MOMENT: McKINNEY AND HENDERSON

NARRATOR: A friend of Aaron McKinney:

ANONYMOUS: Oh, I’ve known Aaron a long time. Aaron was a good kid, I liked Aaron a lot, that’s why I was shocked when I heard this, I’m like … I know he was, he was living out far … at his trailer house is what he told me, with his girl … they just started dating last summer … they musta gotten pregnant as soon as they started dating, you know, ’cause they had a kid. He was only twenty-one years old, but he was running around with a kid.… You see, that’s the kinda person Aaron was, just like he always dressed in like big clothes, you know like, in like Tommy “Hile-figer,” Polo, Gucci …

At the time I knew him, he was just, he was just a young kid trying to, you know, he just wanted to fit in, you know, acting tough, acting cool, but, you know, you could get in his face about it and he would back down, like he was some kinda scared kid.

NARRATOR: Sherry Aanenson:

SHERRY AANENSON: Russell was just so sweet. He was the one who was the Eagle Scout. I mean, his whole presence was just quiet and sweet. So of course it doesn’t make sense to me and I know people snap and whatever and like it wasn’t a real intimate relationship, I was just his landlord. I did work with him at the Chuck Wagon too. And I remember like at the Christmas party he was just totally drunk out of his mind, like we all were pretty much just party-party time.… And he wasn’t belligerent, he didn’t change, his personality didn’t change. He was still the same little meek Russell, I remember him coming up to me and saying, “When you get a chance, Sherry, can I have a dance?” Which we never did get around to doing that but … Now I just want to shake him, you know—What were you thinking? What in the hell were you thinking?

MOMENT: THE FENCE

STEPHEN MEAD JOHNSON: The fence—I’ve been out there four times, I’ve taken visitors. That place has become a pilgrimage site. Clearly that’s a very powerful personal experience to go out there. It is so stark and so empty and you can’t help but think of Matthew out there for eighteen hours in nearly freezing temperatures, with that view up there isolated, and, the “God, my God, why have you forsaken me” comes to mind.

NARRATOR: Company member Greg Pierotti:

GREG PIEROTTI: Phil Labrie, a friend of Matthew’s, took us to the fence this morning. I broke down the minute I touched it. I feel such a strong kinship with this young man. On the way back, I made sure that no one saw me crying.

NARRATOR: Leigh Fondakowski: