Going West: True Crime - Andrew Cunanan // 25

Episode Date: May 20, 2019

Chasing the good life is something most of us strive for. But when that hunger turns into a cut throat obsession, lives are broken and lost. In the 1990's, one young mans pursuit of success takes him from a spree killer to becoming the assassinator of Gianni Versace. This is the case of Andrew Cunanan.  https://www.huntakiller.com 20% off with Promo Code: GOINGWEST **GOING WEST DOES NOT OWN ANY OF THE NEWS CLIPS PRESENTED** 20/20 ABC Dying To Be Famous: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YoYCNs49zxI&t ABC News: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MXf7flkxFxg Extra 1996: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8cw_sQD1i18 Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands Privacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

What's going on true crime fans, I'm your host teeth, and I'm your other host, Daphne, and you're listening to Going West. Before we get into this episode today, we want to talk about the awesome reviews that we got on Apple Podcasts. Thank you so much to Ellie from New York. And a big shout out to Kelly from Pennsylvania. Thank you Preston from Alabama. And last but not least, thank you Darla from Indiana.

And thank you so much to our latest patron, Shawna. It means a lot to us that you went ahead and joined the Going West Gang. Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, we literally just got another patron. I just got the email. Thank you so much to Emma. Thanks for joining our Patreon page. Checking your email during the show, Heath?

Hey, it popped up on my screen, okay? Thank you, Emma. If anyone else wants to join the Going West Gang, check out patreon.com slash Going West podcast. We have bonus episodes every month and tons of surprise content. It's only $5 a month and it really helps out the show. Yeah, and for you patrons that are listening, we got a special surprise coming up for you guys next week.

So stay tuned for that. This is episode 25 of Going West, so let's get into it. We begin with the murder of Johnny Versace in the manhunt for prime suspect Andrew Poonanan. Did the suspect know his victim? And when did they meet for the first time? Thysher designer Versace was murdered today, gunned down outside his mansion in Miami Beach Floor. Investigators are pro, whether he was targeted by organized crime or perhaps an Assyrio killer.

The FBI has joined the hunt, identifying a number of suspects, including Andrew Banana, one of their 10 most wanted, suspected and four other murders across the country. This pickup truck, stolen by Banana, was found just blocked from the murder scene. He wanted to be wealthy, he wanted to be powerful, he wanted to be admired. Andrew Cunanan was born on August 31, 1969 in National City, California, which is in San Diego County. His parents are Mary Ann Scalachi and Italian American and Modesto Cunanan, a Filipino American who worked as a stalk broker. Andrew was the baby of the family with three older siblings, Elena, Christopher, and Regina. He was an incredibly smart kid with an IQ of 147, and to put that into perspective,

that is a genius level IQ. Many people enjoyed his outgoing and friendly personality, but he's remembered as being a complete liar, like he would tell these outlandest stories about his family and his life, and he always wanted to live this specific kind of glamorous lifestyle, so since he didn't have that as a child, he just made it up. And he would pretend that his parents were friends with celebrities and well-known figures in that they were rich. And I feel like this is probably because he went to private school with wealthier kids and his family was pretty middle class. So it's

possible that he felt like he needed to fit in in that way. But because of his personality and crazy stories, he was voted least likely to be forgotten in high school. So Andrew definitely received a lot of attention from his parents, but his dad, Modesto, continued to become more and more distant from the family. He missed Andrew's birth because he was actually serving in the Vietnam War, and when Andrew was 19 years old, Modesto abandoned the family and moved back to the Philippines to avoid potential charges for embezzlement. Andrew came out as gay in high school, but not to his family. But even at the age of 18, he was going to gay clubs and getting into relationships with

wealthy older men. He even brought one of these men to a high school dance and he wore a red patent leather jumpsuit that he had bought Andrew. It wasn't until he was about 19 that he came out to his mom, who was very religious and did not accept his sexual orientation. He and his mom got into a heated argument over it, and it resulted in Andrew throwing his mom up against a wall and dislocating her shoulder. And from what we were researching, we found out that Andrew actually kind of acted older

than he really was. He would wear penny loafers, but instead of putting pennies inside the loafers, he would actually put dimes to make himself seem more wealthy for some reason. And he really wanted to take on this persona of being this kind of civilized, sophisticated person. He was definitely very proper and polished, and like I said, he had a super high IQ, so I think he also felt like he was a lot smarter than everyone around him and just felt like he was more Established and kind of above everyone else. He kind of seems like the bad rich kid and most 80s Movies that I've ever seen like the kid that's just a total dick and has a bunch of money in his parents like only yodder something

I think he was just a bit of a try hard and he really wanted to impress people and I think he was probably just super insecure. And most of the time he was just putting on an act or a show in front of people. He was definitely a narcissist. Absolutely not only a narcissist but he was also an opportunist so he would put himself in social situations where he knew he could impress, you know, higher up social status people. So the year before he dislocated his mom's shoulder and came out to her in 1987, Andrew graduated from high school in San Diego and enrolled at the University of California San Diego to major in American history. And he only went for a year and then he decided to move to the Philippines so he could be

with his dad, but he quickly returned move to the Philippines so he could be with his dad but he quickly returned after seeing the horrible conditions that Modesto was living in. When he returned to San Diego, he traveled 500 miles north to San Francisco where he settled into a place in the Castro district which is one of the most prominent LGBTQ areas of the city. While living there, he continued to date and hook up with older wealthy men and hang out at high-class gay bars. At this time, he was living with his childhood best friend Elizabeth and her boyfriend Phil, so they had all moved up there together from Southern California. Andrew often used aliases when he dated older

men, some including Andrew De Silva, Drew Cunningham, and Kurt Demaris. And he also used these names when he participated in and created violent pornography. He made money by selling drugs, but also had an income from rich gay men throughout San Francisco, San Diego, and beyond. So because of these men, he was able to live this lavish lifestyle of jet setting and fine dining, which is what he always wanted. He had this like super weird obsession with being really high class.

And these men really enjoyed his company because he was very outgoing and he was intelligent in his conversations. I think the reason why Andrew wanted to come back from the Philippines is because he was a little too snooty and I think his father lived in a less desirable part of the Philippines. So he pretty much was just scoffing at that lifestyle and wanted to be back in the United States where he could be amongst his socialites. So I don't know how his mom found out that he was seeing older men, but she called him a high class prostitute, and she was not pleased.

But I think it was mostly that he had sugar daddies because it seemed like it was a little bit less about sex and more about just general companionship. But some of his sugar daddies later reported that they liked that he was handsome and very polished and proper But he was also super into BDSM so he was within that community a lot of people described him as being very charismatic And he was very well liked within the gay community within San Francisco and San Diego At this point Andrew had moved into 58 year old Norman Blatchford's At this point, Andrew had moved in to 58-year-old Norman Blatchford's Oceanfront Home in La Jolla, California, and was given a brand-new, infinity, along with $2,500 monthly allowance. And this was in the mid-90s. So with inflation, that's equal to about $4,000 a month.

The two were apparently pretty secretive about their relationship, though, because Andrew would tell people that he was a friend of his family, and Norman would say Andrew was his decorator. In 1996, when he was about 27 years old, Andrew started to fall apart a bit as he got into heavier drugs, mostly methamphetamine, when Norman dumped him. He lost all motivation to keep up with his appearance, so he started gaining weight and going out to his favorite bars looking like a total mess He would often complain to the bartenders that he couldn't even get a date After Norman dumped Andrew a man named David Madsen had started to separate himself from Andrew as he noticed Andrews dishevelled appearance and drug use so it seems like Andrew was kind of dating a few different guys at this point, but David was Andrew's favorite of all of his

relationships because he said it was the only one that was perfect. David was a very intelligent and charming 33-year-old architect from Minneapolis and was described as outgoing and a peacemaker. He and Andrew had met a year prior in 1995 in San Francisco, and Andrew was attracted to his handsome appearance as well as, of course, his luxurious lifestyle. But David was definitely more down to earth than most of Andrew's partners. He drove a red Jeep Cherokee and had a Dalmatian named Prince. That's P-R-I-N-T-S, like probably relating to being an architect. And they had a good time together, they went out to a lot of nice restaurants, and I think it was probably a little bit different for Andrew since David was really close to his age, and a lot of

the other men that he dated were significantly older. You know, Norman was 58 years old, so that's over twice his age, whereas David is only like 5 years older than him. So Andrew was really devastated when David began breaking off their relationship just under a year of it even starting. It's unclear when, but while living in San Diego, Andrew met a formal naval officer named Jeffrey Trail, who was a smart and handsome young man born in the Midwest. Andrew considered

him a close friend and a brother, but others suggested the two were romantically and sexually linked. They would often go target shooting together when they hung out and Andrew began to obsess over Jeff. Jeff's sister Lisa later reported that if Jeff got a haircut, Andrew would go out and get the same haircut. If Jeff grew a goatee, Andrew grew a goatee. He just started copying everything he did. It's known that Andrew would often lie about his race and tell people he was Caucasian if they asked what his ethnicity was, even though his dad's from the Philippines and his mom's families from Italy.

So it's been proved in the past that he has had self-esteem issues. I also read that he would tell people he was Jewish, even though his family was Catholic. So he clearly has some identity issues, and that's probably why he was obsessed with looking like Jeff because he wanted to be somebody else. I also read somewhere that Andrew would deny being Filipino, unless it would benefit him, like he would mention

that he knew a celebrity who was also Filipino, but any other time he was Caucasian. In November of 1996, a bit after Andrew had gotten his heartbroken by both Norman and David, Jeff told Andrew that he was moving from San Diego to Minneapolis for a job as a district manager for a propane company. The two had had a horrible falling out after Jeff expressed to Andrew that he didn't approve of his drug use after Andrew asked Jeff to help him pedal drugs. So whether they were just friends or romantically involved, Jeff was distancing himself from Andrew. And Andrew got some crazy ideas in his head because once again, he was incredibly hurt

and heartbroken. Although the two heads supposedly never met, Andrew was convinced that Jeff was going to Minneapolis to be with his ex-lover David Madsen. In April of 1997, so about six months after Jeff moved, Andrew told his friends that he was moving back to San Francisco. He had a lavish farewell party at a nice restaurant in San Diego, where he ordered everyone pricier menu items like ostrich and beef tenderloin. He then charged a one-way first-class airline ticket on his overextended credit card.

But he wasn't on his way to San Francisco like everyone was thinking. He told one of his friends at the party that he was actually on his way to Minneapolis, Minnesota, so he could settle some business. When Andrew told Jeffrey Trail that he was coming to visit, Jeff told his sister, Lisa, that he didn't want Andrew to come. But he also said that he felt safe because he had a handgun. After a three hour flight, Andrew had landed in Minneapolis, and David Madsen picked him up from the airport.

Afterwards, he took Andrew out to dinner and introduced him to some friends. Some of these friends thought Andrew was very charming, but others described him to name drop and have a big ego. After dinner, the group went out for drinks and dancing, but apparently David was incredibly uneasy the whole night, and this is probably because he didn't want to be with Andrew and felt like he had to because he had already broken things off with Andrew and Andrew just kind of showed up so I think that David just kind of felt like he didn't want to be there. By the way I'm really sorry for my voice I'm super sick right now so please bear

with me in this hideousness. At this time, David was living in a nice loft apartment in the city, and Andrew spent the night with him there. The following night, while Jeff was out of town, Andrew stayed at his apartment. Jeff was out of town with his new boyfriend and left a key under his mat so Andrew could stay there. Two nights after Andrew's arrival, he went to David's home and invited Jeffrey Trail who was now 28 years old. He had left Jeff a message explaining he wanted to see him and Jeff had agreed. So that day was Jeff's boyfriend John's

birthday and they had plans to go to a gay club to dance. Jeff told John that he had to meet Andrew for just 30 minutes because there was something he needed to do, but that he would meet him at the club a little after 10pm. Violent events began to unfold on Sunday, April 27, 1997. At 9.45pm, Jeff arrived at David's apartment. Neighbors later reported hearing aggressive and violent shouts coming from David's apartment along with loud duds. Someone else heard someone scream, get the fuck out, followed

by the sound of someone hitting a wall, and then running water. Hours passed and John hadn't heard from Jeff. He never showed up to the club and didn't answer any of John's pages. John wanted to call Jeff's parents, but they didn't know that Jeff was gay, so instead he called the police since he was incredibly worried. The police told John that Jeff was an adult and could do what he wants, so instead he called the police and he was incredibly worried. The police told John that Jeff was an adult and could do what he wants, so there was probably no cause for alarm. They also told him that he would have to wait 72 hours to report him missing. On Tuesday, April 29, two of David's colleagues showed up at his apartment since they hadn't

heard from him and he'd failed to show up for work two days in a row. When they got to his door, they agreed that they'd heard weird noises coming from inside. They said it sounded like whispering. They called the police and explained the situation, but the police told them that they would break down David's door and if David's dog Prince was there and acting aggressively, they would shoot him. The colleagues weren't comfortable with that since they didn't even know if anything was wrong with David, so they called the superintendent. When she arrived, she unlocked the door and they took a look inside. The apartment appeared empty, but that's when they noticed a rolled up carpet with a body

in it. It was Jeffrey Trail and he had sustained 27 blows in his head, face, and torso from a claw hammer. The watch on his wrist was stopped at exactly 9.55 pm. Police arrived at the scene to find an incredible amount of evidence. The murder weapon was in the room along with a gym bag containing drugs, porn, and bullets, and a toiletry bag with a bloody pair of size 26 genes. They initially weren't sure if the gym bag and the genes belonged to David Madsen, and that he was the one who murdered Jeff, but David's friends pointed out that Andrew's

name was written on the gym bag. They also discovered that David wore a size 32 genes. At this point, the police, as well as David's friends, had no idea where David and Andrew were. They also didn't know whose body was in the carpet. The following day, authorities identified that the body was Jeff Trails because of the tattoo on his leg, but they still weren't sure who had committed the murder. Andrew, David, or both. Police had informed Jeff's parents while they were at the hospital with Jeff's sister who was giving birth.

David's neighbors reported to police that the day after Jeff's murder on Monday, April 28th, they saw Andrew and David taking prints for a walk. Someone else reported seeing David Madsen's red jeep Cherokee driving north on Interstate 35 in Minneapolis, but they couldn't see who was driving the car. Then, a restaurant owner said he saw the two eating together, but after further investigation, the report was false. On Wednesday, April 30, David's Jeep was found to have been parked in a Chicago parking garage from 6am to 7pm, and to give everyone an idea, Chicago

was about 6.5 hour drive from Minneapolis. So this wasn't a quick trip. On the morning of Saturday, May 3rd, a fisherman found the body of David Madson at Rush Lake in Minnesota. He had been shot multiple times in the head, face, and back by a gun owned by Jeffrey Trail. The police discovered that bullets matched those found in Andrews' gym bag that was found in David's apartment. They also discovered that David Madsen's time of death was just the day prior Friday

May 2, but there's also unknown evidence that could suggest he died earlier. It's unknown whether Andrew and David were both in Chicago on Wednesday, or if Andrew had killed David first and dumped his body at the lake before fleeing to Chicago. David's family believed that David walked in while Andrew was murdering Jeff and then he took David hostage. And we'll get more into the crimes of Andrew Kudnan in after the short break. What's going on, true crime fans? I've got something to tell you guys about. In this Golden Age of Television and Podcast, we all know the value of a truly compelling narrative.

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Hey there, this is Zerica Kelly, host of the podcast, Southern Fried True Crime. Each week I take a look at a different Southern crime, and like any good gossip, I'm interested in anyone or anything. I cover contemporary and historical cases, and I love listener suggestions. Come join me as I explore the dark underbelly of the deep south. I'm a one-woman show and a narrative format. Kind of like sitting by the fire and listening to a story. So pull up a chair and subscribe if you're interested. I'd love to have you. You can find me on iTunes, Stitcher, Google Play, and just about any podcast platform.

Just search for Southern Fried Street Cry. Until then, y'all take care. And we're back. A lot of people think that Andrew murdered David and Jeff because of the affair that they may or may not have had. I think, regardless, Andrew had this idea drilled in his brain and he felt that they had to die for it. Because as we know, Andrew was madly in love with David and David broke it off with him. So I think the thought of David being with somebody else, that kind of, if I can't have you know one can, situation probably went into motion.

I don't believe that he would have put them in the same room together if he hadn't planned to kill them. And what I mean is that he invited Jeff to David's house. And I don't think that he would have done that if he didn't have a plan that night. And we have to remember that Andrew is a very selfish person. He's an opportunist, he's narcissistic, and he's very selfish. So like you said, it's basically if he can't have David,

then no one's going to be able to have David. But what strikes me is kind of odd is the fact that he would be willing to kill David after he had killed Jeff. That just kind of strikes me as pretty odd because he was madly in love with him. I definitely think that Andrew did take David hostage and David probably wasn't being all good with it and pretending to still be in love with Andrew. There was probably some of that truth coming out of, I'm terrified of you, let me go. We're not together type of thing. And I think that it probably got to a certain point where Andrew was like, this isn't working, you don't love me. I'm just going to kill you because he's not going to keep him alive and risk himself going to prison if he

can't be with David. Right, that obsession with David kind of got to a point where it escalated to where David was able to say something along the lines of hey like I am not in love with you I'm never gonna be with you and maybe at that point Andrew was like okay I know what I need to do now. Something that never made sense to me though was why Andrew decided to kill Jeff in David's apartment because since he didn't initially kill David after killing Jeff, it's weird that he would do it there. Literally Jeff walked in the door and Andrew murdered him like just right then and there. So it's like you could have done that somewhere else. Why involve David Madsen in it? You know, if you could have just killed Jeff and David didn't have to know about it

And then you could have been with David. Why did David have to be involved? Well, here's what I think. I think that David already sort of knew that Andrew was crazy for one. For two, I think that the reason why Andrew killed Jeff and David's apartment is because he wanted to play it off like possibly David had something to do with Jeff's murder. Even though the police were eventually going to find out, I think that that was buying Andrew time. Well, it's funny you say that because for all of you who have not seen American crime story, the assassination of Versace. It's so good and I think it does a really good job at depicting this story. But in the show, Jeff goes over there because apparently Andrew stole his gun. And that's the

gun that Andrew used to kill David Madson. So that was indeed Jeff's gun. So I was thinking, before I saw that, I was thinking, why did Jeff bring his gun? Because I knew that Andrew ended up using it, but I thought that Jeff had brought it. So I thought that that was really suspicious, but I guess what actually likely happened is that Andrew did steal it from Jeff's house when he was staying there. But also in the show, Andrew kind of uses David's apartment

as an excuse to bring David into it like you're saying Heath. You know, like him saying, well, you're the one that walked downstairs and buzz Jeff in, and this is taking place at your apartment, so maybe you're the one who killed Jeff. Right, yeah, he's a manipulator, and he was trying to manipulate that situation to work in his best interest. Obviously Andrew doesn't want to go down for this crime alone. He's gonna try and rope somebody into it and that person was David Madsen. Lee Mighlin was born in Westville, Illinois in 1924. He eventually moved to the Chicago area and had two children with his wife who was a successful

cosmetics and perfume entrepreneur. Lee was a very well-respected real estate developer and in per newer. Lee was a very well respected real estate developer and in 1997 at the age of 73, he was looking to develop 125 story skyscraper in Chicago with his business partner. On Sunday, May 4, 1997, Lee Migglin was murdered at his home in Chicago. Lee's wife Marilyn was out of town that weekend, but when she returned, she immediately knew something was wrong. The front gate had been left open. There was a roasted ham with a knife stuck in it on Lies desk. There was a pint of chocolate ice cream on the counter, and there was beards stubble in

the sink, amongst other weird things in the house. Marilyn got help from a couple walking outside and they all checked the home for Lee. No one was in the house and Lee would have never left it in that kind of condition. Marilyn then found a handgun in the bathroom and she called police. She also noticed that Lee's jacket and wristwatch

were gone along with other jewelry and clothes, $2,000 cash that was in the home and leaves 1994 Lexus. When police arrived, Lee was found in the house's garage. His head was covered with duct tape with two slits in the nose so he could breathe. He'd been beaten and his throat was slit with a gardening saw, he'd been stabbed with pruning shears and his wrists and feet were bound with tape. A lot of people point out that this was a very BDSM way of killing Lee by taping his face the way he did. So some people speculate that Andrew and Lee met for a hook-up somehow and Andrew decided to kill him. This was also a very

violent and brutal attack, so it's hard to believe that he would have killed Lee randomly. But he also could have just stumbled upon the home while looking for someone to rob, especially since he needed money and a new getaway car. At this point, Andrew Koonan and had landed on the FBI's 10 most wanted fugitives list. Yeah, to me it seems hard to believe that it would be a random murder. I know that Andrew needed money and he needed a car, but he also was known to hook up with Slash be partnered up with older wealthy men and Lee was an older wealthy man So I don't think that that's far stretch at all and that's no disrespect to Lee and his family

But it's definitely possible. Yeah, we can't confirm or deny that Andrew and Lee had any sort of relationship Yeah, we can't confirm or deny that Andrew and Lee had any sort of relationship, but it is suspicious that Lee's face was duct taped, almost like leather mask, style, SNM bondage type thing, and then on top of that, there was also gay porn magazines laying around Lee's body when he was discovered by police, so this could be Andrew's hint towards that. Also the fact that Andrew went over to the house when Marilyn happened to be out of town, it would have made more sense if the two had already wanted to hook up and oh my wife's going out of town, you should come over this weekend and just saying it's possible. And from what Daphne was actually mentioning about the show American Crime Story, is that in that show during this segment with Lee and Andrew,

Andrew calls Lee and says, Hey, I'm going to be in Chicago and Lee's excited and says something along the lines of, Well, that's great because Maryland's going to be out of town that weekend. Yeah, you should watch that show with me tonight. Oh, yeah, I'm definitely down. I haven't, I haven't got a chance to dive into that show yet, but it's on my list. William Reese was a humble and kindhearted 45-year-old man

living in Pennsville, New Jersey, with his wife, Rebecca, who is a school librarian, and their 12-year-old son, Troy. William worked as the sole caretaker at Finn's Point National Cemetery for over 20 years. The cemetery holds the remains of over 2000 Confederate soldiers, which meant a lot to William as he was an avid historian and even founded a Civil War reenactment group called the Brooklyn Society. Five days after Lee Miglin was murdered on May 9, 1997, William didn't come home after his shift. His wife Rebecca drove over to the cemetery and found him dead in the caretakers' lodge.

He'd been shot in the head and his body was found next to an open Bible with a Christian broadcasting Station playing. And we now know that he had no connection to William Reese. And it's kind of a terrifying thought to think about William Reese having his Bible open and listening to this Christian broadcast while being a cemetery keeper essentially and Andrew drives up, shoots him and then steals his car. It's kind of an eerie scene. And it's really sad that this happened to William because I read some things about how he built a fort in his backyard for his son

and he grew fruit trees in his backyard and he just seemed like this really kind and just honest a man and it's sad that he fell upon such bad luck with Andrew. Well the police investigated William's murder, they noticed his red 1995 Chevy pickup truck had been stolen. Little did they know at the time it was all done by Andrew Koonanan, and he'd used the same gun he had on David Madsen on William Reese. Since police weren't aware that Andrew was at fault in William's murder, they weren't spending too much time trying to find the red truck. Andrew drove the truck to New York City, then to South Carolina, where he stole someone's license plate before landing in Miami Beach, Florida, where he continued to pawn off stolen items.

He would even use his real name at the pawn shops, even though police usually checked pawn shops for stolen goods. So he could have easily been caught this way since he was being sought after across country. Since Andrew had no place to go in Miami Beach, he checked into a shabby hotel called the Normandy Plaza on May 12th. So just three days after murdering William Reese. The drive from New Jersey to Miami Beach, Florida is about 17 hours, so he had a down there pretty quickly after his last murder, considering he made some stops. Andrew holed up in this hotel room most days where he usually ordered takeout so he could lay in bed and eat while watching TV and SNM pornography.

Come nightfall, he would hit up the finer gay clubs in the area. He did this for two months before making his next move. As most of you may already know, Gianni Versace was an Italian fashion designer born in Reggio Calabria, Italy on December 2, 1946. In 1997, he was living in an incredibly luxurious Mediterranean-style mansion at 1116 Ocean Drive in Miami Beach, which had previously been a couple rundown buildings that he spent $35 million renovating. He ended up in Miami just six years earlier after stopping in on his way to Cuba.

He fell in love with the art deco styled hotels and the ocean front cafes. Andrew Koonan told many people that he had met Gianni Versace at a nightclub called Colossus in San Francisco in 1990 while Andrew was still living there. At this point, Andrew was 21 years old and he and his friend Eli Gould were apparently approached by Gianni. Versace apparently approached Andrew saying, I know you, Lago Di Como, no? Which was a house he owned on late Como near the Swiss border. It's known that Gianni would use the Lago Di Como line

when he wanted to talk to someone but didn't know what to say. Andrew had agreed that they had met there, which wasn't true, and he said, thank you for remembering, Senior Versace. Another man named Doug Stubblefield claimed to see Gianni and Andrew in a car together that same year. Apparently, they had also been seen together at the San Francisco Opera for the performance of Capriccio

which Gianni had designed costumes for. It's unknown if any of these instances actually occurred, especially since we know that Andrew liked to make up stories. In 1990, he had told his best friend and roommates about meeting Gianni Versace, but Gianni's family doesn't believe that ever happened. On Tuesday, July 14, 1997, Gianni started his day as he usually did with his daily routine. At about 8.30 a.m., Gianni left his home and walked the few blocks to the news cafe, where he bought a few magazines and a cup of coffee. He waved two and greeted locals,

as he always did, while he walked back to the Versace mansion. He never walked around with bodyguards and would often stroll around alone because he felt very safe and at peace in Miami Beach. As Gianni approached the steps to his home and began opening the rot iron gates, Andrew Koonanan, who was watching from the park across the street, strode up behind Gianni and shot him twice in the head. Gianni collapsed on the stone steps of his house, and after hearing the gun shot, his partner of 15 years, Antonio Domingo ran out to see Andrew running down the street. Antonio chased him until Andrew turned around and pointed a gun at him.

At that point, Antonio stopped in his tracks and Andrew fled into a nearby parking garage. In that same parking garage is where Andrew abandoned the red Chevy pickup truck that he stole from William Reese and he went off on foot. When investigators found the truck, they also found bloody clothes along with Andrew's valid passport. Fans and tourists covered the scene and attempted to make their way past caution tape to take a photo or get a look at Gianni Versace as police loaded his body into an ambulance. The truck sped to the Jackson Memorial Hospital in Miami and doctors and nurses did all they could to revive him, but all efforts failed.

Gianni Versace was pronounced dead at 9.21am at 50 years old. He was cremated and his ashes were brought to his family's estate in Italy and buried in a vault near Lake Como. His funeral was held at Milan Cathedral and over 2,000 people attended. I thought it was interesting because I read that Princess Diana was at the funeral, and she actually died just a month later in the car accident. Yeah, that is really interesting, and also Elton John was in attendance at his funeral as well.

His brand was handed over to his brother, Santo, who became the new CEO, and his sister, Donatellalla became the head of design. Gianni Versace's murder was the cover of every newspaper and the subject of every news station. Andrew Conanan's photo was also all over the TV as police set off on one of the largest manhunts in US history. Andrew was pretty good at covering his appearance, so even though it's shocking that he could hide in plain sight, that's pretty much exactly what he did. Before Versace's murder, there were a few moments where Andrew almost got caught. We mentioned earlier that he had pond stolen items, but Andrew even had to fill out forms, including his real name and address, and even his fingerprint. He used his name, Andrew P. Cunanan,

including the address of where he was staying, the Normandy Hotel. Four days before Versace was murdered, Andrew strolled into a Miami sandwich shop and ordered a tuna sub from the cashier. After ringing him up, Andrew waited for his sandwich and the cashier ran to the back and dialed 911. He said he recognized Andrew from America's most wanted and told the police to hurry. During the few minutes that it took for police to arrive, an employee who wasn't aware of Andrew's true self handed him his tuna sub and Andrew was on his way. Andrew apparently lived his final days in frantic desperation. He called a friend

trying to get a fake passport so he could leave the country. After killing Versace, Andrew stumbled upon a houseboat in Miami that was docked only 40 blocks from the Versace mansion. Andrew likely knew that he had pretty much no way to escape life in prison. He couldn't leave the country and everyone was on lookout for him, especially in Miami. On July 23rd, the houseboat's caretaker, Fernando Carrera, went to go check on the boat. He was surprised when he noticed the lock was unlatched, the lights were on, and the drapes were drawn. It appeared as though someone was inside. When Fernando walked inside, there were two sandals

by a sofa that had been made into a bed. Suddenly, he heard a gunshot upstairs in the boat's master bedroom. That's when he ran out of the boat and called his son to contact police. In less than five minutes, police arrived on the scene. They fired eight rounds of tear gas grenades into the boat and shouted for whoever was inside to come out.

When they entered the master bedroom, Andrew Koonanan lay in bed with his eyes open, sporting a few days worth of facial hair, laying in a pool of his own blood. He had shot himself in the mouth with the same gun that he had stolen from Jeff and the one that was used to murder David Madsen, William Reese and Gianni Versace. Because police didn't know that Andrew had been dead when they arrived, this whole ordeal took about two hours where they were shouting for someone to come out, and it was displayed on the news. Andrew Koonanin's remains were cremated and are being held at the Holy Cross Cemetery in San Diego, California. Thank you so much everybody for listening to this episode of Going Last.

Yes, thank you so much everyone, and next week we'll have an all new case for you guys to dive into. Like I mentioned earlier, a really good account of this whole story is in American crime story, the assassination of Gianni Versace, and some of the details of course are fabricated, like dialogue and a few other things that we're unclear about, but they include a lot of the real details and it's just a really a lot of the real details, and it's just a really good depiction of the story. So that's on Netflix. If you guys want to watch, I really recommend it.

Make sure you go over to Instagram and show Daphne some love at Going West Podcast. And make sure to check out Heath over on Twitter at Going West Pod. So for everybody out there in the world, keep it real and stay weird. Cheerio! Thank you. you