COP TELLS OF HUNT AS TV When I saw the body of Versace’s killer I knew we’d never find a motive
Horror on the steps of his £23m
HOMICIDE cop Carlos Noriega headed into his police station on July 15, 1997, and was told by a colleague: “I’d hate to be you today.”
Fifteen minutes later he understood why as he watched dying Gianni Versace stretchered away from his Miami Beach mansion.
The designer had been shot by serial killer Andrew Cunanan.
And Noriega, then commander of Miami Beach PD’s violent crime squad, had the unenviable task of catching the murderer.
He told the Sunday Mirror: “There was blood all over the scene and bullet fragments. He was shot execution-style, yet still alive when I saw him.
“A bird lay dead on the steps, potentially the symbol of a professional mob hit.
“Suddenly I realised, this is massive. And it is case.”
VENDETTA
Noriega, now 58, today reveals the real inside story on the murder and manhunt that stunned the world – as BBC2 airs a glitzy version of events in The Assassination of Gianni Versace: American Crime Story.
He believes the fashion guru, who entertained Princess Diana and Sir Elton John at his mansion, was killed by gay escort Cunanan in “some kind of vendetta”.
He also tells of the “pressure cooker” murder hunt as the world’s eyes focused on Miami, how his team chased 1,000 tipoffs and how he found Cunanan’s half-naked body in a houseboat after the killer shot himself.
The cop believes Versace knew the gunman and is frustrated that Cunanan, 27, took the secret of any relationship to the grave.
Noriega, speaking on the spot where Versace, 50, was killed, said: “There is no way this was a random killing. There was motive and we weren’t able to establish that because Cunanan killed himself.
“Those things went to the grave with him. That’s hard to accept. Independent statements claim they were seen together in a car and a club.
“Why did Cunanan do this? Perhaps a vendetta. Maybe they were an item one time, maybe Versace rejected him.
“Or maybe Cunanan went to him for help when he was in trouble and he didn’t get that help.” The TV series stars Edgar Ramirez as Versace, Penelope Cruz as his sister Donatella, Ricky Martin as the designer’s lover Antonio D’Amico and Darren Criss as Cunanan. By the time Cunanan arrived in Miami Beach, two months before killing Versace, he had already murdered four other men and was on the FBI’s 10 Most Wanted list. He holed up in the seedy Normandy Plaza hotel and evaded attention.
POPULAR
Wednesday’s first episode showed Versace starting his fateful last day inside Casa Casuarina, his mansion overlooking the sea on Ocean Drive. VERSACE was murdered on the steps of the mansion he transformed into a palace. The designer paid £2million for Casa Casuarina in 1992 after spotting a statue of Aphrodite at the entrance. Versace paid Noriega said: “Versace was very sociable, very popular.
“On the day he was killed, he walked over to News Cafe and was on his way home.
“Walking up to the steps, Cunanan approached. Versace turned around and was shot once in the face and once in the neck.”
Inside the gated mansion, D’Amico – Versace’s lover of 15 years – heard the shots, rushed out and found the designer lying £2.6million for a rundown hotel next door too – and knocked it down to make way for a pool with 24-carat gold tiles.
In all he would spend £23million creating a dream home which the likes of Princess Diana would visit.
Nowadays it is a hotel whose owners have kept it as a £1,000-a-night Versace