Two infamous criminals from 2005 and 2006—one who raped and killed a John Jay College graduate student and another who terrorized a fellow fashion writer—are behind bars, but they want ladies to know they are single and ready to mingle. The Post reports that Darryl Littlejohn and Peter Braunstein "have posted online personals in their search for lonely hearts willing to overlook their vile crimes. Both have uploaded pictures and profiles on the prison pen-pal site FriendsBeyondtheWall.com, talking up their supposed sensitive sides in a plea for companionship or more."
Littlejohn was sentenced to life without parole for killing 24-year-old Imette St. Guillen in 2006. St. Guillen had been at a Lafayette Street bar where Littlejohn was a bouncer—Littlejohn was asked to escort St. Guillen from the bar but ended up taking her to his Queens apartment. Her body was found, wrapped in tape and a floral comforter, off the Belt Parkway in Brooklyn. DNA on blood found on ties binding St. Guillen's hands matched Littlejohn's DNA.
In his "Friends Beyond the Wall" ad, Littlejohn says:
Single, Black Male, born and bred in New York City. 48 years young, 5'7", weighing in at a very health-conscious 210 lbs. all of masculinity. College educated, strong-willed, witty, sensuous, and so much more (would best describe me). I am very open-minded, optimistic, and never judgmental of anyone else's short-comings.
I am currently wrongfully convicted and unjustly serving a LIFE SENTENCE, already in the early stages of appeal. Whenever I am not improving on my mind, body and spirit the majority of my time spent here in total solitary confinement, is devoted towards researching and educating myself further in law in attempts to try and reverse my present predicament.
Braunstein, a former fashion reporter, is serving a long prison sentence for a horrific attack in 2005. He set a fire in a Chelsea apartment building hallway and told a tenant that he was a firefighter. Then he kept her captive for 13 hours, drugging, stripping, and sexually abusing. When he finally left, the victim called 911, but told the dispatcher when the police arrived, "I don't know. ... I don't trust anybody. The guy who was here had a police badge. He had a fire uniform. He had everything. I'm so scared."
Braunstein was eventually captured on the campus of the University of Memphis (he tried to stab himself) and said the victim was a substitute for his ex-girlfriend. Braunstein's profile proudly states:
I'm a former fashion reporter who turned into a notorious criminal and got caught thanks to America's Most Wanted, and I'll be incarcerated forever and a day. That's my story in a nutshell. If you Google me you'll find a whole lot, and some of it's even true. I'm looking for a fun pen pal relationship, nothing too serious. Love and romance - I'll take a rain check since my scars haven't healed yet - but friendship, if that were to happen, would be most welcome...
Recently, I've returned to writing, my past profession, and have started on a true crime memoir, so it would be cool to meet someone with a creative mind and interesting ideas.
Now I'll resort to a Playboy Playmate-Style format to fill out my profile:
- My fave TV shows right now are: Suburgatory, Vampire Diaries, Revenge, Gossip Girl
- My fave recent movies is Black Swan
- I'm fluent in French
- The guy who did up this 'prison portrait' of me won an award for it
- The best thing I've read about my life and crimes is an ebook by Aaron Gell called 'Speak of the Devil'
A victim advocate tells the Post "hoosegow hook-up sites are 'booming.' [Andy] Kahan, who closely monitors prisoner activities nationwide as the head of Houston’s Crime Victims Assistance Office, says other popular Web addresses include Inmate.com, PrisonPenPals.com, Goodprisoner.com and Cyberspace-inmates.com." Why? Kahan believes some women suffer from a "modern-day Florence Nightingale syndrome — they’re trying to save the inmate’s soul."
