Police Confirm AMW Tip -- Braunstein's Been Walking In Memphis

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Under the alias, "Peter Grant," Braunstein placed this ad for a chauffeur in the Cleveland Plain-Dealer

Thanks to an AMW tipster who kept her ears and eyes open, police got one step closer to tracking down Peter Braunstein -- the man they say sexually abused a woman for more than 13 hours in her apartment on Halloween.

On Dec. 12, 2005, the tipster called AMW with information about someone she ran into at a blood donation center in Memphis where she worked. It was Braunstein -- and he'd made no attempt to conceal his identity. Braunstein gave her his real name and presented a U.S. passport instead of a driver's license, saying he doesn't drive.

The tipster says Braunstein was extremely thin, clean-shaven and was wearing a wool jacket with three-quarter-length sleeves. The tipster says Braunstein told her he was a freelance journalist who wanted to exchange his blood for $20 to "continue to travel," mentioning Kansas as his next stop.

His "travel," say police, has included stops in places all over the East Coast and Midwest. And they say he's packed a lot of activity into each place he's stopped.

Police: Braunstein Makes Bold Moves In Midwest

In early November, police tracked Braunstein to the Cleveland area. There, they say he was pretending to be a movie producer, a retired LAPD officer, and was spouting his lies and flashing his fake U.S. Marshals badge at Moriarity's -- a Cleveland pub. AMW sat down with the bar owner, a bartender and a regular customer, who all had conversations with Braunstein. Even though they all discussed different things with the accused sexual offender, they agreed on one thing: Braunstein is a smooth-talking phony.

Yet despite not knowing when to keep his mouth shut, police say Braunstein's latest lies are not even his boldest misstep.

In an incredible act of bravado, Braunstein went so far as to place an ad in The Cleveland Plain-Dealer for a chauffeur. In the ad, Braunstein used the alias, "Peter Grant" and indicated that he would be paying the driver $11/hour in cash. Police believe Braunstein has been hanging around strip clubs.

In fact, based on information AMW tipsters gave police, there is reason to believe Braunstein had even chosen his next victim. Our tipsters told police Braunstein was seen outside of one strip club waiting for an employee of the club to walk out.  Luckily, Braunstein never hooked up with the woman, and shortly after that night, took off to Columbus, Ohio. 

But the bizarre tale of how police say Braunstein assaulted his first victim is straight out of a horror story.

A Terror-Filled Halloween

The calm of Halloween evening in the chic Chelsea section of New York City was disrupted when several small fires broke out in an apartment building on West 24th Street.

A 34-year-old woman opened her apartment door and was relieved to find a man dressed as a New York City firefighter already on the scene dousing the flames. But cops say moments later, the man forced his way inside her apartment saying he needed to check for smoke damage. The woman would soon discover, however, that his motives were much more sinister.  

The moment the woman let Braunstein in, he shoved a chloroform-laced rag into her face, and while she went in and out of consciousness, he sexually assaulted her. The victim told police that the most eerie part was that he taunted her by spouting out intimate details about her life.  She says he knew she had just been laid off from her job, and that he named many of her co-workers. 

For the next 13 hours, this faux fireman -- who police were later able to identify as Peter Braunstein -- sexually assaulted the woman in her own home. Police think he may have raped her, and maybe even videotaped the whole thing. Investigators also say that Braunstein used complex homemade explosives to start the fires and pulled out a gun during the attack.

Police say that although Braunstein fled the woman's apartment early the next morning, he didn't go far initially. Surveillance tape shows him nervously checking into a motel in Manhattan where police say he paid in cash and used a passport he had obtained two days earlier.

In addition, police believe that shortly before the attack, Braunstein bought a number of items on eBay, including a firefighter uniform, a Detroit police badge and a significant amount of potassium nitrate.

An Interesting Background

Witnesses saw a man around the woman's apartment the night of the attack, and they gave police enough information to produce a composite sketch of the suspect.

Soon, police received calls saying that the sketch resembled 41-year-old Peter Braunstein. But when police went looking for Braunstein to talk about what happened that night, he was nowhere to be found. But police were soon able to piece together his background and reveal some interesting facts.

For one, Braunstein is already on probation for menacing his ex-girlfriend -- an editor who worked with the victim. Police also discovered that Braunstein has a number of fetishes and is very much into pornography.

What's more, Braunstein is a writer and journalist himself, who has written forThe Village Voice and Women's Wear Daily. In 2004, Braunstein even wrote an off-Broadway play about famed pop artist Andy Warhol.

Police warn that although he has been spotted several times in the Cleveland area and in Memphis, he could be anywhere. One of our tipsters said he may be traveling to Kansas and police say he may have plans to travel to California, Philadelphia or even France. Authorities say Braunstein speaks French fluently and has a history of paranoia and harassment.

Timeline:

AMW Capture #871

Braunstein's Crazy Antics While On The Run

Jay Johnson, the officer who arrested Peter Braunstein, shows New York detectives where on the University of Memphis' campus Braunstein was stopped and tried to kill himself.
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In the weeks since the high-profile capture of Peter Braunstein, the man who allegedly sexually abused a woman on Halloween and then led police on a six-week chase across the U.S., police have caught a glimpse of Braunstein's bizarre thought process while he was on the run.

When police finally caught up with Braunstein, he was in Memphis -- a city he says he fled to solely because he loved Elvis so much, according to police. He also told police the reason he fled to Cleveland and Columbus was because no one would think to look there. According to police, Braunstein's next stop after Memphis was going to be Louisiana, where he figured he would take a shot at fitting in as a Hurricane Katrina survivor.

Police say Braunstein has admitted to relishing the press he received as a fugitive -- he told cops that while he was on the lam, he would log onto public computers to monitor which media were covering him and what they were saying. According to police, Braunstein often visited AMW.COM for details and scoffed at certain tips placing him in New York when he had already fled the state.

What Was In Braunstein's Knapsack?

Police say when Peter Braunstein was finally captured, he was wearing a knapsack with some interesting items inside.

Inside, say cops, was a journal in which Braunstein detailed his journeys from New York while on the run. Police say the writings contain no mention of his alleged Halloween crime, but confirm Braunstein did write about committing crimes in other states during his run from the law. Some of his criminal claims have been verified -- and all are being investigated.

Police say there was also a video tape found in the knapsack, but contrary to popular reports, there are no sexually explicit images on it. In fact, there aren't any images on it -- police say the tape is blank.

Lastly in Braunstein's bag of tricks were two "devices" similar to other "devices" recovered from the Halloween sexual abuse case crime scene. Police will not comment on the characteristics of the devices, but say they are being tested by a police forensics lab in Memphis, Tenn.

Judge: Braunstein Is A Flight Risk

In an arraignment on Dec. 20, 2005, a judge in New York ordered Braunstein to be held without bail. He will appear in court again on Friday, Dec. 23, when formal charges of kidnapping, sexual abuse, robbery, and burglary are brought against him.

But despite the seriousness of the charges, police say Braunstein appears to be in good spirits, enjoying the spotlight they say he's been craving -- and he remains one of the most bizarre fugitives with whom they've ever dealt.

When Braunstein's own father showed up for a jailhouse visit in Memphis, Tenn., the prisoner refused and coldly turned him away. But minutes later, Braunstein was jovially chatting up reporters and showing off the scar he earned by stabbing himself repeatedly in the neck before his apprehension. Braunstein told reporters the incident was like a scene out of  "Edward Scissorhands."

Courageous AMW Viewer Brings Braunstein Down

Amid the stress and pressure of final exams, one student passed a real-life test in bravery.

It happened the afternoon of December 16, 2005.  A university sophomore and school employee was walking across campus chatting with her sister on her cell phone.  Then, it hit her.  She recognized the man standing 20 feet in front of her as Peter Braunstein, the man she had seen profiled the past two weeks on America's Most Wanted.   She watched the show every week, but never imagined she would come face to face with a fugitive.

"I felt a chill go down my spine," she told us. She flagged down a passing campus police car and told the officers Braunstein was just ahead. The officer called for back-up and then closed in on Peter Braunstein.  

Braunstein Takes Himself Down

Cops say as they approached Braunstein he yelled out "I'm the guy they're looking for from New York."  At that point, police say Braunstein pulled out a knife and began stabbing himself in the neck. The former fugitive was rushed to a nearby emergency room where he was listed in critical condition.