They went to the home of Davis Carpenter, where Joshua Brown was also present. On September 26, 1999, Dirkhising's murder was brought to the attention of police at Rogers, Arkansas, when they responded to a 911 call.
Jesse's family had been told that he was helping out at the salon. Brown had been sexually molesting Dirkhising for two months before his death he claimed that the boy was a willing participant. Dirkhising had stayed with the two men at their apartment on weekends for two months prior to his death. Carpenter, who managed a beauty salon, was a friend of Dirkhising's parents. Davis Carpenter, who was charged with his murder, was then 38, and lived about 30 miles (48 km) away in Rogers, a "small but booming northwest Arkansas town." 22-year-old Joshua Macave Brown shared Carpenter's apartment. At the time of his death he was 13 and in seventh grade. from the small town of Prairie Grove, Arkansas. ĭirkhising was the son of Tina and Miles Yates Jr.
While both heterosexuality and homosexuality have been cited as issues in both cases, the circumstances were different and in contrast: Shepard was an openly gay man who was attacked by two heterosexual men, while Dirkhising was raped by two men who were described as lovers in a police affidavit. While both victims died as the result of assaults by two men, Dirkhising was a minor and the victim of a sex crime, while the adult Shepard was ostensibly murdered as part of a hate crime. The media coverage of the Dirkhising case was repeatedly and consistently contrasted with that of the high-profile Shepard case, although the cases were dissimilar in several important details. The added attention resulted in mainstream media also reporting the Dirkhising case in relation to the coverage of the Shepard case, with many attempting to explain why the two were handled differently by the media, and perhaps received differently by readers. Prompted by coverage in The Washington Times, the Dirkhising case gained notoriety as conservative commentators compared media coverage of the two cases and explored the issues of what was considered a hate crime. The Shepard murder was approaching its first anniversary and was getting another round of national attention, coupled with updates on pending hate crime legislation. Further details revealed in the court case depicted a gruesome death.ĭirkhising's death received only regional media coverage until a Washington Times article ran a story nearly a month after his death, noting the lack of national coverage in contrast to that given to the 1998 death of Matthew Shepard. Considering how he was a minor and the men were adults, this was considered unlikely. ĭespite his being at their home with approval from his parents, the defense argued he was complicit in the sexual acts, and therefore the death was accidental.
He died from drugging and positional asphyxia during the ordeal. He was staying with two men (with his parents’ permission) who bound, drugged, tortured, and repeatedly raped him. Jesse William Dirkhising (– September 26, 1999), also known as Jesse Yates, was an American teenager from Prairie Grove, Arkansas.