The Man Who Killed Versace (Crime Documentary) | Real Stories

in 1997 world famous fashion designer Gianni Versace was gunned down in the street it was the culmination of a three-month two and a half thousand mile rampage I quickly realized that this was much much bigger than anything we had ever dealt with as the clock ticked the body count rose he was like right there boom it was horrifying even sixteen years doesn't change things and with it the question why had Andrew Cunanan a good-looking and popular young man embarked on this devastating killing spree to think that Andrew killed Gianni Versace was just about the most preposterous thing that anybody could ever tell you [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] 1997 Miami Florida a city enjoying a renaissance after a period of decline the neighborhood of South Beach leading the way a new reputation as a flamboyant and glitzy playground for the clubbers fashionistas and Playboy's of any sexual orientation was developing in a sense in South Beach do not go hand in hand I mean there was a place where people hooked up and it was a wild scene 1997 Miami Beach was a very up-and-coming place South Beach had been discovered in the early 90s and people were starting to flock to Miami Beach it was like the place to be people were paying big money for rooms ever once a dollar at night there were hundreds of dollars at night so it it was a big change in this area it became the the mecca for for modeling it became the mecca for the designers coming down from from New York from Europe and this is where you know this was happening it was right here Miami was made desirable by one man in particular Gianni Versace Musashi was a household name in the fashion industry he dressed everyone from the opera stars to this film stars to royalty he was without doubt that those famous fashion designer in the world Gianni Versace was famous for his fashion design but here in Miami Beach he was famous just for being for Saachi I mean where he went people took notice he is part of the glamour and glitz that was becoming South Beach Gianni was a regular whenever he was in town he was here about every day to get his newspapers and a cup of coffee the Versace mentioned is about four blocks away about a three three minute walk everybody that you know came they always wanted to see the house and the house of Versace built once a Gianluca was 27 year old andrew cunanan 8:40 a.m. July the 15th 1997 South Beach was waking to another perfect morning within half an hour one of the world's most brutal spree killers would claim his highest profile victim yet the day is the day you never forget it's early morning Miami Beach you know Joker's about a few news vendors of set up stores Versace at becoming prisoners peppers and I said good day and he said today and he liked and went home 8:55 am Cunanan had spotted his prey he's already decided what he's going to do he's got the gun in his pocket he's not drunk he's not high on drugs he's just high on what he's about to do before Versace reached the safety of his home the killer made his move Versace was allowing himself into his own gated quarters each snuck up behind him and shot him a point-blank range and really please well it was something like something out of the movies you know he was just he was gunned down right on his steps there was blood everywhere mr. Versace was laying there on the steps there was magazines that he was holding in his hand on the floor we had bullet casings in the chaotic aftermath Cunanan escaped once mr. Versace was shot the killer fled northbound on Ocean Drive he came running right behind me he went right across the street into the parking lot policeman on a bicycle came right by I hadn't even moved from where I was standing and its acts if I had seen you know mr. Versace I said yeah he just left and I said why and he says something terrible happened it didn't take long for the celebrity murder in Miami to become breaking news this whole area was filled with the satellite TV dishes dozens of I've never seen anything like it before or worse since and it soon began to emerge that Versace was victim number five of a killing spree that had begun three months earlier at the opposite end of the country I quickly realized that this was much much bigger than anything we had ever dealt with the Miami Beach despite the global spotlight days after the versace murder andrew cunanan was nowhere to be found how did an infamous rampage killer end up in Miami on that hot summer day and how did a boy from San Diego suburb grow into America's most wanted man Miami Florida and the brutal slaying of fashion designer Gianni Versace has rocked America he is the latest victim of a three-month five state bloody rampage what a driven Andrew Cunanan to commit his killing spree and as the Miami police tracked him in the aftermath of the versace murder would they catch him before he killed again 941 p.m. August the 31st 1969 national city in California Andrew Cunanan was born the youngest of four indulged by his parents Cunanan was brought up in modest surroundings to a Filipino father and devoutly religious mother in a crime-ridden suburb of San Diego County there were not of terrific means by any any stretch of the imagination of Pete Cunha and his father was a was a stockbroker his mother Mary Ann Cunanan she was a bit of a doting mother he was only one his mother Mary Ann inherited some money from her father the family are able to afford to move slightly upmarket to an area that wasn't as dangerous wasn't as dirty from the start his father in particular encouraged the young Andrew to be status conscious and instilled in him a sense of self-confidence that would last a lifetime Andrew Cunanan s first day at high school was not in rough national city but in one of California's wealthiest seaside communities like many immigrant parents they wanted their son to have a better life than they had had in the home country and they were willing to sacrifice and be sort of submissive and subservient to Andrew so that he could have the lifestyle that they they would wish for their progeny [Music] the esteemed bishops was one of the country's top college prep schools and a breeding ground for future movers and shakers I remember Andrew at bishops I remember hearing his laugh and we immediately hit it off he was he was really kind of a card he was determined that his classmates who came from rich families wouldn't know how poor his own family was Cunanan school fees were in fact stretching his parents finances to the limit and that meant that he created more and more stories about himself and tried to give the impression that he came from the sort of high upper-class family that it was he didn't come from Andrew lived in a bit of a fantasy world for example he pretended like he was Sebastian from Brideshead Revisited he'd carry a teddy bear around campus this need to conceal and to act basically and be on stage all the time continued through the end of our friendship at bishops Coonan ins charisma and good looks were powerful and he wasn't afraid to use either he had the ability to charm and he became quite a manipulative young man the warning signs of the man Andrew Cunanan was to become were already there his psychopathic tendencies started at that early age because he became adept at being a shallow face a different persona for what the situation required Andrew had a gave veneer that was part of his persona so the effeminate or androgynous even perhaps look that he had was all designed to convey the impression I think that he was gay if you think about Andrew taken to his logical conclusion Liberace comes to mind Elton John comes to mind he was basically the center of the universe on campus he was a giant explosion of personality but soon the stage at bishops wasn't enough for Andrew Cunanan after graduation Cunanan gravitated towards the predominantly homosexual neighborhood of Hillcrest in San Diego the Hillcrest area is very lively it's a great place to be gay and at the time was a sensational opportunity for anybody coming from anywhere else in the country to be out and proud hungry for the high life and worshiping Fame and celebrity he began dating wealthy older men who provided for him Andrew loved that freedom and reveled in in the opportunity to parade young men old men all sorts of companions Andrew Cunanan had years of successfully negotiating his way through Californian high society thanks to the patronage of his sugar daddies and well-meaning friends andrew cunanan actually used being gay as a way to climb a social ladder through his ability to seduce or be seduced by older men in powerful jobs he seemed to have quite a bit of money oftentimes would pull a nice fat wad of cash out buy drinks for everybody at the bar he didn't hold a job to the best of our knowledge he had a nice car that he would drive around he wore very nice clothes always put together well for almost ten years he had enjoyed being a fixture in the San Diego gay community a charmer who talked big and partied hard andrew was a showman he had a story for everything he had hellacious little laughs it's somewhere along the lines of a belt of a hyena perhaps getting poked in the rear with a pen will give it a you know but a lot more crazy than that but as he headed towards his 30s Cunanan was faced with more beautiful younger men fighting for their place in the social spotlight as Cunanan progressed into his late 20s he realized he was slightly over the hill for the gay party scene canaras fall from grace began really when he's dropped by one of his richest benefactors and now people were rejecting him they were turning their back on him they were starting also to not believe all of his lies he had this underlying insecurity compounded by act that he had that wasn't working for him anymore Cunanan was feeling increasingly isolated he may have had a wide social circle but he had few true friends to make matters worse Jeffrey Trail someone he was particularly close to had moved from San Diego to start a new life in Minneapolis Jeff was well-liked in the community he was witty bit dry humor I could see where he and Andrew were were close friends closely following trail to the North Star state was another of Cunanan sex lovers David Madsen the one he called the love of his life David was an architect he had a nice demeanor it was all-american Kellogg's cornflakes box Grande quite an easy-going good guy Cunanan felt abandoned he saw the friendship between Trail and medicine as the ultimate betrayal the happier they seemed the angrier Kuhn Allen became he wanted a confrontation [Music] Cunanan prepared to leave San Diego by holding a final get-together with his friends an event that has since been dubbed the Last Supper Andrew had a very unique personality he was quite a grandstander he was one to leap up from the table if anybody should join the table introducing first and last names he was a gregarious individual he would always insist on being placed in the front room which looked out onto the street so that he could see and be seen the usual life and soul of the party was uncharacteristically subdued it was not a typical showman's dinner table he didn't leap up he didn't chase people around he was soft-spoken thoughtful contemplative perhaps befitting of the occasion Cunanan claimed he wanted a new start instead it was the beginning of the end [Music] April the 25th 1997 Minneapolis Minnesota and Cunanan arrives from San Diego for a weekend stay at Madison's apartment Madison picked him up from the airport many people were concerned and warned Madsen that Cunanan didn't seem himself he said that he just needed to sort himself out needed a place to stay Jennifer y Berg was the caretaker of harmony lofts in Minneapolis where David Madsen lived actually encountered David Matson and his friend that he introduced me to who was Andrew Andrew was non-responsive David seemed rather irritated that he was being so aloof I saw this kind of puffy guy with a attitude that I can't see why how or why anyone would ever have been impressed with him or wanting to hang out with him sometime on Sunday the 27th of April something had finally pushed Cunanan to the point of no return bitter with betrayal and driven by jealousy a vicious argument ensued between Jeffrey trail David Madsen and Andrew Cunanan with fatal consequences Cunanan found a claw hammer in that apartment and started bludgeoning Jeffrey trail following this attack Cunanan calmly rolls jeffrey trails body up in a rug and pushes it unceremoniously behind a sofa as if no one would find it some spree killers who are killing in a state of frenzy aren't interested in hiding the evidence after two days holed up in the apartment and with no apparent plan of what to do next cunanan fled the gruesome scene with Madison Cunanan spontaneous murder of Trey all happened so quickly that Madison was unable to comprehend what had happened or to even intervene that's the kind of thing that psychopaths are able to do with their powers of persuasion [Music] a few days later Jennifer Wiberg received some worrying news Tuesday I came home and there were two messages on my voicemail from co-workers of David Matson and they were very concerned because he had not shown up for work and people were looking for him knocked on the door David David are you in there in there and no sounds so what I did have a master Keith and I opened the door it was horrifying she didn't know it at the time but what she had discovered was the beginning of one of America's most famous spree killings Geoffrey trail had become andrew cunanan 'he's first victim May the second rush City Chisago County I was on the phone in the morning and I got a call from our dispatchers it told me to meet two fishermen they were scouting an area to put a tent so they could come up to fish the next weekend they looked down by the lake they saw what they thought was a body this is the crime scene the fisherman stopped right about here and just pointed down toward the lake where they said the body was he was like right there boom so we didn't know who that who we had here until we put out a teletype surrounding agencies that we had a unidentified deceased white male and Minneapolis police called us back shortly thereafter and said that they were looking for a person that matched that description by the name of day of Mads David Matson was now victim number two police on the scene pieced together how events unfolded they drove their car down the hill together and David was still alive at the time they turned this way and then backed in here and had a conversation in this area for some time at some point in the conversation David must have realized that he was in some sort of trouble with lift mister Cunanan and so he jumped out of the car in around this direction Andrew Cunanan shot him in the back he fell face down under the ground at which time Andrew Cunanan turned him over and shot him you think you know somebody the person we thought we knew was long gone less than a week after leaving his ex-lover dead in rush city Coonans rampage gathered pace and took him 450 miles southeast to Chicago and to the door of 72 year old property millionaire Lea Miglin and his most vicious slaughter so far andrew cunanan us killing spree had begun in minneapolis where he had bludgeoned to death his first victim jeffrey trail 60 miles north and former lover David Madsen had lost his life on the banks of rush lake now [ __ ] Allen's rampage would take an even darker turn may the third Chicago Illinois Lee Miglin was a wealthy property developer well respected and well recognized in the city no one is sure what drove Cunanan to his door although some speculate that they had met years before in California whatever Cunanan 'he's motivation revenge retribution or simply robbery at some point over that May weekend McGlinn succumbed to what his elderly mother described as a worse death than Christ's Cunanan overpowered mr. McClendon tied him up put a sheet over him and tortured him this was a very cruel death in fact in some ways much crueler than the death of his two friends earlier the way that Cunanan killed mr. McClelland is quite different from how spree killers often kill their victims this was not an indiscriminate shooting this took fort and he took pleasure from this and he engaged in overkill he'd now crossed the Rubicon and was killing for the pleasure Lee Miglin had become Andrew Cunanan third victim and now the FBI had entered the chase three dead bodies had earned cunanan the label armed and extremely dangerous he continued to evade capture despite the trace on miglin's car phone yelena takes off in miglin's lexus police are able to establish the movement of the car through its phone which can owners started using the countrywide APB had been issued for Coonan ins arrest radio news reported that the killer was traveling in miglin's distinctive lexus Cunanan needed another vehicle at any cost may the 8th pennsville New Jersey 765 miles from Chicago a resting place for hundreds of Civil War soldiers and a hiding place for a spree killer on the run fence point was so secluded miles and miles off of the main highway that drove through that through that area tennis point cemetery is normally very quiet and peaceful [Music] cemetery caretaker William Reese had worked at Finn's point for 15 years bill and I did a lot of stuff together we hung out together performed Civil War reenactments and long drives long talks bill was a very special person he was kind a very dedicated person also he he he would he was very faithful he would be here right at 8 o'clock in the morning and he would spend a full day here bill was just a part of this bill was was there for us and we were there for bill we were more like siblings and then we were you know workers enormous ly fun and a laugh that was infectious beyond words he was and his face lit up when he laughed it was a cold dark day that I remember and was minoo I had when I left I don't know why I had a feeling but I had a feeling there was something wrong I was sitting in a living room and my wife and kids were on the couch it was near evening Bill's brother Bob called and I answered the phone and Bob said I don't know how to say this but bill was shot and killed and then just kind of went numb cemetery caretaker William Reese had become cunanan s fourth victim as William Reese is locking up for the day cunanan stops his car jumps out and asks William Reese he could possibly let him have a glass of water because he's not feeling very well William Reese invites you known and in but within seconds cannons pulled out Geoffrey trails gun and shot William Reese dead with just one bullet where bill was murdered was in the basement of the house I haven't been into that building since this happened I don't think I could go back into the building if the bill was was shot and killed there even 16 years doesn't change things bill was not just a victim he was not just a cemetery caretaker he was loved he loved the family he loved people bill was a human being huge void in the family Andrew Cunanan had gone from killing friends to murdering strangers in cold blood this time there was no torture this time it was a quick death it's like Cunanan was trying to use different modus operandi to perhaps challenge the agents who were chasing him no one knew where cunanan would strike next what was driving him and who would be his next victim May the 12th 1997 Andrew Cunanan had arrived in Miami Florida he was getting ready to shock a generation [Music] Miami was the perfect place to harbor a chameleon like cunanan now every killer who commits multiple homicide has a comfort zone most spree killers don't travel they stay within their own community because they know that place they understand it better and they're able to get away with murder there are exceptions Andrew Cunanan was no multiple personality but he had a skill that very few people do have and that is he could change his appearance to look like dozens of other people Kaneda is America's most wanted man yeah he hides in plain sight he makes no attempt to disguise himself he makes no attempt to hide out in in the latest car is stolen it's hard to save cannon and was asking to be caught but I certainly think he was asking to have a showdown he was asking to have his day of glory he'd paid for a month's rent in advance staying at the Normandy Plaza or once swish Hotel in the 50s and he was living in plain sight around the beaches of Miami he needed some funds and he decided to go to a pawn shop where he would exchange one of the gold coins he took from mr. miglin's house for $200 cash he was obliged to provide two pieces of ID the only ID he had was his real name and the real address where he was staying at the Normandy Plaza which he gave yet again Cunanan had taken a risk and got away with it the pawn shop passed on the forms as required to the Miami Police where they lay on a desk unnoticed there was really nobody looking for him here nobody thought he was here he really was here out and about like a normal citizen minding his own business for at least two months that we know andrew cunanan lived and loitered in Miami until the middle of July now he was ready to claim the most famous victim of his notorious spree during Coonans heyday in San Diego he was often heard boasting about his time spent with famous fashion designer Gianni Versace andrew had always talked about celebrities that he rubbed elbows with and couldn't wait to tell us about his chance encounter and meeting fashion designers Gianni Versace we laughed that we said well good for you isn't that isn't that something another tall tale did he really meet him did they hang out in the limo and Club it all night maybe yes maybe no it could be seen perhaps that canal and targeted Versace because it was an argument it was an element of self-loathing against being homosexual and the gay community that he'd now turned against there was also the belief that Cunanan thought he had HIV and he wanted to take it out on a symbolism for the homosexual culture Versace would be an ideal target that would bring everything together in wall tumultuous storm at 8:55 a.m. Andrew Cunanan shot dead one of the world's most famous fashion designers at point-blank range [Music] Cunanan was now the most wanted man in the world and a massive police hunt had begun the clues weren't hard to find William Reese's truck had been left in a nearby car park we discovered that the clothes that the witnesses had described was laying on the ground next to the truck and he went out the fire exit and got into a taxi cab and fled before we were able to secure that garage the impact of the Versace slaying continued to grow it was a big deal that this was not just some you know random celebrity this was a this was gonna be international news this was gonna turn the city upside down and it did when I ran by that day I looked over to the east here and I just saw these news satellite dishes all over the place maybe I'd say dozens of them I managed you know to kind of run by and see the blood on the steps was everybody talked about the blood on the steps in it it stayed there for a long time played out in the spotlight of rolling news the global media soaked up the breaking story we quickly shut down the city before Andrew Cunanan was able to leave so we were fairly convinced that he was still in Miami Beach it was a huge manhunt everything stopped in Miami everything was focused on this manhunt and everybody descended upon South Beach international news and we basically stayed at the police station you know 24/7 it was just crazy I mean it was it became a media circus I mean the police were coming in and asking questions there was it was so much activity on Ocean Drive and the cameras and and the people and and it was still the fear the womb that the Miami streets was replaced by cold dread and panic well we didn't know what happened we don't know why it happened if it was random where the guy knew him was a lot of uncertainty you know people were worried about is there a killer on the street you know he was shot and they gonna come shoot other people it was it was scary we all had the news on then all sudden I hear that he's killed other gay people in different cities a lot of the gay people felt they were in danger from him he'll kill others you know people were just like on edge the whole time by murdering one of the most famous people in the world Cunanan was now going to be headline news in every sense of the world as the world watched on could cunanan be caught before he killed again in 1997 a vicious spree killer had been terrorizing America on a 2,000 mile 3-month bloody rampage Andrew Cunanan had just claimed his fifth victim gunning down the world famous fashion designer Gianni Versace on the steps of his South Beach mansion in broad daylight you couldn't pick somebody more important to a person like Andrew and yet at his own hand he saw his demise but eight days after the murder the trail had gone cold putting his face out there was a difficult task I remember we came up with a photo lineup of about six different Andrew Cunanan and we put it out on a poster for the media to help assist us with locating him and that's how the leads came in it was just a massive manhunt and it was almost unfathomable that he could not find this guy yet it was such a chameleon and blended in so well that there was more than one or two times and I thought I saw him was it him I don't know they I saw a man and the beach was really kind of empty nobody around and this one guy was sitting on the rail and he was just sitting there staring at me for a good 15 minutes 20 minutes it was kind of eerie in a way so I opened my window and I said you have a freaking problem and he just looked at me and then he walked away and when I went home that night I looked on Channel 7 News and I looked and I saw and that's when I knew it was him his head was shaved so he didn't look like the picture in the paper so that's why I didn't recognize him Wednesday the 23rd of July 1997 Ocean Drive Miami time was running out for cunanan [Music] caretaker Fernando Carrera had stopped by to check on a vacant Indian Creek house boat moored two and a half miles from Versace's mansion on Ocean Drive he had stumbled across an unwelcome house guest this was where Andrew Cunanan had sought refuge I don't think that there was any attention Cunanan to move out of Florida he stayed hiding in a broken houseboat that he'd found whilst the owner was away he was almost making his last stand but I don't think he had much faith that the police would catch up with him because he had a very low opinion of law enforcement they were clearly inferior to him and they'd not done a very good job of catching up with him so far as Carrera ran to alert the authorities a shot rang out when that call came in it was a shots fired call everybody just knew this had to be in the authorities respond incredibly quickly this time and are swarming all around the houseboat within minutes of being alerted to it by the caretaker I was there on the island when they finally cornered him at the at the houseboat and when I got there there was I don't know hundreds and hundreds of people there hundreds and hundreds of reporters police all around this houseboat after a standoff of a couple of hours during which there's no reaction from Cunanan they decide to lob to tear gas into the into the vessel it was live media coverage you know 24/7 almost everyone was glued to the news it was crazy to watch we were watching that on TV kind of you know sitting in in the conference room watching that on TV as it unfolded because we didn't know how it was going to end at that time the nightmare ended caught on a thousand cameras in the full glare of the media spotlight myself and an FBI agent were the first ones inside he hadn't shot at the caretaker he had killed himself [ __ ] Annan's death he shot himself before the police could get to him and he shot himself wearing a pair of shorts in a double bed with a single gunshot to the right side of his head he was in control over how he would go nobody else was going to take his life or take his liberty and he chose a very Hollywood glamorous almost homoerotic way to die reign of terror brought upon us by the Andrew Cunanan is over I'm exhausted I'm the adrenaline has been pumping for hours and I'm realizing that this story that we've basically been living with is over I think he was on a suicidal rampage to begin with I think Cunanan had intended from the beginning to kill himself but first he was going to get even with all those wealthy men and those concepts of wealthy men like Versace the kind of things Andrew wished for the kind of places that he put himself the kind of stories he told us they were stories of somebody else's life somebody that I guess we'll never know Kuhn Annan's death brought with it a mix of emotions for those who had been affected by his brutal spree we were not unhappy that Cunanan committed suicide and that we did not have to go to trial and listen to lies and and the other kinds of things Andrew Cunanan was a man cause misery for many people everybody was pretty relieved that he wasn't on the loose anymore well I'm thankful that the taxpayers are not keeping him alive in prison andrew cunanan had journeyed from being his father's precocious protege to the class clown with a fabricated family background to the enigmatic life and soul of every party he attended and finally to one of the most brutal spree killers in American history Andrew Cunanan had to be the center of attention in his school yearbook next to his picture he prophetically wrote up to my the deluge simply put after me the storm yet the question remained why did Andrew Cunanan have murder in mind and what drove him to his killing spree Andrew was over the top in every way he was over the top in his effect his personality and he was over the top when it came to killing well Andrew Cunanan was a unique spree killer he had created a false identity he had created a false image in his mind and when that shattered he shattered and he kind of left pieces of himself as he went from murder to murder to murder he couldn't handle the fact that he'd once been the glamorous Doyen of the gay party circuit and now he was alone putting on weight slowly losing his hair and possibly had to HIV he was clearly very angry but he wasn't to blame and other people are going to pay the price by killing a well-known celebrity like Versace and then committing suicide Cunanan was assured of having his place in infamy and that's exactly what he wanted you

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Keywords: versace documentary, the assassination of gianni versace, crime documentary, gianni versace, andrew cunanan, darren criss, gun laws, america, Real Stories, Real Stories Full Documentary, Real Stories Documentary, Full length Documentaries, Documentary, TV Shows - Topic, Documentary Movies - Topic, american crime story, donatella versace, true crime 2019, ryan murphy, andrew cunanan documentary, crime stories, full episode, full documentary, true crime story

Id: GKbqs3DlDIE

Length: 44min 58sec (2698 seconds)

Published: Thu May 16 2019