This was the first task of a scavenger hunt that he claimed would save his life. The Yankees catching prospect underwent an MRI exam on Tuesday that revealed a fracture of his While the Troopers kept their distance from Wells, waiting for the bomb squad to arrive and confirm the bomb story, the device around Wells neck suddenly stopped beeping. Now in a state mental hospital, Marjories testimony against Bill would be useless. He died of an internal brain hemorrhage. At about 2 p.m., the co-conspirators attached the bomb device to Wellss neck. Hoopsick introduced the two, and later felt regret for the decision, saying that Wells was innocent. Behind the murder was a woman named Marjorie Diehl-Armstrong who suffered from multiple mental illnesses and personality disorders. Police brought him in for questioning and he soon confessed to a version of events that law enforcement already suspected to be true and also copped that Wells was in on the plot, according to All That's Interesting. Please select the topics you're interested in: Would you like to turn on POPSUGAR desktop notifications to get breaking news ASAP? Rothstein's house was near the TV tower. Instead, it was Bill Rothstein pulling all the strings. In her youth, she was very well-liked and considered to be highly intelligent. This is one of the most movie-esque murder plots ever committed and its the subject of Oxygens weekly "Martinis & Murder" podcast. She was convicted with conspiracy to commit bank robbery with the utilization of a destructive device, and she was sentenced to life in prison on February 28th 2011. Im watching the Evil Genius doc on Netflix. , Awesome, Youre All Set! 9 hours ago, by Njera Perkins Create a free profile to get unlimited access to exclusive videos, breaking news, sweepstakes, and more! Police even suspected he might not have been aware that the bomb was real until it started beeping. Wells began to panic and squirm on the ground, pleading with police to help him. Her second husband died of a cerebral hemorrhage, but there was evidence that he actually had a head injury. They believe that he was an unfortunate hostage and merely forced to go along with the plot. Wells family was present for this announcement and vocally protested the allegation. A balding man with thick glasses, the only thing that made him stand out was his strange choice in attire. The cookie is set by the GDPR Cookie Consent plugin and is used to store whether or not user has consented to the use of cookies. Check out never-before-seen content, free digital evidence kits, and much more! On August 28, 2003, pizza guy Brian Wells took one last delivery on his route in Erie, Pennsylvania, before finishing his shift. 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. Get an all-access pass to never-before-seen content, free digital evidence kits, and much more! 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. The case involved nearly 1,000 interviews and as many leads, Buchanan said. your brain will thank you for it. After Wells came out of the bank, a bank employee quickly called the police. Kenneth Barnes was reportedly a retired TV repairman, a drug dealer, and a friend of Diehl-Armstrong's. It does not store any personal data. Diehl-Armstrong also said she wasnt responsible. There was some conjecture that Brian Wells knew about the bomb plot. Ken pled guilty to his role in the conspiracy and was sentenced to 45 years in prison, and on the stand, he testified against Marjorie.Ken also said that he and Marjorie had followed Brian to the bank, watching from a vehicle parked across the street. According to Ken, Marjorie also killed James -- remember, he was her ex, who was found in Bills freezer -- because he threatened to tell police about her plot. The first steps of the instructions told him to drive back across town, go into a specific PNC bank, and hand a note to the teller. Nothing more complicated than that. Hoopsick, who was never officially deemed a conspirator, could not be reached for comment by TIME. Initially, Wells thought he was an active planner in the robbery but would realize that his diabolical accomplices Marjorie Diehl-Armstrong, Bill Rothstein, and Kenneth Barnes made him an unwilling participant. Near the end of 2005, police received the final clue that led them to conclude that Brian Wells participated in the robbery. 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. Magazines, Digital There was no remote detonator. She earned another 30 years for using a bomb in the crime. According to the indictment, Diehl-Armstrong and Barnes contrived a plan to make it look as though Wells was merely a hostage, which would give Wells an alibi should he be captured. According to Rothstein, he hadn't even spoken to Diehl-Armstrong for a long time before she called and asked if he would help her hide Roden's body. 4) William Ansel "Bill" Rothstein and Kenneth Barnes were also involved in the crime. Marjorie was apparently devastated by the death, and despite settling for $250,000 with the hospital in a medical malpractice case, Marjorie began to struggle even more with her mental illnesses. Its a weird line to draw when youre already ass-deep in a murder, and one that would ultimately put Marjorie in prison. They said that if he followed the instructions on the paper, he would be able to disarm the bomb and would be unhurt, but he had a time limit he had to follow. While investigating, the FBI got another tip involving Kenneth Barnes, who confirmed their suspicion that Marjorie was the mastermind. This was a lengthy and complex investigation, Morrow said. The impact caused a contusion to his chest and stoppage of his heart. for having him store a corpse in his freezer. But then in August of 2003, the peace would be disturbed when Marjories neighbor heard gunshots coming from the house.. The debated question of Wells true involvement, as well as how the investigation unfolded, is re-examined in Netflixs four-part docu series Evil Genius: The True Story of Americas Most Diabolical Bank Heist, which is streaming now. However, in one twist among many, it was not realistically possible for Wells to complete the instructions in enough time to save himself from the bomb. They asked Ken to help with the timing mechanism on the bomb. Police had surrounded Wells, 46, a short time after he robbed a PNC Bank branch outside Erie in northwestern Pennsylvania. 'We know all the details'"The government knows what happened the day of the incident. Create a free profile to get unlimited access to exclusive videos, breaking news, sweepstakes, and more! When questioned, Marjorie tried to pin Rothstein as the mastermind since he had already died. The people that Wells had met with by the broadcast tower were Diehl-Armstrong, Rothstein, and Barnes. On the stand, Marjorie gave a long and rambling testimony (possibly a symptom of bipolar). WebMarjorie Diehl-Armstrong, the Pizza Bombers mastermind, has been identified. The collar and box were a bomb, and they'd go off in 15 minutes if he didn't get the money, according to All That's Interesting. She was also not unknown to Erie, PA law enforcement. There was no further investigation. But she didnt--instead, on January 7th, 2005, she pled guilty to the murder of James Roden, and was sentenced to 7 to 20 years in prison. Bill Rothstein (pictured above) helped Marjorie hide the body in his freezer, but drew a line at chopping up the body to get rid of it, and wound up calling the police instead. Rothstein was a compulsive hoarder, with trash and various knick-knacks piled high across his house. Somewhere along the planning phase, they deceived Wells that he would be wearing a fake bomb. Marjories first boyfriend was named Rob Thomas. Brian Wells went from being a planner to being the only murder victim of a Bank Heist. Netflixs new four-part docuseries Evil Genius: The True Story of Americas Most Diabolical Bank Heist, dives into a high-profile 2003 crime known as the collar bomb case. He walked out about 12 minutes later with $8,702. Or, at least, that was the story, but in an interview for Netflix's 2018 mini-series about the case, Evil Genius, Hoopsick claimed that this wasn't actually true. When police arrived at Rothstein's residence, they found Rothstein himself, the dead man in the freezer, later identified as James Roden, and a suicide note from Rothstein (who had not even attempted suicide) that, peculiarly and completely unprompted, stated in its intro that the body in the freezer had nothing to do with Brian Wells' case, according to Wired. 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 family will be satisfied when everybody is held to account for their actions that day," Wells said. The last-minute call came from an address with an obscure address: a transmission tower site, down a dirt road, on the outskirts of town.Wells, 46, never returned to the pizza shop. WebThe story of Brian Wells is about a pizza delivery guy, a bomb collar, and a bank robbery. In 2003, when the terrible incident took place, Brian was 46 years old. Functional cookies help to perform certain functionalities like sharing the content of the website on social media platforms, collect feedbacks, and other third-party features. At 1:30 PM, he was called to deliver two pizzas at an address at the end of a dirt road on Peach Street. In July 2004, investigators tried to get a confession from Bill on his deathbed, but he passed without uttering a useful word. Roden had been Marjorie's then-current boyfriend, and she had killed him in an argument about money, according to Wired. Police arrested Diehl-Armstrong for the murder of James Roden, for which she was sentenced to 20 years in prison, according to All That's Interesting. Brian Douglas Wells (November 15, 1956 August 28, 2003) was an American man who died after being forced to be involved in a complex plot involving a bank robbery, a scavenger hunt, and a homemade explosive device. 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