But on "American Crime Story," Lee Miglin is shown talking with Cunanan on the phone. 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. And I still don't.". His neck was partially severed and all of his ribs had been broken. 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. Some reportsincluding one in the New York Timesclaimed that Cunanan had told friends he was HIV-positive, and that he was murdering former lovers out of a desire for vengeance on whoever had infected him. This Is How Andrew Cunanan Died. The Tribune explores what Wednesdays episode got right and wrong about the events that occurred in Chicago, based on reporting at the time. The FBI also reported there had been sightings of Cunanan in the Palm Beach and Miami areas in the weeks prior. Look at my husband Lee, one of seven children, the son of an Illinois coal miner. "I don't think you healyou never close up that gaping woundbut you adjust," Marilyn told the Chicago Tribune. Did he place an ad in a gay magazine or newspaper as a rentboy? 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. 2022 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. Egan is trying to evict his mother-in-law from the garage. About three years ago, Marlena Miglin added Egan to the title when she was trying to get a business loan. Miglin family members have long denied Lee Miglin and Cunanan knew each other before the attack. But that's just one theory. "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 fashion designer was returning home from his morning walk to the News Caf, where he went to purchase magazines, when a man approached and fired two shots into his head. [RELATED: 'American Crime Story' revisits the Chicago murder of Lee Miglin], [A look at the Chicago TV and film projects set to premiere in 2018], [Taraji P. Henson producing, starring in film about Emmett Till], 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., Lee Miglin told Crains Chicago Business in 1994, have long denied Lee Miglin and Cunanan knew each other, RELATED: 'American Crime Story' revisits the Chicago murder of Lee Miglin, A look at the Chicago TV and film projects set to premiere in 2018, Taraji P. Henson producing, starring in film about Emmett Till, Photos: Chicago cop shot, left very critical on Southwest Side, Colson Montgomery, the Chicago White Soxs top prospect, is taking it all in during major-league camp, Chicago mayor runoff begins with mutual attacks: Brandon Johnson would destroy economy; Paul Vallas failed everywhere he has gone, Do Not Sell/Share My Personal Information. 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. Now Egan wants access to the garage and is trying to evict his in-laws from the property. Miglin's black Lexus was found abandoned in a New Jersey cemetery, near the body of cemetery caretaker, William Reese, Cunanan's fourth victim. However, an autopsy showed Cunanan to be HIV-negative. Fact Checking 'The Assassination of Gianni Versace': Did Andrew Cunanan Know Victim Lee Miglin? Marilyn Miglin called the police around 8 a.m. that Sunday, after discovering a 9 mm handgun in the bathroom. The Chicago Tribune reported on the murder after Miglin was killed in May 1997 and before Cunanan was named as a suspect. So I understand it is their choice. Though his mother would later bitterly describe him as a "high-class male prostitute," Cunanan was actually more of a male mistress or giggolo - the kept companion of a succession of older gay men who would lavish clothes . 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. Either [Cunanan] knew of the guy or knew his son. 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. 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. In addition to running her business, Marilyn is a recipient of the Raoul Wallenberg International Humanitarian Award. 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. Cunanan would later try to pawn one of Miglin's coins in Miami prior to his murder of Versace. 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 would use that weapon throughout his murder spree. The skyscraper was never built. Cunanan opened fire at point-blank range, shooting Versace twice in the back of the head, according to FBI records. 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. But the high-profile killing of Versace forced Cunanan to keep a lower profile for the final week of his life. In reality, there isn't much out there about the possible Cunanan-Miglin relationship. Police had gone to Madson's apartment after he hadn't shown up for work, and found Trail's body there, CBS News reported. Earlier the same day, he'd gotten a haircut at Cote d'Or Coiffures, 40 E. Oak St. "He was in a very good mood," said Cote d'Or owner Delores Kimmel. His face was wrapped in masking tape, his feet were bound, and his throat was slashed. What truly happened remains a mystery to this day, but Gregg McCrary, former supervisory special agent of the FBI's Behavioral Sciences Unit, told Vanity Fair that he thinks the possibility of Miglin's murder being random is unlikely. ", "In the Miglin case, this was such a horrible crime. 2023 BDG Media, Inc. All rights reserved. Trails sister told the New York Times that Cunanan had a strange fascination with Trail, and often appeared to try and emulate him. Miglin's son, Duke, added, "There was no relationship whatsoever.". The details of the robbery are accurate, but there is no hard evidence for the shows assertion that Miglin knew Cunanan, much less engaged his sexual services. The FX series doesn't touch this alleged connection, at least not in this episode. 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. "Because they are refusing to let him have access to the garage, we filed a demand under the law to demand access," said Berton Ring, Egan's eviction case attorney. After killing Miglin, Cunanan left with his car, several items of clothing, $2,000 in cash, and some gold coins from the safe. And the show uses real life details to come to these conclusions, such as Cunanan's obsession with wealth and privilege, as well as the manner in which Miglin's body was really found. He made seemingly little attempt to stay under the radar, despite being on the FBIs Most Wanted list; at one point, he even used his own name to pawn a gold coin he stole from Miglin. "We don't even think about it," said Marylin. The mentions of Cunanan's connection to the Miglin family are more along the lines of his actually knowing Duke, the Miglins' son. 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. 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.". Miglin-Cunanan relationship: This is probably the most contentious part of the story. Police believed Miglin had been murdered between 2 p.m. and 5 p.m. the day before. "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. One of the most ambiguousand contentiouselements of the series is the relationship between Cunanan and Versace, and whether they even knew each other. 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.. Designer Gianni Versace appearing at a fashion show. "I lived the life of a fairy princess and I had a prince for 38 years, and then one day my prince went to war and didn't come back," she said. The episode's version of events depicts that Lee Miglin knew Andrew Cunanan before Cunanan allegedly killed him. Certainly any sexual relationship was not an angle the police gave much credence to, at least publicly. [27] Criss Cunanan is nothing if not an unreliable narrator. He began his career selling premixed pancake batter out of the trunk of a beat-up old car, Marilyn Miglin says at the fundraiser on American Crime Story. She goes on to mention that Miglin built the Chicago Bar Association building (he developed it with business partner J. Paul Beitler in 1990). The family of one of Andrew Cunanan's victims disputes the version of events presented in FX series. Morgan Doughty Filed A Lawsuit Against The Murdaugh Family, Heres How To Watch The Alex Murdaugh Trial Live, Sophie Turners Joan Charts The Rise Of A Famous British Jewel Thief, Alex Murdaugh Faces Life In Prison For Allegedly Killing His Wife & Son, Get Even More From Bustle Sign Up For The Newsletter. 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. Andrew Phillip Cunanan (August 31, 1969 - July 23, 1997) was an American serial killer known to have murdered five people, including Italian fashion designer Gianni Versace and Chicago real estate developer Lee Miglin, during a three-month period in mid-1997. Miglin home: Miglin was killed at his Gold Coast home on East Scott Street. The Jan. 31 episode of The Assassination Of Gianni Versace: American Crime Story (executive producer: Nina Jacobson), "A Random Killing," focuses on the murder of Lee Miglin, a real estate mogul from Chicago. 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. All Rights Reserved. He had been shot in the head, and his red pickup truck was gone, replaced by a green Lexus with Illinois platesthe same one Cunanan stole from Miglins garage. He heads to Miami Beach and fatally shoots Versace before killing himself eight days later. An initial theory told to Morrell by sources was that Miglin had parked his Lexus in a garage and walked across the alleyway, and was in the process of opening his back gate when someone stuck what Miglin believed to be a loaded gun in his back and ordered him into his other garage. Miglin's daughter, Marlena Miglin, is now going through a bitter divorce from Tim Egan, 2nd Ward Democratic committeeman. 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). There has been speculation in the quarter century since. 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. 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. But where the television series begins to diverge from some reports is in what relationship Cunanan had to the Miglin family, if any. But the mystery of why he went on a killing spree remained baffling. 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. As CBS 2 Chief Correspondent Jay Levine reported from Miami, police quickly dismissed the idea that Versace's murder was a random act. The episode builds on the scene from the previous week where Cunanan sells his services to an older, successful man, whom he subjects to some BDSM that looks like its going to go too far and end tragically before Cunanan relents. On the road he hears over the car radio that the police are able to track his movements through the cars phone. 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 . 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