Incidentally I think that it's just as possible that Mathew Sheppard's attackers did it because he was gay AND because they wanted the money, why does it only have to be about one thing?
An excerpt from "New Details Emerge in Matthew Shepard Murder"
"Former Laramie Police Detective Ben Fritzen, one of the lead investigators in the case, also believed robbery was the primary motive. "Matthew Shepard's sexual preference or sexual orientation certainly wasn't the motive in the homicide," he said.
"If it wasn't Shepard, they would have found another easy target. What it came down to really is drugs and money and two punks that were out looking for it," Fritzen said.
Asked directly whether he targeted and attacked Shepard because he was gay, McKinney told Vargas, "No. I did not. … I would say it wasn't a hate crime. All I wanted to do was beat him up and rob him."
But if the attackers were just trying to rob someone to get a drug fix, why did they beat Shepard so savagely?
Rerucha attributes McKinney's rage and his savage beating of Shepard to his drug abuse. "The methamphetamine just fueled to this point where there was no control. It was a horrible, horrible, horrible murder. It was a murder that was once again driven by drugs," Rerucha said.
Dr. Rick Rawson, a professor at UCLA who has studied the link between methamphetamine and violence, tells "20/20" the drug can trigger episodes of violent behavior.
"In the first weeks after you've stopped using it, the kinds of triggers that can set off an episode are completely unpredictable. It can be: you say a word with the wrong inflection, you touch someone on the shoulder. It's completely unpredictable as to what will set somebody off" Rawson said.
"If Aaron McKinney had not become involved with methamphetamine, Matthew Shepard would be alive today," Rerucha said..."
I was beaten up by my brother in law when I walked in my house and caught him in my purse. I yelled at him to "GET OUT OF MY HOUSE" so he picked me up and thru me down the 6 front steps that were cement. I was bruses from head to toe. Luckly I didn't hit my head. He went back in a took the money and left the wallet.
That started a family fight that remains to this day, and he is dead!
Why waste your breath on someone who takes pride in their prejudice.