THE LARAMIE PROJECT TIMELINE
Adapted from Denver Theatre Center research
1998
10/6: Matthew Shepard is picked up at the Fireside Bar in Laramie, taken to an area near the Sherman Hills subdivision, tied to a fence, robbed, beaten and tortured.
10/7: Shepard is found by two bicyclists, taken to a local hospital, then transported to Poudre Valley Hospital in Fort Collins, Colorado. He is placed on life-support.
10/8: Suspects Russell Henderson, Aaron McKinney, Chastity Pasley and Kristen Price are arrested.
Matthew's parents, Judy and Dennis Shepard arrive in Fort Collins from Saudi Arabia.
10/9: Henderson and McKinney are arraigned in Laramie’s Albany County courthouse on three felony counts of kidnapping, aggravated robbery and attempted first degree murder.
10/10: Wyoming Governor Jim Geringer, President Clinton and House Speaker Newt Gingrich condemn the attack.
10/11: Candlelight vigils held for Matthew across the USA.
10/12: Matthew Shepard dies at 12:53am without regaining consciousness.
Charges against Henderson and McKinney are upgraded to first-degree murder.
10/13: The City Council of Laramie issues a proclamation deploring the crime.
10/14: Washington D.C. The Human Rights Campaign holds a candlelight vigil on the steps of the U.S. Capitol. Speakers include Senator Teddy Kennedy and Ellen DeGeneres.
10/16: Matthew Shepard’s funeral is held at St. Mark’s Episcopal Church in Casper, WY. Reverend Phelps and his Westboro Baptist Church demonstrates.
10/19: Four thousand protesters disrupt traffic on 5th Avenue in New York City.
11/14: 13 Tectonic Theatre Project members arrive in Laramie. They interview about 200 people.
12/1: The Matthew Shepard Foundation created by the Shepard family on what would have been Matthew's 22nd birthday.
12/2: Henderson and McKinney plead guilty to the Shepard killing.
12/28 Prosecutor Cal Rerucha says prosecutors will seek the death penalty.
1999
1/4: Dennis and Judy Shepard don’t want their son’s death to further a political agenda. The story airs on Dateline NBC on February 5.
3/24: Judy Shepard speaks at a news conference in Washington, D.C. She urges the U.S. Congress and state legislatures to enact statutes on hate crimes. The nephew of James Byrd Jr., another victim of a hate crime, is also present.
3/25: Jury selection begins in the trial of Russell Henderson. Tectonic Theatre Project members return to Laramie.
4/5: Russell Henderson goes on trial in Laramie.
4/6: Henderson enters a guilty plea of felony murder and kidnapping in exchange for two life sentences without possibility of parole.
5/5: McKinney’s lawyers will not seek a change of venue.
5/25: Chastity Pasley is sentenced to two years in prison for helping Henderson dispose of Matthew Shepard’s bloody clothing.
5/25: Production begins on Journey to a Hate Free Millennium, the story of Matthew Shepard.
5/28: The trial of Aaron McKinney is pushed back from August 9 to October 11.
10/10: The Shepards and the Byrds speak out for a Hate Crimes Prevention Act.
10/11: Jury selection begins in the McKinney trial. Tectonic Theatre Project members return to Laramie
10/12: Defense attorneys, Jason Tangeman and Dion Custis, say their trial strategy will be to convince the jury McKinney was high on drugs and alcohol.
10/25: McKinney’s trial begins.
10/26: At the trial, the coroner says Shepard may have suffered for hours.
10/27: The bartender at the Fireside Bar says McKinney was sober before the attack.
10/28: Judge Voight will not allow a “gay panic” defense: it is not supported by Wyoming law.
10/29: McKinney describes the Shepard beating. The jury hears his taped confession.
11/3: McKinney is found guilty of first-degree felony murder and second-degree murder.
11/4: McKinney is sentenced to two consecutive life sentences without the possibility of parole. The Shepards persuade the jury to not seek the death penalty.
2000–2010
2/27/2000: The Laramie Project premiers at the Denver Theatre Center.
May 2000: The Laramie Project opens in NYC at the Union Square Theatre.
Nov: 2000: The Laramie Project production performs in Laramie.
Jan 2002: Moisés Kaufman's film version of The Laramie Project premieres at the Sundance Film Festival. Later broadcast on HBO it is nominated for 4 Emmy awards.
Nov 26, 2004 ABC's 20/20 revisits the case: concludes the motive was drugs not homophobia.
10/12/2009: The Laramie Project Epilogue premieres in 150 U.S. cities connected via webcast to the Lincoln Center production.
Home | The Laramie Project Synopsis + Kaufman bio | The Laramie Project Timeline (the crime, the trials, the play) | Sentencing & The Death Penalty
Homophobia & the "Gay Panic" Defense | Documentary Theatre | The Laramie Project: Analysis & Critical Commentary |
The Laramie Project: A Devised Ethnodrama? | The Tectonic Process | The Matthew Shepard Foundation | Hate Crimes Legislative Timeline & Debate