Police Delve Into Past Of Suspected Serial Killer -- Mother Calls Cunanan A `High-Class Homosexual Prostitute'

SAN DIEGO - At discreet private parties, attended by very wealthy men of a generation and prominence that keeps them in the closet, Andrew Cunanan was a regular.

His chinos and open-neck shirts were as understatedly preppy as the private school he graduated from 10 years ago. But he stood out from the other attractive young men because he could talk politics and current events. And he was always at the side of a much older man.

It all struck Nicole Ramirez Murray, a social columnist for the local Gay and Lesbian News, as a bit studied but effective.

"He was the American Gigolo," said Ramirez, recalling the Richard Gere movie about a pretty young man whose looks and sexuality got him through life on older women's credit cards. "He was at the parties of the elite of the gay and lesbian community. When I saw him, I thought, there's a guy who knows how to handle himself, and he's making a career, or whatever it is he's doing."

Now Cunanan, 27, whose own mother has described him as a "high-class homosexual prostitute," is on the run, allegedly leaving a trail of four bodies in Minnesota, Illinois and New Jersey. He is the subject of a national manhunt. Police have no inkling where he is but suspect he is trying to disappear into a gay community somewhere along the East Coast.

He is charged with fatally shooting a former lover and is suspected of bludgeoning a friend to death with a hammer. Authorities say he also may have stabbed, slashed and tortured to death a millionaire Chicago businessman on or about May 3 before stealing his car. They also believe it was Cunanan who shot a cemetery caretaker in the head Friday in Pennsville, N.J.

Police in Scranton, Pa., dispatched teams of detectives to search the city's streets and hangouts after a man on a bus from New York City to Scranton said he later saw a fellow passenger's face in a New York newspaper. The photograph was of Cunanan.

But Scranton isn't the only place where armchair detectives are convinced that they have seen Cunanan. Yesterday, federal authorities were tracking at least two dozen unconfirmed sightings. In New York City, authorities say they've received several calls about Cunanan wandering the city's streets, and one about him visiting a Manhattan club.

The New York sightings were reported after the New York Gay and Lesbian Anti-Violence Project posted a $10,000 reward for Cunanan's conviction and distributed fliers with his photo. New York police enlisted the group's help in distributing information about Cunanan.

Friends are stunned

In the gay bars and restaurants of funky Hillcrest, the gay neighborhood of San Diego, Cunanan's friends and acquaintances are stunned and shaken by the notion that the man who cut a wide swath through their community may be a serial killer. Many have gone into hiding, fearful he might come after them.

It is clear now that few here really knew Cunanan. Even those who saw him at parties usually knew him only as Andrew, or by an alias he assumed, Andrew DeSilva.

Cunanan had been openly gay since his days at the Bishop's School, a prep school in nearby La Jolla. Upon graduation, he was voted Least Likely to be Forgotten.

After dropping out of the University of California at San Diego, he hung around Hillcrest and La Jolla, apparently living off the largesse of one wealthy patron or another.

He frequently invited friends to dine with him at a restaurant called California Cuisine, where owner Dean Kalamaras said Cunanan picked up the check eight times out of 10, and always paid in cash.

"Everyone said he never had a job," said waiter Anthony White. "He claimed he came from money. But what I heard, he had a sugar daddy."

That was the word about Cunanan. Everyone knew he was kept.

"I asked around about him, and I was told he was a kept young gigolo," said Ramirez. "It was unspoken. But we all knew."

On April 24, seven friends hosted a "going-away" party for Cunanan at California Cuisine, and for once, Cunanan let someone else pick up the $220 tab.

He told his friends he was moving to San Francisco, but first intended to visit an old friend. Jeffrey Trail, 28, was a Naval Academy graduate who had moved from California to Minnesota where he was working as a gas utility engineer.

This time, Cunanan didn't have money to blow. His credit card was maxed out to its $20,000 limit. He had to beg the bank to let him charge his airline ticket, said Minneapolis Police Lt. Dale Barsness.

The visit

Arriving in Minneapolis on April 25, Cunanan dined and danced with David Madson, 33, an up-and-coming architect who had lectured at Harvard University.

On this visit, Cunanan stayed at Madson's loft apartment in the Warehouse District of the city.

At some point, Cunanan called and left a message on Trail's answering machine inviting him to Madson's apartment on April 27, Barsness said.

On April 29, after Madson didn't show up for work, police searched the loft and found Trail's body wrapped in a rug. The murder weapon, a claw hammer, was found near his body.

Police began looking for Cunanan, Madson and Madson's red Jeep Cherokee. A motorist reported seeing the Jeep heading north out of Minneapolis on Interstate 35 on May 2. Two men were inside.

The next morning, two fishermen discovered Madson with two bullet holes in his head and another in his back. His body lay near East Rush Lake, about four miles from the interstate exit where the motorist had last seen the Jeep.

"We have a lot of physical evidence and circumstantial evidence all pointing to Mr. Cunanan," said Chisago County prosecutor Jim Reuter, who issued a warrant charging Cunanan with Madson's slaying.

Reuters reported police had found a nylon gym bag with Cunanan's name on it at Madson's apartment. Inside were a holster and .40-caliber Remington-Peters bullets - the same brand retrieved from Madson's body.

The red Jeep wasn't seen again until a Chicago police officer noticed it accumulating parking tickets on a side street on the city's exclusive Gold Coast - one block from the garage where real estate developer Lee Miglin, 72, was found murdered May 4.

Miglin, 72, had built a fortune managing some of the city's most prominent skyscrapers. He and his wife, Marilyn, were among the city's social elite.

Police discovered Miglin's body bound like a mummy under a car in the blood-splattered garage. Investigators said he had been tortured.

Missing were Miglin's leather jacket, an expensive wristwatch and $2,000 in cash. Officers believe the killer may have spent the night, before fleeing in Miglin's 1994 jade green Lexus.

Latest sightings

The next police heard of the car was last Thursday when someone tried to use the car's cellular phone in western Pennsylvania and again in Ridley Township.

They found the Lexus at Finn's Point National Cemetery in Pennsville last Friday night, along with the body of cemetery caretaker William Reese, 45. He had been shot with what police believe may be the same .40-caliber pistol used on Madson. Reese's red Chevrolet pickup was missing.

And there, the trail ends for now.

Police are looking into speculation that Cunanan may have been diagnosed as HIV-positive, and is seeking vengeance against anyone who may have infected him.

`It's just a theory," said Barsness. `"n talking with acquaintances they've said maybe this guy has AIDS and is trying to settle some scores. We're trying to find out what's motivating this guy."

Information from the Chicago Tribune is included in this report.