Later examination of his behavior indicates that he may have suffered from antisocial personality disorder, characterized by a lack of remorse and empathy. During an argument, Cunanan threw his mother against a wall, dislocating her shoulder. That same year, Cunanan had begun frequenting local gay clubs and restaurants, and his mother, who was deeply religious, learned about his sexual orientation. In 1988, when Cunanan was 19, his father deserted his family and moved to the Philippines to evade arrest for embezzlement.
He was voted "least likely to be forgotten." After graduating from high school in 1987, Cunanan enrolled at the University of California, San Diego (UC San Diego), where he majored in American history. Cunanan identified as gay in high school, when he began having liaisons with wealthy older men. He was adept at changing his appearance according to what he felt was most attractive at a given moment. Īs a teenager, Cunanan developed a reputation as a prolific liar, given to telling tall tales about his family and personal life. There Cunanan met his lifelong best friend, Elizabeth "Liz" Cote.Īt school, he was remembered as being bright and very talkative, and testing with an IQ of 147. In 1981, his father enrolled him in The Bishop's School, an independent day school located in the affluent La Jolla neighborhood of San Diego. In his youth, Cunanan lived with his family in National City and attended Bonita Vista Middle School. After leaving the Navy, where he had served as a chief petty officer, Modesto worked as a stockbroker. Modesto was serving in the United States Navy in the Vietnam War at the time of his son's birth. The youngest of four children, Andrew Phillip Cunanan was born August 31, 1969, in National City, California, to Modesto "Pete" Dungao Cunanan, a Filipino-American, and Mary Anne Schillaci (died 2012), an Italian-American.