Houseboat Owner Questioned In Cunanan Probe -- Houseboat's Caretaker, Who Told Police Of Gunshot, Files Lawsuit To Get Reward Money

MIAMI BEACH, Fla. - The FBI questioned the owner of the houseboat where suspected serial killer Andrew Cunanan killed himself, and authorities expressed doubt about whether the caretaker who found him qualified for a reward.

In Washington, FBI Deputy Director William Esposito said that a nervous, agitated Cunanan contacted "an associate" within 48 hours of Gianni Versace's slaying, trying to obtain a false passport.

"He was out of places to run," said Doyle Jordan of the Florida Department of Law Enforcement. "There was absolutely no other place to go."

Cunanan's body was found in the upstairs master bedroom of a houseboat 2 1/2 miles from the Versace mansion, where the Italian fashion designer was gunned down July 15.

The Miami Herald reported today that Cunanan had grown a beard, possibly in a desperate attempt to disguise himself. The houseboat had electricity and a TV, but authorities would not speculate whether Cunanan watched news of the manhunt.

The Herald said the houseboat's owner, Torsten Reineck, claims to be a diplomat of an unrecognized nation called the Principality of Sealand. The paper said the "nation" issues its own passports, and Reineck sometimes flashes his own Sealand passport and drives a Mercedes-Benz bearing diplomatic plates from the so-called principality.

FBI agents interviewed Reineck to find out if he had any relationship with Cunanan. Reineck, who arrived at the agency's Las Vegas offices voluntarily, is wanted in Europe on fraud allegations involving up to $111,000, state prosecutor Norbert Roeger said in Leipzig, Germany.

In a news release late yesterday, FBI officials in Las Vegas said they were informed by Interpol that Germany would not try to extradite Reineck if he were arrested in the United States. German authorities confirmed that arrest warrants for Reineck are executable only in neighboring countries.

Investigators said Cunanan shot himself with a .40-caliber semiautomatic handgun, the same type of weapon linked with Versace's death and two other murders.

The FBI reported finding several items that might be evidence in some of the five slayings. A small safe near the body "may contain more evidence related to the five homicides," an FBI affidavit said.

But police found no suicide note from Cunanan.

According to KGTV in San Diego, Cunanan was thousands of dollars behind in credit-card payments and was $46,000 in debt by May.

Police got a break Wednesday afternoon when the caretaker of the houseboat dropped by to check on the home on Indian Creek and saw the door partially unlocked.

As the caretaker, 71-year-old Fernando Carreira, looked around inside, he saw slippers and a pillow, then heard a gunshot. Carreira quickly retreated and called police.

"I heard a boom and ran like hell. I thought the shot was for me," Carreira said last night. "I thought it was some bum; I didn't know who it was."

Police said they were unsure whether Carreira would qualify for the rewards offered by various agencies, which total $65,000. Carreira filed a lawsuit today against the agencies in an attempt to collect the money, said his lawyer, David Aelion.

"The agencies all said they'd give him the reward. They're not giving him the reward. Let's do the right thing for Mr. Carreira and for the community at large. Let's put closure on this," Aelion said.

Miami Beach Police Chief Richard Barreto said Carreira's call was not so much a tip as "happenstance." But Paul Philip, the FBI's agent in charge in Miami, said he considered it "money well spent."

Cunanan, a 27-year-old described by his mother as a gay gigolo, was the FBI's most-wanted fugitive, the prime suspect in the slaying of Versace and four other men in Minnesota, Illinois and New Jersey.

Cunanan will be buried near his mother's home in National City, Calif., a family friend told The Union Tribune of San Diego. Mary Ann Cunanan was in seclusion.

"She's sick," said Delfin Labao, Cunanan's godfather. "She's sick in pain with all of this."

The inevitable ripped-from-the-headlines books and movies already are in the works.

HBO spokesman Quentin Schaffer said the cable network has received at least 20 Cunanan-Versace movie proposals, but the network has no plans to do any of them at this time.

Sam Lupowitz, a Miami-based producer, is expediting a $2 million film titled "Fatal Encounter."

"I don't care if everyone in this town thinks I'm an exploitive sleaze," he told The Washington Post. "The curiosity factor has got to be immense."