Andrew Cunanan, the alleged killer of fashion designer, Gianni Versace, and four other men, was found dead in an apparent suicide after police cornered him on a houseboat in Miami Beach, police said yesterday.
"All across the nation our citizens can stand down and breathe a sigh of relief," Miami Beach Police Chief Richard Barreto said at a pre-dawn news conference. "The reign of terror brought upon us by Andrew Cunanan is over," he added.
Chief Barreto said the thumbprint of a man found dead on Wednesday on the houseboat after a four-hour siege by police matched that of Cunanan.
He said he could not immediately confirm that Cunanan had shot himself, but added that police had "no suspects in the death of Andrew Cunanan".
Police had not used their weapons storming the houseboat, he added. Cunanan was believed to have shot himself in the head.
Versace, who dressed the world's beautiful people in flamboyant and sexy couture, was shot and killed on July 15th at the gate of his ocean-front mansion in the trendy Art Deco South Beach area of Miami Beach, about 3kms south of the houseboat's mooring.
"He made it 40 blocks from the original scene. I think he was a desperate person," Chief Barreto said.
A gun "very similar" to the .40calibre pistol linked by the FBI to three of
Cunanan's alleged five murders was found at the scene, he added.
Reaction from denizens of Miami Beach, a tourist mecca and home to one of
America's biggest gay scenes, was immediate and euphoric.
"I think it's great. Life can get back to some semblance of normal here," Mr
Patric Chemaly (27), a medical student, said as he rollerbladed in the breaking dawn. "I think people were afraid to go out. They were always wondering if the trick they took home was Andrew."
Cunanan (27), was on the FBI's 10 most wanted list of fugitives even before the Versace slaying.
Dozens of police, including heavily-armed SWAT assault teams, surrounded the houseboat after its caretaker reported a man resembling Cunanan had fired a shot when he approached the site around 4 p.m. local time (9 p.m. Irish time) on
Wednesday.
Four hours later, police fired tear gas into the houseboat and then entered the two-level dwelling. They met no response and could later be seen leaving in a relaxed manner.
Police had earlier said the houseboat was found empty after an initial search. The body appeared to have been discovered during a later more thorough search.
Local television said the owner of the boat was identified as a German citizen who also owns a gay health club in Las Vegas. Police described Cunanan as a homosexual prostitute.
Versace was also a homosexual but there was no confirmation the two men had a relationship.
Variously described as a gay gigolo down on his luck and a charming, intelligent chameleon who could change his appearance at will, Cunanan blurred the lines between the usual categories applied to multiple murderers, experts in the field said.
They said Cunanan began as a "spree killer" set off by a desire for vengeance against a known victim, then developed a taste for cruelty shared by serial killers, and finally sought the infamy perceived by mass murderers.
Police said they believed he could have disguised himself as a woman to try to elude police during the final nine-day manhunt he sparked.
He was also wanted for the murders of his former lover Jeffrey Trail (28), in late April; their mutual friend David Madson (33), in May; Lee Miglin (72), also in May, and William Reese (45), also in May.
As recently as Wednesday morning, police had been checking possible sightings of Cunanan as far away as New Hampshire, near the Canadian border.
Meanwhile, a spokesman for police in the eastern city of Leipzig confirmed they were looking for Mr Torsten Reineck, a man named in US media reports as the owner of the houseboat where police found Cunanan dead. The spokesman said Mr
Reineck was wanted on charges of fraud and tax evasion over two Leipzig businesses he set up.
A spokesman at the Germany's Federal Office for Criminal Investigation said the warrant against Reineck had been issued in 1993. US investigators had not yet asked for more information about Reineck as far as he knew.