The Gianni Versace Murder

On the 15th of July 1997 the world of fashion was changed forever. Gianni Versace had decided to have a change of routine. Instead of sending out an assistant, as he usually would, to collect the morning papers, Versace travelled down to his local coffee shop to get them himself. As he returned home to his Miami Beach mansion, Andrew Cunanan pounced. Firing his gun and shooting Versace twice, a fashion icon fell to his knees and left the world shocked. An eyewitness at the scene said: “There were two shots fired in his head. The police came very fast; they were trying to help him, revive him.” Two shots in the head, destroying a  brilliant mind forever.

Gianni Versace was born on the 2nd of December 1946 in Reggio in Italy. With an elder brother, Santo, born two years earlier and a younger sister, Donatella, nine years away, the Versace children had a loving home created for them by their father and mother. Gianni Versace also had an elder sister but unfortunately she passed away at the age of 12. It was almost inevitable that at least one of the Versace children would end up moving into the fashion industy, their mother was a dressmaker and owned her own dressmaking business. By the age of 9 Gianni had begun to show a prodigious streak after he followed his  mother’s teachings and finally made his first dress. This had come from hours of watching her working on different dresses and creating designs in her boutique. Gianni knew from a very young age that he desired to become a designer, as well as being influenced by his mother’s work, he was influenced by the Roman and Greek ruins that lay in the surrounding area. By the time it came for Gianni to finish high school he actually worked in his mother’s boutique until he decided it was time for him to spread his wings and move on to create his own legacy. He moved to Milan at the age of 26 with the intention of working in the fashion industry, encouraged by his success serving as an apprentice for his mother .

He managed to find work for various Italian fashion brands, being successful at everything he tried his hand at. Buoyed by this success he decided that again, working for other people was stifling him too much. In 1978 he finally managed to step up to the plate and opened his own boutique. In doing this he also started his own company, keeping it in the family by making his brother the CEO and making his sister the vice president as well as giving her a job as a designer. By the 1980s Versace was the sexiest fashion brand on the block, and it was all due to Gianni’s skill creating sexy and soulful clothes. In 1982 Versace first met a young 23 year old model named Antonio D’Amico. Then began a relationship that lasted until Versace’s death, with D’Amico being given the chance  to work as a designer within the Versace brand. Before he was murdered Gianni Versace had managed to beat a rare form of inner ear cancer and was devoted to the children of his siblings. He had a lot to live for, all of it taken away from him by Andrew Cunanan.

Andrew Cunanan was born on the 31st of August 1969. The same day that Andrew Cunanan was born, Rocky Marciano, the only man to retire undefeated while heavyweight champion of the world, died. While these two men ended up with lives that were defined by violence, Marciano lived his life with a good sense of morals and justice, something that Cunanan would end up without, and instead Cunanan  had a sinister sense of evil. Born to a Filipino-American father and an Italian-American mother, Andrew Cunanan was a precocious child who was instantly shown to be different to his three siblings. Andrew was an incredibly bright child. He was sociable and well liked by other children. His school, encouraged by his evidently high intellect, decided to test Andrew’s I.Q. He came out with a 147. This put Andrew in the 99.9th percentile. While his natural, sociable nature and high level of intelligence gave him the opportunity to make many friends at school, things changed as he grew older.

By the time Cunanan had moved up to high  school people had begun to grow tired of his outlandish claims and stories. He made up stories about the people involved in his life and even himself. Cunanam also gained a reputation as a chameleon like person, changing his personality and appearance in order to fit whatever social norms were required at the time. People didn’t know who the real Andrew Cunanan was. At the age of 19 Cunanan’s father left the family. He ran away to Manilla after he was accused of cheating his clients at his stockbroker job out of money. This left the Cunanan family in financial difficulty. Andrew dropped out of university in California and left for Manilla to join his father, but when he saw the poverty that his father was living in he left Manilla to go back to America. It was during this time that he finally came  out of the closet to his Mother. It lead to a vicious argument between the pair, which ended with Cunanan violently launching her against a wall, dislocating her shoulder in the process. Cunanan began to develop different personalities during this time when out at clubs. He created a different persona depending on his mood. He could be an up and coming Hollywood high flyer, a graduate of the top universities in the United States or even a naval officer, possibly a tip of the head to father serving in the US navy during the America-Vietnam conflict. Cunanan was becoming a well known figure on the San Francisco gay scene.

He was known not just for his fantastic  conversational skills, a side effect of his high intelligence, but for his flamboyant nature and need to be the centre of attention at all times. He entered clubs as the most well dressed person there. He drank the finest champagne. Smoked the most exclusive cigars. Everything that Andrew Cunanan did, had to be as exclusive and over the top as possible. Whenever he went out to dinner with friends he always paid the bill. Everything that Andrew Cunanan did was for the benefit of other people, he needed people to both remember him and be impressed by him. He needed to show that he was someone important. He craved respect. He didn’t have a job to pay for all of these luxuries though, he was subsidised by a succession of older homosexual men. Sugar daddies. His mother  referred to him as a “high class male prostitute” but this wasn’t a completely accurate description of the truth. Cunanan engaged in a pseudo relationship with the men who provided him the means for his lavish lifestyle. They paid him in material gifts and in return he gave them companionship.

The companions that Cunanan was making were giving him access to new levels of society that he had only ever dreamed about before. One companion in particular, a lawyer Eli Gould, allowed Andrew Cunanan to be a part of the elite scene that he had always dreamed of. Hollywood stars. Major players in the fashion industy. Everyone that Cunanan looked up  to was part of the social circles he was now playing in. It was while part of this new social class that Cunanan first bumped into Gianni Versace. At the Colossus Disco after opera party Cunanana and Gould were there when Versace arrived. In the Maureen Orth book ‘Vulgar Favors’ she wrote: “The designer walked in with an entourage…who quickly introduced him to a few people. After about fifteen minutes of chitchat and waves of young men eager to met him, Versace began to survey the room. He noticed Andrew standing with Eli, cocked his head, and walked in their direction. ‘I know you,’ he said to Andrew. ‘Lago di Como, no?’ Versace was referring to the house he owned on Lake Como near the Swiss border…Andrew was thrilled and Eli couldn’t believe it. ‘That’s right,’ Andrew answered. ‘ Thank you for remembering, Signor Versace.'”

Whether Andrew Cunanan had ever met with Versace at Lake Como or not is something that will never be known. Some people think that Versace simply mistook Cunanan for someone else and Cunanan being a fantasist and as one childhood friend once said “a pathalogical liar” he went with it and allowed people to believe he had met with Versace at Lake Como. Others think that he actually had met Versace there, but for what reason it will be forever a secret. What can be said for sure is that Andrew Cunanan used this a basis for proof of his own social standing within his circle of friends and companions for  the rest of his life.

Andrew Cunanan didn’t just partake in high society parties though. His new found lifestyle also carried him into a dark under belly of gay culture. He got into the sadomasochism scene and began to not just indulge in kinky sex, for which he had always been a fan, but had begun to allow himself to be filmed while he was abused by his lovers. He had not just become a “high class male prostitute” as his mother would say, but he was becoming an S&M porn star.  Some of the scenes were so disturbing that even his friends who were also involved in the kinky sex world couldn’t watch them. He wasn’t bothered by this, he enjoyed the  celebrity status, and sexually he enjoyed the humiliation, it was his way of seeking thrills outside of having a high social standing. All of this was taking its toll though. Friends of his said he began to have angry outbursts more regularly. He was slowly descending into a dark pit of depression that he would struggle to get out of.

It wasn’t due to how the porn films made him feel that lead to this feeling of depression though. Cunanan had been showing symptoms of AIDS. He went to get tested during the first few months of 1997, the final year of his life, but had never bothered getting the results. He just decided that he had AIDS. He didn’t  need to get the results, because as far as he was concerned he had it. This lead to the rumour after the death of Gianni Versace that Versace had AIDS and that Cunanana thought he had infected him, and this was why he had shot him. Rumours that were quickly dispelled by the Versace family, although no-one will ever know if this was what Cunanan actually thought, even if it was untrue, pathological liars do tend to believe their own lies after all.

This depression and belief that he had contracted a life changing illness, lead to Andrew Cunanan becoming less worried about his appearance. He began to put on weight, a stark contrast from his  former well exercised physique, his hair became a long, tangled mess as opposed to the well groomed mane he sported previously. He stopped wearing expensive, fashionable clothes and started dressing as cheap as possible. He became a user of the drugs he was selling, possibly descending into addiction. All of these degradations of his appearance lead to his rich, successful companions deserting him. He was alone and without money. He had to face up to the prospect that he had no money or lovers left. As well as all of this, he had to live with jealousy as two of his former partners had started a clandestine affair that they trying to keep hidden away from Cunanan. Jeff Trail and David Madson .

Trail had been Cunanan’s lover five years earlier while he was in the navy. However, he decided to drop out and take a job across the country in Minneapolis. Cunanan told Trail that he would visit him as often as possible, and he did live up to that promise. It was during one of these visits that Cunanan introduced Trail and Madson to each other. Madson was another former lover of Cunanans who had moved from San Francisco to Minneapolis. An architect by trade and very wealthy, Madson realised that Trail had only just moved, had few friends and didn’t really know where to go, so he said he would introduce him to his circle of friends. Cunanan wasn’t happy about this, he didn’t want the possibility of two men he had his eyes on, becoming enamoured with each other, taking away  two potential love interests, and meal tickets, away from him in one fell swoop.

By April 1997 knowledge of Cunanan’s drug use and drug dealing had reached Madson in Minneapolis, leading to Madson attempting to split away from Cunanan. He had a respectable and successful life, he didn’t want this potential trouble changing that. Cunanan had decided he was going to leave San Diego, he told friends he was going to move to San Franciso, where Madson had formerly lived, he had bought a first class, single air line ticket that only went one way. It didn’t go to San Diego, it was a one way flight to Minneapolis. Andrew Cunanan had  confided in some friends that he was going there to settle some business. Business that turned to murder.

Between April 27th and May 1st 1997 Andrew Cunanan committed two murders, for reasons that no-one will ever know for sure. Some people think that Cunanan found out about Trail and Madson’s involvement with each other. This sent him into a jealous rage, leading him to murder Jeff Trail. Others think that Cunanan’s drug use had made him paranoid and unstable, after a disagreement about this, he flew into a rage and murdered Trail. The only things that are known about what happened on the night of April 27th are that Cunanan invited Trail to Madson’s apartment  and while there he bludgeoned him to death with a hammer and then left him rolled up in a carpet. Although Madson helped Cunanan with the initial covering up of the murder, there is nothing to suggest that he was involved with the planning of it, if indeed it was pre-meditated. It took two days for the police to find Trail’s body rolled up in that carpet.

After murdering Trail, Cunanan persuaded Madson to abscond with him, it was two days after the discovery of Trail’s body that Cunanan shot Madson in the head with Madson’s own gun. They had driven 50 miles away from Minneapolis when Cunanan finally decided to do it. By the time the body was discovered  Cunanan had fled the scene and moved on to his next victim. This time however there was no personal vendetta behind the murder, this one was purely based on self preservation. Cunanan needed a change of car, having stolen Madson’s, and he also needed to change his outfit.

Lee Miglin was a 72 year old millionaire. He had made his fortune from real estate. He was well liked within his social circle: “Lee was a terrific, sweet, gentle guy,” architect Stanley Tigerman apprises. “Very self-effacing. He was never the type to blow his own horn.” quotes like this one were the rule rather than the exception. Cunanan somehow managed to gain access  to the Miglin property, he had fallen lucky, Miglin’s wife was out of town on business, he was alone and vulnerable. There is no proof that the two ever had any dealings with each other before Cunanan killed Miglin, so there is no known reason why Andrew Cunanan decided to torture Lee Miglin before he finally killed him. The general consensus of Miglin being a well loved person makes it even less likely that it was a personal vendetta. The torture was particularly barbaric with Cunanan restraining Miglin and wrapping his head completely in duct tape, though leaving space around the nose to breathe. After this he stabbed him over and over again with pruning shears, finally to finish the job he lacerated his throat with a garden saw .

After murdering Miglin, Cunnan made no attempt to hide himself away or escape quickly. He first ran over Miglin’s dead body over and over again with Miglin’s Lexus. Leaving the body destroyed for no reason. His brazen disregard for getting caught lead to him spending the night at the Miglin residence, even going as far as to take food and drink from their kitchen, steal some gold coins and watch some movies before he retired to the bedroom for the night. When he woke up the next morning Cunanan ditched the jeep he stole from David Madson and made off with Miglin’s Lexus.

By May 9th Cunanan had found another victim,  out of necessity again. Cunanan needed to change his vehicle again. He was smart and cunning enough to know that he needed to constantly change up his car in order to evade capture. He also knew that he had to kill his victims in order to increase the shelf life of his transport. His victim was a cemetery caretaker by the name of William Reese. Shooting him in the head once, using Madson’s gun again, and stealing his red pickup truck, Cunanan made his escape. His 12 day killing spree had driven him across the country and driven him onto the infamous FBI most wanted list. Although it wasn’t necessarily the kind of fame that he had always craved, it was fame regardless. Cunanan had achieved what he always wanted. He was famous. He wasn’t famous enough to never be forgotten though. Not yet  anyway.

It took two months for Andrew Cunanan to finally cast himself into immortality, in the worst possible way. For two whole months Andrew Cunanan took a sick pleasure in hiding in plain sight. So much so that after he had murdered Versace a Chicago policeman who was an expert on serial killers said “Down deep inside, the publicity is more sexual to him than anything else. Right after one or two of these homicides, he probably goes to a gay bar in the afternoon when the news comes on and his face is on TV, and he’s sitting there drinking a beer and loving it. You hide in plain view.” He spent his evenings visiting  gay bars and clubs. He was hiding in plain sight, it was almost as though he got a thrill out of being on the FBI ten most wanted list and still spending his time in nightclubs, without even trying to be conspicuous about it. Not only did he spend time at nightclubs, but he found willing people to go home with him at the end of the night. He didn’t completely shirk fear of capture though, during the day he wore different disguises to ensure that no-one recognised him and brought the police looking for him. He even took to dressing as a woman on some days, partly to evade capture and partly to attract lovers who might be interested in transvestitism. The closer he got to his final goal, the more time he spent walking past the Versace mansion. Trying to spot a glimpse of his famous target. His  previous murders may have got him noticed by the FBI, they didn’t get him what he really wanted though, fame and immortality.

By 1997 Versace wasn’t just a fashion designer anymore. He had transcended that. He had invented supermodels, by paying the women at the top of their game astronomical figures to make sure that they wore his clothes at the top shows. He had not just got the most famous sports stars, rock stars, Hollywood stars and royalty to wear his clothes, he was their friend. Versace was as much an icon as some of the clothes he created. As Wensley Clarkson said “Versace thumbed his nose at those who said his fashion was the height of  bad taste” Versace needed time to unwind though, he had been burning the candle at both ends, after embarking on a European tour and as he had confided in one of his many business partners he intended to “quiet down my life”. It is hard to believe that Gianni Versace would actually follow through with that intention, Versace, the company,  had after all been making profits of $900 million a year. This was largely due to Gianni’s image as a larger than life, super designer. All of this didn’t matter though, Andrew Cunanan intended to make sure that Gianni Versace rested far more than he ever intended.

On the 15th of July 1997 Andrew Cunanan  followed Gianni Versace back from collecting the newspapers, outside his Miami beach mansion he shot him twice in the head. The saddest thing about Versace’s murder is that if it wasn’t for oversight and bad luck then Cunanan could have been apprehended before he even had chance to get near him. The red truck he stole from William Reese had been at a parking garage for the whole two months between his fourth and fifth killing. That an apparently deserted vehicle had been ignored speaks volumes for how easy it was for Cunanan to hide in plain sight. He had been spotted in a sandwich shop and an employee had sneaked into the back to phone the police, unfortunately another diligent employee served him and let him leave before the police managed to arrive and arrest him. The  final piece of luck, good for Andrew Cunanan, bad for Gianni Versace, was when Cunanan was running low on funds. To help himself get by he pawned one of the gold coins he stole from Lee Miglin, in order to do this he had to provide his real details, including various forms of identification and where he was staying. Then the clerk in the pawn shop had to fax these details to the local police department. Unfortunately for Versace and the police the clerk who dealt with this was on holiday at the time it was sent. It wasn’t discovered until after Versace was murdered, and even then only because a ticket for the pawn shop was found in Cunanan’s effects that he had left with the abandoned red truck .

After shooting Versace, Cunanan made a run for it. He managed to escape from one witness to the murder of Versace at the time, but the police had a recent description and they knew the area where he was. They were closing in. It took eight days for them to finally find Andrew Cunanan. The FBI were not happy with how the case went with one member of the task force commenting “There were not many successful moments of the investigation, because we never were really close to him. We never did catch up to him.” It wasn’t until a caretaker at Indian Creek Canal was doing his rounds and checked a houseboat that was moored there and discovered the door to the boat slightly open that Cunanan’s three month killing spree and time on the run came to an end. The caretaker  entered the boat and checked the bottom floor. It seemed fine. It wasn’t until he went upstairs that he saw a shocked man standing there. The man ran to a bedroom and shut the door behind him. The caretaker realising that he must be who the news had been talking about phoned the police.

It only took a matter of minutes for the boat to be completely blocked off. There were snipers, helicopters and police boats all surrounding the house boat. The order came over the megaphone for Cunanan to come out with his hands in the air. Nothing. Had he escaped? Had he managed to once again slip through the fingers of the FBI? At 8:15PM the boat was  stormed. Gas grenades filled the boat, the SWAT team stormed in to silence. The tension was rising, as was the belief that Cunanan had escaped capture again. It wasn’t until they entered the bedroom and saw him slumped on the floor. Andrew Cunanan had shot himself in the head. Taking away the opportunity for punishment and justice to be served forever. More importantly, when Andrew Cunanan killed himself on July 23rd 1997 so did the possibility of ever finding out his motivations for killing not just Gianni Versace, but the other four men he killed on his savage and evil killing spree.