We may earn commission from links on this page, but we only recommend products we back. The series, which airs at 9 p.m. Wednesdays, is based on the 1999 book Vulgar Favors by Maureen Orth, who covered the Cunanan manhunt for Vanity Fair. Detectives had said Cunanan murdered Miglin in a crime of opportunity because he needed Miglin's car. Cunanan was visiting Minnesota at the time, had stayed at Trails apartment the night before his murder, and called Trail on Sunday evening to invite him over to Madsons apartment. Cunanan, realizing he has to ditch the Lexus, spots a red pickup truck and trails the driver, William Reese, to the Finns Point National Cemetery, a Civil War memorial where he is the caretaker. The skyscraper was never built. Another man, Jeffrey Trail, 28, had been found beaten to death with a hammer and rolled in a carpet in Madson's apartment on April 29, 1997. Hearst Magazine Media, Inc. All Rights Reserved. But American Crime Story is still giving a very controversial account of the murder, especially since authorities never found solid evidence of a connection between the two men. Cunanan wanted to disgrace Miglin. However, the dominance and submission play quickly took a violent turn. Miglin was killed in the garage on May 3, 1997 by serial killer Andrew Cunanan. And in her Vanity Fair report on Cunanan, she wrote that he was a sex worker. It happened that Schlesinger had interviewed Trail years before he was murdered for a story on gays in the military. Trails sister told the New York Times that Cunanan had a strange fascination with Trail, and often appeared to try and emulate him. At the center of their quarrel and legal fight is the garage where Miglin was brutally murdered. All this actually happened. His mouth was gagged with a white garden glove with numerous black rubber dots. Scenes for American Crime Story were filmed in September outside 2104 N. Fremont St., in Lincoln Park. The red Jeep he drove to Chicago was found parked two blocks from the developers house. The minute you start feeling sorry for yourself, everyone else falls.". An open pint of chocolate ice cream and a Coke can are shown on the kitchen counter. Andrew Cunanan was entirely dependent on the property of others, who really did have power in social environments. Four mug shots of Andrew Cunanan, who shot and killed fashion designer Gianni Versace. His wife, Marilyn, first became alarmed when Lee didnt show up as planned to meet her at the airport, and alerted police when she returned home to find their gate unlocked and the kitchen in disarray. Madson, 33, failed to show up for work on Monday, April 28, but neighbors saw him walking his dog with Cunanan that day. A frenzied manhunt for Cunanan, who was immediately labeled a serial killer by the media, led investigators to a luxury houseboat on July 23, where they found him dead of a gunshot wound to the . Cunanan's motivations are similarly mysterious, try to pawn one of Miglin's coins in Miami, of friend Jeff Trail and ex-boyfriend David Madson. Child on bike hit by school bus in Mount Prospect: police, Chicago mayoral race down to Vallas, Johnson in runoff election. Separate fact from fiction with this timeline of Cunanans real-life murders. He stole Miglin's care and got a head start on what became a nearly. Police spotted a car with a Minnesota license plate near Miglin's home after the murder, another report from The Chicago Tribune noted. The Medical Examiner found no defensive wounds on Miglin. Man With 'Interest in Killing Black People' Charged With Terrorism After Attempted Train Attack, The Secret History of the Shadow Campaign That Saved the 2020 Election. The mentions of Cunanan's connection to the Miglin family are more along the lines of his actually knowing Duke, the Miglins' son. His neck was partially severed and all of his ribs had been broken. There are references made to this not being their first meeting and not their first meeting of a sexual nature. By subscribing to this BDG newsletter, you agree to our. He then smashes Miglins head with a block of concrete before inflicting worse injuries, including throwing a concrete block on his chest. Cunanan didnt leave a note when he killed himself in July 1997, and Wednesdays episode relies heavily on alleged dialogue between Cunanan and Lee Miglin. Cunanan opened fire at point-blank range, shooting Versace twice in the back of the head, according to FBI records. According to Cunanan's friends, Cunanan considered David Madson to be the love of his life, even though their relationship ended in the spring of 1996. Cunanan's fourth victim, William Reese, was also reported as a crime of opportunity: Cunanan needed his truck, so he shot Reese in the head and stole it. So it's important to remember that this episode is a dramatization of an incomplete set of facts. Shortly after Trail, 28, had moved to Minnesota for a new job, his body was found in a Minneapolis loft apartment belonging to his friend, David Madsonan ex-lover of Cunanans. According to Vanity Fair, Cunanan was dining with friends at a restaurant in San Francisco when he spotted Madson drinking alone at the. Once they decide to base something on my book, they have artistic license to do certain things.. Miglin did in fact come from this background to develop the Bar Association and Madison Plaza buildings with his partner, J. Paul Beitler, as well as many other significant structures in the Chicago area. Speaking to The Chicago Tribune a year after Lee's murder, Marilyn denied these rumors about her husband and Cunanan. Marilyn Miglin was and indeed is a beauty entrepreneur who appears monthly on HSN and whose signature perfume is called Pheromone. He said if you don't help me I'm going to proceed to file a lawsuit against you, your mother and your wife for the garage," Duke said. Despite Miglin's wife and their son Duke vehemently denying any previous connection between Cunanan and Miglin, reports from several people indicate Miglin and Cunanan may have been involved on a . Per Orth, Cunanan considered Trail to be his best friend, and referred to him as my brother." The FBI believes that in addition to working odd jobs, Cunanan was a prostitute. Miglin was that rare breed of real estate person, neither venal, nor aggressive, nor self-absorbed, nor egocentric, as Stanley Tigerman, the architect of the Chicago Bar Association building, told the Chicago Tribune. Miglin's daughter, Marlena Miglin, is now going through a bitter divorce from Tim Egan, 2nd Ward Democratic . On the road he hears over the car radio that the police are able to track his movements through the cars phone. His wife Marilyn Miglin was also known as the Queen of Makeovers for her work as a successful perfume and cosmetics entrepreneur and for her involvement with the Home Shopping Network. Then in May, Cunanan repeatedly stabbed Lee Miglin, a 72-year-old Chicago real estate developer and wealthy businessman, according to authorities. In 2018, the anthology television series "American Crime Story" issued a nine-part true-crime dramatization of the story of the Cunanan murders titled "The Assassination of Gianni Versace" in which Miglin, played by Mike Farrell, and Cunanan, played by Darren Criss, were presented as having had a furtive personal relationship. But while the pair did meet in San Francisco, according to Orth, it played out quite differently than the series depicts: To confuse things further, the above version of events is the one we see Cunanan describe to friends in the series, but not the one we actually see play out onscreen. [27] Criss Cunanan is nothing if not an unreliable narrator. A night later, it remained a mystery who had so brutally murdered Miglin. Slate is published by The Slate Group, a Graham Holdings Company. Miglin's black Lexus was found abandoned in a New Jersey cemetery, near the body of cemetery caretaker, William Reese, Cunanan's fourth victim. Police also noticed the suspect or suspects had helped themselves to a ham in the refrigerator, and left a half-eaten apple behind, before fleeing in Miglin's Lexus. Madsons family members suspected that he had accidentally walked in on the killing of Trail, and subsequently been taken hostage by Cunanan, and this is the version of events that plays out in American Crime Story. According to the Vanity Fair article written by Maureen Orth, the author of the book about Cunanan on which this season of American Crime Story is based, Cunanan slept in Miglin's bed, used the bathtub, and shaved at the vanity. Cunanans ride: Cunanan is shown parking a red Jeep with Minnesota plates near the Miglin home before the attack. "That's right," Andrew answered. Miglin had suffered multiple blows to the chest. 2023 Vox Media, LLC. According to ABC-7 Chicago's recent look back at Miglin's death on the 20th anniversary of the murder, Cunanan covered Miglin's head and face with tape, tortured him with a screwdriver and garden saw, and broke his ribs with multiple blows to the chest and torso, all of which is re-created in the FX drama. After he murders Miglin, he takes the businessmans dark green Lexus to continue his killing spree. As Chicago Police Superintendent Matt Rodriguez (played on the show by Alex Fernandez) told reporters at the time, there was evidence that the person or persons did in fact avail themselves of food at the victims home and was walking around the apartment. Furthermore, while Rodriguez confirmed that Miglin was tortured before he was murdered, he, like the rest of the police department, remained extraordinarily tightlipped about the case, as the Chicago Tribune put it at the time, just as in the show. "Thank you for remembering, Signore Versace." Then Andrew introduced Eli to Versace, who made polite talk. He killed William Reese, a 45-year-old cemetery worker in New Jersey, less than a week later. There were over two dozen blows causing bruises or lacerations to his head, face, and chin; the blood from these wounds soaked through layer upon layer of three-quarter-inch masking tape that had been wound around his head mummy-style, except for an opening at the nostrils and at the top of his head. Gay pornographic magazines had been left not far away.. Andrew was thrilled and Eli couldn't believe it. The 72-year-old real estate agent was found bludgeoned and stabbed by the man who later killed Versace. Use of this site constitutes acceptance of our, Digital Notably, Miglin and his business partner, J. Paul Beitler, unveiled plans in 1988 for the Miglin-Beitler Skyneedle, a skyscraper that would have risen 15 stories taller than the Sears Tower to become the new tallest building in the world. In The Assassination of Gianni Versace, Cunanan is played by Glee star Darren Criss. After a five-hour standoff, a SWAT team moved in and there were reports that police had pulled the body of a man who might have been Cunanan. He built the garage specifically for he and my mom to use and for her to use for the rest of her life," Duke Miglin said. Orth called Madson the great unrequited love of Cunanans life and noted that although the pair had broken up in the spring of 1996, Cunanan kept a picture of Madson on his refrigerator door. "There's so much pain generated from what happened 20 years ago and now another something else that is out of our control here is happening again," Duke Miglin said. Police also claimed that Miglin's leather jacket and wristwatch were missing, as well as $2,000 from Miglin's briefcase. "A Random Killing" posits that Cunanan and Miglin knew one another, implying that Miglin was a closeted gay or bisexual man who had hired Cunanan, a sex worker, several times before. Maureen Orth, in her book Vulgar Favors on which the series is based, supports the first two details but is more vague about the concrete block to the head, reporting only that there were two dozen blows to the head, face, and chin. That Cunanan threw a concrete block on Miglins chest is less in doubt, as it would account for the multiple broken ribs. The car belonged to one of the men that Cunanan was suspected of murdering in Minneapolis. Marilyn Miglin said on Tuesday, May 6. On 4 May 1997, Miglin was murdered by a serial killer named Andrew Cunanan, whose case, The Assassination of Gianni Versace, was created into a television series. His wife Marilyn had become suspicious when she arrived home from a business trip to Canada that morning, only to find her husband missing and a handgun in a bathroom though the gun later turned out to be a replica. The Chicago Tribune reported on the murder after Miglin was killed in May 1997 and before Cunanan was named as a suspect. As depicted in 'The Assassination of Gianni Versace: American Crime Story,' Cunanan killed four other men before murdering Versace in July 1997. He also talked about wanting to reveal Miglin's orientation to the world through the manner of his death, leaving his body surrounded by gay pornography and wearing more traditionally feminine underwear. But on "American Crime Story," Lee Miglin is shown talking with Cunanan on the phone. What the executive producers told me at the 2018 TCA Winter press tour is that they tried to do justice to the victims as best they could based on the differing statements and accounts. The Sky Needle is grounded in fact (the project. Miglins family has consistently and vigorously denied that Leeor his 25-year-old son Duke, a rising actor whose name Cunanan had reportedly dropped to friendshad ever met Cunanan. Miglin was meant to pick Marilyn up from Chicago O'Hare airport that morning. In addition to running her business, Marilyn is a recipient of the Raoul Wallenberg International Humanitarian Award. Miglin home: Miglin was killed at his Gold Coast home on East Scott Street. Darren Criss, left, plays con artist Andrew Cunanan and Mike Farrell plays Chicago real estate tycoon Lee Miglin on "American Crime Story: The Assassination of Gianni Versace. (Matt Dinerstein / FX). Their quarrel and legal fight is the garage where Miglin was meant to Marilyn... Account for the multiple broken ribs garden glove with numerous black rubber dots New! And not their first meeting and not their first meeting and not their first meeting a! 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