MATTHEW SHEPARD, American murder victim died (b. 1976) a Gay American student at the University of Wyoming who was fatally attacked near Laramie, on the night of October 6 – October 7, 1998 in what was widely reported by international news media as a savage beating because of his sexuality. Shepard died from severe head injuries at Poudre Valley Hospital in Fort Collins, Colorado, on October 12, 1998. His murder brought national attention to the issue of hate crime legislation at the state and federal levels. His two assailants were convicted of the crime and imprisoned One is currently serving two consecutive life sentences and the other is serving the same but without the possibility of parole.

On October 26, 2018, Mr. Shepard was interred at the Washington National Cathedral, the neo-Gothic, Episcopal house of worship that is a fixture of American politics and religion. The ceremony was a public service in the morning, and then his ashes were interred privately.  Bishop Mariann Edgar Budde presided over the service alongside the Rev. V. Gene Robinson, who became the first out gay bishop in the Episcopal Church in 2003.