David Jon Madson, a 33-year-old White male architect from Minneapolis, Minnesota, became the second victim in a string of murders committed by Andrew Cunanan in the spring of 1997. Madson and Cunanan had a past romantic relationship, having met in San Francisco in 1995 and maintaining a long-distance connection for a time. However, Madson eventually ended the relationship.
In late April 1997, Cunanan traveled to Minneapolis and stayed with Madson.
The tragic events began to unfold on April 27, 1997, inside Madson's Minneapolis loft apartment. It was there that Andrew Cunanan first murdered 28-year-old Jeffrey Trail, a former naval officer and a mutual acquaintance, by bludgeoning him to death with a claw hammer. Trail's body was later discovered rolled up in a rug in Madson's apartment on April 29, after Madson failed to show up for work. For two days following Trail's murder, Madson and Cunanan were seen together, with witnesses spotting them in the apartment building's elevator and walking Madson's dog. This led investigators to initially consider Madson a possible accomplice.
After leaving the apartment, the two were seen driving north in Madson's Jeep. The exact circumstances of their time together after Trail's murder remain unclear, though Madson's family has maintained that he was held hostage. On May 3, 1997, fishermen discovered David Madson's body near the shore of East Rush Lake in Chisago County, Minnesota, about 50 miles from Minneapolis. He had been shot in the head and back with a. 40-caliber handgun that belonged to the first victim, Jeffrey Trail.
The discovery of Madson's body and the earlier finding of a duffel bag with Cunanan's name near Trail's body firmly established Andrew Cunanan as the prime suspect in both murders. A nationwide manhunt for Cunanan ensued as he continued his killing spree, murdering at least three other people, including fashion designer Gianni Versace. The investigation revealed a trail of evidence left by Cunanan, including Madson's abandoned red Jeep near the scene of his next crime in Chicago. The manhunt for Andrew Cunanan, who was eventually added to the FBI's Ten Most Wanted Fugitives list, ended on July 23, 1997, when he took his own life in a Miami Beach houseboat as police closed in. He used the same gun to kill himself that he had used to murder David Madson, William Reese, and Gianni Versace.
