Braunstein’s ‘Narcissism’ Compared to That of Other Cases

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The New York Sun

The man suspected of posing as a firefighter and sexually attacking a woman in her Chelsea apartment on Halloween has an “anti-social” personality and enjoys “showing off” on the Web – similar to two men linked to high-profile heinous crimes, said a writer for Court TV’s “Crime Library,” Steven Huff.


As police searched last evening for the suspect, Peter Braunstein, 41, Mr. Huff drew parallels between Mr. Braunstein and Joseph Duncan, a 42-year-old convicted pedophile whose trial for a triple homicide in Idaho is slated to commence in January, and 38-year-old Benjamin Fawley, who was arrested on child pornography charges and could be charged in the unrelated death of a 17-year-old Virginian college girl.


“The comparison comes in with the vanity and the narcissism,” said Mr. Huff, who has a true crime Weblog, www.planethuff.com/darkside/. The three men, he added, “didn’t get it socially,” and were “excessively vain.”


Mr. Braunstein, a writer, has a history of unleashing his opinions on Internet message boards, Mr. Huff said, while Duncan had his own blog and even posted his resume online. Mr. Fawley shared his thoughts and his photograph in an online account using the moniker “Skulz.”


The three men do not like to take responsibility for their behaviors, blaming their problems on society, Mr. Huff said. In Mr. Braunstein’s case he would scrawl well-written but offensive material online and then blame those that were turned off, Mr. Huff said.


“These are guys that are narcissistic enough that they left trails on the Web,” Mr. Huff said.


Following various leads, police have been pursuing Mr. Braunstein since the alleged Halloween attack that involved drugging a 34-year-old woman and sexually abusing her for close to 13 hours. While police said they are not asking officers in Chelsea to focus on finding Mr. Braunstein to the exclusion of other cases, they have committed officers from at least four units – detectives in the Special Victims Unit, the detective squads from the 10th Precinct and the borough, and officers on patrol – to the search. Plus, all officers in the area have been briefed on the investigation, police said.


There were obvious disparities between Mr. Braunstein and the other two men. Mr. Braunstein is well educated and sophisticated, Mr. Huff said, while Duncan was in jail for much of his life, and Fawley is “a chronic loser.”


Braunstein’s record includes a guilty plea to menacing an ex-girlfriend in the summer.


In Fawley’s case, he is in a Virginia jail on charges of possession of child pornography. He is suspected in the unrelated death of a college girl although no arrests have been made in that case.


Duncan has the most extensive rap sheet with allegations of violence and sexual torture. In addition to a 20-year sentence for a sexual offense and the upcoming triple homicide case in Idaho, Duncan faces charges of molestation in Minnesota and homicide and kidnapping in California, said the spokesman for the Kottenai County Sheriff in Idaho, Captain Benton Wolfinger. Federal prosecutors have said they will charge Duncan with kidnapping two children and killing one of them in Montana, Captain Wolfinger said.


The captain could not comment on Duncan’s character or personality since Duncan’s case was still pending trial. But, Captain Wolfinger noted, Duncan did have a blog on which he was “very active” up until a couple of days before the May murders.


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