Cunanan mystery: German quizzed

The FBI yesterday questioned the German owner of a Miami-berthed houseboat in which the suspected gay serial killer Andrew Cunanan reportedly shot himself on Wednesday.

Agents are trying to find out whether Cunanan knew Torsten Reineck, owner of a gay health spa in Las Vegas and self-styled "citizen of the Principality of Sealand". He reportedly flashes a "Sealand passport" and drives a Rolls- Royce with "diplomatic Sealand" plates.

Miami Beach police believe Cunanan lived on the houseboat and on a yacht berthed near by, after he allegedly shot Versace last week. Police came under more criticism yesterday after the yacht's owner said he told them an intruder had been sleeping on the craft and scattered papers carrying headlines about Cunanan. The police took two days to visit the yacht and seemed uninterested.

Cunanan apparently entered the houseboat without force, suggesting he may have had a key. According to the police version he put a pistol into his mouth on Wednesday and pulled the trigger after being disturbed by a caretaker, Fernando Carreira, 71, who said he went on to the boat after seeing it was not properly locked. "I heard a boom and ran like hell. I thought the shot was for me. I thought it was some bum," Mr Carreira said.