All the factors to Matthew Shepherds murder (Final Draft)

All the factors to Matthew Shepherds Murder

Willi Miller

Matthew Shepard was murdered. There are several theories surrounding the motive of his murder. The press focused primarily on Matthew Shepard’s murder as simply a hate crime.  There is evidence the murder may have been fueled by drugs as well.  Was this horrible crime committed out of hate, out of anger, out of a drug induced rage or all of the above?  In fact, the motives behind this crime were complicated and variable.         

Life is completely random. There is no rhyme or rhythm to it. Sometimes it slows down, sometimes it speeds up, but in Mr. Shepherd’s case it stops. The book and play, The Laramie Project argues that his murder was a hate crime against gays.  There are several statements throughout The Laramie Project that support this, “Uh, I really dont hate them but you know, when they start coming on to me and stuff like that I get pretty aggravated.” (McKinney pg. 93) McKinney was homophobic, “He (Mr. Shepherd) was grabbing my leg and my genitals.” (Mckinney pg. 90) and “Well he put his hand on my leg, slid his hand down like as if he was going to grab my balls.” (Mckinney pg 91)  McKinney seems proud of himself and he acts if he does not have a drop of remorse.  He almost seems phony, like he is trying to keep something hidden. Mckinney is so open with the fact that he beat Shepherd because he was gay, he comments, “I’d say I hit him about 2 or 3 times with my fists and about 6 times with the pistol.” (Mckinney pg. 92)  The judge asked McKinney, “Did Mr. Shepherd tell you to stop?” (Debree pg 92)  McKinney answered, “Well yeah, he was getting the shit kicked out of him.” (Mckinney pg 92)  From these statements, it seems pretty obvious he was hateful towards Matthew Shepard as a gay man.

There is more evidence that says the murder of Mr. Shepherd is not just a hate crime.

The Book of Matt is a controversial book about the case of Matthew Shepard. This book brings up many other factors that may have contributed to the murder of Matthew.  So if not a hate crime, what was it?  One can not get an answer to that question without looking at all of the possibilities. The author of the book, The Book of Matt, Steven Jimenez says “The prosecutor of the Aaron Mckinney trial got an anonymous letter that said that Aaron Mckinney was bisexual and the gay panic defence was bogus.” (Jimenez pg. 5)  Obviously this is pretty far fetched from the story that people have come to know.  Mr. Jimenez could surely be wrong, in fact, he says himself “My background is really in film and television.” (Jimenez Book TV interview) So this may give Mr. Jimenez a little less authority.  However, Mr. Jimenez is not the only one to have evidence that Mr. Mckinney is bisexual. In the 20/20 interview, Doc O'Connor, a Limo driver  who knew both McKinney and Shepherd stated, “I know for a fact that Aaron Mckinney was gay because there was an instance where he wanted to have a 3 way and he wanted me to be the 3rd guy.” (Doc O’Connor 20/20 interview) Now there is not only one but 2 people saying McKinney was bisexual.  Why would Mr. McKinney want to kill Mr. Shepard simple because he was gay, if he was gay himself?  Something else Mr. Jimenez figured out from his research for his book is that Henderson and McKinney could have both been on meth. He says “I talked to several drug dealers that knew Aaron Mckinney, then later came to realize as I started to explore the drug world that Matthew Shepard was also involved as a user.” Jimenez (book tv interview) Could this really be true? Matthew Shepard, a meth addict? There are many sources including Steven Jimenez that say yes. In the original story, the news made Mr. Shepherd out to be a perfect young man, but he actually may have been very troubled, and using drugs to deal with his troubles.  

Matthew Shepard’s death was the sad result of many complicated factors. First of all, he was, in fact, involved with drugs.  There is speculation that Aaron McKinney was actually going to rob Matthew Shepherd for money to buy drugs. According to the 20/20 special Aaron Mckinney’s girlfriend stated, “His real motive was to beat him up and rob him.” However, because McKinney was on a week long meth binge, he was most likely feeling the full affects of it. Two emotions that meth causes are anger and paranoia, according to a video on how to quit meth.  Some brain functions are amplified, while others are reduced on meth.  The part of the brain that controls judgement is reduced, and aggression is amplified when one is on meth. Complete lack of judgement and serious aggression are two major factors that drove McKinney to murder Matthew Shepard.  There were also deep feelings of hatred involved in the murder.  Perhaps, Mr. McKinney hated not only Matthew Shepard for being gay, but also hated himself for being bisexual.  One of Shepherd’s closest friends says in the 20/20 special, “I feel comfortable in my own heart that they did what they did to Matt because they had hatred towards him for being gay.”  Indeed this is true, there was most definitely hate involved, but there is no denying the facts about meth.  Truly this is a crime, started by hatred and fueled by drugs.  

The sad case of Matthew Shepard’s murder, illustrates the prejudices of sexual orientation.  It also shows just how dangerous drugs can be.  When drugs fuel hatred, anger and aggression, disaster is the only thing that could come from it.

Picture Analysis

mily Weincheck

“What would you guys say to Aaron if you saw him right now?” (Belber pg 61) Act III

“My most striking memory from the funeral… (Drake pg 78) Act III

“The cold, the wind. They say wyoming's winds will drive a man insane, but you know what? it dont bother me. well some of the times it bothers me. but most of the times it dont.” (O'Connor pg. 7)

all the factors to Matthew Shepherd murder pt. 1

life is completely random. There is no rhyme or rhythm to it. sometimes it slows down, sometimes it speeds up, but in Mr. Shepherds case it stops. No one really knows for sure as to why except for the fact that 2 people murdered him. The book and play The Laramie Project argues that it was a hate crime against gays. There are several cumulitive statments throughout that bring it up, and this is one of them, “Uh, I really dont hate them but you know, when they start coming on to me and stuff like that I get pretty aggravated.” (McKinney pg. 93) This is one of the things Mckinney originally brought up in the trial. but it is not very believable for one specific reason. He kept changing up alot of the thing he said in court, for example. after saying “He (Mr. Shepherd) was grabbing my leg and my genatals.” (Mckinney pg. 90) then suddenly changed his story to “Well he put his hand on my leg, slid his hand down like as if he was going to grab my balls.” (Mckinney pg 91) Although he was shifty about his story. He seems proud of what he does. As if he does not have a drop of remorse. It almost seems phony, like he is trying to keep something hidden. Mckinney is so open with the fact that he beat Shepherd because he was gay for example These several quotes help support this. “Id say I hit him about 2 or 3 times with my fits and about 6 times with the pistol.” (Mckinney pg. 92) “Did Mr. Shepherd tell you to stop?” (debree pg 92) “Well yeah, he was getting the shit kicked out of him.” (Mckinney pg 92) These things actually make sense, but one has to really read between the lines. There is more evidence that says the murder of Mr. Shepherd is not a hate crime.

There is a controversial book about the case of Matthew Shepard concerning if it was really a hate crime or not, but if not a hate crime, what was it? one can not get an answer to that question without ruled out all possibilities.The author of this book, The book of Matt, Steven Jimenez says “The prosecutor of the Aaron Mckinney trial got an anonymous letter that said that Aaron Mckinney was bisexual and the gay panic defence was bogus.” (Jimenez pg. 5) Obviously this is pretty far fetched from the story that people have come to know, and Mr. Jimenez could surely be wrong infact he says himself “My background is really in film and television.” (Jimenez Book TV interview) So this may give him a little less authority and knowledge to do what he did, however Mr. Jimenez is not the only one to have evidence that Mr. Mckinney is bisexual. In the 20/20 interview with doc O'Connor, who knew both Mckinney and Shepherd he stated “I know for a fact that Aaron Mckinney was gay because there was an instance where he wanted to have a 3 way and he wanted me to be the 3rd guy” (Doc O’Connor 20/20 interview) Now there is not only one but 2 people saying this. This may not be the answer to the question of why Mr. Mckinney killed Mr. Shepherd but it is getting closer. Something else Mr. Jimenez figured out fro his research is that Henderson and Mckinney could have been on meth. He says “I talked to several drug dealers that knew Aaron Mckinney, then later came to realize as I started to explore the drug world that Matthew Shepard was also involved as a user.” Could this really be true? Matthew Shepard, A meth addict? there are many sources other than Steven Jimenez that say yes. In the original story, the news made Mr. Shepherd out to be a perfect young man, but everyone has problems.  

Meth, not even once.

Meth has a critical tendency to make people turn insanely brutish. There has been many instances through out history where meth has turned perfectly good people into cold blooded killers. There is a significant amount of evidence that says Matthew Shepherd was using Meth. Bryan Fischer, host of "focal point" says… "Every thing you have heard about Matthew Shepherd is wrong, he was killed by a gay lover over drugs" This is obviously very vague.  It does not mean that Matthew was on meth, however his murderer, Aren McKinney might have been on Meth according to Stephan Hemenez, a journalist who wrote "The book of Matt".  In an interview, Stephan says "Erin McKinney knew Matthew Shepherd before Matthew moved to Laramie.  Erin McKinney was a drug dealer." These statements suggest that Erin might have been involved in more ways than people have come to know. How precisely he was involved though is something Stephan Hemenez can answer very well. In another interview he said "Matthew according to scores, had meth the night he was killed and was willing to exchange it for money, but Erin did not have the money that night so he came up with the idea to rob him." Although these statements are miles away from any thing most people have heard about this case, They have some truth. Rachael Martin from NPR says in an interview with Mr. Hemenez "After a decade of research in Laramie, Hemenez has pieced together his own story." Later in the interview, Hemenez states, "There are several people that literally spoken about the fact that they used meth with Erin up until the morning of the crime." this might mean that Erin got himself so addicted that he would do any thing to get more. It could also mean that Erin was already using at that point at the and killed Matthew because he went into a meth induced rage. no one would know unless they were there.

Prejudice and irony in Laramie Wyoming

If there were two words that describe Laramie Wyoming, they would be 'generic' and 'old school'. First, it's a small town, and people are simple. Second, people who live there seem to have a more conservative old way of thinking. Very few residents are liberal minded. The following statements represent that in many ways. In The Laramie Project, Jonas Slonaker says, "when I came here I knew it was going to be hard as a gay man." and "So many gay men grew up here, and they're like "this is not a place where I can live, how can you live there?".  These statements infer that a gay male is out of place in Laramie. Another example of this town being intolerant to gay people is from a waitress named Marge Murray, she commented about what someone might do if they met a gay person in a bar.  She says, "They might poke one, if they were in a bar situation, you know they had been drinking, they might actually smack one in the mouth but they'd just walk away." This is interesting because it is not a male saying this, but a woman. Women, as well as men, seem to have prejudices against gays in this town.  This last quote from the book shows that there are people in Laramie are not only clueless about different cultures, but are afraid of them too. "Because I'm Muslim I decided to start wearing a scarf." People say things to me like,"'why do you have to wear that thing on your head?" "like when I got to the grocery store, Im not looking to give people islam 101." and "This is the worst part cause they'll be like, I know its part of your religion, but why?" So, all these thing tell the reader that this is a town that is uneducated in difference. It does not mean this town cannot grow, but for now there are two words that come to mind. generic and old school.

Irony is a big contributor to the creativity of this book and play.  It also is a major theme throughout. Something haunting but ironic is that according to Matthew Shepherds academic director, he was actually studying to work in human rights after he graduated college. His director commented, "I can only say this in retrospect, of course….I think he was heading towards human rights." Matthew was planning to spend his life helping to teach acceptance to all people, including the very people that murdered him.