The Price of Beauty: The Assassination of Gianni Versace & the Making of a Serial Killer (Part 1)
July 15th, 1997. Gianni Versace, the man who dressed Princess Diana, Madonna, and Tupac, who built the supermodel era, who chose the face of Medusa as his logo, is shot twice on the steps of his Miami Beach mansion by a 27-year-old serial killer from San Diego named Andrew Cunanan.
Cunanan was already four murders deep into the most sensational FBI manhunt of the 1990s. And the bureau had completely failed to stop him.
In Part One, Kathryn and Gabriel build the world before the crime: Versace's rise from Reggio di Calabria to global fashion empire, the 1990s celebrity worship culture that made both men possible, Andrew Cunanan's psychological unraveling (IQ of 147, a fraudster father who fled to the Philippines, a decade of performing a life built entirely on lies), and what Baudrillard's simulacra theory has to do with a murder on Ocean Drive.
Part Two drops next Monday.
SOURCES: Orth, Maureen. Vulgar Favors: The Hunt for Andrew Cunanan. Delacorte Press, 1999. Versace, Gianni. Rock and Royalty. Abbeville Press, 1996. Baudrillard, Jean. Simulacra and Simulation. Trans. Sheila Glaser. University of Michigan Press, 1994. Cushman, Philip. "Why the Self Is Empty." American Psychologist 45, no. 5 (1990): 599-611. McCutcheon, Lynn E., et al. "Conceptualization and Measurement of Celebrity Worship." British Journal of Psychology 93 (2002): 67-87. Shilts, Randy. And the Band Played On. St. Martin's Press, 1987. Fukuyama, Francis. The End of History and the Last Man. Free Press, 1992. Vanderbilt, Amy. Complete Book of Etiquette. Doubleday, 1952. Defense of Marriage Act, Pub. L. 104-199, 110 Stat. 2419 (1996). 10 U.S.C. § 654 (1993). FBI Andrew Cunanan Fugitive File. vault.fbi.gov. Sawyer, Diane. Cunanan Family Interview. ABC News, 1997.
DISCLAIMER: This episode discusses murder, serial homicide, the HIV/AIDS crisis, suicide, substance abuse, child abuse, financial fraud, narcissistic personality disorder, and systemic discrimination against LGBTQ+ Americans. Psychological and philosophical frameworks are presented for educational purposes only and do not constitute clinical diagnosis of any living or deceased individual. Andrew Cunanan died by suicide on July 23, 1997, before facing trial. No theory presented constitutes proven fact. Views expressed are solely those of the hosts and do not represent legal conclusions, forensic findings, or professional analysis of any kind. Educational and entertainment purposes only.
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Thanks for hanging with us. See you next time with another face, another crime, and probably another debate between us.
Stay curious. Stay suspicious.
