The Assassination of Gianni Versace: Know the Real Killer

The first episode of American Crime Story season 2, The Assassination of Gianni Versace, makes no bones that killer Andrew Cunanan was behind the death of his most famous victim: Gianni Versace.

The series begins by positioning Gianni Versace and his killer on the opposite sides of the social spectrum, Versace perched high on the balcony of his majestic Miami mansion and Cunanan sifting through his old backpack on the beach below the mansion.

Video: Clips of American Crime Story: The Assassination of Gianni Versace

The premiere episode, titled The Man Who Would Be Vogue, shows the two characters bumping into each other twice, first in a nightclub, and the next time on the stage of the San Francisco Opera.

However, the encounters between the two is still a matter of conjecture, further exacerbated by Cunanan’s proclivity for lying. Though the Versace family has said that Gianni never met his murderer there are many people who dispute this argument.

Vanity Fair’s contributing editor Maureen Orth, whose book has provided material for The Assassination of Gianni Versace, was among the first to mention the encounters between the multimillionaire and his killer. Similarly, another person, named Doug Stubblefield, is said to have witnessed the meeting between Versace with Cunanan.

Cunanan would shoot Versace dead

Source: Daily Mail

Though Versace’s family has maintained that Gianni never met his killer, Orth told Vanity Fair last week,

There is no doubt in my mind that those two met.

He further added,

That all is absolutely fact-based, on-the-record reporting.

In fact, when news of Gianni’s murder on the steps of his Miami mansion first broke in July 1997, Orth was one of the first people to assume who the real killer was.