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. Cunanan wanted to disgrace Miglin. Vulgar Favors noted that there was pornography found near his body and Miglin was wearing bikini-style underwear. On July 10, Versace arrived in Miami to stay at his opulent mansion in the South Beach area. 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. In its original report on the murder, The Chicago Tribune noted, "The police department was extraordinarily tightlipped about the case a testimony to Miglin's position of influence in political circles here." His mouth was gagged with a white garden glove with numerous black rubber dots. Miglin's son, Duke, added, "There was no relationship whatsoever.". After the first two murders, Andrew Cunanan left for Chicago, and in less than a week's time, on May 3, the wealthy 72-year-old property developer Lee Miglin's body was discovered in his house . 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. The nature of it suggests that it was personal just as police work 101 when it's up close that way, and stab wounds, all of these types of wounds that's generally people who know the victim. 2022 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. Versaces longtime partner and family have said portions of the series are inaccurate. "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. Miglin was not so lucky. On Wednesday, July 23, authorities surrounded a houseboat along Miami Beach, in which Cunanan had apparently holed up. Miglin was found in his garage, partially hidden under a car, with several stab wounds, all his ribs broken, his throat slashed, his feet bound, his face wrapped in masking tape with just a small hole below his nose for him to breathe through, and his body partially covered in plastic and brown wrapping paper. He left no suicide note or explanation for his crimes. Now Egan wants access to the garage and is trying to evict his in-laws from the property. 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. "A lot of false things were brought up and they were very hurtful, very painful, for me personally and there were attacks on me as well that I really didn't appreciate. 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. The only evidence there is points toward Cunanan killing Miglin for his car and. The idea that he just picked him up off the street and stalked him and tortured him and then killed him is bizarre not the most likely scenario.". Finally, as in the show, Cunanan really did make off in Miglins beautiful Lexus sports car. The book includes more details about the crime scene and the conditions in which Miglin's body was found, Vanity Fair noted. People who knew Cunanan also told Orth that he often sought out wealthy, older, gay men to date in his personal life. The motive behind Cunanan's third murder remains a mystery, according to an article by ABC7Chicago 20 years after Miglin's death. After the standoff, police went in and found the body speculated to be Cunanan's inside though police were not yet identifying Cunanan at that point. Use of this site constitutes acceptance of our, Digital Miglin family members did not return a Tribune request for comment. The episode leaves it for viewers to puzzle out, but in real life, Cunanan's motivations are similarly mysterious. He was an early developer of business parks.His firm, at one point, proposed the construction of the Miglin-Beitler Skyneedle, which was planned to be the tallest building in . Miglin made his money as a real estate developer. But the plan fell through. Daisy Jones & The Six Is A Nostalgic Series Based On A Best-Selling Book, The 'Ted Lasso' Season 3 Trailer Is Finally Here & Fellas, It'll Give You Goosebumps, '1923' Will Deliver More Dutton Family Drama In Season 2 Of The 'Yellowstone' Prequel, 'Yellowjackets' Season 3 Is Officially Happening, What Parents Are Talking About Delivered Straight To Your Inbox, By subscribing to this BDG newsletter, you agree to our. The 72-year-old real estate agent was found bludgeoned and stabbed by the man who later killed Versace. I am rather leaning towards Miglin being a closeted gay older man that Andrew connected with by chance rather than it being a "random killing." The skyscraper was never built. Then Cunanan is shown laying Miglin down in his garage, wrapping his legs together with orange extension cord, strangling him, punching him in the face, throwing a bag of concrete on his chest and stabbing him. Miglin family members have long denied Lee Miglin and Cunanan knew each other before the attack. Investigators still dont know why Andrew Cunanan killed Gianni Versace. Get browser notifications for breaking news, live events, and exclusive reporting. The Assassination of Gianni Versace writer Tom Rob Smith and producer Ryan Murphy based the series on a book by veteran Vanity Fair writer Maureen Orth, who reported extensively on the case before writing Vulgar Favors: Andrew Cunanan, Gianni Versace, and the Largest Failed Manhunt in US History. Miglin's black Lexus was found abandoned in a New Jersey cemetery, near the body of cemetery caretaker, William Reese, Cunanan's fourth victim. The Miglin family has vociferously denied that Lee or his 25-year-old son, Duke, a fledgling actor in Hollywood who has a bit part in this summer's Air Force One, ever met Cunanan. Police responding to the attack found Reeses stolen truck in a nearby parking garage, along with Cunanans clothes, a fake passport, and newspaper clippings detailing his murders. As CBS 2 Chief Correspondent Jay Levine reported from Miami, police quickly dismissed the idea that Versace's murder was a random act. The SUV had Minnesota license plates that had been registered to Minneapolis interior designer David Madson, 33, whose body had been found near a lake in Chisago County, Minnesota the day before Miglin's body was found. 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. Another theory suggested that Cunanan might have met the victims son, Duke Miglin, who was for a while an aspiring actor in Hollywood (and did indeed appear in the movie Air Force One). Mike Farrell as Lee Miglin (left) and Judith Light as Marilyn Miglin (right) in. 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. She loves owls, hates cilantro, and can find the queer subtext in literally anything. Cunanan was a serial killer, suspected in four other deaths. Certainly any sexual relationship was not an angle the police gave much credence to, at least publicly. 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. He killed William Reese, a 45-year-old. On the show and in real life, the Jeep provides a break in the case as a Chicago police officer notices the windshield is covered in parking tickets. At 10 p.m. Monday on ABC7, Chuck Goudie's "Evil Memories" will look at Lee Miglin's murder by psychopath Andrew Cunanan. Miglins killing: Cunanan is shown putting a white glove in Miglins mouth as a gag and wrapping his head in masking tape in what appears to be foreplay. The first episode shows Versace and Cunanan meeting in the VIP area of a nightclub, where an initially irritated Versace is eventually won over by Cunanans story about his mothers upbringing in Italy. The only source for the latter is Orth, who, quoting several anonymous sex workers, claims it was well-known in Chicagos gay community that Miglin was gay. As Washington Post writer Edward Walsh wrote on May 8, 1997: "(Miglin) is widely credited for his concept of redeveloping aging warehouse areas into what is known today as upscale business parks, and at the time of his death had built a company responsible for developing several high-rise buildings in Chicago and its suburbs and managing 22 million square feet of office and retail space.". Child on bike hit by school bus in Mount Prospect: police, Chicago mayoral race down to Vallas, Johnson in runoff election. The program recruited 200 of Chicagos most successful women and had them serve as mentors for young women across a variety of professions. But you know, who knows?" Magazines, Digital On the morning of Saturday, May 3, Kyle Hilken and Scott Schmidt were out looking for a fishing spot at East Rush Lake when they stumbled upon Madson's body in some nearby brush. He bound Miglin's hands and feet and wrapped his head with duct tape, then stabbed him more than twenty times with a screwdriver, slit his throat with a hacksaw, and stole his car. Cunanan and Miglin are shown sharing a long embrace and kiss. But the murder of Miglin, and Cunanan's whereabouts, remained a mystery until Tuesday, July 15, 1997 when fashion icon Gianni Versace was shot on the steps of his oceanfront villa,Casa Casuarina, in Miami's South Beach neighborhood. In reality, there isn't much out there about the possible Cunanan-Miglin relationship. He began his career as a salesman for Arthur Rubloff & Co. in Chicago, as noted by the Washington Post. As for the murder, the details are particularly disturbing. Shortly after Miglins murder, Cunanan became the 449th fugitive listed on the FBIs Most Wanted list. He stopped in South Carolina to replace the truck's New Jersey plates with stolen ones, and found his way to Miami. After murdering Miglin in his garage, Cunanan went into the family's home, ate a ham sandwich, shaved and rested. While those are the facts of the gruesome murder, what isn't known is why Cunanan targeted Miglin specifically, if in fact he did. As noted in published reports, Miglin was born in 1924 in downstate Illinois the son of a Lithuanian immigrant coal miner. Cunanan used whatever was at hand in the garage, stabbing Miglin with either pruning shears (says Time) or a screwdriver (as several other reports suggest) and inflicting the throat wound with a gardening saw. That friend was allegedly Duke Miglin. Cunanan then took off. The service is attended by some 2,000 people and scores of celebrities, including Princess Diana, Elton John, Naomi Campbell, and fashion power players like Giorgio Armani and Karl Lagerfeld. Jim Edgar event: A week before Lee Miglins death, Marilyn Miglin (played by Transparent star Judith Light) is shown praising her husband at a fundraiser for Jim Edgar, who served as Illinois governor from 1991-99. There Cunanan shoots Reese point blank and steals the truck. According to the Vanity Fair article, Cunanan told some friends that he was going to start a business making movie sets with his friend named Duke Miglin, a report The New York Times corroborates. Yet, this version of events goes against what Miglin's family has maintained for 21 years. In addition to running her business, Marilyn is a recipient of the Raoul Wallenberg International Humanitarian Award. The show sticks closely to this gruesome version of events. So far, they have refused. As told by the FX series, Miglin was a closeted, 72-year-old real estate magnate who paid for Cunanan's services as a gigolo while his wife (played by Judith Light) was out of town. Long Waits, Short Appointments, Huge Bills. Speaking to The Chicago Tribune a year after Lee's murder, Marilyn denied these rumors about her husband and Cunanan. "It's very difficult," Miglin's son Duke told ABC7Chicago. Chicago was the setting for most of Wednesdays episode of "American Crime Story: The Assassination of Gianni Versace. The FX series follows Andrew Cunanan (played by Darren Criss) as he fatally stabs Chicago real estate tycoon Lee Miglin (MASH alum Mike Farrell) in May 1997 as part of a killing spree that also claimed Versace, a noted fashion designer. Miami Beach Chief of Police Richard Barreto said later that night that a caretaker had heard gunshots in the houseboat and had called police. [27] "We always wanted to be very careful; even though there were blanks to fill in, we tried really hard to fill them in with what we believed to be true and framed through the larger themes. On Friday, May 9, he shot and killed cemetery caretaker William Reese in rural Pennsville, New Jersey in order to steal Reese's red Chevrolet pickup truck. Investigators said that Madsons body showed no sign of restraints, and his only defensive wounds were in his fingers, suggesting that he had raised his hands to try and deflect one of the shots. Witnesses quickly identified someone matchingCunanan's description at the scene, and a manhunt for Cunanan was under way in Miami that night. The 27-year-old was on the FBIs Ten Most Wanted Fugitives list, suspected in the killings of four other people in Minnesota, Illinois and New Jersey. Miglin was meant to pick Marilyn up from Chicago O'Hare airport that morning. Ive never seen any credible evidence to show that there was a relationship, Robert Milan, a former assistant states attorney for Cook County, told ABC News. When he didn't show up, she became suspicious about her husband's whereabouts, according to the Chicago Tribune. As depicted in 'The Assassination of Gianni Versace: American Crime Story,' Cunanan killed four other men before murdering Versace in July 1997. CHICAGO (WLS) -- Twenty years after the murder of Chicago real estate mogul Lee Miglin, the garage where he was killed is still causing pain for his family. A lot of false things were brought up and they were very hurtful, very painful, for me personally and there were attacks on me as well that I really didnt appreciate. 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. Madsons body is found on the shore of Rush Lake in Minnesota. 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. Miglin was also known for philanthropic activities, including fundraising for the University of Chicago Medical Center and the Museum of Science and Industry. Miglin was killed in the garage on May 3, 1997 by serial killer Andrew Cunanan. Their two children, Marlena and Duke, an actor, were adults at the time of Miglin's murder. His face was wrapped in masking tape, his feet were bound, and his throat was slashed. "We were discussing Marilyn's fundraising at the Drake, which was very successful, and that they were planning to go to Israel and name a wing in her honor, and he was looking forward to that.". "I've never seen any credible evidence to show that there was a relationship," said Milan. Morrell's source said in that garage, Miglin was nearly decapitated with a pair of five-foot-long pruning shears, which were recovered in the garage. Marilyn Miglin is shown telling Rodriguez two leather coats, two suits, $2,000, some inconsequential pieces of jewelry, gold coins, a dozen pairs of Sulka black socks and Miglins Lexus are missing. And in her Vanity Fair report on Cunanan, she wrote that he was a sex worker. 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