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Authors: Stephen Jimenez
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he’d been a drug dealer for three years prior to the murder and that he’d done “some fucked-up things.” But what he regretted most, he said, “is that I’ll never be able to be there for my son,” who was then four.
When I eventually brought up Matthew Shepard and asked how they first met, Aaron’s tone changed. He grew more sullen and cautious. He said that on the night of the crime “Matt came over first” at the Fireside bar.
“Matt was just tryin’ to buddy up,” he stated offhandedly, without elaborating further.
I was surprised to hear Aaron use the more personal Matt . Among his family and friends Matthew Shepard went by Matt, but in court documents and media accounts he was consistently referred to as Matthew.
“I’d been up for about a week,” Aaron mentioned out of the blue. “I didn’t know I was doin’ it. I thought I was beating the dude up.” Then, with barely a pause, he asked me for a second or third time, “So what else can I help you with? Is that all your questions for me?”
Aaron liked to abruptly change subjects on me like that, stopping his remarks midstream to ask if I had “any other questions” or “what else do you need to know?” Sometimes a long silence would follow, or I’d hear him talking cheerfully to other inmates in the background.
Aaron had already informed me there were “certain things” he wouldn’t talk about, including the names of people with whom he had dealt drugs. “No talking out of school” was how he put it.
But when I finally grew comfortable enough to confront him about his conflicting stories — and some outright lies — he brushed me off by switching subjects again, or telling me another inmate needed to use the phone. In nearly every conversation, there was the unstated threat that he’d hang up on me and that would be it.
Yet the longer we spoke, the better I got at knowing when to press Aaron and when to back off.
I asked him several times if he had known Matthew Shepard before the crime and his answer was always “No.” But it was obvious that the question more than irritated him; it put him on edge. He had a similar reaction when I asked about Doc O’Connor. Although he admitted knowing Doc, he was vague at first about whether we were referring to the same person.
“You mean the old dude who lives up there in that weird little town, what’s it called again?” he asked unconvincingly.
“Bosler,” I answered.
“That’s it,” Aaron said with feigned surprise. “Yeah, I know who you mean. What about him?”
Why was he being evasive about Doc O’Connor? Several weeks before the murder, Aaron, Kristen, and their newborn son had moved into a makeshift apartment on Doc’s property. They only lasted a short time at Doc’s before they moved back into town to the Ranger Motel, where the manager was a friend of Bill McKinney. But soon they relocated once more, this time to an apartment owned by Aaron’sboss — roofing contractor Arsenio Lemus. Oddly, though, when they were arrested a few weeks later, both Aaron and Kristen gave the police Doc’s phone number as their own.
I had been told by friends of Aaron that he often hired Doc’s limos for parties, going back years before the murder. It was no secret that Matthew also liked to hire Doc’s limos, but I couldn’t find any solid information linking the three men — just scattered rumors.
There was, however, a small item in a police report that connected Matthew to the Ranger Motel. His close friend Alex Trout told police that the last time he had seen Matthew alive was at the Ranger bar the night before the attack. Yet a few days later in a TV interview, Trout changed his story and said that the two had only talked of getting together.
My attempts to question Aaron about sex put me in even more volatile terrain than asking about his drug activities. During a phone interview I read him the anonymous letter I had found, which identified Doc and stated that
When I eventually brought up Matthew Shepard and asked how they first met, Aaron’s tone changed. He grew more sullen and cautious. He said that on the night of the crime “Matt came over first” at the Fireside bar.
“Matt was just tryin’ to buddy up,” he stated offhandedly, without elaborating further.
I was surprised to hear Aaron use the more personal Matt . Among his family and friends Matthew Shepard went by Matt, but in court documents and media accounts he was consistently referred to as Matthew.
“I’d been up for about a week,” Aaron mentioned out of the blue. “I didn’t know I was doin’ it. I thought I was beating the dude up.” Then, with barely a pause, he asked me for a second or third time, “So what else can I help you with? Is that all your questions for me?”
Aaron liked to abruptly change subjects on me like that, stopping his remarks midstream to ask if I had “any other questions” or “what else do you need to know?” Sometimes a long silence would follow, or I’d hear him talking cheerfully to other inmates in the background.
Aaron had already informed me there were “certain things” he wouldn’t talk about, including the names of people with whom he had dealt drugs. “No talking out of school” was how he put it.
But when I finally grew comfortable enough to confront him about his conflicting stories — and some outright lies — he brushed me off by switching subjects again, or telling me another inmate needed to use the phone. In nearly every conversation, there was the unstated threat that he’d hang up on me and that would be it.
Yet the longer we spoke, the better I got at knowing when to press Aaron and when to back off.
I asked him several times if he had known Matthew Shepard before the crime and his answer was always “No.” But it was obvious that the question more than irritated him; it put him on edge. He had a similar reaction when I asked about Doc O’Connor. Although he admitted knowing Doc, he was vague at first about whether we were referring to the same person.
“You mean the old dude who lives up there in that weird little town, what’s it called again?” he asked unconvincingly.
“Bosler,” I answered.
“That’s it,” Aaron said with feigned surprise. “Yeah, I know who you mean. What about him?”
Why was he being evasive about Doc O’Connor? Several weeks before the murder, Aaron, Kristen, and their newborn son had moved into a makeshift apartment on Doc’s property. They only lasted a short time at Doc’s before they moved back into town to the Ranger Motel, where the manager was a friend of Bill McKinney. But soon they relocated once more, this time to an apartment owned by Aaron’sboss — roofing contractor Arsenio Lemus. Oddly, though, when they were arrested a few weeks later, both Aaron and Kristen gave the police Doc’s phone number as their own.
I had been told by friends of Aaron that he often hired Doc’s limos for parties, going back years before the murder. It was no secret that Matthew also liked to hire Doc’s limos, but I couldn’t find any solid information linking the three men — just scattered rumors.
There was, however, a small item in a police report that connected Matthew to the Ranger Motel. His close friend Alex Trout told police that the last time he had seen Matthew alive was at the Ranger bar the night before the attack. Yet a few days later in a TV interview, Trout changed his story and said that the two had only talked of getting together.
My attempts to question Aaron about sex put me in even more volatile terrain than asking about his drug activities. During a phone interview I read him the anonymous letter I had found, which identified Doc and stated that
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