The mansion where Versace used to live

MANILA, Philippines - I know (who doesn’t?) who Gianni Versace was but he didn’t know me (why should he?). Even then, I felt sad when I read in yesterday’s STAR that his posh US seaside mansion in Miami, Florida, was sold for a whopping $41.5M at an auction.

I came close to Versace in 1998 when I had my picture taken in front of his mansion where he was murdered by Andrew Cunanan who was caught hiding at a yacht only a few meters from the mansion. It was Oscar Barrameda, brother of movie writer Joe Barrameda, who took my picture (shown here) during a quick tour of Miami after my interview with Will Smith for Men In Black. Oscar is a long-time resident of Miami.

Cunanan, a Filipino-American, was described by the AFP report as “a gay prostitute who had been on a three-month killing spree.”