On Halloween, 31/10/2005, a 36-year-old fashion editor heard a knock on the door of her Manhattan apartment. A man yelled, "Fire Department!"
Through the peephole, she saw the hallway leading to her one-bedroom apartment filled with gray smoke and a man in a firefighter's uniform and helmet. "There's a fire in the building!", he shouted, demanding entry to inspect. A plastic visor obscured his face.
She let the man in. Moments later, a gun was pressed against the back of her head, and she was ordered to lie face down on the kitchen floor.
He handcuffed her hands behind her back and then held a cloth soaked in an anesthetic, smelling like nail polish remover, over her mouth and nose.
13 hours of horrific torture
The unnamed victim recounted her terror upon waking bound hand and foot to the bed, clad only in pink lingerie and a pair of high heels he had found in her closet.
"He told me I was lucky to be alive, that he had killed several people and had a list of people who were going to die", she testified in court.
She tried to engage her attacker, now wearing jeans, a shirt, and a ski mask, in calm, friendly conversation to try and soothe him. When he spoke of wanting to kill his enemies, she said, "Maybe you could forgive everyone, put the past behind you, and live for the future." "It’s too late", he replied.
Two friends, unable to reach her, came to her apartment worried, but he threatened them with the gun, warning that "anyone who steps through that door is going to die," preventing her from calling for help. Her friends, receiving no response and unable to enter, left.
Bored with conversation, he taped her eyes shut with electrical tape and tried to anesthetize her five more times. Each time she held her breath and pretended to pass out. The anesthetic burned her face, and her wrists bled from chafing against the restraints.
Unable to see, for over eight hours, she endured his horrific acts through her remaining senses. After filming the assault, he slept beside her. Through a gap in the tape, she saw daylight and feared he would kill her.
Later, she heard him zipping a bag, putting on a coat, and leaving. He took souvenirs collected from her apartment: a Gucci coat, a Louis Vuitton travel bag, her resume, and driver's license.
He left a mocking message scrawled on the bathroom mirror: "Bye – Hope things work out for you soon".
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Peter Braunstein's firefighter uniform and the message written on the mirror. Photo: NYP |
Peter Braunstein's firefighter uniform and the message written on the mirror. Photo: NYP
The 6-week manhunt
The victim told police her attacker seemed to know her, although she couldn't identify him.
The New York City Police Department launched a nationwide manhunt. Authorities released a sketch of the suspect created with the help of a witness.
The next day, they received calls identifying the suspect as 41-year-old Peter Braunstein, from his father and a former colleague.
Days later, police uncovered further evidence on Peter's personal computer, including a detailed plan mirroring the attack. They also discovered he had purchased a firefighter's uniform, a voice changer, and chloroform on eBay five days before the incident. He had also ordered an air pistol and handcuffs from the website.
On 17/11/2005, Peter was spotted at a Brooklyn cafe. The owner recognized him and alerted two nearby police officers. Dozens of officers, some in riot gear, and media quickly surrounded the block.
Around 1:30 p.m., K-9 units detected a scent and traced it to an abandoned building. Police stormed the building but found no sign of him. Throughout the day, posters were hung in the area offering a $12,000 reward for information leading to his arrest.
Peter was apprehended around 3:30 p.m. on 16/12/2005, in Memphis, Tennessee. A University of Memphis student spotted Peter wandering around campus and called the police. As officers approached, he screamed and stabbed himself 13 times in the neck but survived. After recovering from surgery, he was extradited to New York.
"He said he couldn't believe he'd botched the suicide, because he had researched and learned about the carotid artery," police revealed in a statement after his arrest.
The highly educated criminal
The case garnered significant media attention because Peter was a highly educated writer and journalist from an affluent background, who managed to evade police for weeks. Updates were splashed across front pages and featured on America's Most Wanted.
Media reports described Peter as "brilliant and talented, with an IQ of 185", but with a penchant for pornography. Police found a collection of violent rape videos on his computer.
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Peter Braunstein is arrested after six weeks on the run. Photo: NYP |
Peter Braunstein is arrested after six weeks on the run. Photo: NYP
According to records, Peter Braunstein was born in 1964 into a wealthy New York family. He studied in France before returning to the US to earn a doctorate in history from New York University.
In 2000, Peter became a writer for W magazine, focusing on rock history and culture. He also freelanced for publications like Women's Wear Daily and The Village Voice.
Peter dated colleague Jane Larkworthy, W's beauty editor. After their breakup, he used the magazine's website as a blog to harass her.
According to Jane, Peter harassed her for 18 months, sending frightening emails and text messages to her colleagues and family, and posting nude photos and personal information on an adult website. On 22/11/2004, Peter slashed his chest with a knife and claimed Jane had attacked him. Police took him to a hospital for psychiatric evaluation, and he was released after two hours.
Peter received three years of probation after pleading guilty to 37 counts of harassment.
During his probation, on 31/10/2005, Peter, dressed in an FDNY uniform, set off two smoke bombs in the lobby of a Manhattan building and used the pretense of a fire to force his way into his victim's apartment, initiating the 13-hour nightmare.
Peter was indicted on 23/12/2005. He pleaded not guilty to charges of sexual assault, kidnapping, arson, burglary, and robbery.
A revenge plot for a failed life
Weeks before his trial, Peter attempted to hang himself inside Rikers Island jail. Prosecutors argued in court that he had harmed himself to delay the proceedings.
Peter's trial took place in June 2007 in Manhattan, heavily covered by the media.
The prosecution argued that Peter tortured the victim due to his obsession with a female colleague who had worked as an editor in the same office and his ex-girlfriend, Jane.
According to the prosecution, after being fired from his job, dumped by his girlfriend, and forced to move back in with his mother, Peter plotted revenge against those who had disregarded him and meticulously planned the crime down to the smallest detail.
The prosecution revealed Peter's personal manifesto, written months before the attack, in which he proclaimed himself divinely appointed to deliver justice to sinners. One passage indicated he had contemplated murdering Vogue editor Anna Wintour.
However, the defense argued that Peter suffered from a brain dysfunction that prevented him from distinguishing between fantasy and reality, and that throughout the attack, he was living out a fantasy. They claimed his brain was too "broken" to commit a premeditated crime.
In court, the victim bravely recounted her ordeal to the jury, looking Peter in the eye, albeit briefly, for the first time since the attack. Jane also testified about his crimes during their relationship.
On 23/5/2007, the jury found Peter guilty on 10 counts, including sexual assault, kidnapping, robbery, and other felonies, but acquitted him of arson, believing he hadn't intentionally set the fire to damage the building but rather as a diversion.
On 18/6/2007, Peter was sentenced to life in prison with a minimum of 18 years before being eligible for parole.
In a prison interview six months after his sentencing, Peter confessed: "It's a good thing I'm locked up, because I have violent fantasies. I don't know what I'm capable of".
Tue Anh (According to Nypost, Nytimes)
