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Andrew Cunanan killed his first victim on April 27th, 1997, in a Minneapolis apartment. The old police wisdom that most murder victims are killed by someone they know rang true. Cunanan killed a man he'd once called his best friend. He used a hammer, beating Jeffrey Trail to death, and then rolling him up in a rug. It was the start of a murder spree that would claim the lives of four more victims across the United States.
But the last victim, a famous designer in Miami, would shock the world and catapult Cunanan's name into infamy. For a man who wanted so badly to be seen as rich, famous, and important his whole life, this was a twisted self-fulfilling prophecy. But Andrew Cunanan wouldn't be around long to enjoy it.
Here's the story of a pathological liar, a master manipulator, and one of the largest manhunts in United States history. Part 1: Living the Lie There's no doubt that Cunanan was smart. He had a genius level IQ and a photographic memory. It seems he used these assets to build fantasy lives for himself, impressing influential people with his wit, charm, and bravado.
In the early 1990s, when Cunanan was just coming into his 20s, he was already gravitating away from work and toward a conman lifestyle that depended on other people's money. Cunanan was born in California in 1969. His brother told interviewers in 1997, shortly after his murder spree ended, that Andrew memorized an encyclopedia at just 10 years old.
the youngest of four. He was the pride of Father Modesto Cunanan. Although he didn't come from wealth, he was the only child in the family to attend a private school. Most of the other students were wealthy, and Andrew would make up stories about his family to fit in. He told some that his mother was a Jewish princess stuck in a loveless marriage to his father. He told others that his father was a Filipino general with ties to dictator Ferdinand Marcos.
In reality, his mother was a highly religious Italian-American Catholic and his father was a stockbroker who fled to the Philippines in 1988 to avoid embezzlement charges. At 19, shortly after his father abandoned the family, Andrew's mother found out he was gay, although it seems the rest of the family already knew. The two reportedly had an argument in which Andrew slammed his mother against a wall, dislocating her shoulder.
Soon after this, he left San Diego and moved to San Francisco, where he quickly became a well-known member of the gay community there. He stayed with a married couple and their baby daughter, whom he doted on. It was in San Francisco that Cunanan started to charm his way into social circles, ingratiating himself to rich older men. He lived lavishly,
spending money he didn't earn on expensive dinners, costly booze, hotels for his friends, and generous tips for waitstaff. Several friends reported that Cunanan always picked up the tab. It was a way to stay at the center of attention and to get people indebted to him. This seemed to be Cunanan's modus operandi. He would woo and befriend a rich older man. He would pay for his partying, clothes, and other expenses.
Cunanan would then be free to look for what he really wanted: attractive gay men his age or younger. Friends and acquaintances also reported that Cunanan developed a taste for rough sex, sadomasochism, and violent pornography. But it seems that Cunanan wasn't just living off of rich men during the years before his murder spree. He was also dealing drugs, everything from marijuana and cocaine to prescription pills. Some friends say he was also using
One former roommate said that Cunanan would shoot up crack. He also reportedly was using heroin in the months before the first murder. No one really knew who Cunanan was. He would lie constantly, which necessitated keeping people at a distance. Even his close friends had trouble separating the lies from the truth. But there were a couple of people who got to know Andrew Cunanan well, and it ultimately got them killed. Part two, the first two victims.
Andrew Cunanan spent most of his time in the early and mid 90s in San Diego and San Francisco. In 1992, Andrew met Jeffrey Trail, who was serving in the Navy and stationed on a ship in San Diego. Trail was having trouble coming to terms with his sexuality. The "don't ask, don't tell" law wouldn't be passed until 1994, which made it against the rules for homosexuals to serve in the military at the time.
So when Trail met Cunanan, he was in awe of the man's boisterous nature and apparent comfort with his homosexuality. The two became friends. According to those who knew the men, that's all they were. There was apparently no romantic or sexual element to their friendship. Cunanan would go on to call Trail his best friend and brother. Trail, the son of a mathematician, was conservative and kind. He was ambitious in a way that Cunanan wasn't.
He actually wanted to work honestly and earn what he gained. After leaving the Navy in 1996, he joined a program to become a California Highway Patrol officer, but he quit abruptly and found a job as a district manager for a propane retailer in Minneapolis. It wasn't long after this that Andrew Cunanan murdered him with a hammer. But in order to talk about the murder of Jeff Trail,
we need to talk about David Madsen, who also lived in Minneapolis. Madsen met Cunanan in 1995 when Andrew saw him sitting alone at a bar and sent him a drink. The two seemed to hit it off. Madsen had, by all accounts, a magnetic personality and a love for life that people were drawn to. It's clear that Cunanan wasn't immune to this. The two started dating, but David Madsen didn't live in California.
His work as an architect took him all around the country, but he was based in Minneapolis. Still, the two dated long distance. Cunanan later told friends that Madsen was the love of his life. And while Madsen seemed willing to indulge Cunanan's behavior at first, it soon started to wear on the handsome and well-liked man.
Madsen visited Cunanan in San Francisco often, allowing Andrew to put him up in lavish hotels. But Madsen didn't know where his boyfriend lived. He'd never been to his house. Cunanan changed his phone number often, telling Madsen it was because of his wealthy family's desire for secrecy. When out with friends, Cunanan would often involve Madsen in his fantastic lies, putting David in an awkward position. He wanted no involvement in Andrew's lies.
In early 1996, Cunanan flew to Minneapolis for the first time to visit Madsen. But by July of that year, Madsen broke things off with Cunanan. The lies and deceit were too much. Cunanan wasn't ready to let the relationship go. When Jeff Trail moved to Minneapolis in late 1996, Cunanan used it as an excuse to go see Madsen.
Neither Trail nor Madsen wanted Cunanan around, but they seemed unwilling to confront him about it. Trail would let Cunanan stay at his house when he was in town, and Madsen would agree to see his ex-boyfriend, even though he was moving on and dating other men. Cunanan would show up unannounced, barging into the men's lives. Trail told one friend that Cunanan was like family, that he just had to put up with them, even if he didn't want to.
But eventually, things came to a head. One of Trail's friends later recalled that Trail and Cunanan had had a big fight, and Trail said he never wanted to see Andrew again. Around this time, Cunanan was telling people he was going to turn his life around. He was going to get a job, get clean, and stop spending other people's money. And this, Andrew said, was thanks to Madsen.
Cunanan had been living in San Diego again at the time and was planning to move back to San Francisco. He had a farewell dinner with friends, but none of them knew he'd booked a one-way ticket to Minneapolis before his move. On April 25th, 1997, David Madsen picked up Cunanan at the Minneapolis airport. Friends of Madsen later said that he wasn't looking forward to the visit.
Neither was Jeff Trail. Cunanan was apparently up to his old tricks at a dinner with Madsen's friends that night. He spouted lies to make himself sound rich and important, and he did the same when the two went and met Madsen's best friend for a drink. Cunanan, it's now assumed, spent that night at Madsen's apartment. The next night, Saturday, April 26th, he stayed at Jeff Trail's place while Trail was out of town. Sunday the 27th dawned.
Although Trail didn't know it, he wouldn't live through the day. He returned home from his trip in the afternoon, but apparently didn't see Andrew. Trail told his boyfriend, whose birthday it was, that he had to go talk to Cunanan about something and that it wouldn't take long. Trail and his boyfriend, John Hackett, made plans to meet that night at a club. Trail left to meet Cunanan around nine that night. He headed to Madsen's house, who was there with Cunanan.
What exactly happened inside that apartment is unknown. Whether Cunanan was planning to kill Trail or whether it was a spur of the moment crime is anyone's guess. A neighbor reported hearing yelling from the apartment and then some kind of thumping, wall shaking noise for 30 to 45 seconds.
The only words the neighbor could make out of the yelling were, "Get the fuck out!" The next day, one of the building's residents reportedly saw Madsen and a man fitting Cunanan's description in the elevator. On Tuesday, another neighbor saw the two men walking Madsen's dog. Meanwhile, Trail's boyfriend, Hackett, was growing increasingly worried. Trail hadn't shown up at the club. He hadn't been to work or back to his apartment.
Hackett called hospitals and jails, but he was hesitant to call Trails' parents because they didn't know that their son was gay. While Madsen had been spotted by neighbors in the two days after Trails' death, he hadn't gone to work. His coworkers were starting to worry, so they went to the apartment and knocked on the door. They thought they heard whispering inside over the sound of the dog scratching at the door. Trails' coworkers got the police involved.
The officers warned through Madsen's door that they might have to shoot his dog if he attacked. They didn't want to be responsible for getting Madsen's Dalmatian killed. So they backed off and instead left a message for the building's superintendent. When the superintendent gained access to the apartment, she saw blood, footprints, and a body rolled up in a rug. She immediately called the police who assumed it was Madsen's body in the rug. Since there was no sign of the man,
but they soon found out that it was Jeff Trail's body, identifying him through a tattoo, since the hammer blows had deformed his face beyond recognition. Andrew Cunanan had bludgeoned the man he once called his best friend to death with a hammer, while Madsen likely watched in horror. But where was Madsen? The last time anyone had seen Madsen was at his apartment, heading out to walk his dog with a man matching Cunanan's description.
That was Tuesday, April 29th, 1997. On Saturday, May 3rd, two fishermen found Madsen's body near Rush Lake, about three hours northwest of Minneapolis. He had been shot three times. One shot, presumably the first, was to the eye. Another was to the back of the head, and a third to the back.
There were no signs that Madsen had been restrained and the only defensive wound was to a finger, probably from raising his hands just before Cunanan shot him in the face. After the police found Trail's body in his apartment, Madsen was a top suspect in the murder. However, it seems clear now that Cunanan was holding him against his will in the days after Trail was murdered, using a gun stolen from Trail's house.
After killing Madsen, Cunanan took his jeep, leaving the man he'd once called the love of his life dead in the grass next to Rush Lake. But Cunanan wasn't done. He would continue his murder spree across three more states, and his next stop was Chicago. Part 3: The Next Two Victims Duke Miglin was 25 when Andrew Cunanan went on his killing spree.
the son of Chicago millionaire Lee Miglin. Duke was just the type of young man Cunanan would have been attracted to. He was rich, handsome, and part of the social circles Cunanan had tried to squeeze himself into his whole life. According to at least one person who was close to him, Andrew Cunanan had mentioned going into business with Duke Miglin before he left California for Minneapolis. But it wasn't Duke who was brutally murdered by Cunanan in Chicago.
It was his father, Lee, who was 72 at the time. Lee Miglin's wife, Marilyn, who had been out of town, arrived at their Gold Coast home on May 4th. Lee was supposed to pick her up at the airport, but he didn't show. And when she arrived home, she saw that a gate had been left open. The house was in disarray and there was a gun in the bathroom.
Marilyn Miglin called the police, who soon found her husband's body underneath a car in the separate garage across from the house. He'd been stabbed multiple times in the chest with a garden tool, and his throat had been slashed with a saw. His hands and feet were bound, and his face was covered with a taped-on bag in which there were two holes at the nostrils.
a scene that becomes significant when we consider Cunanan's proclaimed love for S&M. In fact, one person who knew Cunanan said that he'd even described an S&M mask that only had holes for the nostrils. However,
police found no evidence of sexual assault. What they did find was evidence that the suspect, who they didn't know was Cunanan at the time, had slept in Lee's bed, shaved at the sink, stolen over $10,000 in cash, and left a half-eaten sandwich out. He'd also stolen Alexis from the garage. The gun that Marilyn Miglin saw was a replica, left on the bathroom counter for reasons only known to Cunanan.
The Miglin family denies having any prior relationship with Cunanan. Duke Miglin said he'd never met the man and that he didn't have a secret homosexual life that he'd hidden from the family. Those who knew Lee Miglin said he wouldn't have been involved in anything shady. He was an everyman, a self-made millionaire who was also an active philanthropist.
There was no sign of forced entry into the house, leading some to speculate that Lee Miglin let Cunanan in willingly. Given Cunanan's habit of ingratiating himself with older men, it's no surprise that rumors flew after Miglin's death.
It's impossible to know what happened between the two men before the murder, but it's important to remember that Cunanan had the gun stolen from trail and he could have waited for Miglin to get home and used the gun to gain entry. The police connected Cunanan with Lee Miglin's brutal murder through Madsen's vehicle, which was parked illegally around the corner from the Miglin house. Cunanan, now in the stolen Lexus, headed east, spending a few days in New York City.
but he soon realized he needed another car. His next unsuspecting victim was working at the Finn Point National Cemetery. William Reese, the caretaker for the New Jersey Cemetery, didn't return home on time the evening of Friday, May 9th. Concerned, his wife drove to the cemetery, noticing a green Lexus there, but not her husband's red pickup truck.
She found a door open and a radio on and called the police. 45-year-old William Reese had been shot in the head in the basement of the cemetery facility. The bullet was .40 caliber, the same as the gun Cunanan stole from Trails' apartment. It didn't take long for authorities to realize the two men had no previous connection. Cunanan had killed him for his truck. Authorities didn't know it yet, but Cunanan was on his way to Miami in the stolen truck.
on his way to claim his last and most famous victim. Part four, killing Versace. On June 12th, 1997, over a month after killing William Reese for his truck, Andrew Cunanan became the 449th person to be on the FBI's 10 most wanted list. Although authorities didn't know it at the time, he spent two months living in Miami before committing his final murder.
He managed to stay under the radar despite apparently making little effort to hide his identity. He even used his own name to pawn an item at a store in Miami. Witnesses later said that Cunanan would go out every night to the gay clubs. Some postulated that he got off on being out in public while his face was all over the news. Still, it was only when Cunanan committed his fifth and final murder that the police had an idea of where he was.
Gianni Versace, a famous fashion designer who designed outfits for celebrities, went for a walk on the morning of July 15th. He came home from the walk and was heading up the steps of his Mediterranean-style mansion when Cunanan approached and shot him in the head twice at close range. Witnesses said the man walking down the street moments after the shots rang out matched Andrew Cunanan's description.
He then went to a municipal parking lot to change clothes at the truck he'd stolen from Reese, now with pilfered South Carolina plates. But he didn't leave in the truck. Police soon searched it, finding the bloody clothes and a pawn ticket with Cunanan's name on it, among other things. It turned out that the pawn shop had submitted a ticket with Cunanan's name and thumbprint to the Miami police, as required by law.
And this had happened a week before Versace was killed. Yet despite the nationwide manhunt, the Miami police overlooked the information. Versace's murder catapulted Cunanan to infamy. And while some friends say that Cunanan and Versace met once, there seemed to be little connection between the two. More likely, Cunanan decided to kill Versace because he was rich and famous.
Two things Cunanan had always wanted but never got. Gay communities in which Cunanan was well-known went on edge after the Versace murder made national headlines. Some who knew Andrew went into hiding for fear that they would be next. One story postulated that Cunanan was HIV positive and killing for revenge. But just over a week after Versace's murder, those who went into hiding would breathe a sigh of relief with the news of Cunanan's death.
On July 23rd, 1997, Andrew Cunanan killed himself. His body was found in a Miami houseboat eight days after he killed Versace. The caretaker of the houseboat heard a gunshot and called the police. At this time, the massive manhunt, one of the largest in US history, was in full swing. Given that the houseboat was near a hotel Cunanan had reportedly stayed at under an assumed name, the police thought it might be him.
Authorities searched the house, finding that Cunanan had shot himself through the mouth with the same gun he'd used to kill Versace, Reese, and Madsen. He left no note. His autopsy revealed that Cunanan was HIV negative, which removed the dubious motive for the killings. It also left everyone wondering why he would do such a thing. Unfortunately, there is no satisfying answer.
Whether he had a relationship with Lee Miglin, Duke Miglin, or Gianni Versace is still unclear. What is clear is that Andrew Cunanan was smart, egocentric, manipulative, cruel, and capable of brutal murder five times over.