Andrew Cunanan Biography

Quick Facts

NAME: Andrew Cunanan
OCCUPATION: Serial Killer
BIRTH DATE: August 31, 1969
DEATH DATE: July 23, 1997
PLACE OF BIRTH: San Diego, California
PLACE OF DEATH: Miami, Florida

Best Known For

Andrew Cunanan was a serial murder who killed fashion designer Gianni Versace, and at least four other people, before commiting suicide in a Miami houseboat.

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Andrew Cunanan

APA Style

Andrew Cunanan. (2013). The Biography Channel website. Retrieved 08:22, May 21, 2013, from http://www.biography.com/people/andrew-cunanan-10239091.

Harvard Style

Andrew Cunanan. [Internet]. 2013. The Biography Channel website. Available from: http://www.biography.com/people/andrew-cunanan-10239091 [Accessed 21 May 2013].

MLA Style

"Andrew Cunanan." 2013. The Biography Channel website. May 21 2013, 08:22 http://www.biography.com/people/andrew-cunanan-10239091.

MHRA Style

"Andrew Cunanan," The Biography Channel website, 2013, http://www.biography.com/people/andrew-cunanan-10239091 [accessed May 21, 2013].

Chicago Style

"Andrew Cunanan," The Biography Channel website, http://www.biography.com/people/andrew-cunanan-10239091 (accessed May 21, 2013).

CBE/CSE Style

Andrew Cunanan [Internet]. The Biography Channel website; 2013 [cited 2013 May 21] Available from: http://www.biography.com/people/andrew-cunanan-10239091.

Bluebook Style

Andrew Cunanan, http://www.biography.com/people/andrew-cunanan-10239091 (last visited May 21, 2013).

AMA Style

Andrew Cunanan. The Biography Channel website. 2013. Available at: http://www.biography.com/people/andrew-cunanan-10239091. Accessed May 21, 2013.

Synopsis

Andrew Cunanan was born on August 31, 1969 in San Diego, California. He settled in San Francisco’s Castro district and socialized with older, wealthy gay men while indulging heavily in drugs. It's unclear what set him off but he began a cross-country killing spree of five known murders - the last of which was fashion designer Gianni Versace. Cunanan killed himself on a Miami houseboat in 1997.

Profile

Serial killer. Born August 31, 1969 in San Diego, California. Cunanan was raised by a religious mother and prestige-conscious father. Though a disciplinarian, his father was not violent, and Cunanan did not experience the early childhood traumas that experts often tag as typical of violent criminals.

On the surface, the highly intelligent Cunanan reveled in his life as a young, attractive gay male. He typically socialized with much older, wealthier men, and eventually settled in San Francisco's gay Castro district. By the time he was 21 years old, he spoke seven languages and was becoming well acquainted with the finer things in life.

However, beneath this cheerful facade lurked a much darker side that became exacerbated by an insatiable need for drugs, kinky sex and material wealth. In his teens, Cunanan had prostituted himself, and he soon became obsessed with violent pornography, often taking part in the films himself.

By 1997, Cunanan had sunk into a depression after one after another of his wealthy lovers left him. Some wonder if he discovered he was HIV positive. This devastating news, combined with a brooding, obsessive jealousy, was what may have led him to his first victim, former lover Jeff Trail. The gruesome murder started a killing spree that left the FBI stumped. Rather than going into hiding, Cunanan flaunted authorities, killing three others before reentering the gay social scene, this time in Miami, Florida.

Unable to catch Cunanan, authorities had all but given up, and the media seemed to have cooled as well. That July, Cunanan took the life of his next and final victim, world-famous fashion designer Gianni Versace. Police were blamed for not having warned the Miami gay community about Cunanan, and their every step was scrutinized following Versace's murder. After the police had surrounded him on a houseboat in South Florida, Cunanan shot himself before he could be arrested.

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