Why the 1997 homicide of Gianni Versace nonetheless haunts us

But in 1997, especially in those first few days, even the most basic questions asked themselves: had Cunanan Versace ever met, what was his relationship with the owner of the houseboat he was found dead on, did he have HIV / AIDS (he had t), why Did he kill five people in three months, why did he kill Versace, did he kill Versace – in abundance.

The youngest of four children, Cunanan was a native of National City, California, in real TV fashion. Cunanan was handsome, well-groomed, funny, incredibly intelligent, and cultured, in the sense that he focused on the finer things in life so that he would be ready to immerse himself in those finer things in due course – and he had just had enough with that Upper class to make his stories about jet set life believable. He certainly knew who Versace was, but although they are said to have crossed about seven years before the murders, there is no evidence that he was ever particularly registered in the superstar designer’s mind.

Basically, if Patricia Hochschmied hadn’t written the story in 1955, The Talented Mr. Ripley could have been inspired by Andrew Cunanan. But at the end of the day, he didn’t look like someone you see on the street or even in front of the door that you are afraid of.

Sometime in 1996 he moved out of the home of a wealthy La Jolla businessman whom he sometimes accompanied to social events, where he had lived for about a year. Nobody knew what had caused him to change his address, although Cunanan apparently hadn’t thought of it. In April 1997, Cunanan told friends he was moving to San Francisco (where he had lived for a while after dropping out of college) but first flew to Minnesota to “do some business”.

Nobody would ever find out what exactly he meant by that.