Andrew Cunanan

Andrew Cunanan was the youngest of four children in a prosperous but unhappy family in the San Diego, California, area. His status-conscious father was a former Naval officer and stockbroker and his naive, religious mother was a homemaker. His parents marriage was showing strains when Cunanan was born, with his father repeatedly accusing his mother of infidelity, in spite of the fact that there was no evidence to support that claim, and occasionally hit her. He even claimed that his oldest daughter wasn't his child. His mother was traumatized by this treatment, and for a while had to be treated for depression during Andrew's formative years. His father had to take the lead in raising him, and he was stern and quick with the strap, though not to the point of being abusive. In response, Andrew spent a lot of time alone in his room and often told his friends fantasy stories about his family and life. He was a highly intelligent child who could recite Bible verses and read from encyclopedias at an early age, and a good-looking and talkative boy who could converse with adults more easily than most children. In school, he was a high achiever academically and was always carefully dressed and well-groomed. As a result, he was more popular with teachers than his fellow classmates, that spread rumors about him. In response to these developments, his parents enrolled him into the exclusive Bishop's School when he became a teenager. While in that high school, he became lovers with a wealthy married man for a while, who bought him expensive gifts until the relationship ended. He enjoyed being a kept boy, but kept it from his parents, who were completely unaware of his secret life. Upon graduating, he entered college to please his parents, but devoted all his time to his social life. Meanwhile, his parents' lives fell apart. His father was accused of embezzling from his firm and fled to his native Phillipines to escape and avoid prosecution. His mother was forced to move into a small apartment on another side of town. Andrew briefly lived with his father, but quickly returned to the States and had no further contact with him. He immediately returned to being a companion for wealthy, closeted men, some of them married, and his looks, intelligence, and conversational skills made him very popular. He lived a life of luxury, accompanied with endless parties and anonymous sex, but close friends noticed he had dark moods and occasional fits of anger. Gradually, he began to use drugs and, as he reached his mid-twenties, he began to lose his attractiveness. One day, he suddenly left for Minneapolis to visit Jeffrey Trail and David Madson, with whom he he had brief relationships. Exactly what happened is unknown, but it ended with Cunanan murdering them. While on the run, he committed two more murders and was on the FBI's Most Wanted List. He hid out in Miami, and began stalking designer Gianni Versace, whom he had met at a party in San Fransisco several years earlier. On Tuesday, July 15th, 1997, Cunanan shot Versace to death and escaped, making headlines all around the globe. Cunanan evaded detection for eight days until his body was discovered and cornered on a vacant houseboat. Realizing he was nearly caught, Cunanan shot himself to death. He was 27.