Mon, 23 Nov 1998 11:26:35 -0500

Below is news from the arraignment hearing for Aaron James McKinney. McKinney and Russell Arthur Henderson, both 21, are accused of killing Matthew Shepard, a University of Wyoming student, after luring him out of a campus bar to an isolated area outside town. Shepard was beaten on Oct. 7th; he died Oct. 12th. Henderson earlier waived his right to a preliminary hearing. He and McKinney are being held without bond.

All material (c) Associated Press.

"As he lay there bleeding and begging for his life, he was then bound to the buck fence, to die. They left him with the constant Wyoming wind as his companion," said Laramie prosecutor, Cal Rerucha.

Shepard suffered 18 blows to the head, and his hands were bound so tightly that a sheriff's deputy had difficulty cutting him free.

A student passing by on a mountain bike found the student, initially mistaking the nearly lifeless body for "a scarecrow or a dummy set there for Halloween jokes."

Defendant McKinney "admitted Matthew did not hit on them or make advances" on the two attackers.

The two murderers lured Shepard into their truck by saying they were gay. Then they said, "You're gonna get jacked. It's Gay Awareness Week."

McKinney admitted he hit Shepard two to three times with his fist, then pistol-whipped and robbed him.

When McKinney was asked if Shepard begged for his life, McKinney coldly responded, "Well, yeah -- he was getting the (expletive) beat out of him."

When McKinney told his girlfriend that he had killed Shepard, he said, "Well, you know how I feel about gays."

"Shepard's blood-caked face had been partially washed clean by tears," said Rerucha.