Police Press Search for Versace Murder Suspect

The manhunt for Andrew Phillip Cunanan, the wily fugitive suspected in the slaying of Italian fashion designer Gianni Versace, briefly focused Thursday on a suburban neighborhood north of downtown Miami after a Cuban-born doctor was found murdered and a man fitting the description of Cunanan was seen running away.

By late Thursday, however, police said the killing of the doctor had no connection to the Versace slaying.

“It is definitely not connected,” said John Coffey of the Florida Department of Law Enforcement.

The reported sighting, though, sent FBI agents and police racing to the home where the doctor’s body was found. His slaying delivered another shock to South Florida, still reeling from the bold point-blank shooting of Versace, and injected new urgency into the nationwide search for Cunanan, a 27-year-old gay prostitute also sought in four other murders.

“We are continuing to do a full-court press throughout South Florida and the U.S.” for Cunanan, said FBI spokeswoman Anne Figueiras.

Figueiras added a warning to the public “to be aware of who is around you. We strongly believe [Cunanan] is still in this area. He is armed and dangerous.”

In addition to the Versace slaying, Cunanan is suspected of four murders in Minnesota, Illinois and New Jersey since April 29. He has been charged in three of those cases, the latest charge coming Thursday in the May 3 slaying of millionaire Chicago developer Lee Miglin, who police say had been stabbed and tortured.

Experts on serial killers warned the intense international publicity surrounding Cunanan could be fueling his ego and his blood lust.

“I would say he’s euphoric at this point. If we don’t stop him, he will kill again,” said Jack Levin, who heads Northeastern University’s Program for the Study of Violence and is the author of three books on serial killers.

Colleen Rowley, an FBI spokeswoman in Minneapolis, said there is evidence that the suspect is monitoring press accounts.

“He is definitely reading the newspapers,” Rowley said. “It’s possible that a great part of his motive is publicity.”

She added that Cunanan, who is thought to have an extensive wardrobe, is probably dressing casually to avoid drawing attention to himself. “He’s probably dressed as Joe Normal now,” she said.

Paige Patterson, speaking for the FDLE, told a press conference that police were tracking down “some real positive tips, but obviously [Cunanan] has not been arrested yet.” Authorities are studying a blurry videotape from a security camera at the Tides Hotel near Versace’s home that showed someone in shorts and a T-shirt running down an alley after the slaying.

Haunted again by the possible damage to the area’s image as a sunny tourist mecca, officials of Dade County--of which Miami and Miami Beach are a part--offered a $45,000 reward for Cunanan’s capture.

“Andrew Cunanan is a marked man,” said Dade Mayor Alex Penelas. “The world is on notice.”

The latest slaying further shook the local gay community as authorities initially suspected Cunanan’s involvement in the death of Dr. Silvio Alfonso, 44.

Agents of an FBI task force coordinating the search for Cunanan joined Miami Springs police at the ransacked home of the general practitioner as a bloodhound roamed the lawn of the home and other police dogs were led through a nearby industrial area through which a man was seen running.

Alfonso, who worked in a Hialeah clinic, came to the United States and was granted political asylum six years ago. Although he reportedly had a wife and two children in Cuba, he was presumed by some who knew him to be homosexual.

“Our investigation shows [Alfonso] appears to have a gay lifestyle,” Metro-Dade Police spokeswoman Linda O’Brien said. “The man appears to be gay, but that doesn’t mean a tie-in.”

In Miami Beach, longtime gay activist Bob Kunst said the FBI was slow to warn the homosexual community that Cunanan could have been heading toward South Florida. Until the high-profile slaying of Versace, Kunst said, “the FBI could care less about gays. If they really want to get this killer, why not meet with gay leaders and bar owners? That hasn’t happened.”

Atty. Gen. Janet Reno vowed Thursday that “we will continue to make sure that we leave no stone unturned” in the pursuit of Cunanan. Asked about criticism from some gays and lesbians, she noted that Cunanan was placed on the FBI’s list of 10 most wanted fugitives on June 12, more than a month before Versace’s slaying.

“I think that the FBI has been pursuing it vigorously,” she said.

Versace’s relatives returned home to Italy on Thursday with his cremated remains. A mass of resurrection for Versace is to be held today at St. Patrick’s Roman Catholic Church in Miami Beach. The family issued a statement saying it was “profoundly moved by the incredible demonstration of esteem and affection shown by the whole world for Gianni.”

Meanwhile, gay leaders in San Diego, San Francisco, New York, West Hollywood and other cities issued calls for vigilance.

The California Highway Patrol has issued a bulletin to officers to watch for a black Nissan Pathfinder that Cunanan may be driving.

“Paranoia here is running rampant,” said Mike Portantino, publisher of the San Diego Gay and Lesbian Times, which reported Thursday that Versace may have owned or rented a home in San Diego--which would increase the chance that Versace and Cunanan had met. Cunanan attended parties with older gay men with ties to the business and arts worlds. But property records show no property owned by Versace or any of his corporate entities in San Diego.

Versace opened a boutique in the Paladion shopping mall in downtown San Diego in 1992, but it closed two months ago. Versace retains a store in the South Coast Plaza in Costa Mesa.

Speculation in gay circles has swirled about what may have triggered the alleged cross-country murder spree.

Police would not comment on reports that Cunanan recently learned that he is HIV-positive, nor that the first two murders--those of architect David Madson and Navy officer turned gas company engineer Jeffrey Trail--may have been the result of a love triangle.

Cunanan knew both men in San Diego and had a love affair with Madson; there have been reports that Madson had shifted his affections to Trail. The three were seen at a popular nightspot in Minneapolis the night before Trail was bludgeoned to death.

The murder of Miglin in his home on Chicago’s Gold Coast remains the most mysterious. The Miglin family insists that no one in the family knows Cunanan, although San Diego friends of Cunanan have said he mentioned knowing Miglin’s son, Duke, who lives in Hollywood.

Meanwhile, West Hollywood residents and merchants reacted angrily at the murders of gay men.

Said Dwayne Jones, 27, manager of Future Man clothing store: “It should be the gay community who catches this man. The killer’s focus is on our community, and it should be we, as a people, who capture him.”

Susan Linn, manager for “A Different Light Bookstore,” said the killings “make real the fears that people carry. This is a serial killer going after gay people.”

Phones at the West Hollywood Sheriff’s Department kept ringing Thursday even as Lt. Michael Stine talked to a visitor. “It’s not just the businesses who’re asking for the photos; so are residents. People want to protect themselves,” he said between calls.

Times staff writers Judy Pasternak in Minneapolis, Ronald J. Ostrow in Washington, Anna M. Virtue in Miami, Joseph Hanania in Los Angeles and the Associated Press contributed to this story.