Never one to shy away from speaking his mind, mega producer Ryan Murphy, the man behind "The Assassination of Gianni Versace: American Crime Story," revealed that he believes that homophobia allowed Andrew Cunanan to leave a trail of bodies from Minnesota to Florida, before committing suicide in 1997.
In an interview with Entertainment Weekly, the Hollywood heavyweight divulged that he reached the conclusion that "it seemed like gay people were disposable in our culture," after studying information surrounding Cunanan's crimes.
The snippet of the interview that was released doesn't reveal if Murphy is insinuating that police were not proactive in pursuing Cunanan, or if he is saying that homophobia was at a level that made many Americans ambivalent toward the plight of gay men at the time.
Though, it should be pointed out that Cunanan was able to hide in plain sight for nearly two months before Versace's murder.
Step inside the Versace mansion. See exclusive photos of ‘The Assassination of Gianni Versace: #AmericanCrimeStory’: https://t.co/1UYCXChyWR pic.twitter.com/BCQIhm4mtu
— Entertainment Weekly (@EW) June 21, 2017
Cunanan's murder spree
While Andrew Cunanan is most known for the murder of Gianni Versace on July 15, 1997, his crime spree began three months earlier. Cunanan's first victim was Jeffrey Trail, a former U.S. naval officer, who the killer once referred to as a brother. Trail's body was found in the apartment of Cunanan's ex-partner, David Madson. Madson's body was discovered four days later near Minnesota's Rush Lake
After the murders, Cunanan, using Madson's vehicle, made his way to Chicago.
After lingering around the man's ritzy Gold Coast home for several days, Cunanan brutally murdered real-estate tycoon Lee Miglin. Police were able to quickly link Miglin's murder to the deaths of Trail and Madson, which led to Andrew Cunanan being added to the FBI's Ten Most Wanted list.
Cunanan fled the area in Miglin's vehicle, making his way to New Jersey.
It was at Finn's Point National Cemetary that he found his fourth victim, William Reese. While the first three murders are believed to be people with whom Andrew Cunanan had a personal relationship with, criminologists consider Reese's murder a crime of opportunity. Needing to find a new vehicle, police believe that Cunanan murdered the caretaker for his truck.
From New Jersey, Andrew Cunanan made his way to Florida. The serial killer would hide in plain sight for two months, until the infamous July day when shots rang out on the steps of Gianni Versace's Miami Beach mansion.
Nine days later, police tracked Cunanan down to a Miami houseboat. Surrounded, Cunanan committed suicide. At the scene, police recovered the .40-caliber pistol that had been used to murder Madson, Reese, and Versace. Trail and Miglin had been tortured and beaten to death.
Possible motive unearthed
In 2014, Chicago's ABC 7 News scoured the FBI's massive file on Andrew Cunanan, searching for a possible motive behind the grisly crime spree. According to their findings, the FBI was able to track down witnesses who divulged that Cunanan believed that he was HIV-positive and set out to kill anyone with whom he had unprotected sex.
An autopsy showed that Cunanan was HIV-negative.
Their combing of the files also showed a connection between Cunanan and Miglin. Was Miglin's horrific murder a crime of passion or a crime of opportunity? While Miglin's family has long denied any relationship between the two men, the FBI was able to track down at least one person who said that they had seen Miglin and Cunanan together. However, the Chicago Police Department questions the validity of the claim, as they say they've never been able to definitively link Miglin and Cunanan.
Speculation about what prompted Andrew Cunanan to begin a three-month-long, cold-blooded killing spree will always remain, as the only person who could answer that question died on a Miami houseboat.
"The Assassination of Gianni Versace: american crime story" is set to premiere in 2018 on FX. The mini-series stars Edgar Ramirez, Penelope Cruz, and Ricky Martin. "Glee" star Darren Criss plays Andrew Cunanan.