Fake Firefighter Shows Little Sympathy for Victim

June 28, 2007— -- He was a reporter in the glamorous world of fashion journalism. Peter Braunstein had the world at his feet: a career that was on the rise, beautiful women who loved him and a brilliant mind. But he also had a secret so explosive that it is amazing no one picked up on it until it was too late.

On Halloween night of 2005, Braunstein used the uniform of a New York City firefighter to gain access to the apartment of a former fashion editor, a woman he barely knew, and terrorized her for hours on end.

What turned a successful writer into a monster who committed crimes that would likely result in decades behind bars? Did Braunstein just snap? Or is he, as his attorneys contend, someone who was carrying around the secret of a mental illness that was progressively getting more and more serious?

Just two days after he was sentenced to 18 years to life, Braunstein sat down with "20/20's" Bill Ritter to explain for the first time not just what he did, but why he did it. The interview took place at Bellevue's psychiatric jail, where Braunstein is on suicide watch and "one-on-one observation."

At one time Braunstein seemed to have it all. He was about to finish his doctoral program at NYU in 1998 when he decided to become a fashion journalist. He got a job at the Village Voice and then in 2000 got his big break writing biting but popular critiques of the fashion industry for Women's Wear Daily and W magazines.

Beautiful and successful women were drawn to him. He was once married to a teacher named Donna Keane and had a long relationship with journalist Debra Michals. He also had a tumultuous relationship with co-worker Jane Larkworthy, a beauty director at W.

Braunstein's fights with Larkworthy got violent. Braunstein said he would tie her up in a chair and grab a knife. But strangely enough, the violence was not directed toward Jane: It was instead toward himself. When asked how many times he pulled a knife out and threatened to kill himself, Braunstein thought about his answer carefully and said, "I'd say about three times." And her reaction when this happened? "She'd get hysterical. I mean really, who wouldn't?" Braunstein responded.

Braunstein said that during the year before the attack, both New York City and the fashion industry became his enemy, and he felt like he was the loneliest person in the city. "I just felt like I was a stranger in the street," he said. "This entire city has let me down. And I'm gonna spit in its face now." He admitted that he wanted to do something that would get everyone's attention, something "bad."