Andrew Cunanan contacted an associate right after fashion designer Gianni Versace's murder about getting false identification and a passport so he could flee the US, a top FBI official said in Washington yesterday. FBI deputy director Mr William Esposito also told a news conference that the FBI had located in Las Vegas the owner of the Miami Beach houseboat where Cunanan, suspected of murdering Versace and four other men, killed himself.
Mr Esposito said the German houseboat owner was being co-operative. He said he was unaware whether the owner and Cunanan had a prior relationship.
Asked whether Cunanan had AIDS or the virus that causes the disease, as has been widely speculated, Mr Esposito said: "We have no information on that. We have asked the medical examiner for blood and hair samples."
Mr Esposito said Cunanan telephoned the unidentified associate within 48 hours of Versace's murder on July 15th.
He said they discussed individuals on the east coast who might have a passport.
The FBI learned about the conversation when contacting Cunanan's associates to see if he had been in touch and to warn them. When the associate was asked why he did not call the FBI with the information, "he declined to comment", Mr Esposito said.
Meanwhile, the caretaker who stumbled upon Cunanan at the Miami Beach houseboat where he was found dead filed a lawsuit yesterday to claim reward money offered for his capture.
Mr Fernando Carreira said in the lawsuit, filed in Dade County, Circuit Court, that the city of Miami Beach and Dade County breached a contract by refusing to give him $65,000 in reward money offered by various agencies.
"When he made claim to the reward offered, the city of Miami Beach and Metropolitan Dade County did not make good on their obligation," Mr Carreira's attorney, Mr David Aelion told a news conference.
Mr Aelion, flanked by Mr Carreira, his wife and his fifteen-year-old son, said his client had been through a terrible experience on the "morbid day" he crossed paths with Cunanan while on his weekly caretaking rounds with his wife.
"The horror experienced by the Carreira's is of a magnitude that no person in our community should have to live through," he said.
Miami Beach police officials said on Thursday they were not sure Carreira would qualify for the reward, because he called police to report a suspected burglar and a gunshot, not mentioning Cunanan.
Mr Aelion told the news conference that the shot Mr Carreira heard was the sound of Cunanan killing himself.
City officials issued a statement yesterday saying a decision on the reward money would be made when the investigation into Cunanan's suicide was completed. "Mr fernando Carreira is certainly eligible for consideration once the investigation is completed," the statement said.
Mr Carreira said his plans if he received the money is simple. "At first, I would pay off the people I owe money."