Disclaimer: This article contains mentions of murder. Reader discretion is advised.
Andrew Cunanan reportedly gunned down the famed Italian fashion designer Gianni Versace on the morning of July 15, 1997, outside Versace’s Miami Beach mansion. Antonio D’Amico, Versace’s boyfriend at the time, found Versace shot and lying on the front steps of the mansion. D’Amico rushed him to the University of Miami’s Jackson Memorial Hospital, where Versace was pronounced dead. He had been shot twice with .40 caliber bullets.
Although it initially seemed like both the bullets were shot into the back of Gianni Versace’s head, the autopsy revealed that one of the bullets was shot into his left cheek, very close to his mouth. The shot was likely from close range, and the gun might have been held precisely to the cheek.
Cunanan was reportedly dressed in a baseball cap and shorts and was carrying a rucksack when he shot Versace and calmly walked away. CNN reported that two miscellaneous reports alleged that Versace and Andrew Cunanan knew each other before this encounter. However, this news remains unconfirmed. He was 27 years old at the time of Gianni Versace’s murder.
After Andrew Cunanan was charged with Gianni Versace’s murder, the police tracked down his location. They found him dead in a houseboat a couple of miles away from Versace’s Miami Beach mansion. Cunanan killed himself with a pistol. His passing suggests that the reason behind Gianni Versace’s murder remains unclear even today. Moreover, nothing has been proven despite multiple theories and suspicions from the media and the public.
How many people did Andrew Cunanan kill?
When he was charged with the murder of Gianni Versace, Andrew Cunanan was already on the FBI’s Ten Most Wanted Fugitives List. Aside from Versace, he had murdered four men in an 11-week killing spree. According to the Independent, Cunanan was a male prostitute who was particularly interested in older men who could offer him a lavish lifestyle.
Andrew Cunanan’s killing spree began on April 27, 1997, in Minneapolis. 28-year-old Jeffrey Trail, who had befriended Cunanan when they both were living in San Diego, California, was his first victim. Trail was a US Navy lieutenant. On April 25, 1997, he reportedly flew to Minneapolis, where David Madson, Trail’s friend, picked him up. Two days later, a neighbor allegedly heard struggles from Madson’s apartment.
On April 29, Jeffrey Trail’s body was found inside a rolled-up carpet. He was battered to death using a clawhammer. Madon’s remains were found on May 3, near Rush Lake, some 50 miles away from Minneapolis. He had been shot thrice, and a .40 caliber bullet was found in his chest.
Andrew Cunanan then fled to Chicago, where he intruded a 72-year-old Lee Miglin’s garage and brutally murdered him. After killing Miglin, Cunanan drove Miglin’s Lexus car back and forth over the body. He then fled with the car and some money. William Reese, a 45-year-old caretaker at Finn’s Point Civil War Cemetery in Pennsville, New Jersey, was then murdered by Cunanan. He shot him in the back of his head. Reese was Cunanan’s last victim before Versace.
“The Death of Gianni Versace” is an episode of Dateline: Secrets Uncovered that will be aired on Oxygen on Wednesday, February 28, 2024, at 5 p.m. ET.
