"We don't know what happened over that weekend with Lee Miglin, and there are conflicting statements, so it was a real challenge for us to decide: what do we feel is authentically true, what do we believe to be true, and how can we do justice to these characters?" Hearst Magazine Media, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Simpson told the newspaper that producers for the true crime series studied Maureen Orth's book, "Vulgar Favors: Andrew Cunanan, Gianni Versace, and the Largest Failed Manhunt in U.S. History" and also bringing her on as a consultant. Mike Farrell as Lee Miglin (left) and Judith Light as Marilyn Miglin (right) in. The Medical Examiner found no defensive wounds on Miglin. 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 only evidence there is points toward Cunanan killing Miglin for his car and. 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. Ultimately, police ruled Miglin's murder a crime of opportunity, according to the Chicago Tribune. The minute you start feeling sorry for yourself, everyone else falls.". He currently lives in a townhouse that was gifted to his estranged wife, Marlena Miglin, by her mother Marilyn Miglin, who owns of a well-known beauty product company. There are references made to this not being their first meeting and not their first meeting of a sexual nature. 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. Finally, as in the show, Cunanan really did make off in Miglins beautiful Lexus sports car. Cunanan would later try to pawn one of Miglin's coins in Miami prior to his murder of Versace. ''He went out in the afternoons and late evening,'' William J. Esposito, the bureau's deputy director, said at a Washington news conference, per the New York Times. Episode 3 of The Assassination of Gianni Versace tests whether well still be interested in the series without its title character, who is largely absent from the action. "I'd say it's highly probable that he knew Miglin," said McCrary. The steps of Versaces Miami Beach home shortly after his murder. 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. That check showed that the Jeep was being sought by Minnesota authorities in connection with the two killings there. 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. Magazines, Or create a free account to access more articles. 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. All rights reserved. Miglin made his money as a real estate developer. "My father didn't get to see my children, he didn't get to meet my wifeThere's never really closure in a situation like this.". The motive behind Cunanan's third murder remains a mystery, according to an article by ABC7Chicago 20 years after Miglin's death. According to Orth's book, the two met in mid-1994, three years before the murders. Separate fact from fiction with this timeline of Cunanans real-life murders. Andrew was thrilled and Eli couldn't believe it. Dirty dishes in the kitchen and beard stubble in the bathroom sink were Marilyn's next clues that something was amiss. In an emailed statement to The Chicago Sun-Times, American Crime Story executive producer Brad Simpson said: Bustle reached out to FX and the network declined to give additional comment. Yet, this version of events goes against what Miglin's family has. Yet, this version of events goes against what Miglin's family has maintained for 21 years. The 72-year-old was reportedly cleaning a garage behind his home when Cunanan attacked. All Rights Reserved. All contents 2023 The Slate Group LLC. Its unclear how much of this were meant to take at face value, and how much is Cunanans delusional, grandiose idea of the relationship he feels he deserves to have with Versace. But that doesn't seem to account for the grotesque violence of Miglin's death. Who is Lee Miglin, Andrew Cunanan's Third Victim? 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.. He heads to Miami Beach and fatally shoots Versace before killing himself eight days later. On July 10, Versace arrived in Miami to stay at his opulent mansion in the South Beach area. The claims that the younger Miglin and Cunanan knew each other gained circulation, Orth said, after a Chicago bookseller repeated them to the Minneapolis Star-Tribune, but the source then called a press conference to say he had been misquoted. Federal investigators believed Cunanan may have been targeting gay 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). Sample Page; ; 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. After the killing, Cunanan took Miglin's Lexus and drove to New Jersey. I am an advocate of Edgar from way back, Lee Miglin told Crains Chicago Business in 1994. After murdering Miglin in his garage, Cunanan went into the family's home, ate a ham sandwich, shaved and rested. The source also said Miglin had been covered with a plastic bag, and masking tape wrapped around his throat. However, holes had been cut in the bag so Miglin could breathe. So I understand it is their choice. But as to the Miglin case, Schlesinger said when it comes to whether Miglin and Cunanan knew each other, he is "not sure it really matters. There is no indisputable evidence to suggest Lee Miglin was involved with men or knew Cunanan specifically. Maureen Orth's Vulgar Favors recounted the horrifying details: Miglin had been bound and gagged with a glove, his head wrapped in tape like a mummy. Miami Beach Chief of Police Richard Barreto said later that night that a caretaker had heard gunshots in the houseboat and had called police. And in its 2017 article on Duke Miglin, ABC7 also noted, "The FBI looked into a few claims that Cunanan knew Miglin or his family, but no link was ever nailed down.". Here's what we know about Miglin and his family. Police press conference: We consider Andrew Cunanan to be armed and to be extremely dangerous. Did Cunanan somehow meet Miglin through Gamma Mu, a secretive gay men's fraternity? 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. Miglin's daughter, Marlena Miglin, is now going through a bitter divorce from Tim Egan, 2nd Ward Democratic . Schlesinger said there was some speculation that Versace and Cunanan had met briefly at an opera performance in San Francisco but it would have been in passing. The episode's version of events depicts that Lee Miglin knew Andrew Cunanan before Cunanan allegedly killed him. And if we didn't know, we really tried to allow for interpretation. 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. All Rights Reserved. The investigation into Versaces murder ended July 23, 1997 eight days after the designers death when Cunanan apparently shot himself to death on a boat house, about two miles away from Versaces house in Miami Beach. After killing Miglin, Cunanan left with his car, several items of clothing, $2,000 in cash, and some gold coins from the safe. 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. Why did he want him dead? 72-year-old real estate tycoon Lee Miglin was found dead in the garage of his Gold Coast home on the morning of May 4. Cunanan's crimes are now two decades old, but on ongoing divorce case has led to a dispute over the ownership of the garage where Lee Miglin was murdered. Four mug shots of Andrew Cunanan, who shot and killed fashion designer Gianni Versace. Miglin's body was found on the floor of the garage behind his home, but there were questions as to whether Miglin was actually killed in the garage. 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. 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. CBS 2's Brad Edwards went back to our archive to watch a Betamax tape of our 10 p.m. news from May 4, 1997 "News 2 Chicago," as our news was known at the time anchored by Lester Holt and Linda MacLennan. Cunanan fled the scene on foot. Miglin was not so lucky. 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.". Meanwhile, that red pickup that Cunanan had stolen from Reese was found in a parking garage near Versace's mansion. Cunanan bound Miglin with duct tape, stabbed him 20 times with a screwdriver, then cut his throat with a hacksaw (Dibdin, 2018). In a 2017 interview with ABC7, the local Chicago affiliate, Duke denied that he or his father ever knew Cunanan. His face was wrapped in masking tape, his feet were bound, and his throat was slashed. Police also later found a duffel bag in Madson's apartment with Cunanan's name and a La Jolla, California address on it. 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. Miglin and Beitler initially revealed plans for the Skyneedle, which would have soared more than 1,900 feet at the corner of Madison and Wells streets, in the late 80s. As depicted in 'The Assassination of Gianni Versace: American Crime Story,' Cunanan killed four other men before murdering Versace in July 1997. The Miglin family has always denied that there was any connection between them and Cunanan, with Lee's son Duke recently reiterating that stance to ABC 7 Eyewitness News. Matt Rodriguez. 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. Andrew Cunanan and David Madson met in November 1995. Then in May, Cunanan repeatedly stabbed Lee Miglin, a 72-year-old Chicago real estate developer and wealthy businessman, according to authorities. Duke Miglin was an aspiring actor in the 1990s, with a role in Air Force One. All Rights Reserved. But in published reports, Miglin's family has consistently maintained there was no connection between Miglin and Cunanan. Like William Reese, the 45-year-old cemetery caretaker Cunanan murdered for his truck, it's believed Miglin was murdered for his car, which Cunanan stole, along with some valuable belongings.. Another murder, the violent shooting of Lee Miglin, a self-made real-estate magnate, was making national headlines two months before Andrew Cunanan killed Gianni Versace. Cunanans ride: Cunanan is shown parking a red Jeep with Minnesota plates near the Miglin home before the attack. In fact, the series depicts Miglin as being a closeted homosexual who hires Cunanan as a sex worker. Again, the only source for the magazines on the scene is Orth, who says they had been left not far away, and even her account maintains Miglin was wearing regular mens Calvin Klein underwear. From Vulgar Favors: Two leather coats were missing, one of them (Miglins son) Duke's, a couple of suits, along with some insignificant ladies jewelry and a dozen pairs of new Sulka black socks from the bedroom.. She also said that, according to a Minneapolis homicide sergeant, the FBI had been told by a witness that Cunanan had told her he was going into business with Duke Miglin but that the Chicago police were ignoring this. He left no suicide note or explanation for his crimes. 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. None of this information really explains why Cunanan did what he did. 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. The red Jeep he drove to Chicago was found parked two blocks from the developers house. From there, Cunanan drove off in Reese's truck. We may earn commission on some of the items you choose to buy. 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. 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. "My reaction, of course, is sad, because there are a lot of matters we want to clear up with respect to our case here in the city of Chicago," said then-police Supt. The only evidence there is points toward Cunanan killing Miglin for his car and his money, even if that means there is a lot left unexplained about the murder itself. 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how did lee miglin and andrew cunanan meet