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Peter Braunstein

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Peter Braunstein (born 1964) is a former New York City-based journalist, writer and playwright who has become infamous after being suspected of being the "Halloween rapist" Also referred to as the "fake firefighter", "fire fiend" and other names by the media [1], Braunstein became the unlikely criminal mastermind and the most wanted man in New York City, a dubious honor often reserved for killers, mobsters or terrorists. Braunstein formerly worked as a writer for Women’s Wear Daily and The Village Voice.

File:Peter braunstein.jpg
Photograph of Peter Braunstein released by the police.

The crime received a great amount of media attention for a number of reasons. It involved elaborate planning and execution that is not usually common for rapes. Peter Braunstein, allegedly a highly intelligent writer and a journalist from an upper-middle class family also did not fit the typical profile for a rapist. In fact, at one point he belonged to the same clique of freelance writers who are now following his every step in their blogs. In addition to that Braunstein has been able to avoid arrest for several weeks while aparently still residing in New York where his photo is on the front pages of most newspapers and footage of the suspect is played the evening news amost daily. Finally, the timing also coincides with a historic low for NYC crime rates, further focusing the public's attention to it.

Biography

Peter Braunstein was born to Alberto and Angele Braunstein in Kew Gardens, Queens. His father was a Manhattan gallery owner. Braunstein studied abroad at Sorbonne in Paris and is fluent in French. He came back to New York to pursue a PhD degree in History from NYU. In 1992 he married Donna Keane, whom he met while she was working at La Guardia Airport. Five years his elder, his wife bought a house for the couple in Queens and supported Braunstein financially while he studied. Their marriage, however, ended in divorce in 1994 after Keane found out that he had an affair with an another married woman, Debra Michals. After both of them divorced, they lived together for 8 years.

He then began dating the W magazine beauty editor and Braustein's coworker, Jane Larkworthy. However, this relationship also ended in disaster. After breaking up with Larkworthy, Braustein started using the play's website as a blog to harass his ex-girlfriend whom he referred to as "BioHazard". He pleaded guilty when charged with 37 counts of harassment and was sentenced to 3 years probation. According to the victim, Braunstein harassed her for 18 months, taped her hands to a chair, sent frightening emails and phone messages to her coworkers and family, and posted her naked photos and personal information on an adult web site. On November 22, 2004, Braunstein cut his own chest with a knife and then claimed his ex-girlfriend attacked him. He was taken by the police to Bellevue Hospital for a psychiatric evaluation and released after two hours.

At this point things started to go even further downhill in Braunstein's life. His coworkers noticed that he was suffering from delusions of grandeur and paranoia, although they did not assume it would result in violence. He went back to live with his mother in Queens, which earned him the nickname "George Costanza" among his associates. In 2004 he wrote and directed a the off-off-broadway play Andy & Edie about the relationship between Andy Warhol and Edie Sedgwick. [2]. The cast included Misha Sedgwick and at one point Natalia McLennan, honored as "New York's #1 Escort" by New York Magazine. The play turned out to be a flop and played only for four days. This finally pushed Braunstein over the edge. His megalomaniacal nature led him to stop talking with his father after he made a negative comment about the play. Braunstein also came up with a hit list of "fashionable gals-about-town" whom he wanted to "punish". According to police sources, his future victim was on the list.

The Halloween rape

On October 31, 2005 a man wearing a New York City Firefighter uniform set up two small fires in the lobby of a Chelsea building where his victim lived. He then knocked on the door of the 34-year old woman and told her he was there to check for smoke damage. As soon as the victim let him in, the man shoved a chloroform-laced rag into her face. For the new 13 hours the went in and out of consciousness while the attacker brutally raped her. The victim told the police that the attacker apparently knew her, although she was not able to identify him. According to her he videotaped the attack and left with a pair of her shoes.

The police released a sketch of the suspect made with the help of a witness which was identified as Braunstein by his father the next day. Several of his former coworkers also called the police after he allegedly made threatening phone calls to them following the attack. Several days later detectives uncovered more evidence on Braunstein's personal computer, including a detailed plan that described the attack that occured [3].

Media reaction

The crime quickly became a sensation in the New York area due to its bizzare nature. New developments about the crime have been often featured on the front pages of tabloids like the New York Post and New York Daily News and on the TV show America's Most Wanted. The has also been followed in great detail by gossip blogs such as Gawker, with the editor Jessica Coen going as far as creating a special Peter Braunstein section to document her findings. It was revealed that the suspect had an interest in pornography and was "extremely intelligent and talented, with an IQ of 185" [4]. This "evil genius" aspect of the crime only fueled the public fascination with it.

Other details uncovered by the media included that fact that Braunstein was on probation for harassing his ex-girlfriend and was contemplating stalking supermodel Kate Moss.

On November 17, 2005, Braunstein was spoted at a local Cobble Hill coffe shop in Brooklyn. The shop's owner recognized the suspect and alerted two policemen nearby. The blocks surrounding the area were quickly filled with dozens of police officers, some wearing riot gear, as well as the news media. Around 1:30 PM, a police bloodhound who had been given a pillow recovered at the scene of the alleged sex attack picked up a scent and tracked it two blocks to an abandoned building. Police forces stormed the building but found no evidence of the suspect. Throughout the day, posters were hung up in the area offering a reward of $12,000 for information leading to the capture of Braunstein.

As of November 18th, 2005, Braunstein remains at large. He is wanted by the NYPD for a probation violation and questioning in the rape case. The police believe the suspect is carrying a handgun, is still in the NYC area and should be considered "armed and dangerous".

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