2 men found dead in former Gianni Versace mansion

Two people, aged 30 and 31, were found dead in a hotel room at the former Versace mansion in South Florida on Wednesday, Miami Beach police said.

Two men were discovered by maintenance staff at Villa Casa Casuarina at around 1:20 p.m., police said. A preliminary investigation concluded it was an “apparent double suicide,” Miami Beach spokesman Ernesto Rodriguez said in an email to TODAY on Thursday.

The ultimate cause of death will be determined by the Miami-Dade medical examiner’s office at a later date.

The discovery was made the day before the 24th anniversary of the murder of famous fashion designer Gianni Versace, who was shot and killed outside the mansion.

Versace was on his way home from his morning stroll to the News Cafe on July 15, 1997, when Andrew Cunanan fatally shot him in the back of the neck.

Eight days later, Cunanan, suspected of killing four other people in three states, committed suicide on a houseboat in North Miami Beach.

The mansion was built in 1930 and Versace bought it in 1992. After his death it was sold and is now a hotel and event space.

“We are heartbroken by the tragic events at Villa Casa Casuarina and fully cooperate with local authorities in the ongoing investigation,” Karen Barofsky, hotel spokesperson, said by email today. “We have no further news at this time.”