"I don't think you healyou never close up that gaping woundbut you adjust," Marilyn told the Chicago Tribune. 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. Shortly after Miglins murder, Cunanan became the 449th fugitive listed on the FBIs Most Wanted list. Today, she still works as a beauty authority, author, and speaker, appearing monthly on the Home Shopping Network to promote products such as her signature fragrance Pheromone, according to her website. The 72-year-old real estate agent was found bludgeoned and stabbed by the man who later killed Versace. His murder, which shocked the nation, is the focus of FXs The Assassination of Gianni Versace: American Crime Story. A night later, it remained a mystery who had so brutally murdered Miglin. She also continues to give back to her community by raising more than $1 million to the preservation of Oak Street in Chicago and by founding the Women of Destiny program. Cunanan's third victim was 72-year-old prominent real estate developer Lee Miglin from Chicago. The FX series doesn't touch this alleged connection, at least not in this episode. 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. 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The program recruited 200 of Chicagos most successful women and had them serve as mentors for young women across a variety of professions. 2023 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. 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. 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 black Lexus was found abandoned in a New Jersey cemetery, near the body of cemetery caretaker, William Reese, Cunanan's fourth victim. Miglin had suffered multiple blows to the chest. 2023 TIME USA, LLC. 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. Maureen Orth wrote the book that The Assassination Of Gianni Versace is based on. ", "In the Miglin case, this was such a horrible crime. "No place and no one is immune from violence, yet tonight, we begin with a murder nearly as disturbing from where it happened as it is for who the victim was," Holt read at the top of the newscast. Instead, she took care of Miglin's 98-year-old mother and brother-in-law, who was very close to Lee, the fourth of seven children. She loves owls, hates cilantro, and can find the queer subtext in literally anything. Miglin was not so lucky. Twenty years after the murder, Cunanans motive is still unclear. Police response: Chicago Police Supt. 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. 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. There Cunanan shoots Reese point blank and steals the truck. From Vulgar Favors: I guessed Lee Miglin would never have left a Coke can in his sink or a pint of ice cream on his countertop, let alone a ham on his desk, said Stephen Byer, who came upon the crime scene with his wife Barbara. ''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. 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. Miglin, 72, invites him into his Gold Coast home while his wife is away on a business trip. Mike Farrell as Lee Miglin (left) and Judith Light as Marilyn Miglin (right) in. 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. "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.". CBS 2's Geoff Morrell reported that detectives initially believed Miglin did not know his killer or killers but rather believed it was a crime of opportunity, and Miglin was targeted because he was rich and vulnerable. But the day Miglin's body was found, likely nobody knew Cunanan had been the killer other than Cunanan himself. 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. An open pint of chocolate ice cream and a Coke can are shown on the kitchen counter. All Rights Reserved. Look at my husband Lee, one of seven children, the son of an Illinois coal miner. The book includes more details about the crime scene and the conditions in which Miglin's body was found, Vanity Fair noted. Heres what to know about suspected serial killer Andrew Cunanan: Hours after Versaces shooting death, authorities identified Andrew Cunanan as the prime suspect. It happened that Schlesinger had interviewed Trail years before he was murdered for a story on gays in the military. Police believed Miglin had been murdered between 2 p.m. and 5 p.m. the day before. 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. And in her Vanity Fair report on Cunanan, she wrote that he was a sex worker. Matt Rodriguez. 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. Miglin-Cunanan relationship: This is probably the most contentious part of the story. Kate Recreated a Past Outfit for St. David's Day, American Crime Story: The Assassination of Gianni Versace, shooting Gianni Versace on the front steps of his mansion, Your Privacy Choices: Opt Out of Sale/Targeted Ads. 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. The pair engage in an intimate conversation onstage after the show. Among Cunanan's many victims was Chicago real estate tycoon Lee Miglinthe third individual to die in the serial killer's murderous spree. Egan, CEO of Roseland Hospital, lost a 2011 campaign for 43rd ward alderman. 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. What American Crime Story Makes Up About Lee Miglin's Horrific Murder, American Crime Story The Assassination Of Gianni Versace. Marilyn Miglin died just this past March at the age of 83, and maintained to her death that her husband and Cunanan never knew each other. "Would this guy let some stranger in off the street? Why did he want him dead? He was described as an upbeat, fun-loving, compassionate man. 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. 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. Miglin was killed in the garage on May 3, 1997 by serial killer Andrew Cunanan. The red Jeep he drove to Chicago was found parked two blocks from the developers house. 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. But you know, who knows?" Police had gone to Madson's apartment after he hadn't shown up for work, and found Trail's body there, CBS News reported. Versace had a longtime boyfriend, Antonio DAmico. The FBI also reported there had been sightings of Cunanan in the Palm Beach and Miami areas in the weeks prior. Use of this site constitutes acceptance of our, Digital Later, Cunanan goes on a date with Versace to the San Francisco Opera, where the designer is working on Capriccio. On May 4, 1997, Cunanan drove to Chicago, Illinois, and killed Lee Miglin, a prominent real estate developer. 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.". Meanwhile, investigators later learned that after murdering Miglin, Cunanan not only ate some ham and left a sliced ham on Miglin's desk, but he also hung around at the Miglin home to shave and take a shower. Marilyn Miglin called the police around 8 a.m. that Sunday, after discovering a 9 mm handgun in the bathroom. "Lee Miglin built that garage for his . Her website describes her as a beauty authority, author and speaker who is among the nations top-500 women business owners.. 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.. In the aftermath of the murder, reporters and authorities tried to find a link between Miglin, who appeared to have been happily married for nearly 40 years, and Cunanan. The show also includes the rather creepy details about how Cunanan made himself at home at the Miglins' after the murder. But Versace wasn't the only one who lost his life at the hands of 27-year-old serial killer Andrew Cunanan. He had been bound with duct tape, stabbed more than 20 times with a. At any rate, the FBI looked into these claims that Cunanan knew Miglin or his family, but no link was ever established. CBS 2's Mike Parker reported Chicago Police had been aching to talk with Cunanan about the murder of Miglin. On May 3, Cunanan drove to Chicago, Illinois, and killed 72-year-old Lee Miglin, a prominent real estate developer. CBS 2's Edwards talked with CBS News Correspondent Richard Schlesinger, who has researched and reported extensively on the Cunanan murders. Speaking to The Chicago Tribune a year after Lee's murder, Marilyn denied these rumors about her husband and Cunanan. The series, which airs at 9 p.m. Wednesdays, is based on the 1999 book Vulgar Favors by Maureen Orth, who covered the Cunanan manhunt for Vanity Fair. 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. 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 . 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 . The motive behind Cunanan's third murder remains a mystery, according to an article by ABC7Chicago 20 years after Miglin's death. That check showed that the Jeep was being sought by Minnesota authorities in connection with the two killings there. 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. All Rights Reserved. Scenes for American Crime Story were filmed in September outside 2104 N. Fremont St., in Lincoln Park. Miglin made his money as a real estate developer. According to Orth's report, a friend of Cunanan's had told the FBI that Cunanan had said he was going to start a movie set business with a friend. He left no suicide note or explanation for his crimes. 2023 BDG Media, Inc. All rights reserved. Trail wasa graduate of the U.S. 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). 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