wfn.org | Cunanan victim

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"UNITED METHODIST DAILY NEWS 97" by SUSAN PEEK on April 15, 1997 at 14:24
Eastern, about DAILY NEWS RELEASES FROM UNITED METHODIST NEWS SERVICE (231
notes).

Note 226 by UMNS on July 21, 1997 at 16:03 Eastern (3754 characters).

Produced by United Methodist News Service, official news agency of
the United Methodist Church, with offices in Nashville, Tenn., New
York, and Washington.

CONTACT: Linda Bloom                         414(10-21-71B){226}
          New York (212) 870-3803            July 21, 1997

New Jersey murder victim
had little in common with killer

                    by United Methodist News Service

     William Reese -- a devoted family man, civil war buff and
active member of his United Methodist church in New Jersey --
moved in an entirely different world than the man suspected of
killing him.
     That man, Andrew Cunanan, remained the focus of an intense
manhunt July 21 after being named a suspect in the murder of
Gianni Versace, the Italian fashion designer gunned down outside
his home in South Miami Beach, Fla.
     Numerous news reports have painted Cunanan as a charming,
cunning man who cruised gay bars in search of wealthy patrons and
whose own mother has referred to as a "high-class prostitute."
Suspected in at least four killings, he was added to the Federal
Bureau of Investigation's "Ten Most Wanted Fugitives" list in
June.
     One of those killings was of Reese, the 45-year-old caretaker
of Finn's Point National Cemetery in rural southern New Jersey. He
was found there on May 9, shot in the head. His red pickup truck
was missing.
     Reese's truck finally was located -- shortly after the
Versace murder -- in a South Beach parking garage just two blocks
from Versace's villa.
     The murder in May and the current national attention on
Cunanan have been distressing both to the Reese family and to the
congregation at West Park United Methodist Church in Hopewell
Township, according to the Rev. David Strope, pastor.
     "There was absolutely no link between him and Andrew Cunanan
in terms of his lifestyle," Strope told United Methodist News
Service. "They were complete opposites."
     About a week before his death, Strope said, Reese had told
his Sunday school class that "the first thing I want to do when I
get to heaven is give Jesus a hug."
     Reese, his wife, Rebecca, and 12-year-old son, Troy, were
every-Sunday churchgoers and recently part of a founding group for
the new Sunday School class. He also participated in Sunday night
Bible study and a Monday night men's Bible study. Mrs. Reese is
the church's council on ministries chairperson and the church
librarian.
     "Bill was the kind of person who was always grinning," Strope
said. "He always had a smile on his face and he always had a
twinkle in his eye."
     Reese was "very devoted" to his family, the pastor added.
"Anytime he was not at work or at church he was with his wife and
his son. They did most everything together."
     He also had a keen interest in history, particularly civil
war history, and participated in civil war enactments. Finn's
Point, where he spent years as a caretaker, has graves of both
Union soldiers and Confederate prisoners of wars.
     When Strope announced Reese's death during worship on
Mother's Day, "there was just a sense of shock. He was just a
quiet person who minded his own business."
     But he became a victim of circumstance when Cunanan, who was
driving another stolen car, apparently turned off the interstate
and found the cemetery, then decided to kill Reese to obtain the
truck.
     West Park -- a congregation of about 350 members, with
regular Sunday attendance of 200 to 225 -- has rallied around his
surviving family. "People are very concerned and trying to look
after Rebecca and Troy," Strope said.
     "The wonderful assurance we have is that Bill is in heaven,"
he added. "That's what's been keeping them going."
                               # # #

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