Cunanan: The fugitive that was

FLORIDA, July 26: As he tried to elude one of America's biggest manhunts, Andrew Cunanan had apparently shaved his head and was growing a b...

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FLORIDA, July 26: As he tried to elude one of America’s biggest manhunts, Andrew Cunanan had apparently shaved his head and was growing a beard.“It looked like he hadn’t shaved since (he shot Versace),” a source in the Dade county medical examiner’s office said yesterday on condition of anonymity. “It looked like he shaved his head a while ago and it was growing back.”

Cunanan, suspected in the deaths of fashion designer Gianni Versace and four other men in a cross-country killing spree, fatally shot himself in the mouth Wednesday aboard a houseboat.

Authorities would not comment on how Cunanan looked in his final hours, but said after Versace’s death that he might be dressing as a woman and may have shaved his body hair.

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Officials said the body would be tested for Acquired Immuno Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS) and an autopsy was performed Thursday, but no results were released.

The Miami Herald received an unverified letter purporting to be Cunanan’s suicide note. The letter contains unfocused references to AIDS and the crimes allegedly committed by Cunanan.

Typewritten, or produced by a computer printer, the letter was not signed by hand. The envelope was labelled with block letters from a thick-tipped Felt marker. The letter was dated July 27, 1997, but post marked July 24, the day after Cunanan killed himself.

The Herald turned the letter over to police. Prosecutor Katherine Hernandez Rundle said the letter, though currently unsubstantiated, may be used next week in a motion to disclose the HIV results.

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In a related move, the caretaker who stumbled upon Cunanan, has filed a lawsuit to claim reward money offered for Cunanan’s capture.

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.

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, not mentioning Cunanan.

City officials issued a statement on Friday saying a decision on the reward money would be made when the investigation into Cunanan’s suicide was done.