Series of Articles on Alleged Mass Murderer Andrew Phillip Cunanan

Extended Coverage; Series of Articles on Alleged Mass Murderer Andrew Phillip Cunanan

Excerpted from: ENN EMERGENCY SERVICES REPORT-Wednesday, July 16, 1997 Vol. 1 - 197

ALLEGED SERIAL KILLER CUNANAN STRIKES AGAIN
By Steve Macko, ERRI Crime Analyst

MIAMI BEACH, FLORIDA (ENN) - Italian clothing designer Gianni Versace was fatally shot in front of his Miami Beach, Florida, mansion on Tuesday. Police investigators say that he might have been the target of a hit. Miami Beach Police Chief Richard Barreto said, "Yes, we believe he was targeted." A preliminary investigation indicated that the shooting was not a robbery.

Witnesses told police that a white male in his 20s wearing a white shirt, black shorts, a white hat and a backpack walked up to the victim, shot him and then walked away. Versace died of two gunshot wounds to the back of the head at 0915 EDT.

On Tuesday night, Miami Beach Police named suspected serial killer Andrew Cunanan as the lead suspect in the case. The 27-year-old Cunanan has been linked to four prior killings on a spree that began on 27 April. He is on the FBI's Ten Most Wanted list.

Cunanan is a white, gay, male from San Diego. Described as 5-feet, 10-inches tall. Has brown hair and brown eyes. In the past, he has used the alias of Andrew DeSilva and can be considered somewhat of a chameleon because he can change his appearance drastically.

"Cunanan is a suspect we are seeking for questioning. He is well educated and very articulate and is to be considered armed and extremely dangerous," said Miami Beach Police Chief Richard Barreto.

Police officers earlier on Tuesday had found a red pickup truck near the Versace home that belonged to a slain New Jersey cemetery worker believed to had been murdered by Cunanan.

Excerpted from ENN EMERGENCY SERVICES REPORT-Friday, July 18, 1997 Vol. 1 - 199

2nd Killing in Miami Beach Area May Be Linked to Cunanan
By ENN News Team

MIAMI SPRINGS, FLORIDA (ENN) - A man fitting the description of suspected spree killer Andrew Cunanan was seen running from the scene of another homicide on Thursday in a town located 15 miles from Miami Beach. Special agents of the FBI, state and local police responded to the scene of a house at 0600 EDT. Police said that the found the door to the house of a reputed gay doctor open and house ransacked.

One witness told investigators that he heard a burglar alarm and then saw a white male in his late 20s or early 30s, around 5-feet-10-inches tall, with a slim build and dark hair running from the scene. The description fits Cunanan.

More than 400 federal agents have swarmed southern Florida in search of Cunanan. Paul Philip, the special-agent-in-charge of the FBI's Miami Field Division, said, "It's a very large manhunt, an intense manhunt. Most of the leads we are concentrating on are Florida leads.

ENN is closely monitoring this situation and is compiling a psychological profile of Cunanan that will be published shortly unless Cunanan is apprehended.

July 21, 1997--Miami police later revealed that they believe that evidence pointed to another another suspect in the murder of the doctor reported above. Cunanan was dismissed as the prime suspect in this slaying several days after this initial report.

Excerpted from ENN EMERGENCY SERVICES REPORT-Saturday, July 19, 1997 Vol. 1 - 200

ANDREW CUNANAN: A PROFILE OF A
SERIAL/SPREE KILLER ...
By Steve Macko, ERRI Crime Analyst

Experts say that suspected serial/spree killer Andrew Cunanan's ego is becoming inflated as he eludes investigators again. He is basking in the limelight of attention that he is being given and if he is not caught soon -- he will kill again.

Forensic psychologists say that they have no doubt that the man who is suspected of killing fashion designer Gianni Versace is becoming bolder. Cunanan's victims have had little in common. Two were his former gay lovers. One, Chicago real estate developer Lee Miglin, may have been the father of a friend. Another was a groundskeeper at a New Jersey cemetery -- police believe that Cunanan just wanted his red pickup truck. And Versace -- a top designer who Cunanan may not even had known, but may had been symbolically killed.

Jack Levine, who heads Northeastern University's Program for the Study of Violence and who is the author of three books on serial killers, said that Cunanan is indeed become bolder and "that is one of the few things he has in common with other serial killers. Most of them get careless the more they kill, the more they figure they are invincible. I would say he's euphoric at this point. If we don't stop him, he will kill again. Obviously, he has an agenda."

"He had relationships with several young me and one left him," said Richard K. Ressler, a former criminal profiler with more than 15 years experience with the Federal Bureau of Investigation. "He was having financial problems. All of these dynamics were pulling on this guy. Being self-centered and narcissistic, these had a special stress. And I suspect this guy probably contracted AIDS."

Some kind of loss or trauma is suspected of triggering a murderous rage in Cunanan, said Levine, who has studied hundreds of serial and mass killers. It is believed that Cunanan has worked as a high-priced male prostitute. Levine said, "It doesn't have to be a terminal sickness, it could be a love affair gone bad that is the catalyst. It's possible that he had contracted HIV, and he blames older succuessful gay men like his clients for his illness."

Ressler said, "The motivation for this is a death wish. He is suicidal, especially if he's found out he had AIDS ... What he is really doing is lashing out against the gay community. Now he's taken out an icon of that community (Versace)."

Levine agreed with Ressler, "Versace was a symbolic victim. He represented something that the serial killer detested, something maybe that he was unable to achieve."

The 27-year-old Cunanan is remembered as softspoken and unassuming by some people. An intellect who spoke several languages and could easily discuss world affairs.

Other people remember the opposite and say that he was a flamboyant party boy, who sought the company and money of older, wealthy gay men, such as what he last murder victim may had been.

He is also a chameleon who can change his appearance drastically by gaining or losing weight, changing his hair style, by putting on and taking off glasses. Pictures of him show totally different looking people.

The social editor of the Gay and Lesbian Times in San Diego said, "He made sure his benefactors kept their interest in him. He always dressed in the latest fashions ... he was not going to lose the interest of these men who supported him."

Friends say that Cunanan always craved attention. Now the world is focusing on him. Lt. Dale Barsness, the man who runs the Minneapolis Police Department's homicide investigations section, said, "He's not your run-of-the-mill spree or serial killer. He's very intelligent, very cunning, a con man."

The ENN EMERGENCY SERVICES REPORT is a subscription publication of the EmergencyNet NEWS Service, which is a part of the Chicago-based Emergency Response and Research Institute. This publication specializes in Law Enforcement/Fire/EMS/Disaster and Medical Issues.

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