A housekeeper reportedly found the bodies and called the police at 1:20 P.M. on Wednesday.
Versace was shot as he opened the gate to his home on the morning of July 15, 1997.
According to The Daily Beast “the assailant was identified as Andrew Cunanan, a serial killer who preyed on gay men as he traveled from California to Florida, and who took his own life eight days later inside a houseboat after a lengthy standoff. It is still not known if Cunanan and Versace knew each other intimately, but photos of the men at the same event months before the murder imply they may have met. The Versace family has fought allegations that the two might have been lovers.”
Versace’s Villa Casa Casuarina, the 1930s Italian mansion in Miami Beach, is currently a boutique hotel. The deceased victims found on July 14 are reportedly both men. Miami Beach Police have not released their names or the suspected cause of death. In a statement, the department said that the crime scene was contained to one hotel room.
Death Investigation: This afternoon, at 1:21 p.m., MBPD responded to 1116 Ocean Drive after receiving a call from housekeeping advising of two deceased males. Police and Fire Rescue responded and located two deceased males inside of a hotel room. pic.twitter.com/hBneMlgUrh
— Miami Beach Police (@MiamiBeachPD) July 14, 2021
The building was built by Alden Freeman, whose father Joel Freeman was the treasure of Standard Oil. The younger Freeman retired from his career in architecture at 27 after inheriting his family fortune and built the ornate mansion. After a long illness, he died in December of 1937 at the property.
According to the hotel’s website, in 1992 ”Versace took a walk down Ocean Drive and was immediately attracted to the house by the ‘Kneeling Aphrodite’ statue and fell in love with the unique Spanish architecture of the property.” He invested millions into the property and received an award from the Florida Trust for Historic Preservation for Meritorious Achievement in Residential Rehabilitation in 1995, according to Vanity Fair.
The hotel has not yet made a statement about the deaths.
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