Earlier this month marked the 25th anniversary of the death of Matthew Shepard. On October 6, 1998, Shepard was beaten, tortured and left to die, bound to a fence in a remote Wyoming field, not far from the small town of Laramie.
He was found and taken to a hospital where he died from his wounds six days later. Suspects Aaron McKinney and Russell Henderson were arrested shortly after.
They were charged, tried and convicted of first-degree murder. Both received two consecutive life sentences. The case received national attention.
It also proved a turning point for the LGBTQ+ rights movement once the public learned that Shepard was gay, and that his assailants were motivated by antigay hatred.
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