TAGGED FOR MURDER

THE STRANGE LIFE AND GAUDY TIMES OF ANDREW CUNANAN AND HOW HE CAME TO BE THE MOST WANTED MAN IN AMERICA

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The murder scene was an investigator's dream. The claw hammer that bludgeoned Trail to death was there. So was a gym bag with Cunanan's name on it that contained an empty holster and a partly filled box of Golden Saber .40-cal. bullets. At Trail's apartment police found a message from Cunanan on the answering machine, asking Trail to come to Madson's place. Police who later searched Cunanan's San Diego apartment found a trove of S&M gear: clamps, harnesses and videos featuring sex with animals.

There is considerable controversy about whether the FBI neglected or fumbled the search from there. People in the gay community ask whether the bureau cared enough about a serial killer who preyed mostly on homosexuals. The bureau says it saw to it that Cunanan was featured four times on America's Most Wanted, and followed up thousands of leads. "We've reached out to every gay community in the nation that we can identify," says Kevin Rickett, an FBI agent with the Minnesota Fugitive Task Force, which launched the manhunt.

In Florida, however, there have been complaints that the FBI did not focus early enough on Miami Beach's gay community. A number of bars and businesses in the area say they were alerted by agents. But though the FBI promised to send 1,500 flyers to the gay and lesbian center in Fort Lauderdale, they did not arrive until the day after Versace's killing. FBI officials blame government printing delays for the foul-up.

No one disputes now, though, that the search is on full force. FBI deputy director William Esposito told TIME, "I'd equate this manhunt to what we were doing in the late stages of the search for the Unabomber." Agents are seeking out every known friend or associate of Cunanan's, on the assumption he will try to contact one of them in an effort to get shelter and money. "There's a high likelihood he'll strike again," warns Bill Hagmaier, chief of the FBI's child-abuse and serial-killer unit. Meanwhile, after a private service in Miami on Wednesday attended by Versace's brother and sister, the designer's remains were cremated. Then his family took the ashes back to Italy on a private jet. And the worlds of Gianni Versace and Andrew Cunanan separated forever.

--Reported by Greg Aunapu, Cathy Booth and Tammerlin Drummond/Miami Beach, Julie Grace/Chicago, James Willwerth/San Diego, Laird Harrison/San Francisco and Elaine Shannon/Washington

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