10 years later: Media bury Jesse Dirkhising

Jesse Dirkhising

As the 10th anniversary of 13-year-old Jesse Dirkhising's tragic murder and rape by two homosexuals approaches, the young boy remains victim of a second burial – by the American media.

The press is still buzzing about the murder of Matthew Shepard – an adult homosexual brutally murdered in Wyoming by heterosexuals – and his mother's newly released memoir, "The Meaning of Matthew: My Son's Murder in Laramie, and a World Transformed" describing the gory details of her son's murder in a descriptive narrative. Shepard's parents have been lobbying for a hate-crimes bill since the murder.

USA Today reported "The Laramie Project – 10 Years Later" will debut in more than 100 theaters in all 50 states and seven countries Oct. 12, the 11th anniversary of Shepard's death, in an effort to raise awareness about "hate crimes." NBC aired a drama, "The Matthew Shepard Story," in June 2006.

But, even on the anniversary of his death, another boy's horrific murder continues to be largely ignored – with no plays, books or TV dramas to honor his memory. No local memorials have been held since Dirkhising's brutal death at the hands of two homosexual predators who confessed to using the boy as a sex toy while torturing him to death.

And even though the case received a flurry of publicity after first being brought to the attention of the nation in WorldNetDaily, the number of articles written pale in comparison to those written about the murder of Matthew Shepard.

Allyson Smith detailed Jesse's tragic story in a WND report.

Dirkhising was found by police unconscious on the floor of a Prairie Grove, Ark. residence around 5 a.m. Sept. 26, 1999. The boy had suffocated to death during the early morning hours, after being bound, drugged, gagged and brutally sodomized by Davis Don Carpenter, then 38, and Joshua Macave Brown, then 22, at the men's apartment in Rogers, Ark.

Police determined Dirkhising had been repeatedly raped over a period of hours, including with foreign objects, by Brown and Carpenter.

Police also said Dirkhising had been blindfolded and tied to a mattress in the residence, and also had possibly been drugged during the ordeal. And authorities said after the last rape he was left bound and gagged while his attackers ate a sandwich. He died of suffocation, a coroner's report found.

Carpenter, whom police say orchestrated the attack, pleaded guilty and received a sentence of life in prison. Prosecutors had sought the death penalty in the case. As WND reported in Sept. 2003, the Arkansas Supreme Court upheld a 25-year sentence for Brown.

News of the Dirkhising case was surprisingly muted throughout the country, perhaps because it involved a homosexual crime, said WND readers, who voted it one of the most spiked stories of 1999.

A Google News search for the month of September 2009 alone shows more than 100 stories for Shepard and only one brief mention of the anniversary Jesse's death.

Related stories:

The tragic story of Jesse Dirkhising

Guilty verdict in Dirkhising case

Biggest spikes of 1999

No bail in Dirkhising case

Sex fantasies evidence in Dirkhising case

Delay sought in Dirkhising trial

Death penalty sought for Dirkhising suspects

Delay sought in Dirkhising trial

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Mourning Jesse Dirkhising