In 1998, white supremacists in Wyoming captured a college student and, according to ancient Western customs, tied him like a coyote to a prairie fence and tortured him to "warn those who came after."
This method of execution shocked the United States and attracted global attention.
For more than 20 years, the United States has been hotly debated about hate crime legislation around the case, but progress has been slow under the obstruction of white supremacists.
The death of the Scarecrow
On October 8, 1998, in the Laramie River Valley in Wyoming, the western United States, the forkhorn antelope ran on the prairie, and the mountain wormwood trees and cacti swayed in the cold wind, showing the grandeur and desolation of the western countryside.
A 14-year-old boy named Aaron Kreiffels rides on a prairie path. In a remote, infrequent area, he fell off his mountain bike and noticed a scarecrow nearby.
The scarecrow was tied to a fence in the prairie, and there seemed to be something wrong.
Usually, the scarecrow's sleeves sway with the wind, but the scarecrow has his arms crossed behind him, his legs curled up, his head hunched over the fence, facing the sky on his back.
Looking closer, the Scarecrow's face was black, all covered in bruises. The only clean place is a tear trough formed by tears flowing down.
He realized that this was a person.
Patrolwoman Reggie Flotty rushed to the scene.
She recalled afterwards: It was so scary, I had only seen such a wound in a highway accident.
The "Scarecrow"'s face and head were slammed by heavy objects more than 20 times, and the skin was fleshy and unrecognizable, like a blood gourd, covered with swelling, fractures and collapses.
Floty said that she couldn't recognize it as a person until she got closer.
One of his eyes was half-open, and occasionally a tear flowed out, indicating that he was still alive.
Flotty tried to wake him up, but the other party fell into a deep coma and barely breathed.
Due to his serious injuries, he was taken to Pod Valley Hospital in Colorado for rescue.
Police identified the victim as Matthew Shepard, a 21-year-old student at the University of Wyoming.
His parents rushed from Saudi Arabia to the hospital, where Dennis Shepard worked as an oil drilling inspector.
They saw that the son was covered with tubes, his face was covered with bandages and sutures, and the only thing exposed outside the bandages was the braces on his mouth.
Unfortunately, Shepard never regained consciousness. At 12:53 a.m. on 12 October, the Pod Valley Hospital announced his death.
Who is doing such a cruel hand to a student?
The sins of white supremacists
Police investigations found that the case was linked to white supremacists in Wyoming.
Wyoming, located in the Rocky Mountains of the western United States, takes its name from the Ancient Indian language, meaning "Prairie." The territory is sparsely populated and has well-known attractions such as Yellowstone Park and Grand Teton Park.
Wyoming, also known as the "Cowboy State", is a traditional, conservative rural area full of Old West style, and a paradise for white supremacists.
In 1998, Wyoming had a population of only 500,000, the least populous state in the United States, but the number of whites was as high as 450,000, or 90%, and most of them were Protestants.
It's the setting for many Westerns, where many locals worship train robbers and outlaws, and where the line between heroes and villains is blurred.
Wyoming people often say: The men here are real men, and the forked horned antelope is too scared to do it!
It's a dangerous zone for the gay community.
Matthew Shepard happens to be a homosexual.
Figure | Matthew Shepard
At midnight on October 7, 1998, Shepard, a 21-year-old freshman who had just entered school, came to a bar in Laramie City and met two young white men, McKinney and Henderson, both roof repair workers, who were about the same age as him.
During the chat, Shepard did not shy away from his homosexual tendencies, and did not notice the hateful eyes of the two people next to him.
Henderson and McKinney pretended to be gay and invited Shepard to leave in the car.
As soon as the diminutive Shepard got into the car, he was subdued by the two men.
They took Shepard to a remote prairie, tied him to a fence with a clothesline, and tortured him for a long time.
The two men slammed him more than 20 times on the head and face with the handle of a king-sized gun, causing 18 wounds, four fractures to the head and five sides of the face, and serious damage to the brainstem.
Shepard's body was also beaten to the ground.
More than an hour later, the two disguised the scene, took his wallet and shoes, which contained only $20, and then flew away, leaving Shepard to fend for himself in the wilderness.
It wasn't until 18 hours later that Shepard was discovered by teenager Kreiffels.
Shortly after Shepard's death, police arrested McKinney and Henderson and found a blood-stained gun, Shepard's shoes and wallet in their cars.
Figure | Russell Henderson (left) and Aaron McKinney
The two initially denied it, and also let their girlfriends Parsire and Pres make perjury and provide alibi.
A few days later, Henderson denied it in the face of evidence, claiming that Shepard had put his hand on McKinney's leg after getting into their car, causing McKinney to panic about homosexuality and decide to take Shepard to a remote prairie to punish.
The reason why Hepard was beaten so badly was to teach him enough lessons why he should not be a straight man.
In another confession, however, Henderson claimed that Shepard looked as if he were about to touch McKinney's leg.
Sheriff Dave O'Malley, the Sheriff of Albany County who led the case, said: "In my opinion, this is a hate crime, from start to finish. ”
He said that according to the bar surveillance, McKinney and Russell left Shepard for a while, went into the bar bathroom to discuss, and planned to pretend to be gay in order to gain Shepard's trust, trick him into McKinney's pickup, and then drag him into the wild to beat up this "white garbage".
In court, McKinney's defense attorneys said Shepard touched McKinney's leg to make his client furious.
But the judge dismissed the "homosexual panic" claim.
In the end, the two murderers were each sentenced to two lifelong prisons.
The case shocked the United States
After the case was announced, it shocked the entire United States and aroused global attention.
The killer's execution, similar to that of crucifying a coyote on a fence, sparked nationwide outrage.
Two days after Shepard's death, stars, including well-known talk show host Allen, gathered outside Capitol Hill to address a vigil for thousands of people.
Vigils were held across the country.
People in Wyoming and other states have demanded legislation related to hate crimes.
According to data released by the FBI, among the more than 1,000 victims of hate crimes in the United States in 1998, sexual orientation was the third largest factor after race and religion, accounting for more than 15%.
However, legislation and amendments to hate crimes were blocked and opposed by white supremacists.
At Shepard's funeral, police put Dennis Shepard in body armor and placed snipers on the roofs around the funeral site to prevent white supremacists from making trouble.
Figure | Mr. and Mrs. Dennis Shepard at their son's funeral
The couple has been keeping their son's ashes at home. The reason for not being able to settle down was the fear that the ashes would be desecrated by the white supremacists.
At the Wyoming Legislature that followed, the hate crime bill was not passed.
In other states, bills have also been opposed and failed.
The aftermath is not flat
Few people at the time could have imagined — especially Shepard's parents — that people are still talking about him today.
In 2009, the Shepard Act (the Hate Crime Prevention Act) was finally passed in Congress.
In 2015, the Laramie City Council in Wyoming also passed the Laramie Anti-Discrimination Ordinance.
In addition, with the release and award of the movies "The Story of Matthew Shepard", "The Death of Shepard", and the documentary "Goodbye Matthew", Shepard has also become a household name in the United States.
In October 2018, on the 20th anniversary of Shepard's murder, his ashes were buried at washington cathedral, alongside former President Woodrow Wilson and others.
But activists say their fight for equality is far from over.
Wyoming is still one of five U.S. states without hate crime laws.
One activist said that kind of rotten things often happen in the state, and that white supremacist violence is still rife.