Andrew Cunanan. Cunanan , who murdered at least five people, including fashion designer Gianni Versace and Chicago tycoon Lee Miglin, during a three-month period in mid-1997. On June 12, 1997, Cunanan became the 449th fugitive to be listed by the FBI Ten Most Wanted Fugitives list.
In his final years, Cunanan had lived as a gay hustler, who befriended wealthy older men and spent their money (or used their credit cards) to impress acquaintances in the local gay community, such as talking about socialite events at clubs or often paying the bill at restaurants. One millionaire friend had dumped Cunanan in 1996, the prior year.
The first two murders, near Minneapolis (Minnesota), began on April 27, 1997, with the death of San Diego acquaintance Jeffrey Trail, a former US naval officer and propane salesman, who had moved to Minneapolis. Cunanan beat Trail to death with a claw hammer and left his body rolled in a rug in a closet in a loft-apartment belonging to David Madson, his next victim.
Architect David Madson had been Cunanan's lover, and his body was found on the east shore of Rush Lake near Rush City, Minnesota, on May 3, 1997 (four days later), with gunshot wounds to the head and back.
Cunanan next drove to Chicago and killed 72-year-old Lee Miglin, a prominent real estate developer, on May 4, 1997. Miglin had been bound with duct tape on his hands and feet and his head had been wrapped with it. He was then stabbed over 20 times with a screwdriver and had his throat sawed open with a hacksaw. Following this murder, the FBI added Cunanan to its Ten Most Wanted list.
Five days later, Cunanan, who took Miglin's car, found his fourth victim in Pennsville, New Jersey, at the Finn's Point National Cemetery, killing 45-year-old caretaker William Reese and taking his red pick-up truck. Reese had been shot to death. While the manhunt focused on Reese's truck, Cunanan "hid in plain sight" in Miami Beach, Florida for two months between his fourth and fifth murders. He even used his own name to pawn a stolen item, knowing that police routinely check pawn shop records for stolen merchandise.
On July 15, 1997, Cunanan murdered Italian fashion designer Gianni Versace, with two gunshots on the front stairway of his Miami mansion. A witness attempted to pursue him but could not catch him. The red truck he had used, as well as the clothes he had just been wearing, an alternative passport, and newspaper clippings of his murders, were found in a nearby parking garage by the police who responded.
On July 21, 1997, the killing spree ended with Cunanan's suicide by firearm. He was 27 years old.
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