What happened to Gianni Versace? The 20-year mystery of the billionaire fashion icon assassinated outside his Miami mansion

It was a bloody assassination that rocked the world of fashion.

On July 15, 1997, Italian designer Gianni Versace was gunned down on the steps of his Miami mansion by a serial killer.


Andrew Cunanan, 27, had brutally murdered four other men in a three-month rampage across the US.

But when he turned his gun on the 50-year-old fashion icon, the shockwaves reverberated around the globe.

Versace was a friend and designer to the stars, from Princess Diana and Elton John to Sting, Cher, George Michael, Naomi Campbell and Carla Bruni.

So images of the billionaire’s blood-spattered marble doorstep, one designer sandal lying where he fell, was too much for the glitterati to comprehend. How could it happen? Why was he targeted?

Twenty years on, they still don’t know. But the killing spree came to an end with Versace.
Nine days later Cunanan, who had the IQ of a genius, blew his own brains out on a houseboat nearby.

Yet the mystery of the “random” execution continues to fascinate the showbiz world. A glossy TV series, The Assassination of Gianni Versace: American Crime Story, starts tonight on BBC2.It stars The Bourne Ultimatum actor Edgar Ramirez as Versace, singer Ricky Martin as his lover Antonio D’Amico, and Penelope Cruz as the designer’s sister and fashion empire successor, Donatella.

The new show, combined with last summer’s 20th anniversary of the murder, has sent investigators and journalists from 1997 returning to the question of why Cunanan cut down Versace.

Was it a completely random attack by a crazed narcissist, as police suggested?

Former FBI criminal profiler Candice DeLong told ABC News: “The world would know two things after the murder. One, they would know who Versace was. And two, they would know his killer was Andrew Cunanan.

“That’s what Andrew wanted, ‘Look at me. I can get to anyone’.”Yet police Lt Carlos Noriega, who investigated the crime, believes Cunanan and Versace “crossed paths”.

And from the outset, tomorrow’s drama suggests they had met more than once.

The first episode, The Man Who Would Be Vogue, features two alleged encounters – one in the VIP room of a nightclub, and one on the stage of the San Francisco Opera following a performance of Capriccio, for which Versace designed costumes.

The drama is based on a 1997 book by journalist Maureen Orth, who spoke to numerous witnesses claiming to have seen the designer talk to Cunanan in San Francisco nightspot Colossus in 1990.

Another man told the author he’d seen the two in a car in the city that autumn.

Versace’s family insist he never met his killer, but Maureen told Vanity Fair magazine last week: “There is no doubt in my mind that those two met.”

Her convictions were supported by “fact-based, on-the-record reporting”.Whatever the truth, Cun­anan boasted so frequently about his “friendship” with Versace that pals say they mentioned it to the FBI when he went missing following his first four murders.

Cunanan grew up as the youngest of four children in southern California. His brother Christopher said in 1997: “He was my father’s pride and joy.

“He was very smart. When he was about 10, he’d read the whole set of encyclopedias... and memorised it.”

Cunanan’s father Modesto was a stockbroker and the family lived a comfortable life.

Cunanan went to a top school and developed a taste for the finer things in life. A pal said: “He wanted to be wealthy, powerful and admired.”

He claimed to classmates he was from Philippine royalty, and was voted “Most Likely to Be Remembered” in school.

But when he was 19 his father was reportedly charged with fraud and fled to his native Philippines, abandoning the family and leaving them destitute.So Cunanan began relationships with wealthy older men who gave him a jet-set lifestyle.

One was Norman Blachford, an arts patron in his 60s who gave him a car and access to his credit cards.

It’s at about this time that Cunanan could have met Versace for the first time, and police later told ABC News that at least three witnesses claimed the pair crossed paths in California.

But when the relationship with Blachford ended in 1996, Cunanan’s lifestyle collapsed. Donna Brant, managing editor of America’s Most Wanted show at the time of Versace’s murder, said: “He was dumped by his sugar daddy.

“He was losing his prowess among his peers. He had gotten sloppy and lost his looks.”

Was this what sparked the violent rampage? Cunanan’s first victims were Jeffrey Trail, 28, and David Madson, 33.

Cunanan and Trail became friends when the latter was stationed with the Navy in San Diego. Madson was, allegedly, the love of Cunanan’s life.“I think this killing spree started as a love story,” Donna said. “But David Madson came to symbolise all the rejection Cunanan had those last few years.”

In April 1997, Cunanan went to Minneapolis and beat Trail to death.

Police believe he then held Madson hostage for two days before driving him to a lake and shooting him with Trail’s gun. His body was found on May 3.

“He was no longer Andrew Cunanan the gigolo. He was Andrew Cunanan the spree killer. This was a guy who tasted blood, loved it, and was empowered by it,” said Donna.

Cunanan then travelled to Chicago, where he killed 72-year-old Lee Miglin before fleeing with his car. He drove to Pennsville, New Jersey, where he killed William Reese, 45.

Cunanan was on the FBI’s Ten Most Wanted list, but evaded capture for more than two months.

Versace was returning home from buying newspapers when he struck.Sgt George Navarro, of Miami Beach police, said at the time: “As he’s walking up the stairs, Andrew Cunanan comes up behind him and shoots him twice in the head at point-blank range.”

Cunanan managed to hide in South Beach, despite being tracked by the police and FBI.

Nine days after Versace’s murder, a caretaker for the houseboat called police after hearing a gunshot.John Walsh, host of America’s Most Wanted, had his own theories about Cunanan’s motives. “I believe [he] singled out Gianni Versace because he was jealous of the lifestyle,” he said.

“I think he said, ‘I’m going down some time so I want to go down in history.

“‘I’ll kill somebody famous. The world will remember my name’.”

The Assassination of Gianni Versace: American Crime Story is on BBC2 at 9pm tonight.