He was captured on December 16, 2005, in Memphis, Tennessee, around 3:30 p.m. A University of Memphis student saw him and notified police. As the police moved in, he reportedly shouted, "I am the man the world is looking for" (although other sources have reported slightly different accounts of his words). Braunstein then stabbed himself thirteen times in the neck yet failed to commit suicide. After recovery from surgery, he was transferred to New York custody and on December 23, 2005, a grand jury indicted him for the Halloween attack; he was arraigned on January 5, 2006, and pleaded not guilty to charges of sexual abuse, arson, kidnapping, burglary, and robbery.