July 23, 1997: The Death of Andrew Cunanan

July 23, 1997: Andrew Cunanan kills himself, rather than be taken alive by the law. He was a few weeks short of turning 28.

The son of a Filipino father and an Italian mother, Cunanan grew up outside San Diego, showing early signs of antisocial personality disorder. He became a compulsive liar, and went to gay nightclubs. When his mother confronted him about his behavior, he threw her against a wall, and left for San Francisco.

He gained his income from selling drugs, and from being a "trophy boyfriend" to older, wealthy gay men. Essentially, he was looking for what straight women of a previous generation would have called a "sugar daddy," one after another. He became an alcoholic and was addicted to painkillers.

On April 27, 1997, he went to Minneapolis, and killed a former friend, Jeffrey Trail, 28. He then moved in with ex-boyfriend David Madson, 21, who was also living in Minneapolis. They had met in San Francisco, but Madson had broken it off and moved back. On May 3, in Rush City, Minnesota, Madson was found, shot to death.

That same day, Cunanan went to Chicago, and killed real estate developer Lee Miglin. He was much older, 72, and there had been no known contact between the men, nor any apparent motive. It was a vicious murder: Cunanan bound Miglin's hands and feet, stabbed him repeatedly with a screwdriver, and slit his throat with a hacksaw, before stealing his car, a green 1994 Lexus LS sedan. Cunanan was suspected because the car left in the driveway was Madson's red Jeep.

The FBI began tracking the phone in Miglin's car. By May 8, it was in Philadelphia. On May 9, it crossed the Delaware Memorial Bridge into Pennsville, Salem County, New Jersey. At Finn's Point National Cemetery, Cunanan shot and killed the 45-year-old caretaker, William Reese. Again, there appeared to be no connection between them, and no motive. Nevertheless, Cunanan again switched vehicles, taking Reese's red 1995 Chevrolet pickup truck.

He took it to Miami Beach, and checked in at the Normandy Plaza Hotel. But the FBI didn't know that, having lost track of him. On June 12, he was put on their list of the Ten Most Wanted Fugitives. He had somehow gotten enough cash to live large on South Beach, until July 7. Having used some fake names to pawn things before, this time, he used his own name to do so, and since police regularly review pawn shop records, his location was soon discovered. On July 14, he checked out of the Normandy Plaza without paying for his last night.

On the morning of July 15, Italian designer Gianni Versace, 50, one of the biggest names in the world's fashion industry, walked out of his Miami Beach mansion, Casa Casuarina. It means "House of the Australian Pine." It was built in 1930, and when Versace bought it in 1992, its name had been changed to Amsterdam Place. He restored the original name.

Gianni Versace and his sister Donatella

He walked to the News Cafe, where international magazines were available. (This was the dawn of the Internet Age, so reading such publications online was not yet practical. Thus, out-of-town newsstands like News Cafe, Out of Town News at Harvard Square outside Boston, and lots of places in New York did good business.) At 8:45, Versace returned to the mansion, and was walking up the front steps, when Cunanan shot him twice in the head. Versace was taken to Jackson Memorial Hospital, and pronounced dead at 9:21.

Reese's pickup was found in a nearby parking garage, with Cunanan's clothes, and newspaper clippings about the previous murders. Like so many other killers, he wanted to see the reaction to his crimes. Despite the fact that Versace fit the profile of previous boyfriends -- older, incredibly rich, and gay -- there was, yet again, no known connection between killer and victim. Barring further evidence, it's possible that Cunanan simply saw a rich man's house, tracked the rich man, waited for his opportunity, and killed him without knowing who he was -- or caring if he did know.

Now that he was known as the murderer of one of the most famous people in the world, on top of already being on the Ten Most Wanted List, there seemed little chance of him getting out of Greater Miami any way other than jailed or dead. Realizing the authorities were closing in, he found his way to a luxury houseboat. On July 23, a caretaker heard a gunshot and called the police. When they got there, they found that Cunanan had shot himself in the head. He had used Trail's gun. When they looked at the ballistics, they determined that Trail's gun was also used to kill Madson, Reese and Versace.

There was no suicide note at the scene of his death, nor any "manifesto" at any of his former residences, or at the sites of the murders. To this day, Cunanan's motive for killing any of his victims remains unknown.

Versace's funeral was attended by Elton John, a close friend who had a home in Miami Beach. Also attending, having worn Versace's designs, and sitting next to Elton and comforting him, was Diana Spencer, the former Princess of Wales. Six weeks later, Elton would perform at Diana's funeral.

In 2000, the Versace mansion was bought and renovated. It is now a boutique hotel, with a gourmet restaurant named Gianni's.

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July 23, 1997 was a Wednesday. These Major League Baseball games were played that day:

* The New York Yankees beat the team then known as the Anaheim Angels, 5-4 at Yankee Stadium. Chad Curtis led off the bottom of the 9th inning with a double, and Jorge Posada hit a grounder that Angel 2nd baseman Luis Alicea mishandled, allowing Curtis to score. Jeff Nelson was the winning pitcher, in relief of Dwight Gooden. Charlie Hayes hit a home run, and Derek Jeter went 1-for-2 with a walk, and was also hit by a pitch.

* The New York Mets beat the Los Angeles Dodgers, 2-1 at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles.

* The Oakland Athletics beat the Boston Red Sox, 5-2 at Fenway Park in Boston.

* The Toronto Blue Jays beat the Milwaukee Brewers, 8-0 at the SkyDome (now the Rogers Centre) in Toronto. Roger Clemens pitched 8 innings of 7-hit shutout ball.

* The Seattle Mariners bear the Cleveland Indians, 6-3 at Jacobs Field (now Progressive Field) in Cleveland.

* The Florida Marlins beat the Cincinnati Reds, 8-1 at Cinergy Field (formerly Riverfront Stadium) in Cincinnati.

* The Detroit Tigers beat the Chicago White Sox, 8-6 at Tiger Stadium in Detroit.

* The Chicago Cubs beat the Atlanta Braves, 3-1 at Wrigley Field in Chicago.

* The Kansas City Royals beat the Minnesota Twins, 5-1 at the Metrodome in Minneapolis.

* The Houston Astros beat the St. Louis Cardinals, 7-2 at Busch Memorial Stadium in St. Louis.

* The Baltimore Orioles beat the Texas Rangers, 3-2 at The Ballpark (now Choctaw Stadium) in the Dallas suburb of Arlington, Texas. Jeff Reboulet singled home the winning run in the top of the 12th.

* The San Diego Padres beat the Pittsburgh Pirates, 9-1 at Qualcomm Stadium in San Diego.

* The San Francisco Giants beat the Philadelphia Phillies, 16-4 at Candlestick Park (then named 3Com Park at Candlestick Point) in San Francisco.

* And the Colorado Rockies and the Montreal Expos were not scheduled to play.