Andrew Cunanan was a big talker and wanted all the best things in life. Unfortunately, he was unwilling to work to reach his goals. Instead he lived off the wealth of his older lovers and off the money from the drugs he sold (and used). Then Cunanan’s desire for the finer things and wanting people to know his name led him down the path to serial murder and eventually the assassination of Gianni Versace.
The Assassination of Gianni Versace
The morning of July 15th, 1997, Gianni Versace and longtime partner, Antonio D’Amico were at Versace’s Miami mansion where they’d arrived 5 days prior. Versace made his typical morning walk to a nearby newsstand and by 8:40 am, he was headed back to his home, unaware he was being targeted. Andrew Cunanan was a fugitive who’d already murdered 4 men, but his life of extensive lying, drugs, and living off wealthy older boyfriends led him to this moment. Cunanan snuck up behind Versace while the designer was unlocking his gates and shot him twice at point blank range.
Upon hearing the shots, D’Amico ran to the gate, finding Versace bleeding on the stairs. While obviously distraught, D’Amico saw a man calmly walking away. Cunanan was once again on the run, but he’d wind up taking his own life in a houseboat he broke into. Leaving no suicide note and having never shared his motives, Cunanan left the world to draw its own conclusions about why he murdered 2 friends, 2 strangers, and 1 fashion designer.
Andrew Phillip Cunanan
Andrew Phillip Cunanan was born August 31, 1969 in National City, California. The youngest child of Pete and MaryAnn Cunanan. MaryAnn was from Palermo, Italy and didn’t speak English until she went to school. Born to older parents, she called herself a “menopause baby.” Her mother died when MaryAnn was 19 so she moved in with her older brother in California, got a job as a telephone operator and part time waitress.
Pete Cunanan was a ladies man. In 1960, while she was waitressing one night, Pete entered. 11 years older and dressed in a white tuxedo. MaryAnn and the Navy man from Baliuag (Philippines) danced all night. Pete believed he was made for great things. Despite being promised to someone else, MaryAnn and Pete got married. MaryAnn was already 6-months pregnant. Christopher was born in 1961. After a move to New York, MaryAnn gave birth to their 2nd child in 1963. Blonde, blue-eyed Elena had Pete convinced that she wasn’t his daughter.
In 1966, during the Vietnam War, Pete was deployed and MaryAnn was left to care for their kids and stress about her already unhappy marriage. Pete was unhappy too and taking out his rage on MaryAnn – abusing her physically and emotionally. MaryAnn’s mental stability was always “fragile” and Pete’s treatment didn’t help. Money was a huge source of conflict between them. While most of her spending was on things for the kids, Pete considered it frivolous. He had 3 bank accounts and only one of them was accessible to MaryAnn. However, while MaryAnn’s spending seemed frivolous to Pete, he spent lavishly himself.
Even in this acrimonious marriage, MaryAnn got pregnant 2 more times. First, in 1967, she gave birth to Regina “Gina” and 2 years later, Andrew. They bought a house in National City, California and were staying together. After Andrew’s birth MaryAnn fell into severe postpartum depression that affected her so significantly she couldn’t care for herself. MaryAnn was hospitalized for 3 months leaving Pete to care for newborn Andrew and his 3 older siblings. Pete boasted that he “raised” Andrew. He proudly remembered when Andrew was little, he stepped on a floor heater and burned his foot, but despite the bad burn, Andrew didn’t cry.
Andrew was the “little prince” of the family. MaryAnn would call Christopher and Elena, “street kids,” but Gina and Andrew were given everything; especially Andrew. Pete retired from the Navy in 1972 and decided to become a stockbroker thinking this would make him rich and give him the status he craved. Meanwhile, MaryAnn was debating if she could use the inheritance she got from her father to leave Pete. Instead, they bought a bigger, more expensive house.
They weren’t rich, but the Cunanan’s made sure Andrew had everything the rich kids had. Andrew was extroverted, precocious, and happy as a child. Pete and MaryAnn believed that Prince Andrew was a genius. In junior high he was accepted into the MGM program and this required a student’s IQ to test at 132 or higher. Andrew had been evaluated in 3rd grade with an IQ of 147. Nevertheless, teachers of Andrew’s didn’t see him as exceptionally intelligent. Numerous sources reported, when Andrew was 7-10 years old he read the Bible and memorized the encyclopedia.
In the Cunanan house Pete had strict and unyielding rules. MaryAnn was required to keep the house spotless – there were even plastic runners on the carpet. MaryAnn was very Catholic. She dreamt Andrew would grow up to be a Catholic priest. Andrew was an altar boy and, at least as a child, the principles and beliefs he’d been taught in the Catholic church made a significant impact on him, but he’d battle with these beliefs.
Rather than hang out with friends and ride bikes, Andrew preferred to read and watch TV. Sometimes MaryAnn would shoo away kids who came to the door looking for Andrew frequently telling him, “You can’t do that.” It was hard to predict MaryAnn’s moods and actions. She was described as “needy and smothering.” She claims that when he was a child she and Andrew were “inseparable” which made Pete Cunanan angry. Maureen Orth wrote that “[MaryAnn] was helping create a personality who began to see himself as superior, which his father encouraged.” Andrew and Pete’s relationship was odd too with “pet names” and using baby-talk well into Andrew’s teenage years.
Pete was a flopping stockbroker. He left one job after 2 years and was fired from the next job after 13 months, but he continued to spend money to excess. Andrew dressed in suits frequently and after middle school he attended a prestigious private school with a tuition to match. When Andrew attended Bishop’s, the annual tuition was $4,000-$6,200. Very few students received financial aid and the ones that did only got about $1,500. All this on Pete’s occasional income which never exceeded $50,000 annually.
Andrew was loud and demanded attention. Some people he went to school with described him as fun to watch, like when you can’t take your eyes off a disaster.
Andrew never allowed his parents to attend anything at the school and no one knew that Andrew was half-Filipino. Bishop’s was in La Jolla where until the 1950s African Americans were only allowed to live on 2 specific streets (for maids and chauffeurs) and Jewish people weren’t allowed at all until the 70s and anyone homosexual remained closeted. With the area they lived in, Andrew kept his sexuality, race, and family’s financial status secret. Andrew didn’t want anything to interfere with things he felt entitled to.
Even at a young age Andrew developed a taste for the finer things. Example: Andrew attended a classmate’s 12th birthday party and was disappointed that there was only tap water and no Perrier. He told peers he frequently went to foreign countries and spent summers there. His lies became tiring to his school friends who stopped associating with him. When Andrew was 14 (a freshman in high school), he had to miss a field trip because he was sick. Andrew threw a tantrum. So Pete bought Andrew a brand new sports car.
Andrew was also struggling with internal issues and a seriously dysfunctional family. Andrew was secretly questioning his sexuality and decided that suppressing these feelings was best for now. He’d become the keystone in his parents’ marriage. An emotional “stand-in husband” to his mom. She leaned on him for the emotional support she wasn’t getting from Pete.
Andrew was keeping lots of big secrets: his sexuality, his unstable mother and abusive father, his race, and keeping up with his elaborate lies, but his sense of superiority was growing. Elizabeth Oglesby, a psychologist who also lived next door to Andrew for a while said, “Narcissists look at people as objects they can consume or use. His parents were just there to serve, adore, or cater to him.”
Andrew was the one running his house. When they moved into another new, more expensive house in La Jolla, his parents gave Andrew the master bedroom, MaryAnn slept in the “maid’s room,” and Pete slept on the couch. Andrew was given his own credit card that he tapped out quickly. In high school Andrew began confessing to pretty much everyone outside his home that he was gay. However, Andrew would never blatantly tell his parents and his sexuality would be unspoken and ignored by his parents.
Andrew graduated high school and enrolled at the University of California – San Diego. Now Pete had 2 kids in college, 2 homes with mortgages, and 3 people who spent money excessively, but he’d been fired from his job in September and was in incredible debt, but he was very materialistic which he passed down to Andrew. He hadn’t been working for a while, but spending money just the same on fancy suits and cars. Pete was accused of embezzling money from his clients at the last job (including a 90-year-old woman) and cleaning them out.
To “get out” of this mess, Pete spent 2 months of 1988 selling his fancy car, taking out very high mortgages on the houses, and ripping off someone he’d tried to make a deal with. Then, fled to the Philippines. Pete sold the family home without telling anyone, leaving MaryAnn with next to nothing. Married for 27 years and she had $700 and his $650 a month Navy pension checks. Once Pete left, Andrew and Gina had to quit college and deal with their mother’s mental deterioration and suicide threats.
Andrew’s friend Liz Coté offered for him to move in with her and her fiance in Berkley which was basically next door to “the most liberated gay community in America,” the Castro district in San Fransisco. Andrew spent the majority of his life in gay bars. He claimed his parents lived on 5th Avenue, that he had graduated from Choate and then went to Bennington and Yale, and that he had been married and had a daughter (using a picture of Liz and her daughter) claiming his wife was a Jewish princess. Andrew was creative, but not believable.
Andrew “Meets” Versace
In 1990, Gianni Versace designed costumes for the San Francisco Opera. He came to San Francisco with partner Antonio D’Amico to see the opera.
As an openly gay man, during their trip to San Francisco, Versace enjoyed visiting local gay bars so he could socialize with gay members of the community. He and D’Amico went to the Colossus bar on Sundays and this is where Andrew Cunanan and Gianni Versace intersected. Andrew went to the Colossus the same night Versace was there after being invited into the VIP section by his friend. Versace saw him and seemed to mistake him for someone he knew, but Andrew took the opportunity to confirm the two had previously met. In 1991, Andrew moved in with his mom in a 2-bedroom apartment in Rancho Bernardo. Andrew re-enrolled in the University of California – San Diego to major in history and got a job at Thrifty Drug Store.
Living with his mother was trying for Andrew because of her tendency to talk and smoke constantly and threaten suicide frequently. Her eccentricities got to Andrew once in 1993 when he slammed her against the wall, breaking her shoulder. He took her to the ER threatening to kill her if she told what really happened. Andrew controlled his mom and treated her like a child he regretted having. When he slept, MaryAnn was to be silent no matter how late he slept into the afternoon.
Andrew would spend his nights out using the name Andrew DeSilva. He claimed he was a student at Yale and heir to whatever fortune his family supposedly had. He told people he had his Ph.D. and when he met older men with money to spare he would ingratiate himself to them. Some would call him out for the fact his timelines made no sense, but Andrew would change the subject. Andrew’s goal was to be a “kept boy.” He wanted to live with a rich older man paying for everything he wanted.
Somehow, Andrew always had money to flash, claimed he went to dinner with Versace once a year, and his father was in the Israeli intelligence. When people saw his busted car, he’d say it was his maid’s. Andrew’s lies continued to distance friends. Either friends got tired of the bullshit and decided they couldn’t be friends anymore, they found it funny he was a bullshitter, or they felt bad for him like Jeff Trail.
jeff trail
Jeff Trail was “handsome,” “engaging,” “loyal,” trustworthy, and helpful. He was the youngest child to Stan and Ann Trail. Ann – an elementary school teacher with 4 kids and Stan – a math professor with 3 kids met and married and Jeff was their only child together. He was younger than his half siblings by at least 9 years.
Jeff was very conservative and decided when he was young that he was going to go into the military like some of his older siblings. Jeff wanted to be a Top Gun pilot. Jeff earned 19 college credits while in high school. Jeff was described by one of his honors teachers as “an ideal kid — Jeff was going to be a significant person…strong values, great code of ethics, a sense of academic vigor and a wonderful sense of self, and a very supportive family, obviously.”
Jeff got into Annapolis and was hit by how difficult it was. He wasn’t a quitter and eventually graduated 839th out of 950 in May 1991. After graduating, Jeff was sent to San Diego to Surface Warfare Officer School. Starting his military life was slightly difficult for Jeff in this time of Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell. It was illegal to be gay in the military. Jeff had gone on dates with women before, but had come to the realization that he was gay and once in San Diego, Jeff had his first homosexual encounter.
Jeff was struggling with his sexuality and what that meant in regards to being in the Navy. Jeff lived everyday in fear that he would be discovered.
Jeff was a great sailor and leader, but he was constantly at risk of being outed. In 1992, 48 Hours did a piece on Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell and interviewed gay military men anonymously including Jeff. Jeff said, “I am not able to share my life with those around me.”
About this time Jeff met Andrew Cunanan. Jeff was impressed by Andrew’s ability to be “utterly flamboyant.” Andrew would be Jeff’s wingman and introduced him to many single, attractive men. Andrew’s influence seemed to loosen Jeff up and soon he was in gay karaoke bars singing and having illicit sexual encounters in men’s rooms through a glory hole.
Jeff was still very conservative and wouldn’t stand for drugs. He wasn’t aware Andrew was seriously into dealing and using drugs, but when people warned him, Jeff wouldn’t listen. Jeff had a blind spot when it came to Andrew; he saw Andrew as someone who needed him. Andrew had access to many prescription pain and anxiety meds and things like Augmentin as well as drugs like crystal meth. Jeff didn’t see it and naively pretended other people were wrong when they said they’d seen Andrew dealing.
Back in 1993, Andrew started using crystal meth regularly – spending about $4,000 a month on crystal meth. Some for him, some to sell. With Andrew’s addiction to crystal, he stayed awake for days on end and then in order to get some sleep he’d dose himself heavily with Vicodin, Xanax, or Valium.
Then Jeff’s career in the Navy took a surprise hit. He’d been waiting for someone to find out his sexuality and he’d be discharged. However, instead when the Navy decided that they would be complying with Environmental Protection Agency regulations regarding the disposal of hazardous material, His men tried to get around it and since he was the leader Jeff’s career was irreparably damaged so in May 1996, Jeff left the Navy as a lieutenant.
Andrew, Lincoln, and Norman
Lincoln Aston, an oil tycoon, became involved with Andrew Cunanan so Andrew finally got to be a “kept boy.” Andrew was barnacled to Lincoln to the point that others were uncomfortable with the fact that he acted like Lincoln’s bodyguard.
“Andrew DeSilva” had developed a line of bullshit that probed the feelings of older, rich, gay men. He would say that he’d been married once and when he came out of the closet, his rich parents rejected him and tossed him out. The older men could relate to the fact that Andrew had been rejected by his family for coming out and that he had once been married in an attempt to live a “normal” life.
Then Lincoln learned, no one really knew Andrew and lost interest in dealing with him. He decided that he needed to cut ties, offering to pay Andrew $20,000-$30,000 to GTFO. Unfortunately, on May 19th, 1995 Lincoln was beaten to death in his home. A drifter was eventually convicted of the murder. He’d been picked up in a bar by Lincoln and taken to Lincoln’s house. While most people thought that the true murderer was Andrew, the drifter confessed and was put in prison. Case closed.
Through Lincoln, Andrew met Norman Blachford. Norman was 58 when he met Andrew Cunanan. Norman lived in Phoenix, but visited La Jolla regularly. Norman’s partner of almost 30-years had recently died of AIDS. Norman was also very wealthy after selling his company. Needless to say, Norman appealed to Andrew and since Norman was alone now, the two began a relationship. Andrew would visit Norman in Phoenix and the pair would travel often.
Two months after Lincoln’s murder, Andrew moved into Norman’s La Jolla condo. Norman was taking care of Andrew’s every want. Norman bought Andrew an Infiniti for $33,000, paid off his credit cards, and gave him an allowance of $2,500 a month. However, though Andrew and Norman slept in the same room, they had separate, twin beds in the master bedroom like Lucy and Ricky. Andrew convinced Norman to sell his home in Phoenix and buy a house on Mount Soledad overlooking La Jolla. Andrew happened to know a perfect listing for a recently vacated home. Lincoln Astin’s home.
Norman bought the home and continued to finance Andrew’s lifestyle, but when Norman offered to pay for Andrew to go back to college and finish his degree Andrew refused.
Andrew Meets David
Andrew met David Madson in November 1995 in a San Francisco bar. Blond-haired, blue-eyed David Madson was described in many flattering ways: “vivacious,” “talented,” “accomplished,” “charismatic,” and “hard-working.” David had attended the University of Minnesota earning a degree in architecture in 1995. Orth described David as the “quintessential Boy Scout, taking groceries to the needy at Christmas, helping others to learn.” He taught aerobics, skiing and swimming.
David was the youngest of four children to Howard and Carol Madson. David had been in musicals in high school, loved to be the center of attention, was a “peacemaker” and grew up learning the value of hard work and religion. He was eager to help everyone and loved to be needed and helpful. David had a soft spot for the “underdog” or people that needed them.
Which is partly how David not only ended up with Andrew, but also how David ended up with a stalker ex-boyfriend. David figured out his sexual preferences in college and had a hard time coming to terms with it. He was raised Lutheran and worried that his parents, specifically his dad, wouldn’t accept him.
However, when David came out to his father, Howard was more understanding than expected. Howard later said, “I can’t say that it didn’t make any difference with me, because I disagree with that type of life. However, that had nothing to do with what I thought of him or how I treated him.” Howard believes we all go to heaven as sinners so, “what’s the difference whether you lie, cheat, steal, you’re homosexual, you murder. If you believe forgiveness is there…you’ve got just as good a chance as anybody else. So I don’t look at David as any different… My feelings for David were no different.”
David’s work ethic and passion for architecture along with his charisma and magnetic personality helped him succeed quickly and he began working at John Ryan Company in Minneapolis making over $70,000 a year.
When Andrew and David met, Andrew was technically with Norman who was footing all of Andrew’s bills. Andrew convinced David the reason he couldn’t provide David with a phone number or an address was because his insanely rich family had to keep unlisted so they didn’t become the targets of a kidnapping plot.
The two would meet in San Francisco every few weeks and spend Norman’s money to stay in fancy hotels and eat at expensive restaurants. Andrew was very interested in porn. He’d been roommates with a guy named Erik Greenman who’d been in a few pornos, and Andrew watched more porn than most of us have watched regular movies. His specific interest was in violent S&M pornography.
Though Andrew never revealed his propensity for rough S&M to Norman, Andrew did introduce David to S&M, but David was never as into it as Andrew and Andrew would even complain that David wouldn’t let him go as far as he wanted. David would tell his friends that sex with Andrew was not great, and Andrew made him “uncomfortable.” Andrew’s friends recall Andrew being head over heels in love with David, and David was probably the true love of Andrew’s life. However, David was not as infatuated with Andrew and like many other people in Andrew’s past, David had begun to tire of Andrew’s shenanigans.
Everybody Hates Andrew
In 1996, Norman was looking over the money Andrew was spending and he was done with Andrew’s lack of motivation and the fact that Andrew was not contributing anything to this relationship. Norman’s final straw was when Andrew decided he “needed” a $126,000 Mercedes SL 600 convertible. Andrew actually had a list of “demands” for Norman: buy him the Mercedes, provide first class flights, increase Andrew’s allowance, and name Andrew in his will. Norman told Andrew no. Andrew threatened to leave if his demands weren’t met, but Norman was the only person in Andrew’s life to put his foot down.
Before Andrew moved out, he wrote Norman a letter stating Andrew would allow Norman to decide how much Andrew should get as “palimony” “to compensate for his year of service.” Norman wrote Andrew a check for $15,000 and left for a trip, but when Andrew tried to deposit the check he was informed any check exceeding $10,000 had to be reported to the IRS by law. Andrew tried to sweet talk the teller, but she declined breaking the law so Andrew left without depositing the check.
Andrew was probably feeling pretty rejected because while he was going through a break up with Norman, David was also ending their relationship. David had had enough of Andrew’s lies and empty promises. Jeff Trail was also losing his patience with Andrew.
The Unraveling
Everyone was turning their backs on Andrew. Andrew would visit Jeff and David and quickly wear out his welcome, but Andrew never picked up on Jeff and David’s exhaustion with him. Andrew had been forced to sell his Infiniti to pay for necessities like crystal meth and cocaine. His drug use was causing him to be more unpredictable and irrational. He was very angry a lot of the time and the drugs exacerbated these rages. Not only was he using crystal meth and cocaine, he was also using morphine and Demerol so he could sleep. His drinking was also increasing.
By the time Andrew left California for the last time he had maxed out his platinum card and it was reported that he owed over $40,000 on 2 credit cards. As Andrew DeSliva, he filed for bankruptcy, but managed to talk his way into getting a one-way ticket to Minneapolis, and he began giving away his possessions.
On Thursday, April 24th, Andrew threw his own going away party that was described as “somber” and “as if Andrew was holding his own wake.” The next day Andrew left for Minneapolis. David and Jeff were not happy that Andrew was coming and they dreaded having to deal with him, but since neither man wanted to tell Andrew, they never expressed their feelings. Friday, April 25th, Andrew’s friend drove him to the airport and remembers Andrew repeatedly commenting how he hated Gianni Versace calling him, “pretentious, pompous, and ostentatious.”
SOURCES FOR THIS EPISODE
Who Was Andrew Cunanan? – 12 Facts About Gianni Versace’s Killer | townandcountrymag.com
Andrew Cunanan – Mom, Movies & Murders | biography.com
Why Andrew Cunanan Killed Guianni Versace | Time | time.com
The Killer’s Trail: Andrew Cunanan and Gianni Versace | vanityfair.com
Independent School Grades 6-12 in San Diego | bishops.com
Vulgar Favors: The Assassination of Gianni Versace by Maureen Orth
[…] For Part one, click here! […]