Matthew Shepard in a family photo found in his father’s wallet. Photo courtesy of the Matthew Shepard Foundation
Russell Henderson, one of the killers of hate crime victim Matthew Shepard, will remain in prison for at least another five years after the Wyoming Parole Board recently rejected his petition to reduce his two consecutive life sentences. Henderson and co-defendant Aaron McKinney were convicted of kidnapping and murdering Shepard in October 1998 in Laramie, Wyoming.
“The board held a hearing on Russell’s petition and declined to forward the petition to the governor,” said Margaret White, executive director of the parole board. He told Advocate.com.
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In Wyoming, inmates who have served 10 years of a life sentence can file a commutation petition every five years. It is unclear whether Henderson has filed a petition before.
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To avoid the death penalty, Henderson pleaded guilty to first-degree murder and kidnapping Shepard. Henderson was sentenced in April 1999. His co-defendant, McKinney, was convicted of kidnapping, robbery, and second-degree murder later that year. To avoid the death penalty, McKinney accepted a life sentence without the possibility of parole or appeal.
Henderson and McKinney’s murder of Shepard on October 7, 1998, shocked the nation. The killers hit the 21-year-old Shepard multiple times with a gun butt, fracturing his skull, then tied him to a fence and left him to die of hypothermia during the 28-degree night.
Shepard was discovered early the next morning by a bicyclist who initially mistook his body for a scarecrow. Shepard’s face was reportedly bloody, with tears running down his cheeks. The attack left Shepard in a coma and he was hospitalized on life support for six days, before dying.
Court testimony revealed that the victims and killers may have met over a methamphetamine sale, but detectives testified that McKinney felt threatened by Shepherd’s homosexuality. The killers enlisted the help of their girlfriends to create alibis and destroy evidence during police investigations of the murders.
In 1998, Shepard’s parents founded the Matthew Shepard Foundation, an LGBTQ+ nonprofit that provides education, awareness, and advocacy against queerphobia.
In 2009, Matthew Shepard’s mother, Judy Shepard, published a book. The Meaning of Matthew: The Murder of a Son in Laramie and How the World ChangedIn May 2024, she received the Presidential Medal of Freedom for her continued advocacy for LGBTQ+ rights.
In October 2009, the U.S. Congress passed the Matthew Shepard and James Byrd Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act, which added sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, and disability to existing federal hate crimes laws. The act also provided additional federal funding for the investigation and pursuit of hate crimes.
The aftermath of Shepard’s murder: The Laramie ProjectThe play, which was performed in 2000, is comprised of actual interviews with local investigators and residents. The play was adapted into a film of the same name in 2002. Numerous songs have been dedicated to Shepard, including lesbian singer-songwriter Melissa Etheridge’s 1999 song “Scarecrow”.
