This powerful, booby-trapped bomb can be removed only by following our instructions ACT NOW, THINK LATER OR YOU WILL DIE! The notes led Brian on a bizarre scavenger hunt, giving him time extensions on the bomb exploding for each step completed. He told investigators he was the smartest guy in this room, and reeled of his impressive educational resume--including his degree in electrical engineering and that he was a substitute science teacher with the Erie school system, specializing in robotics. He was reportedly the putative creator of the collar bomb. Wells made off with $9,000, the most the teller could give him. Rothstein was trying to control the narrative and slowly reveal his plot. Buchanan met for about three hours Friday with federal investigators about the evidence compiled so far. After his death, police collected letters in his car that corroborated his claim that he was forced to rob the PNC Bank. Bill went to the police station for questioning, and explained how he and Marjorie had been friends for years, and that she would often call on him for help, which is how he ended up with a dead dude in his freezer. Theres no evidence to suggest Wells was a willing participant, but there has been limited suggestion that he might have known about the plot, and opted out--thats why he wound up with the collar forced upon him. Because Wells owed Barnes and his friends so much money, he had no choice but to participate, according to Wired. The total was $8,702, far short of a quarter million dollars, according to Wired. Later on, it was disclosed that a woman named Marjorie Diehl-Armstrong planned the entire crime. Near the end of 2005, police received the final clue that led them to conclude that Brian Wells participated in the robbery. In interviews, Rothstein cooperated and told police that he didn't kill James Roden. The bomb collar he wore was going to explode, Wells said. Brian Wells, originally named Brian Douglas Wells, was reportedly a pizza delivery man residing in Erie, Pennsylvania. Many leads for potential suspects turned up empty until a local man named William Rothstein tipped off state police to a frozen body in his garage. The prosecution sold Marjorie as the catalyst for the entire robbery/bombing, despite Bill building the bomb, and her clear mental instability. The keyholes on the collar did nothing. 1 day ago. He was a pizza delivery driver and he had a clean criminal record. Diehl-Armstrong was meant to receive some of the heist money, which was what she and Roden had been arguing about when she killed him. They might be kidnappings, disappearances, or, yes, murders. They were for shotguns. As soon as he was gone customers in the bank began dialling 911, and he only made it a few hundred yards in his car before a State Trooper pulled him over. He found the old dirt road and drove all the way to the end, where a TV broadcast tower stood, according to All That's Interesting. Out of these, the cookies that are categorized as necessary are stored on your browser as they are essential for the working of basic functionalities of the website. After Wells came out of the bank, a bank employee quickly called the police. She provided kitchen timers that were utilized in the metal cooler explosive. Direccin: Calzada de Guadalupe No. A witness pointed authorities to a man named Kenneth Barnes (another compulsive hoarder), a close friend of Marjorie Diehl-Armstrong, claiming that Barnes had been involved in the bomb collar case. 1513 N. Hill Field Road, Suite 01-080, Layton, UT 84041, 180 North University Avenue, Suite 270 - #9220, Provo, UT 84601. He handed the teller a note demanding $250,000. On August 28th, Wells entered the Erie, Pennsylvania branch of PNC Financial Services, wearing a bomb around his neck and carrying an unusual shotgun shaped like a walking stick. He also helped Marjorie get rid of the gun, sawing it into pieces and melting it down with a torch. Brian Douglas Wells died at 3:18 PM on August 28, 2003. Wells and his counterparts set a detailed plan in motion on August 28th, 2003. However, that day, he discovered it was accurate when it was too late. The scavenger hunt was intended to sell the hostage story and throw the police off. While waiting for the bomb squad to arrive, the collar bomb went off, and after a few struggling breaths, Wells died on the pavement he was seated on. This led to even more twists being revealed. Fisher says this is why Rothstein alerted police to the body in his freezer and why his "suicide" note very explicitly mentioned Brian Wells. To be fair, it's not a terrible plan, and it seems at first, Wells was only meant to wear a fake bomb. The infamous pizza bomber narrative isas explosive as it sounds--although filled with more twists and turns than actual pizza. WebBrian Wells. He explained the situation to police, told them about the three Black men who had placed the collar on him, and how he had to follow his instructions or the bomb would detonate, according to Wired. After Brian Wells was dead, police picked up two key pieces of evidence: The instructions provided by his attackers and the remnants of the bomb itself. The collar was still attached around Wells' neck, and initial investigations revealed something stunning. The bomb collar was nothing at all like it was described in the instructions. It all started with a phone call on September 20, 2003, less than a month after Wells' death. But then in August of 2003, the peace would be disturbed when Marjories neighbor heard gunshots coming from the house.. Barnes was a misfit friend of Marjories. Brian Wells is the pizza man who walked into a PNC bank in Erie, Pennsylvania, and handed the teller a note demanding $250,000 (pictured above). IE 11 is not supported. . Rothstein agreed to hide the body in his house and eventually dispose of it, but later changed his mind and called police. This cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. Wells' family said he By bragging, Bill willingly admitted to police he fit the exact profile of their bomb maker they were looking for. Shortly after, authorities confronted him at the parking lot of a nearby Eyeglass World retail store. Performance cookies are used to understand and analyze the key performance indexes of the website which helps in delivering a better user experience for the visitors. Probably not.. Marjorie Diehl-Armstrong had once been a very different person. This was the first task of a scavenger hunt that he claimed would save his life. Diehl-Armstrong and Barnes are currently serving unrelated sentences in prisonDiehl-Armstrong for killing her boyfriend in 2003 and Barnes for a drug-related offense. The world was stunned when Brian Wells strode into a bank armed with a shotgun cane and with a bomb strapped around his neck Credit: SUN. At 1:30 PM, he was called to deliver two pizzas at an address at the end of a dirt road on Peach Street. 9. On August 27, 2003, Diehl-Armstrong, Barnes, Wells and other unindicted co-conspirators met to discuss the next days plot. But at first, no one noticed the man, whose name was Brian Douglas Wells. If the bomb detonated, meanwhile, Wells couldnt be a witness against them, Buchanan said. Bank employees phoned police. While most crime stories have a lot of commonalities (the husband did it, and DNA can prove it! Marjorie was later convicted for her monstrous crimes, which included armed bank robbery, conspiracy to commit armed robbery, and the use of a deadly device. It beeped for about 10 seconds before it detonated, killing Wells and stunning an audience that had gathered to watch the bizarre situation unfold. In 1990, she married her next serious boyfriend, Richard Armstrong, who she called her one true love. Armed with Kenneth Barnes' testimony, police put Marjorie Diehl-Armstrong on trial once again, this time for the bomb plot. "The family will be satisfied when everybody is held to account for their actions that day," Wells said. Someone might have taken it, but investigators believe that it was probably never there at all. Today's video is about the infamous Woman questionedAn attorney, Lawrence D'Ambrosio, has said the FBI has repeatedly interviewed his client about Wells' death. Rothstein broke first and gave up. This was because of a technical issue, not a moral one, but the news station held the footage back and later turned it over to authorities. Sign up forOxygen Insiderfor all the best true crime content. Buchanan said the investigation has been complicated by the deaths of at least two witnesses. Three minutes before the bomb squad arrived, the collar detonated, tearing a hole in Wells' chest and killing him within moments, according to All That's Interesting. She is in an all-female prison near Fort Worth, Texas. Brian Wells, 46, robbed a suburban Erie bank on Aug. 28, 2003, with the bomb attached to his neck and then was killed when it exploded as he sat handcuffed in a parking lot while police waited for a bomb squad. The next time he was seen was later that same afternoon, when he walked into Eries PNC Bank and passed the teller a note demanding $250,000. The papers were addressed to the Bomb Hostage and contained directions first to rob the bank and then to proceed on an elaborate scavenger hunt for keys and codes to disable the explosive Wells wore. She had also been diagnosed with cancer, the Erie Times-News reported at the time. "I get a call, 'Hey we got a new bank robbery at 7200 Peach Street, [and there is] a potential bomb utilized during the robbery.' "I'm not lying. 7. It meant that anything she said might not be able to be used in court. After Rodens murder, police cleared out Marjories house (pictured above), looking for clues. The note was addressed to "Receptionist" and "Bank Manager" and referred to the man in front of her as "Bomb Hostage." Either way, Barnes said that Wells and Roden knew the full details of the plot and had been killed to ensure their silence. Bill said that six weeks earlier, Marjorie had called him in a panic, saying shed shot and killed her boyfriend, James Roden. The state troopers kept a safe distance as Wells repeatedly warned them that the bomb would blow. Around that same time, she also gave two egg timers to William Rothstein, a handyman and former boyfriend who likely built the collar bomb that killed Wells by blowing a gaping hole in his chest. Great, Click the Allow Button Above Ken also said that he and Marjorie had followed Brian to the bank, watching from a vehicle parked across the street. The death was ruled accidental, though, so she was never charged. On September 21st, three weeks after the robbery/bombing, the police received a phone call. Acellphone was inside the case but wasn't wired to anything. Investigators ultimately determined the device, which included four locks and a combination dial, could never have been safely removed. Police had surrounded Wells, 46, a short time after he robbed a PNC Bank branch outside Erie in northwestern Pennsylvania. 46 year old Brian Douglas Wells worked as a pizza delivery man at Mama Mia Pizzeria in Erie, Pennsylvania. 2023 TIME USA, LLC. Behind the murder was a woman named Marjorie Diehl-Armstrong who suffered from multiple mental illnesses and personality disorders. Her next boyfriend was James Roden, an unemployed alcoholic. 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