Thursday, October 8, 2026

Shepard is in Fort Collins, and Laramie announces three arrests

1998 · Fort Collins and Laramie

On Oct. 8, 1998, Matthew Shepard was in Poudre Valley Hospital in Fort Collins, admitted the night before. That morning Russell Henderson and two girlfriends were arrested. The sheriff announced it at 4:30 p.m. Shepard died there four days later.

Matthew Shepard was 21. In the early hours of Oct. 7, 1998, outside Laramie, Aaron McKinney and Russell Henderson beat him and left him tied to a fence. A mountain biker, Aaron Kreifels, found him about 6 p.m. Deputy Reggie Fluty got there first. Ivinson Memorial Hospital in Laramie could not keep him. An ambulance brought him to Poudre Valley Hospital in Fort Collins. He was admitted at 9:15 p.m.

October 8 is the Colorado day on that calendar. By morning Henderson was under arrest, charged with attempted first-degree murder. So were Kristen Price, McKinney's girlfriend, and Chastity Pasley, Henderson's girlfriend, charged as accessories after the fact. At 4:30 p.m. Albany County Sheriff Gary Puls announced the three arrests and said one more was pending. Aaron McKinney confessed and was arrested the next morning, at 10:40 a.m. Shepard's parents and brothers reached Fort Collins that evening.

He died at 12:53 a.m. on Oct. 12. The hospital announced it at 4:30 a.m. The trials, the law that took his name, and the argument over what the night was about all came later. On this date the facts were a bed on Lemay Avenue and three names read at a press conference in Wyoming.

He was not a stranger to this side of the state line. After Catawba College and Casper College he had settled in Denver, then gone back to the University of Wyoming. The bench in the photograph is on the Laramie campus, cut later, with a King line on it. The Colorado part of October 8 was a hospital, not a monument.

The other two stories on this calendar can take a joke. This one cannot.

Sources: Coloradoan — Shepard timeline, 1998 · Wikipedia — Murder of Matthew Shepard

The leaves are still on, and 98,000 customers find out

2017 · Denver metro and the foothills

On Oct. 8–9, 2017, the season's first measurable snow put 2.5 inches at DIA and close to a foot in the foothills. Wet snow on trees that still had leaves took the lines down. Xcel counted 98,000 customers affected, about 54,200 of them out longer than five minutes.

October likes to wait until the cottonwoods are still dressed, then drop a wet snow and call it a personality. On Oct. 8–9, 2017, that was the season's first measurable snow in the metro. Denver International Airport got 2.5 inches. The foothills got the joke in full: the National Weather Service logged 12.5 inches near Genesee, 10 at Eldorado Springs, Idledale, and Nederland, and 8.5 near Jamestown. West of I-25 the neighborhoods did fine for a postcard and badly for a power bill. Arvada 7.5, Broomfield 7, Boulder and Louisville 6, Ralston Reservoir 5. East of the highway it was a trace to 4 inches, which is how a storm gets described as 'not that bad' by someone whose lights are still on.

The trees had not dropped their leaves. Branches broke. Lines came down. Xcel spokesman Mark Stutz said about 98,000 customers were affected, and 54,200 of those outages lasted longer than five minutes. Some lasted hours. The day started with a couple of transmission lines out and about 12,000 customers dark, mostly Boulder and metro Denver. By late morning the map still showed more than 23,000 out. Two hundred thirty-five Xcel and contract linemen and tree trimmers worked through the night. Stutz's practical advice was not to shake a loaded tree unless you were sure the snow would not land on a line. October does not need help.

The roads took it personally. I-70 closed both ways before 9 a.m. between Genesee and Morrison after multiple crashes. Westbound reopened about 9:35. Eastbound was back by about 11. Colorado 119 through Boulder Canyon closed and reopened around 12:30. South University Boulevard closed for downed lines. The photograph is a later Colorado snow, NASA's Terra satellite on Jan. 16, 2018, not this storm. The habit is the same. Wet snow, leaf or no leaf, and a commute that was supposed to be ordinary.

Sources: Denver Post — 98,000 customers lose power, Oct. 9, 2017 · ThorntonWeather — Oct. 8–14 Denver weather history, NWS

Boulder clocks a gust near 100, on a date that has also been 85

1975 · Boulder and Denver

On Oct. 8, 1975, Boulder recorded a gust near 100 mph. The foothills saw frequent 60s and only minor damage. Stapleton managed 45. The same date has also been 85, in 2020, and 22, in 1970.

Boulder's wind has a résumé. NOAA's Physical Sciences Laboratory keeps a list of the days that cleared 100 mph, and Oct. 8, 1975, is on it: gusts over 60 along the Front Range, and one over 100 in Boulder. The National Weather Service told it a little more politely. A gust near 100 in Boulder. Frequent 60s in the foothills. Minor damage. West winds to 45 at Stapleton. The high in Boulder that day was 79. A chinook with manners, which is not the usual review.

The building in the photograph is the Mesa Laboratory, I. M. Pei's NCAR campus under the Flatirons, which is where a lot of these numbers get their reputation. It was not the instrument on this particular gust. It is the office that has to explain the next one.

The date's other personality is temperature. The National Weather Service normal is 69 for a high and 40 for a low. The record high on the line is 85, in 2020. That morning the Denver Post was still quoting 85 from 1910, with a forecast near 87, smoke, and Cameron Peak already burning in Larimer County. The official book kept 85 and put the newer year on it. The record low is 22, in 1970. The coldest high is 39, in 2009. The warmest low is 54, in 1954. The wettest October 8 is 1.04 inches, in 2011. The snowiest calendar day is 1.2 inches, in 1990, which is not the same number as the 4 inches Stapleton measured across Oct. 7–8 that year. Yesterday's brief already told that storm. This date also did 1923 the loud way: southeast winds sustained at 44, gusts to 47, and a high of 77 that was the warmest of the month.

Coat, T-shirt, or a brick on the patio furniture. October 8 has issued all three.

Sources: NWS Boulder — Denver October normals and records · NOAA PSL — Boulder wind events · ThorntonWeather — Oct. 8 Denver weather history, NWS · Denver Post — near-record warmth and smoke, Oct. 8, 2020