David Madson

David Jon Madson (October 16, 1963 – May 2, 1997) was an American architect and gay rights activist, widely known for being the former boyfriend and second victim of spree killer Andrew Cunanan.

Early life and career Madson was born in Waterloo, Iowa, on October 16, 1963, the son of Howard Madson and Carol Muller. He had two sisters and one brother, and grew up mostly in Barron, Wisconsin, and other locations in Wisconsin. In his high school years, Madson was involved with musical theatre and other artistic activities.

After graduating from Barron High School in 1981,

For his outstanding career, Madson had received the President's Medal from the University of Minnesota in 1995, Cunanan dated both men, keeping a friendship with them after the end of their romantic relationships. In an extensive report by Maureen Orth of Vanity Fair, Orth states that Cunanan was dining with friends at a restaurant in San Francisco when he saw Madson drinking alone and sent him a drink on his behalf, asking Madson to join the group afterward. Cunanan's friends said that the two men spent a "nonsexual sleepover" at Cunanan's room in the Mandarin Oriental.

Between November 1995 and July 1996, Madson maintained a long-distance relationship with Cunanan, growing frustrated over time at Cunanan's lies and pretentions. Friends of Madson reported after his murder that several of Cunanan's friends, including one in common (Jeffrey Trail) warned him of Cunanan's "pathological lying."

When police found Trail's body and knew of the relationship with Madson, they suspected that Madson had killed him. Police sergeant Robert Tichich of the Minneapolis Police Department stated to Vanity Fair that, at the time, there was no possibility to connect it to Cunanan. Neighbors of Madson saw him with Cunanan on the elevator and walking Madson's dog without a leash on April 29. The following day, fishermen found Madson's body in a lake in Rush City, Minnesota, with gunshot wounds in the back and between his eyes. Until the finding of his body and Cunanan's suicide and FBI investigation, police falsely believed that Madson might have been involved in Cunanan's crimes.