Versace murder
Identification A disturbed man shoots and kills
the famous couturier
Date July 15, 1997
Place Miami, Florida
Andrew Cunanan’s killing spree ended with his fifth and
final murder in three months, that of Italian fashion de-
signer Gianni Versace, whose celebrity, in Cunanan’s eyes,
would assure his own place in histor y.
Famed couturier and entrepreneur Gianni Versace
left his South Beach villa in Miami around 8:00a.m.
on the morning of July 15, 1997, walking to the News
Café, a short distance from his house, to buy maga-
zines. He returned home just before 8:45 a.m.
Holding the keys to his front door, he was ap-
proached by Andrew Cunanan.
Cunanan advanced, pointed a gun at Versace,
and fired twice, hitting him once in the face and
once in the neck. Versace collapsed. People who
heard the shots gathered, and some tried to pursue
Cunanan. However, he escaped down an alley.
Versace’s chef, Charles Podesta, called the police.
An ambulance rushed the victim to Mount Sinai
Medical Center, but he died shortly after arriving
there. It would take eight days to track Versace’s as-
sailant down, but soon after the mur-
der, Cunanan was identified as a for-
mer male escort from California who
had begun a multistate killing spree
late in April.
On April 27, Cunanan murdered
his former lover, Jeffrey Trail, in Min-
nesota, where he also killed architect
David Madson. Cunanan then went
to Chicago, where he killed Lee
Miglin, whom he scarcely knew. His
next stop was in Pennsville, New Jer-
sey, where, on May 9, he killed ceme-
tery caretaker William Reese and
stole his truck. Cunanan drove to Mi-
ami, where he set in motion his plan
to gain enduring fame by murdering
his fifth victim in ten weeks.
Cunanan was tracked down to a
houseboat he broke into at 5250 Col-
lins Avenue, where he hid out follow-
ing Versace’s murder. On July 23, a
handyman, checking on the house-
boat for its absentee owner, noticed that a lock had
been broken. The handyman, brandishing a hand-
gun, entered the houseboat. Cunanan went upstairs
to the master bedroom, lay down on the bed, and
shot himself in the head. He died immediately.
Impact Versace’s senseless murder demonstrates
the vulnerability of public figures whose celebrity at-
tracts disturbed people seeking to enhance their
own sense of power and bolster their own self-image.
It remained a mystery whether the two men knew
one another. In retrospect, one can see the direction
that Cunanan’s perverse obsessions were driving
him, but the recognition of such obsessions usually
occurs after a violent act rather than before it.
Further Reading
Clarkson, Wensley.Death at Ever y Stop. New York: St.
Martin’s Press, 1997.
Indiana, Gary.Three Month Fever: The Andrew Cunanan
Stor y. New York: Cliff Street Books, 1999.
Orth, Maureen. Vulgar Favors: Andrew Cunanan,
Gianni Versace, and the Largest Failed Manhunt in
U.S. Histor y. New York: Delacorte Press, 1999.
Schmid, David.Natural Born Celebrities: Serial Killers in
American Culture. Chicago: University of Chicago
Press, 2005.
R. Baird Shuman894 Versace murder The Nineties in America
Italian fashion designer Gianni Versace after a 1996 Paris show.(AP/Wide
World Photos)