, I think the safer it
(40:37):
will be because it will be more of us in numbers.
But I think the real great answer is also creating
safe spaces for gay people everywhere, even in those small towns,
especially in the small towns right especially. And that's like
when we were watching you know, the show The Laramie
Project today, It's like there was a community d you know,
(41:00):
they were small in numbers to begin with, but after
this happened, after this tragedy happened, the numbers started to grow.
So more people came out and larn more more people
came out, Yes that have lived there, you know, their
whole lives. They came out, So you know unfortunately, and
I we talk about this all the time. Why does
(41:22):
it always take, you know, tragedy to make change happen. Well,
we're near the end of the show today and that
means it's time for our emua, our final message of
hope and healing. I'd like to use this opportunity to
honor Matthew, his family, and most of all, his mother, Judy.
(41:47):
You have to remember she chose to help save the
life of the man who killed her son. We can
all learn about unconditional compassion from Judy Shepherd. Absolutely, she
was faced with such an incredibly painful and violent situation,
(42:07):
yet she responded with kindness. And I think we need
more people like Judy Shepherd in the world because maybe
if we had more Judy Shepherd's, more people who lead
with kindness, we'd have less tragedies like the murder of
Matthew Shepherd. Lead with kindness. Onward and upward. Imama, Well,
(42:37):
that's our show for today. We'd love to hear what
you thought about today's discussion, and if there's a case
you'd like us to cover, you can always find us
on social media or email us at Facing Evil Pod
at Tenderfoot dot tv. Until next time. Aloha. Facing Evil
(43:23):
is a production of I Heart Radio and tenderfoot TV.
The show is hosted by Russia Peccarero and a Vetchantil.
Matt Frederick and Alex Williams are executive producers on behalf
of I Heart Radio with producers Trevor Young and Jesse Funk.
Donald albright In Payine Lindsay our executive producers on behalf
of Tenderfoot TV, alongside producer Tracy Kaplan. Our researcher is
(43:47):
Claudia Dafrico. Original music by Makeup and Vanity Set. Find
us on social media or email us at Facing Evil,
pot at tenderfoot dot tv. For more podcasts from I
Heart rate Deo or tenderfoot TV, visit the I Heart
Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your
favorite shows
You're listening to Facing Evil, a production of I Heart
Radio and Tenderfoot TV. The views and opinions expressed in
this podcast are solely those of the individuals participating in
the show and do not represent those of I Heart
Radio or Tenderfoot TV. This podcast contains subject matter which
may not be suitable for everyone. Listener discretion is advised. Aloha,
(00:27):
Hi everyone, Welcome back to our new podcast, Facing Evil
from Tenderfoot TV and I Heart Radio. We are your hosts.
I'm Rosha Pecarrero and I'm Evette Gentil And if you
are just joining us, check out our first episode on
the Case of Lisa al or our episode zero, where
(00:48):
we share our crazy family history and our first foray
into podcasting. Each week we are joined by our amazing producer,
Trevor Young. Hey, I'm here and sweating because it is
super hot in l A right now where I live.
Isn't it hot in San Francisco? To event, it's very
hot in San Francisco. I have the blinds clothes, there's
(01:10):
no fan on. I don't feel bad for either of you.
I'm in Portland's and it's raining all the time. It's
not okay. This is why we all need to live
in the same city very soon, right right soon soon? Alrighty.
So now that we know the geography of where we
all live, let's get back to why we're here. Okay.
(01:33):
Most importantly, we want to discuss true crime stories that
we think that need to be brought into the light,
and we want to share our unique perspective on the
cases and people involved. And facing evil is about being
the light in the dark. It's about moving onward and
upward and never letting evil define who you are or
(01:55):
who you want to be. Already, Trevor, let's have you
tell us about this case. I hope that in the
grief of this moment for Matthew Shepherd's family, and in
the shared outrage across America, Americans will once again search
their hearts and do what they can to reduce their
own fear and anxiety and anger at people who are different.
(02:20):
It was a crime that shook the country to its
core and helped accelerate the march towards equality for the
LGBT community. He had blood all over him, and I
asked him what had happened, and he told me that
he thought maybe he had killed someone He couldn't tell
me everything that had happened. He just said that, yeah,
he had beat him with the butt of the gun.
(02:41):
Matthew Shepard was a one year old gay man who
was brutally beaten and killed. Back At the time, he
was in college at the University of Wyoming in Laryamie,
and one night he was at a local bar when
two men approached him. It's unclear why, but Matthew ended
up leaving with them in their car. Then the two
(03:04):
men took Matthew to a field where they beat and
tortured him, supposedly for being gay. They tied him to
a fence and left him there to die. It wasn't
until the following afternoon that a cyclist found Matthew and
called the police. He was rushed to a nearby hospital
in Colorado. This attack immediately became a national news story.
(03:27):
On one website, thousands of people posted daily well wishes
for Matthew and his family. Sadly, Matthew died of his
injuries six days after the attack. The two killers were
eventually captured and convicted of first degree murder, but this
was a wake up call for the entire country. In
the wake of Matthew's death. Conversations about hate crimes and
(03:51):
ways to prevent them were popping up in public forms everywhere.
So what really went down that faithful night, What were
the motives behind Matthew's assailants, and how does his story
reveal a need to address homophobia in America, especially in
small towns. I already know that this, I mean, this
(04:17):
story is going to be so tough for both of us,
right rash. Yeah. Every time I personally think about Matthew,
it's a mix between wanting to throw up and wanting
to cry. I know it's you know for me too.
I just I can just remember seeing Matthew's like beautiful
(04:41):
smile and I didn't know him, but he seemed like
such a bright light and just a really sweet soul.
And when you see how he was killed, it's just
it's inhumane loss for me. Um, of course, Uh, this
(05:02):
case hits home for me because I am an openly
gay woman. I'm forty years old. I came out at
the age of thirty, but to be quite honest, I
think I would have come out much sooner in life. Um,
if Matthew hadn't been killed. So Matthew was killed in
nine I was a senior in high school in ninet
(05:25):
and when I found out about the horrific way that
Matthew was killed, I, UM, I knew that if I
came out, I pictured myself brutally beaten like Matthew. I
didn't picture it at the hand of two assailants. I
might pictured it at the hand of my father. And UM,
(05:47):
knowing that Matthew was killed most likely because of his
sexuality and because of homophobia, UM, it's horrifying to me.
And that just I mean that just if breaks my
heart for so many different reasons, and it's I mean,
this is really a huge reason why this is so
(06:08):
so important and why this show is so important. So
we can really address, you know, important issues like this.
I think a good place for us to start is
by talking a little bit about Matthew's upbringing. So Matthew
Shepard was born in Casper, Wyoming, on December one, nineteen.
(06:30):
His parents, Judy and Dennis Shepherd. They would always say
that he preferred to be around adults, and I can
kind of relate to that because I just remember growing
up and being around mom, especially in my teens, like
I always wanted to be around older people. But for Matthew,
you know, he struggled to make friends his own age, right,
(06:51):
And I actually remember reading a quote from his mom, Judy,
and she said that he got teased a lot for
actually being small and unathletic, and that he always felt
sort of out of place, and that might have been why,
you know, it was hard for him to make friends
his own age. Um, it probably didn't help that his
(07:12):
parents up brooded Matthew when he was just seventeen. And Trevor,
do you know more about the details of what what
happened around that time. Well, Matthew's dad got a job
for Saudi Aramco in Duran, Saudi Arabia, so the parents
moved there. Matthew decided he didn't want to go to
Saudi Arabia, so instead he went to the American School
(07:34):
in Switzerland and he studied theater there and then in
May of Matthew had a very traumatic experience. That summer,
he went on a school trip to Morocco and there
Matthew was assaulted and raped by a group of men.
As you can imagine, the incident deeply traumatized Matthew. He
(07:57):
reportedly was in a near constant state of anxiety after
that point, he was regularly having panic attacks and this
plunged him into a very deep depression. So he was
also admitted to the hospital multiple times over the next
couple of years for clinical depression and even suicidal ideations.
I mean, how could you not after something that horrific happens.
(08:19):
We know that Matthew was, you know, somewhat able to
overcome to some extent, and he did eventually go to
college and he enrolled at the University of Wyoming and
Layamie and Russia. You know, this is a question for you.
I already know because I'm your sister and I know everything,
So I know when you you know, when you came
out to Mom, I know what she said. But for
(08:41):
those that are listening, can you share a little bit
of what Mom said to you when I came out? Yeah? So,
Mom as loving and kind and amazing as she was.
I remember the first thing she asked me was when
I told her because I literally said, Mom, I'm gay,
I'm a lesbian, And She's like, but baby, why do
(09:02):
you have to put a label on it? Like, don't
can't you just say that you love love and love
all people. I'm like, no, Mom, like I'm never sleeping
with a man again. I'm a lesbian and I love women,
you know. And that was the only question she asked me.
She was a hundred million percent supportive from that moment forward.
As of course, my beautiful sister, Evett, you were an
(09:25):
r UM. But that's not the case for the entire
queer community, sadly. Um, but Matthew and I were so lucky.
I had Mom and Matthew had Judy and another crazy
thing to even think about, Like, dating is super hard period, right,
(09:48):
but when you come out, and especially when you come
out during a time when you know homosexuality was it
used to be like a dirty word, it can be scary,
and dating it can be super hard for someone who's
just coming out, and it was for me. I mean
a lot of women came after me, not free from
me out. So I ended up marrying the first moment
(10:10):
I dated. And that's me in Vannah thirteen years later.
But UM, you know, from my understanding, I know I
know that Matthew did try dating, you know, when he
came out and um, well shortly after um, but in
nine we know for sure that he met a thirty
six year old named Brian Gooden on the Internet in
(10:32):
a chat room I think is what they used to
call him, right, Trevor Um. They ended up talking online
for months Um, but it's unclear if they ever actually
met in person. M Brian Gooden would later say that
Matthew was actually afraid to meet in person. And to me,
it just sounds like Matthew was afraid to be out
(10:53):
publicly in a small town like Larry. You know, it's
the nineties, you know, he probably had reason to fear
being publicly out, especially in a small place like Laramie
that's relatively rural and conservative. And we know this now
because later that year, in October, Matthew finally decided to
(11:14):
put himself out there. He finally, you know, tried, and
that one time that he did, that is when he
met the two men who would ultimately be responsible for
his murder. And that is what we'll talk about when
we come back from a quick break. So let's talk
(11:36):
about the night that led to Matthew's death. October six.
So that evening, Matthew went to an lgbt A meeting,
and I believe at the time lgbt A stood for Lesbian, gay, bisexual,
transgender alliance, So he went to the meeting on campus
(11:56):
to plan for Gay Awareness Week, and afterwards he to
the Fireside Lounge and Laramie. So they didn't really have
a gay bar in Laramie, so the Fireside was the
next best thing. But no one is really sure why
Matthew went there on that particular night. Still, we do
know that he got there around ten pm, Trevor, what
(12:18):
do we know about what happened next? Well, we know
that at around eleven pm, two guys walk into the bar,
Aaron McKinney and Russell Henderson, and they're both years old.
They ordered pictures of beer and sit down there there
for a minute. There was one interesting thing I read
where the bartender that night was actually interviewed and he
(12:41):
remembers them as both being like kind of rude and
somewhat like menacing, like sitting there like there was just
something off with these guys. Right, So anyway, around midnight,
the two men walk up to Matthew and the three
of them are talking for a few minutes, and then
finally Henderson and McKinney offer Matthew a ride home. Supposedly,
(13:01):
they reportedly all left the bar together right after midnight,
So they all pile into the front seat of Henderson's truck.
Henderson's driving, and then things take a turn. So McKinney
claimed that Matthew made a pass at him by grabbing
his leg, and so he reacted to this by apparently
(13:23):
hitting Matthew in the face with a gun that he
had with the butt of his gun. And where does
this gun come from? Is that normal in Wyoming? Like
you have a gun at a bar? I mean, it
is a rural state. I mean, I don't know. I mean,
so if you think about Henderson's driving, Um, I'm assuming
Matthews like maybe in the middle or in the kind
(13:44):
of passenger side, but they're all like in that kind
of like front, full seated area. It's likely there was
like maybe one in the dash maybe that's where it was,
and he hit him with that. And of course this
is all just what we know from their testimony, because
obviously we don't have Matthew's testimony. So right, right, right,
(14:08):
I remember. So there's two things that I have to
point out that comes right to mind when I'm thinking
about things that Aaron McKinney said. One, of course, you know,
there's an amazing article from Vanity Fair Work, which I
know we've gotten a lot of our research from there,
that Aaron said something along the lines of, you know,
guess what, we're not gay and we're going to jack
(14:29):
you up, like he said that to Matthew. And also
in his recorded confession when he actually admitted to killing Matthew,
he used multiple homophobic slurs like I'm not even going
to say the word. So it's like his homophobia was
like in him. You know. A big issue is like
what was their intent here and in this moment? And
(14:50):
I think already, based on what you've described, like the
intent feels clear already, right, I mean, I mean we
have to remember they were only in the bar for
what fifteen minutes, right, and they had ordered a picture
of beer, and now all of a sudden they're leaving
with Matthew. Something's not right. Yeah. I mean, if you
(15:12):
have a whole picture and you're gonna down it in
fifteen minutes, I think clearly they had a ulterior motives here.
Um how planned it is some unclear, but it only
does really get worse from this point on. Um So,
McKinney then orders Matthew to hand over his wallets, Matthew
complies and hands over the wallet containing all of thirty
(15:35):
dollars um and then McKinney continued to beat Matthew even
after getting the wallet. Hm ABC would later interview McKinney
and they asked him why he kept on beating Matthew
after he got his money, and he said, quote, sometimes
when you have that kind of rage going through you,
there's no stopping it. I've attacked my best friends coming
(15:56):
off of meth binges end quote. So yeah, this guy
is not great. I mean, it just seems like to me,
Aaron McKinney was violent and you know, hurt people, hurt people,
right right. It seems to me it was some sort
of internalized homophobia that was absolutely coming out. Absolutely, And
(16:22):
it's the reason I think that homophobia exists. There's I think,
you know a few really big things. One people can't
wrap their head around someone else being gay. And I
think that comes from or stems from, you know, religion.
There's certain religions that have said how awful homosexuality is.
That's why I have a very hard time walking into
(16:44):
any church. Um. But it's also that internalized homophobia stems
from possibly like people who are gay themselves, and they
hate themselves so much, you know that they're taking this
rage out of other people. Now I'm not saying that
McKinney was gay, and just you know, I'm not saying,
but maybe do you know what I mean? Like, why
(17:06):
else have so much rage? It just doesn't make any
sense regardless of what the scenario was. Matthew was his
target and his punching bag, and he he didn't stop
right um, Henderson, you know, ended up driving all the
way out to the eastern outskirts of laramie Um into
(17:28):
a neighborhood, this little housing development called Sherman Hills. They
drove down an unpaved road until they reached a wooden
buck fence. And a wooden buck fence is just a
fence that basically is built in an ex pattern, but
it's super secluded. And the two men ended up forcing
Matthew out of the car. So McKinney ordered Henderson, you know,
(17:53):
you know, McKinney's calling all the shots at this point,
he ordered Henderson to tie Matthew to the fence post
with a clothes line from the truck. Once Matthew was
actually tied to the fence, McKinney proceeded to again viciously
beat him with the butt of his gun. Yeah, and
just to give you an idea here, I actually looked
(18:14):
at the autopsy report and the corner set in the
report that Shepherd was struck nineteen to twenty one times
in the head with the butt of a I guess
it was a Magnum Smith and Wesson pistol, and that
final blow from that pistol irreparably damaged Shepherd's brainstem. It's
just the brutality of this is like, it's just it's
(18:37):
it's horrible. It's horrendous, right, It's like, I can't even
comprehend somebody raging out like this and killing someone. I mean,
I also read that Henderson supposedly supposedly tried to stop McKinney, yeah,
hold him back, but he tried to cool him down.
But the thing is, like, it's obvious that Aaron as
(19:00):
the aggressor of the two, right, right, And it kind
of seemed like McKinney definitely was in charge and Henderson,
I mean, was he just going along with it? Yeah,
I mean when Henderson tried to like stop him, I'm
pretty sure, like McKinney like smacked him in the face
with his gun and like just like beat him into submission.
You know. So I don't know if he's going on
(19:21):
with it, but it's weird that still doesn't take him
off the hook. No, No, like, no, he was okay. Maybe,
like you said, he wasn't the aggressor, he wasn't the
main person, but he still let it happen, right, and
he still drove to the fence where they did all this,
you know what I mean, he's so and if he
if he actually felt any remorse too, I mean, he
would have called the police immediately afterwards, called an ambulance.
(19:43):
But as we know that that doesn't happen, right, they
left him there to die? Like did they think he
wasn't going to die? I mean, like I wasn't even
thinking about that in my head, Like you know, like
you have this gun, Like why are you beating him
with the gun rather than one your fist? Or like
if you really want to kill him, why aren't you
shooting him? Right? I thought about that, And I'm like,
do you think maybe they thought that he was going
(20:04):
to survive and that they were just going to teach
this gay boy a lesson like maybe maybe maybe, but
we we just we don't know what they think. Obviously,
I get the impression they wanted to physically beat somebody,
you know, like that there was some sort of um
satisfaction that they got out of, like causing someone pain
rather than just like a quick death via a shot
(20:24):
to the head or something. Yeah, yeah, yeah, I mean
it was It's an it's an obvious rage, right, Like
we don't know what was building up and that was
behind that rage, what was behind that? Right? Well, anyways, um,
they end up taking Matthew's shoes and wallet and they
(20:44):
get out of Dodge, leaving there in cold freezing temperatures,
and then on their way back to Laramie, the two
men get into a fight with two other men for
some unrelated matter. I think they kind of stumbled upon
these other two guys who are like in the middle
of robbing a car, and they kind of called him
out for it, and they end up getting in this
like weird scuffle. So it's because of this little scuffle
(21:06):
that police are called to the scene and McKinney and
Henderson tried to run away from the police. Then they
left behind their truck with all of Matthew's belongings, like
the wallet and his shoes, and they also leave behind
the bloody gun that they used to beat him with.
They leave all the evidence, right, but one officer actually
chased and tackled Henderson to the ground, so Henderson was arrested.
(21:29):
But McKinney gets away. Wow, yeah, I mean this is
this story just gets crazier and crazier. So this is
the thing. McKinney. He goes back to see his girlfriend,
Kristen Price, and she said that he came home around
one thirty in the morning and he was completely freaking out, panicking,
(21:51):
and he just kept mumbling. She said, he kept mumbling
something like I did something horrible. I did something horrible.
So we need to take another break here, but we'll
talk about the aftermath and what happened to Matthew and
his assailants after we come back from a break. So
(22:12):
Matthew was left they're alone to die that night, and
he was not found until the following day at about
six pm. U a passing mountain biker noticed what he
thought was a scarecrow tried to offence, but as he
(22:34):
stopped to look a little bit closer, he realized it
was a human being, a very small man. Uh. He
ran to a nearby home immediately and used their phone
because of course they didn't have cell phones at the
time or it wasn't easily accessible, so he immediately called authorities.
Matthew was taken to a hospital in Laramie and then
(22:57):
later transferred to Puja Valley Hospital in Fort Collins, Colorado.
And just real quick, here was the official medical list
of injuries that Matthew sustained. Fractures to the back of
the head in front of the right ear, severe damage
to the brainstem like we mentioned earlier, and then around
a dozen small lacerations on the face, head and neck,
(23:21):
and so, of course Matthew was comatos. Matthew's parents, Judy
and Dennis, flew in from Saudi Arabia that Friday night,
and the doctors told them that Matthew would likely never
emerge from his coma. But meanwhile, the story of what
happened to Matthew it blew up and it turned into
a national news story. And weirdly, as it turns out,
(23:43):
the Internet was still pretty new at this point. I mean,
that's really hard to believe, but it was. It was,
and it was a big part of this case because
apparently the Puja Valley Hospital, they got eight hundred thousand
people that were have said to have checked in on
Matthew and they would go to this particular website to
(24:05):
see how he was doing every single day. This was like,
you know, the early version right of social media, right
social media, and a lot of the a lot of
the celebrities were speaking out and taking platforms, you know,
against this hate christ like Oprah, like Ellen, and even
(24:28):
Nathan Lane, who I had read, you know, he had
come out publicly to his family. But when this happened,
when this horrific act happened to Matthew, he wanted more
than anything to do it publicly and he did so. Ah,
he came out because Matthew, Yeah he did. And even
the Shepherds even got a call from then President Bill
(24:51):
Clinton and he sent his best wishes for Matthew. But sadly,
on October twelve, in the early hours of the morning,
Matthew Shepard succumbed to his injuries. Matthew never regained consciousness
after the attack. Matthew was just twenty one years old.
(25:17):
I remember his father's speech in one of the trials
and he said he was fifty days shy of turning two.
It's just a baby, So, you know, when you think
about it, his life was just beginning, and the life
that he wanted to be involved in was being an
(25:38):
advocate for change. One of the articles re read, I
think someone said that he had wanted to become president
one day, right, Like, that's the type of person Matthew was.
Like you you knew, at least from everything everyone said
about him, that he was supposed to make a positive
difference in this world in life, and you know now
he's doing it in death. Well, I'm sure one big
(26:00):
question that everybody has then is what happened to his assailants,
the people responsible for this, Aaron McKinney and Russell Henderson.
I want to know what happened. Well, if you remember,
McKinney fled from the police when Henderson was arrested and
went to his girlfriend, and both men had girlfriends who
(26:21):
helped them come up with alibis and kind of give
them cover. Kristen Price, McKinney's girlfriend, took him to the
hospital where he was admitted with a hairline fracture to
the school. I'm not really sure how that happened. Police
would later say that she and Russell's girlfriend, a girl
named Chastity Pasley, then tried to get rid of the
evidence for them. So they together drove fifty miles away
(26:44):
all the way to Cheyenne, Wyoming, and there they took
all of the evidence, Henderson's bloody clothes and all, and
they threw it away and then they stashed his bloody
shoes in a storage shed over at Chastity's mom's house.
I mean, but apparently didn't do much good because they
made themselves, they made themselves accessories to the crime and
(27:06):
bad ones right at that. I mean, they told everybody everything.
I mean, they write exactly. But the police still found
their boyfriends, I mean obviously pretty quickly with all of
the evidence that they left. I mean, it's pretty hard
not to find. And they then arrested Aaron McKinney at
the hospital. So, as you can imagine, both of them
are then charged with attempted murder, kidnapping, and also aggravated
(27:29):
robbery that was later upgraded to first degree murder, meaning
that they were both eligible for the death penalty. And
then the two men's girlfriends, Chastity Pasley and Kristen Price
were also charged as accessories to the crime. Yeah. But
but get this, Okay, Henderson actually made a deal to
(27:49):
avoid the death penalty. He agreed to testify against McKinney.
I mean, this really does not surprise me. Um, it
really doesn't mean based on how the whole murder happened,
who was in charge and yeah, all the things. Um,
So he ended up being sentenced to two consecutive life
(28:10):
terms and avoided a trial altogether. So I guess, um, yeah,
they weren't exactly the best of friends, I guess. And
know when we think about, you know, the whole story.
As I said earlier, we always knew in this story
that Aaron McKinney was the leader of this particular pack, right, so,
and we knew that he was an asshole to him,
(28:31):
and he did beat him and hit him in the
face and ordered him around, so we knew this was
to save your own life. Yeah, I get it. So
even crazier was McKinney's trial, and the prosecution put forth
the argument that the two men had pretended to be
(28:54):
gay in order to gain matthews trust and lure him
into their car, because why else would Matthew have gotten
into that truck. I mean, really, he would have to
feel safe, especially, you know, knowing how other people are
in that town. That was also actually backed up by
the testimony of Price McKinney's girlfriend, who said virtually the
(29:17):
same thing, that they were pretending to be gay to
get him into the truck. Well, because you know, McKinney
came home that night to her and essentially it just
confessed everything to her, right, right, So I mean she
got that straight out of McKinney's mouth. So that made
it pretty glaringly obvious testimony. Right, I did horrible things, Yeah, right,
Oh my gosh. But then the defense came up with,
(29:41):
in my humble opinion, they came up with two completely
assinine and disgusting arguments, and I'm going to get Piste
off about it, So Trevor, why don't you tell us
so that I'm not yelling into my microphone? Right? So
the first one was that it was just an attempted
robbery gone wrong, that you know, all of this was
just about getting the thirty bucks in Matthew's wallet, which
(30:02):
is crazy, um, of course not. And then the other
one they use is another one that we've heard about
before and is a big point of contention in public forums,
and that is the gay panic defense. So the gay
panic defense suggests that when a straight person has some
sort of unwanted sexual advance made upon them by someone
(30:24):
of the same sex, which is what McKinney claimed that
Matthew had done to him in the car, that they
then go into a fit of rage, kin do I
guess temporary insanity. McKinney's lawyers believe this would prove that
the attack was not premeditated, right, that this was just
like a reaction, It was just like a gut instinct,
and therefore was I guess less heinous in their eyes.
(30:45):
So people have used the gay panic defense before, and
I think since then we've all come to an agreement
as a society that it's nonsensical. This isn't a thing, no, no,
And thankfully, like in July of two thousand and nineteen,
in these particular states, they cannot use this at all.
It's been banned. And that's California, Illinois, Rhode Island, Nevada, Connecticut, Maine,
(31:10):
and Hawaii. That's every state that the gay panic defense
is not a valid argument, right right, it's banned. You
cannot use it. But how sad is that we have
fifty states in our beautiful country. And that's not You
did not read me fifty states, That's what I didn't. Yeah.
I mean my understanding reading online on Reddit about kind
(31:32):
of legal practices is that the gay panic defense is
still kind of widely considered a joke, like it rarely
actually makes it through any sort of legitimate legal proceeding anymore. Okay, Okay,
I'll calm down a little bit. No, No, I mean,
it's like a super valid concerned to have, and it
was a lot more common I think back in the
nineties and eighties and even early two thousand's, but it's
(31:54):
come a long way for what it's worth. Um, you know, really,
the only time you ever see it anymore is in
these kind of high profile cases where they're kind of
using it as a hail mary of some sort to
get them off. But um, you know, I think for
whatever it is worth, you know, the Matthew Shepherd case
was a big public example of how this panic defense
(32:16):
can be used very poorly and ultimately helped it, you know,
kind of get blacklisted from legal defense proceedings. So that's
why we're here right, We're we're here to make a
positive difference, and you're so right, because Matthew his case.
Thank goodness, Um, the judge dismissed the gay panic defense,
(32:38):
and so the jury ultimately found Aaron McKinney guilty of
first degree murder. But in a very interesting and compassionate twist,
the Shepherd's actually stepped in to save Aaron McKinney from
the death penalty. On November five, Judy Shepherd made a
(33:00):
deal with McKinney's lawyers to actually save his life, and
so Aaron McKinney was sentenced to two consecutive life terms
without the possibility of parole. And I have to say,
I know, I know, I honestly prior to today, not
that I didn't think that Dennis, you know, Matthew's father,
(33:24):
you know, was supportive of this. But I've always heard
Judy right, Um, Judy kept saying, you know how she's
forgiving him and and wanting to save his life. But
when I watched Yvette had me watched The Laramie Project today,
which is an incredible film, powerful based on you know,
(33:45):
a play, but it's it's taken from actual transcripts of
what the people in Laramie said, like, they came and
they interviewed all these people and they they re enacted
Dennis Shepherd's speech at Aaron McKinney's trial, and he basically
said to him, like Judy and I believe in the
death penalty. However, we believe in healing. And that is
(34:09):
why we're giving you life. You deserve to die, but
we're giving you the gifts of life. So that you
think about Matthew Shepard every every single day, every single day,
gives me chicken out. Was that was? That was so powerful.
So there was one sliver of good to come out
of this tragedy, and that was the Matthew Shepherd and
(34:29):
James Bird Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act. So, Chrevor, can
you tell us a little bit about this? I sure
can't um So. The other name on that bill is
James Byrd, obviously, and a little bit about him. He
was a black man who was decapitated by three white
supremacists after they dragged him behind their truck and the
same year. Those two names are attached to this bill.
(34:53):
And the bill does a few things such as in
the federal Hate Crime Statute, it removes the requirement that
victims are targeted because they are engaged in a federally
protected activity such as voting or attending school for example.
The bill also extends the hate Crime Statute to cover
violent crimes based on a person's gender, sexual orientation, gender identity,
(35:16):
or disability, and none of those things were there before.
The bill authorizes the Department of Justice to assist state
in local governments and investigating or prosecuting hate crimes so
they can get the support of the FBI or other
federal agencies you know when looking into cases like Matthews.
And then lastly, it authorizes grants to jurisdictions local police
(35:37):
forces to help investigate and prosecute these hate crimes. So
just giving them more money, you know, more feed on
the ground to make sure it gets the proper investigation
it needs. Anyways, this bill was signed into law in
two thousand nine by Barack Obama. To me, like, this
bill was so important, but it's also rather heartbreaking that
(35:58):
it took from to two thousand nine to be signed
into law. Right, um, I did find this report from
the Human Rights Campaign or better known as the HRC,
which tells us that hate crimes based on sexual orientation
represent sixteen point seven percent of hate crimes, and that's
(36:18):
the third largest category after race and religion, right, right,
And I mean I can only imagine how much worse
those numbers are, especially in a small town like Laramie, right.
I mean when we think about it back in the nineties.
I mean, I mean, we can think about it back
in the nineties, but we can think about it now
to write still to this day. You know, but the
(36:42):
the anti gay sentiment was was just even worse back then.
But we still have so much work to do still,
and you have to remember to that's like the height
of the AIDS epidemic, right, Um, it could not have
been easy for Matthew to to live in that environment
(37:05):
and be out in that environment, especially in Laramie. I mean,
he probably couldn't even say that he was was gay
because you know, homosexuality had this paranoia and this stigma
that was surrounding it. I think it's much better now personally,
but you know, yeah, I want to maybe dig into
that just for a second, which is you know, this
(37:27):
concept of being gay and small town America. I think
it's something you know, we don't really talk about a lot,
so Vanity Fair actually interviewed a number of local folks
over in Laramie just to get a better idea of
the culture and what people thought of gay people there.
And there's one quote in the article that says, quote,
a number of residents told me that they consider Matthew
(37:48):
Shepard the first gay person that they ever quote unquote met,
So obviously people aren't exposed to a lot of gay
people in small towns like Laramie. There was one interview
he named Milk Green, who said he thought matthews murder
was quote unquote a stupid crime. But he also said
I have a hard time relating to homosexuality. I don't
(38:08):
understand it end quote. So again, there's a lot of
I don't want to say ignorance, but just lack of
understanding of gay people in these small towns, right. And
I think it's just, you know, people are so accustomed
to growing up and being taught certain things right by
(38:28):
their parents, and they haven't stepped outside of that world
to do and know better. And that's why that's why
we have so much work to do, so much work,
especially like educating folks on on everything, on gay people,
on gay issues, right, And this this show and talking
(38:50):
about these cases, like it really inspires me as a
human being just to do better, to be better at
all times. Yeah, I think Matthew being in this kind
of small town was maybe not the best thing for him.
I think it made him especially vulnerable two you know,
be gay, having gone through what he went through, you know,
(39:12):
when he was sexually assaulted, and then having to be
you know, in this small town that doesn't really understand him,
especially in the nineties. Like we're all saying, um, you know,
I mean, Rashia, you live in Portland, I live in
Los Angeles, that you live in San Francisco. I think
for places like this, it's so much easier, too much safer. Yeah,
(39:32):
it's safer, you know, as like queer people. We can
you know, walk down the street and not really fear
as much for our lives but as those Yeah, but
as those kind of um, you know, testimonies from those
local Laramie people say, you know, they just they don't
understand gay people. They don't really know anything about gay people,
and that leads to problems, just like what happened to Matthew. Um, so,
(39:55):
I guess the big question here is what do we
do about that. I mean, we're making progress, but how
we changed that. I think there's two huge things that
we can do. One, I truly believe that representation matters.
Like the great Harvey Milk, that one of the most
(40:15):
amazing gay icons. You know, he told people like come out,
like come out, be out. Like the more gay people
that people know, they'll realize like, oh, like rash is
just you know a great, nice person. Trevor is a nice,
beautiful person. You know, Like, representation matters. I think the
more people that are out, I think the safer it
(40:37):
will be because it will be more of us in numbers.
But I think the real great answer is also creating
safe spaces for gay people everywhere, even in those small towns,
especially in the small towns right especially. And that's like
when we were watching you know, the show The Laramie
Project today, It's like there was a community d you know,
(41:00):
they were small in numbers to begin with, but after
this happened, after this tragedy happened, the numbers started to grow.
So more people came out and larn more more people
came out, Yes that have lived there, you know, their
whole lives. They came out, So you know unfortunately, and
I we talk about this all the time. Why does
(41:22):
it always take, you know, tragedy to make change happen. Well,
we're near the end of the show today and that
means it's time for our emua, our final message of
hope and healing. I'd like to use this opportunity to
honor Matthew, his family, and most of all, his mother, Judy.
(41:47):
You have to remember she chose to help save the
life of the man who killed her son. We can
all learn about unconditional compassion from Judy Shepherd. Absolutely, she
was faced with such an incredibly painful and violent situation,
(42:07):
yet she responded with kindness. And I think we need
more people like Judy Shepherd in the world because maybe
if we had more Judy Shepherd's, more people who lead
with kindness, we'd have less tragedies like the murder of
Matthew Shepherd. Lead with kindness. Onward and upward. Imama, Well,
(42:37):
that's our show for today. We'd love to hear what
you thought about today's discussion, and if there's a case
you'd like us to cover, you can always find us
on social media or email us at Facing Evil Pod
at Tenderfoot dot tv. Until next time. Aloha. Facing Evil
(43:23):
is a production of I Heart Radio and tenderfoot TV.
The show is hosted by Russia Peccarero and a Vetchantil.
Matt Frederick and Alex Williams are executive producers on behalf
of I Heart Radio with producers Trevor Young and Jesse Funk.
Donald albright In Payine Lindsay our executive producers on behalf
of Tenderfoot TV, alongside producer Tracy Kaplan. Our researcher is
(43:47):
Claudia Dafrico. Original music by Makeup and Vanity Set. Find
us on social media or email us at Facing Evil,
pot at tenderfoot dot tv. For more podcasts from I
Heart rate Deo or tenderfoot TV, visit the I Heart
Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your
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