Andrew Cunanan was 27 when he killed Gianni Versace at his Miami mansion. A few days later he committed suicide. Photo: AP
The world of entertainment was shocked and surprised 25 years ago with the news of the murder of the legendary designer Gianni Versace. the culprit was Andrea Cunanan, who surprised him from behind and shot him twice in the neck while the designer was in his villa. It was June 15, 1997, a day marked forever.
Cunanan was 27 and in the last few months he had been responsible for four murders. Posters with photos of him have invaded the streets of the United States. All the police forces in the country were following him.
“Regardless of the horrific things he’s done, Andrew Cunanan has such a rich history that it’s truly a joy to tell,” said series producer Darren Criss: “American Crime Story: The Murder of Gianni Versace.”
Andrew’s life was brought to television. Image: American Crime Story: The Murder of Gianni Versace ‘.
delusions of grandeur
Andrew Phillip Cunanan was born on August 31, 1969 a San Diego, California, United States of America. His Filipino father and ex-combatant in Vietnam and Italian mother instilled in him the religious sentiment and the importance of being successful in his life.
His father, after having had problems with the powerful, had to leave the family to avoid ending up in prison. Andrew, his three older brothers and his mother never saw him again.
Cunanan attended a private high society school. He was there where made up stories of luxury, Fifth Avenue apartments and travel around Europe. Andrew was a very intelligent and fabulous person.. With his fantasy stories he managed to access exclusive circles. And from a very young age he openly expressed his homosexuality with him.
Andrew Cunanan, in order to afford his luxuries, started working as a taxi driver.
Andrew was obsessed with the upper class and their social status. In another of his mistakes he began to claim that he was the son of an Israeli millionaire and even an aristocrat who lived on Fifth Avenue in New York. He didn’t have the life he dreamed of, but that didn’t stop him in his ambitions of him.
However, his life took a radical turn when his family found out he was gay. Rejected by his family, he decided to move to San Francisco. And he started selling his sexual services.
To afford his luxuries, he began selling his body and trafficking drugs. Turned into a luxury escort, he was approached by wealthy men who paid him for his lifestyle and also allowed him access to other social circles.
Despair made him lose his mind. He suffered from delusions of grandeur. “She was a high-class homosexual prostitute,” said her mother, Mary Ann Cunanan, in an interview for a US media.
murderer of homosexuals
Andrew Cunanan’s mind kept getting more and more troubled. And a string of crimes against his clients in just three weeks makes him one of the most wanted men in the United States.
His first victim was Jeffrey Trail, a former United States Navy officer. On April 27, 1997, in Minneapolis, he hammered him to death and wrapped him in a rug that he put in the apartment closet. David MadsonTrail’s boyfriend and alleged friend of Cunanan.
With Madson he ended on May 3 of the same year, shooting him in the head and back. His body was found on the shores of Lake Rush, near Rush City, Minnesota.
The next day, May 4th, he killed Lee Miglin, a 72-year-old businessman and renowned Chicago real estate developer. According to the police report, Miglin had been tortured and had his hands, feet and duct tape wrapped around his head. He was then stabbed 20 times with a screwdriver and his throat cut with a saw.
The FBI has placed Cunanan on the country’s most wanted list.
On 9 May 1997 he killed his fourth victim: William Reese, 45 years. She shot him in the head for stealing his truck. It happened in New Jersey, where Reese worked as a guard.
Cunanan wanted to go for a big fish, and he was planning to assassinate Versace. Gianni and Andrew met at a party on Lake Como, Italy, and in 1990 they met again at a San Francisco nightclub.
Since then, the young man has become obsessed with the famous designer, but it wasn’t until July 15, 1997 that he committed his most media crime.
His most famous murder
That morning Gianni Versace was in his Miami Mansion, The Casuarina House. Andrew Cunanan managed to get into the house. The young man wore shorts, a diver, a cap covered his face and carried a backpack on his back.
Gianni Versace, in one of the fashion shows.
When he was a short distance from Designer, he pulled out a gun, aimed it at his head, and shot him twice. Gianni Versace had died on the floor, lying down. He was 50 years old and he was the king of the fashion world.
Cunanan wanted to be rich, famous, but he ended up becoming a real psychopath.
Since he did not achieve his goal, he decided to end the life of the Italian designer, who represented everything he wanted to be. Cunanan went down in history as the killer of Gianni Versace.
Why did he become a killer?
Casa Casuarina was the place where its owner, Gianni Versace, was assassinated.
Andrew was rumored to be HIV positive and was taking revenge on people who might have infected him.
Another hypothesis for the murder of Versace concerns the mafia. Andrew allegedly acted as a hired hitman from Italy due to the designer’s ties to the mafia in his country.
The truth is Andrew Cunanan committed suicide eight days after Versace’s murder. The weapon he shot himself with was the same one he had used in his previous crimes..
Part of Andrew Cunanan’s story has surfaced Star + Featuring: ‘American Crime Story: The Assassination of Gianni Versace.’
Thomas Fernandez Cruzado
Source: Clarin
