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.

Planning Something 'Bad'

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."

Braunstein was also spiraling out of control at work. Because he was so intelligent and articulate, many dismissed his bizarre and sometimes explosive actions in the workplace as bad behavior or social awkwardness, but ultimately his outbursts got him fired.

He became angry with Larkworthy, who he felt symbolized the hypocrisy of the fashion industry. When she broke up with him, Braunstein spent the next year and a half on a campaign of revenge and harassment -- sending embarrassing letters and naked photos of her to her bosses.

Then he began plotting a crime that would shock New York, and eventually the nation. On Halloween, Braunstein packed a bag with his costume for the night: a New York City firefighter's uniform.

When asked about the attack, Peter does not hold back. He admits to practically everything he has been accused of and does not make excuses or look for sympathy. He also does not express much sympathy for the victim.

'I Pulled Out My Gun'

He had already stalked his prey. But it wasn't Jane he was going after. It was a co-worker that he barely knew. And he was heading toward her building.

"I ran up to six, I put on my, my fireman stuff, um, and then came down. And knocked on a few doors. I was really acting the fireman," Braunstein recounted.

Braunstein had just set off some smoke bombs, and now he was pretending to be the rescuer.

"Finally, I got to her door," he recounted. "I yelled, 'Fire Department.'" He remembers that she hesitated and then opened her door. The victim, clearly convinced that a real fireman was standing before her, asked, in a panicked voice, what she should do. Braunstein entered the apartment. As she headed toward the kitchen, he described the next moment in detail:

"I pulled out my gun and said, you know, 'Get down on the floor if you don't want me to, like, blow your head off.'" He explained that it was a fake Berretta that he was using, but that it was effective because "it looks exactly like a real gun."

The victim -- who has not been publicly identified -- was a fashion editor at W Magazine. She sat near Larkworthy, and that, perhaps, was her downfall.

Recounting the Crime

Braunstein admits that he then took a rag soaked in chloroform and put it over her mouth. She immediately passed out. When she awoke about two hours later, she was on her back. She was tied up -- spread-eagle -- to the bed posts. She was naked except for a pair of underwear and one other thing. She was wearing a pair of designer high heel shoes that Braunstein had slipped on her.

It seemed like a well-planned attack. But Braunstein claims that once he got inside, his plan ended. He said that this was never about rape or murder. Why did he take off her clothes? Braunstein pondered for a moment and said, "I guess to humiliate her."

At trial, Braunstein was never charged with rape. When asked about touching the victim, Braunstein admitted that he did touch her. "I think I fondled her breast twice," he recalled.

More signs of bizarre behavior and perhaps his illness are revealed when he describes how he began to make himself at home. As the victim remained in her bedroom, bound and blindfolded, Braunstein laments that he didn't know what to do next. So he watched a movie on Lifetime, he recounted. Then he roamed into the kitchen.

"I was hungry, I wanted something to eat, so I opened her refrigerator and there were two bottles of Cristal and nothing else. Typical fashionista diet," he said sarcastically.

'I'm Going to Kill Anna Wintour'

One of the many puzzling things about this crime is why he chose this particular woman as his victim. She was a co-worker, but he barely knew her. And he said he really had no feelings toward her one way or the other. So why her? Braunstein said, "The closest I have come is that it was a way of getting back at the fashion industry."

In all, Braunstein readily admits that, during that period, he had targeted at least eight women and men in the fashion industry, including the most powerful fashion editor in the world: Anna Wintour of Vogue magazine. He wrote about her in a manifesto he called "The Making of a Menace," which in court would later prove to be a diary of his mental illness.

He read aloud a portion of his manifesto: "I'm going to kill Anna Wintour because I just feel like it."

He told Bill Ritter that "I believe in just killing people as necessary."

But on that Halloween night, Braunstein did not kill anybody. In fact, he claims, bizarrely, that he treated his victim well. He described how he gave her a blanket when she complained she was cold and untied one of her hands when she complained it was hurting her. When asked if she ever got hungry, Braunstein's answer spoke volumes: "I don't know. There was nothing to eat in the apartment. We would have had to order out, and that would have been a bit of a problem," he said.

The Time of His Life

Despite the terror she must have been going through, the woman talked with her attacker, in an effort to keep him calm. "I've developed kind of a compassion for her, maybe even an admiration for her," Braunstein said. "So that's why when I left, I scrawled on the bathroom mirror with her lipstick. It was a note and it just said, "You know, I know your life will turn around. You know, uh, best of luck."

Then, without a word, after more than 12 hours inside the apartment, Braunstein left and headed to Cleveland on a bus. By the time he arrived, the crime was already front page news.

Braunstein recalls the moment he saw that his case was on "America's Most Wanted."

"I wanted to say to New York, I was the least, you know, wanted in this town, and now I'm most wanted," he said. "Isn't that ironic? Now you want me back."

Braunstein describes those weeks as a fugitive as a happy time. "I felt the best I have felt in my whole life. And the cherry on the cake was that at the end of all this, I die."

But, his jaunt, as he calls it, across the country, came to an end near the University of Memphis. A student recognized him and called the cops. Braunstein tried to kill himself with a dagger to his neck. When asked if he was trying to hit his carotid artery, Braunstein responded, "I hit my jugular vein, if that's any consolation."

Braunstein was brought back to New York and charged with kidnapping and sexual abuse. At the three-week trial, the defense argued that he was a paranoid schizophrenic, and was not responsible for his crimes. But the jury thought he knew what he was doing and found him guilty. His sentence was 18 to life.

When asked if he ever apologized to the victim, Braunstein remarked about people's strong interest in hearing about remorse.

"If I genuinely feel sorry I'm going to just feel sorry," he said. "I'm not going to go broadcasting around that I'm sorry and I have a lot of remorse. "

When asked if he wanted to get better, Braunstein paused and answered quietly. "Not really."