Andrew Cunanan Serial Killer

Andrew Cunanan was a serial killer from California who would murder five men before ending his own life including fashion designer Gianni Versace. In this article on My Crime Library we will take a closer look at serial killer Andrew Cunanan

Andrew Cunanan Background

Andrew Cunanan was born in National City California on August 31, 1969 to parents Modesto “Pete” Cunanan and Mary Anne Schillaci. Andrew’s father was in the United Stats Navy at the time of his birth.

Andrew Cunanan would be remembered as a very smart and talkative young man during his school days. Andrew who would identify as gay during high school preferred to date older men who could financially take care of him. Cunanan was also remembered as a prolific liar who constantly changed his appearance.

When Andrew Cunanan was nineteen years old his father would desert the family and head back to the  Philippines to evade arrest for embezzlement. After high school Andrew would enroll in College at UC San Diego however he would soon drop out and move to San Francisco

Cunanan would continue to date older wealthy men and began to create violent pornography. Andrew would also begin to abuse painkillers and alcohol. After a relationship ended Cunanan would sell drugs to support himself and his drug abuse continued to worsen

In April 1997 Andrew Cunanan would fly to Minnesota and soon after the murders would begin

Andrew Cunanan Murders

• Jeffrey Trail would be murdered on August 27, 1997. Andrew Cunanan and Trail were close friends that had a falling out in the weeks prior. Cunanan would go over to the home of Trail, and the two would have an argument and Cunanan would steal his gun. Cunanan would call Jeffrey Trail from David Madison apartment and told Trail to come and get his gun. When Trail arrived he would be beaten to death with a hammer while David Madison watched. The body of Jeffrey Trail would be found days later
• David Madison would be murdered a few days after Trail. David would spend the next few days with Andrew Cunanan as the two were witnessed together in the building elevator. David Madison body would be found with several gunshot wounds including to the back and head
• On May 4, 1997 Andrew Cunanan would travel to Chicago and murder 72 year old Lee Miglin. Cunanan would murder the elderly man by stabbing him multiple times and slitting his throat with a hacksaw blade. Lee Miglin had been bound with duct tape. Cunanan would steal a Lexus belonging to Miglin and left another vehicle belonging to Madison on the street.
• On May 9, 1997 Andrew Cunanan would arrive in New Jersey where he would murder William Reese at the Finn’s Point National Cemetery. William Reese would be shot in the head by the same gun that killed David Madison. Andrew would steal Reese’s truck and begin to drive to Florida
• On July 15, 1997 Andrew Cunanan would murder Gianni Versace on the steps of Versace mansion in Miami Beach Florida. Versace would be shot several times with the same gun to murder Reese and Madison. When police would arrive on the scene they would find Reese’s truck that contained newspaper articles and clothes belonging to Cunanan

Andrew Cunanan Aftermath

Andrew Cunanan who had made the FBI Most Wanted list following the murder of William Reese would be tracked to a houseboat on July 23, 1997 after a custodian heard gunshots. When authorities arrived they would find the body of Andrew Cunanan who had fatally shot himself in the head. Cunanan did not leave behind a suicide note

The motives behind Andrew Cunanan killings have never been made clear. Many believed that Cunanan tested HIV Positive and that was the reason behind the murders however Andrew tested negative.

Andrew Cunanan More News

Around 8:45 on the morning of July 15, 1997, international fashion designer Gianni Versace returned home to his Miami Beach mansion on Ocean Drive following a walk to a local café.

Suddenly, a man approached Versace, pulled out a pistol, and killed him with two shots to the back of his head. The man fled—followed at a distance by at least one witness—and disappeared into a nearby parking garage.

Miami Beach homicide detectives soon asked for assistance from the FBI’s local field office in the city. The officers were concerned that the killing might be a murder-for-hire, but evidence quickly suggested that it wasn’t. Inside the parking garage identified by the witness was a red pickup truck linked to a murder in New Jersey and a man named Andrew Phillip Cunanan, the target of an ongoing manhunt.

Andrew Cunanan was a 27-year-old college dropout from California. He was highly intelligent, spoke two languages, and since his teenage years had sought to live a life of riches and comfort. He had supplemented his earnings from an odd job here and there by serving as a male prostitute and engaging in longer-term liaisons with older homosexuals who would shower him with gifts and cash.

For reasons that remain unclear, Andrew Cunanan had begun a murderous spree in late April 1997. First, he bludgeoned a former naval officer to death with a hammer in Minneapolis. A few days later, he shot and killed an architect and dumped his body near East Rush Lake in Minnesota. Both men were his long-time associates. In May, Cunanan targeted a stranger—a 72-year-old real estate developer—in Chicago. Cunanan stole the man’s car, and, less than a week later, murdered a cemetery worker in New Jersey. He then took that victim’s red truck and drove to Miami.

Throughout this time, authorities were putting together the pieces. The investigation and forensic work linked the Chicago murder and the others to Andrew Cunanan. On May 7, the FBI joined the search for Cunanan and quickly marshaled its resources to identify and interview his friends, family, and other contacts. The New Jersey murder made it clear Cunanan was moving across the country, and gay groups were especially concerned that he might insinuate himself into their circles and continue to commit murders. The New York City Gay and Lesbian Anti-Violence Project posted a large reward and sought to warn those who might know Cunanan.

Working with the television show America’s Most Wanted, the FBI made Andrew Cunanan the 449th addition to its Ten Most Wanted Fugitives list on June 12, 1997. Our offices in Minnesota, California, Illinois, New Jersey, and elsewhere continued to seek information about him. The Bureau also publicized a telephone tip line and disseminated details on the FBI’s public website. But Cunanan slipped under the radar.

With the murder of Gianni Versace, though, the net began to close. Eight days later, on July 23, 1997, the caretaker of a houseboat about two miles north of Versace’s house in Miami Beach reported hearing a gunshot. Responders found Cunanan dead from a self-inflicted wound. His killing spree was over.

https://www.fbi.gov/news/stories/serial-killers-part-6-andrew-cunanan

Andrew Cunanan Videos

Andrew Cunanan: The True Story of the 1997 Serial Killer Who Would Murder Gianni Versace

Andrew Phillip Cunanan was 27 years old, broke, brilliant, and already infamous in gay nightlife circles from San Francisco to San Diego when he embarked on a three-month killing spree that shocked the world. Between April 27 and July 15, 1997, he murdered five men across four states, ending with Italian fashion icon Gianni Versace on the steps of his Miami Beach mansion.

The case remains one of the most studied spree killings in modern American crime because the motive was never clear, the victims seemed disconnected, and the killer hid in plain sight while on the FBI Ten Most Wanted list. This guide breaks down the verified facts about Andrew Cunanan, his victims, the investigation, and why his story still dominates true crime in 2026. 

Quick Facts

Attribute	Detail
Full Name	Andrew Phillip Cunanan
Born	August 31, 1969, National City, California
Died	July 23, 1997, Miami Beach, Florida (aged 27)
Cause of Death	Suicide by gunshot
Killing Period	April 27 – July 15, 1997
Victims	5 (Jeffrey Trail, David Madson, Lee Miglin, William Reese, Gianni Versace)
Weapons	Hammer,.40 S&W Taurus PT100 pistol, screwdriver, hacksaw
Criminal Charges	First-degree murder, second-degree murder, armed robbery

Early Life and Education: The Making of a Mythomaniac

Cunanan was the youngest of four children born to Mary Anne Schillaci, an Italian-American, and Modesto “Pete” Cunanan, a Filipino-American who served as a chief petty officer in the U.S. Navy during Vietnam before becoming a stockbroker. 

The family lived modestly in National City, but in 1981 Modesto enrolled Andrew in The Bishop’s School in La Jolla, an elite independent day school. Teachers remembered him as bright, talkative, and testing with an IQ of 147. Classmates voted him “Most Likely Not to Be Forgotten.” 

It was at Bishop’s that the lying began. He told elaborate stories: that his mother was Jewish, that his father was Filipino royalty and a general under Ferdinand Marcos. He was adept at changing his appearance to match what wealthy older men found attractive. 

After graduating in 1987, he enrolled at UC San Diego to study American history. There he began using the surname DeSilva to hide his Filipino heritage and claimed his father was an Israeli millionaire who disowned him after he came out. 

The fantasy collapsed in 1988. His father fled to the Philippines to evade embezzlement charges, abandoning the family. That same year, during a fight after his deeply religious Catholic mother learned he was gay, Cunanan threw her against a wall and dislocated her shoulder. 

In 1989 he dropped out and moved to San Francisco’s Castro District with his best friend Elizabeth Cote. 

Adult Life: Patronage, Drugs, and Reinvention

San Francisco in the early 1990s was perfect for Cunanan. Handsome, articulate, and fluent in fashion and opera, he befriended wealthy older men who paid for dinners, trips to Europe, and apartments in Hillcrest and La Jolla. Friends later said he also dealt prescription opioids, cocaine, and marijuana, and began creating violent pornography. 

Two relationships defined his later spiral:

1. Gianni Versace. Cunanan claimed they met in San Francisco in October 1990 at the Colossus or 1015 Folsom nightclub when Versace was designing costumes for Capriccio at the San Francisco Opera. The Versace family has always denied any meeting.
2. David Madson. In December 1995, Cunanan met Minneapolis architect David Madson in a San Francisco bar. They began a long-distance romance. Madson ended it in spring 1996, telling friends Cunanan seemed “shady”. Cunanan still called Madson the “love of my life.” 

By September 1996, his main benefactor, wealthy developer Norman Blachford, cut him off. Cunanan maxed out credit cards, began abusing methamphetamine and painkillers, and drank heavily. Former roommate Jeffrey Trail told friends Cunanan had resumed selling drugs and that he feared him, saying a week before his death, “I’ve got to get out of here. They’re going to kill me”. 

In April 1997, Cunanan told friends he was flying to Minneapolis to “take care of business” with Trail. He had to beg for a credit limit increase to buy the ticket. 

The 1997 Murder Spree: Five Victims in 79 Days

1. Jeffrey Trail – April 27, Minneapolis

Cunanan stayed with Madson but lured Trail to Madson’s loft on April 27. After an argument, he beat the 28-year-old former Naval officer to death with a hammer, then rolled the body in a rug behind a sofa. Trail’s watch stopped at 9:55 p.m. The body was found two days later when a coworker checked on Madson. 

2. David Madson – May 2-3, Rush Lake, Minnesota

Contrary to early police theories, Madson was not an accomplice. Neighbors saw him alive with Cunanan on April 28 and 29, walking his dog, suggesting he was held hostage. On May 2 they were seen driving north together. The next morning Madson’s body was found on the east shore of Rush Lake with gunshot wounds to the head and back from Trail’s stolen.40-caliber Taurus PT100. 

3. Lee Miglin – May 3-4, Chicago

Cunanan drove Madson’s Jeep to Chicago. On May 4, 72-year-old real estate mogul Lee Miglin was found in his Gold Coast garage. He had been bound with duct tape, stabbed more than 20 times with a screwdriver, and his throat was slit with a hacksaw. Miglin’s green Lexus with a car phone was stolen. The phone pings later traced Cunanan through Pennsylvania. The FBI’s Gregg McCrary believed the torture indicated a personal motive, while the Miglin family insisted it was random. 

4. William Reese – May 9, Pennsville, New Jersey

Needing a less conspicuous vehicle, Cunanan went to Finn’s Point National Cemetery and shot 45-year-old caretaker William Reese once in the head with the same Taurus pistol. He left Miglin’s Lexus and took Reese’s red 1995 Chevrolet pickup, which he drove to Florida. Police believe this was the only purely instrumental murder. 

5. Gianni Versace – July 15, Miami Beach

For two months, Cunanan lived at the Normandy Plaza Hotel for $29 a night, paying cash. He was placed on the FBI Ten Most Wanted list on June 12. Despite pawning a stolen item under his real name on July 7, he was not caught. 

At about 8:45 a.m. on July 15, Versace returned to Casa Casuarina after buying magazines at News Cafe. Cunanan approached from behind and shot him once in the back of the head and once in the left cheek. Versace was pronounced dead at Jackson Memorial at 9:21 a.m. Police found Reese’s truck nearby containing Cunanan’s clothes and newspaper clippings about his own crimes. 

The Manhunt: How He Hid in Plain Sight

Cunanan’s ability to evade capture for 79 days became a case study in 1990s policing failures. He used his own name at hotels and pawn shops, frequented gay clubs on Ocean Drive, and was recognized multiple times but not reported due to fear and bias. The FBI focused on the stolen truck while Cunanan walked the city.

The nationwide search involved more than a dozen agencies across Minnesota, Illinois, New Jersey, and Florida, but coordination was slow before digital databases were standard.

Suicide and Aftermath

Eight days after Versace’s murder, on July 23, 1997, a caretaker heard a gunshot from a luxury houseboat on Indian Creek. Police found Cunanan dead from a self-inflicted shot to the head using the same Taurus pistol. He left no suicide note and few possessions, only multiple tubes of hydrocortisone cream and a collection of C.S. Lewis novels. 

His cremated remains were interred at Holy Cross Cemetery in San Diego. In the Philippines, his father Modesto left a note on a white cross: “My son was an altar boy. He is not a serial killer or a homosexual”. 

Motives: What Drove Andrew Cunanan?

No definitive motive emerged because Cunanan never stood trial. Three dominant theories persist:

1. Rejection and narcissistic collapse. After losing Blachford’s financial support and Madson’s love, his carefully constructed identity as a cultured socialite imploded. The murders of Trail and Madson, both men who rejected him, fit a revenge pattern.

2. HIV panic myth. Contemporary press speculated he killed after learning he was HIV positive. The autopsy proved he was HIV negative, debunking the most sensational theory. 

3. Antisocial personality disorder. Later behavioral analysis noted his lack of remorse, pathological lying, and thrill-seeking, consistent with antisocial personality disorder. He killed Miglin and Reese for resources, and Versace for fame, ensuring he would be remembered as his high school yearbook predicted. 

Cultural Legacy

Andrew Cunanan became a pop-culture archetype of the charming psychopath. The definitive portrayal came in 2018 with FX’s The Assassination of Gianni Versace: American Crime Story, where Darren Criss won an Emmy for his performance. The series reignited debate about police homophobia during the manhunt and the media’s obsession with Versace over the other four victims.

True-crime podcasts, books like “Vulgar Favors” by Maureen Orth, and documentaries continue to examine how a man with no prior violent criminal record escalated so rapidly. In SEO terms, searches for “Andrew Cunanan” spike every July around the Versace anniversary and whenever a new dramatization airs.