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In Miami the mansion where Gianni Versace was shot in the head by hustler and spree killer Andrew Cunanan has become an ad hoc tourist attraction, as has the houseboat where Cunanan put a bullet into his own skull after setting off one of the most intensive manhunts in recent history. A book published this fall, Death at Every Stop: The True Story of Andrew Cunanan--The Man Who Murdered Designer Gianni Versace, by Wensley Clarkson (author of Slave Girls), added a few new details to the once inescapable but now nearly forgotten Cunanan legend: he reportedly fathered a child and starred in two "graphic, low-budget, sadomasochistic gay pornographic videos." In a tribute to the speedy turnover of news cycles, few media outlets paid much attention to the revelations. They may be more interested in the official murder-investigation file, due to be released by year's end. The Versaces, worrying over personal information about Gianni that the file may contain, are moving to have it suppressed.
Fernando Carreira, the caretaker who tipped off police to Cunanan's presence on the houseboat, ultimately received $55,000 in reward money, although the highly publicized $10,000 promised by New York City Mayor Rudolph Giuliani has yet to materialize (trying to wriggle out on a technicality, the city claims Carreira called the wrong tip line; a lawsuit may be in the works). Carreira used most of his windfall to pay off debts. His only splurge was on a horse named Princess, which he bought for his 15-year-old son. "It keeps him occupied," Carreira told the Miami Herald. --Reported by Greg Burke/Rome and Greg Aunapu/Miami
THE PROM MOM "Seems Pretty Normal to Me"
Perhaps the most shocking thing about the crime allegedly committed by Melissa Drexler was her seeming lack of concern about it. Minutes after giving birth in a toilet stall and then allegedly choking or suffocating her 6-lb. 6-oz. son, Drexler returned to the floor of her high school formal dance in Aberdeen Township, N.J., where she ate some salad and danced with her boyfriend. Six months later, Drexler, now 19 and known outside her immediate circle by the tabloid sobriquet Prom Mom, is by most accounts maintaining her outward poise. Says a friend, Tim Hoban: "She seems pretty normal to me."
While living at home in nearby Lacey Township and waiting for a trial date to be set--she pleaded not guilty to murder charges at an October arraignment--Drexler has dropped plans to attend community college. Her notoriety has also led her to give up looking for a job. Friends say she passes her days going to the mall or hanging out at their homes watching TV. And nearly every day she sees the father of her child, John Lewis, 21, who, like the rest of Drexler's friends, claims he was not aware of her pregnancy. In a recent appearance on the TV newsmagazine show Extra, Lewis said, "I was mad, but what happened, happened." Monmouth County prosecutors, though less understanding, have chosen not to seek the death penalty; local defendants in other, far less publicized infanticide cases have generally accepted plea bargains with prison terms shorter than the murder sentence of 30 years to life, and have sometimes been released early.