Police hunting the man suspecting of killing the Italian fashion designer Gianni Versace in Miami are warning that he is armed and highly dangerous. Police say he may still be in the area. There have been claimed sightings of him around Florida as a huge manhunt is under way for homosexual prostitute Andrew Phillip Cunanan (27), who is also wanted for four other murders.
The Miami police say they have no evidence so far that Versace, who was also gay, knew Cunanan. But a journalist who has been researching an article on Cunanan says they met in San Francisco.
The writer Ms Maureen Orth told the NBC Today show that friends recalled seeing an encounter between Cunanan and Versace backstage at the San Francisco Opera some years ago and the designer said: "I remember you." Ms Orth - who recently wrote a lengthy profile of Mr Gerry Adams for Vanity Fair - said she did not think Versace and Cunanan had been lovers but rather acquaintances.
Cunanan, who is 27 and of Filipino extraction, was already on the FBI's 10 Most Wanted list and his picture has been widely distributed across the US. The FBI, on the defensive about its failure to capture him, says he is "very intelligent".
The link between Cunanan and the Versace murder came when Miami police were told that the young man who did the shooting ran to a car park. There the police found clothes apparently worn by the killer near a red pick-up truck, which turned out to be the one owned by a New Jersey cemetery worker, William Reese, allegedly shot dead by Cunanan last May.
Until last April, Cunanan, described by his mother as "a high class homosexual prostitute", was a well known figure around the San Diego gay bars. But on April 29th, Jeffrey Trail, a former naval officer and lover of Cunanan, was found beaten to death with a claw hammer in Minneapolis where he lived after moving from San Diego.
Four days later, the body of architect David Madson, also said to be an ex-lover, was found shot dead near a lake outside Minneapolis and his red jeep was missing. Cunanan has been charged with this murder.
Then in Chicago on May 4th, the body of a wealthy developer, Lee Miglin (72), was found stabbed to death in his home. Madson's jeep was found nearby and Miglin's Lexus car was missing.
The Lexus was found following the shooting of Reese, the cemetery worker, whose Chevrolet turned up in Miami at the end of a car trail which points to Cunanan as a serial murderer.
Friends of Cunanan in San Diego describe him as handsome, articulate, well-dressed and generous. He drank, danced and ate out with large groups of friends, often picking up the bill. But it was also known that he was supported by wealthy gay patrons. The social editor of the San Diego Gay and Lesbian Times described Cunanan as "the American gigolo".
Many of Cunanan's friends on the east and west coasts have now gone into hiding. Cunanan is said to have a "chameleon" ability to alter his appearance, the police have warned.
Meanwhile in South Beach, Miami, where Gianni Versace is credited with boosting the area's revival, there was still shock and mourning yesterday. Friends of Versace who lived near his Art Deco villa, such as Gloria Estafan and Sylvester Stallone, mourned his brutal murder.
Shock was also expressed by many of his famous customers, who included Princess Diana, Courtney Love, Elton John, Demi Moore, Rod Stewart, Julie Andrews and Kim Basinger.
Mr Versace first came to South Beach in 1991 and immediately liked its atmosphere. He told a newspaper "The mood is very, very easy. That is special and I don't find the mood any place in the world." Reuter adds: Florida police said late last night they had received "very important" information in their hunt for Cunanan.
Police spokesman Mr Al Boza said the information could include videos from surveillance cameras at Versace's mansion or nearby establishments but declined to be specific.