On August 28, 2003, pizza delivery man Brian Douglas Wells robbed a PNC Bank near his hometown of Erie, Pennsylvania, United States. Upon being apprehended by police, Wells died when an explosive collar locked to his neck detonated. The FBI investigation into his death uncovered a complex plot later described as "one of the most complicated and bizarre crimes in the annals of the FBI".
In conjunction with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) and the Pennsylvania State Police (PSP), the FBI investigation led to Marjorie Diehl-Armstrong and Kenneth Barnes being charged with the crime in 2007. The investigation determined the plot was masterminded by Diehl-Armstrong to receive an inheritance by hiring Barnes with the money from the bank robbery to kill her father. William Rothstein and Floyd Stockton were also found to have conspired in the crime, but Rothstein died before being charged and Stockton was granted immunity in exchange for testifying against Diehl-Armstrong. Diehl-Armstrong was sentenced in 2011 to life imprisonment without the possibility of parole and Barnes received a reduced sentence of 22+1⁄2 years in exchange for testifying against Diehl-Armstrong; both died in prison.
Wells' involvement in the plot is a matter of controversy. Investigators concluded Wells was a willing participant in the robbery, but was told the bomb was fake. Wells' family said he was forced to rob the bank by the conspirators. Known as the collar bomb case or pizza bomber case, the incident gained extensive media coverage, including the 2018 Netflix series Evil Genius and an upcoming film of the same name.
Background and motives
Brian Wells
Brian Wells grew up in Erie, Pennsylvania, as one of six children. In 1973, when Wells was a 16-year-old sophomore, he dropped out of East High School in Erie and went to work as a mechanic. He was described as "childlike". At the time of the bank robbery, he had been working at Mama Mia's Pizzeria for at least ten years.
Conspiracy
At Kenneth Barnes' home, he, Marjorie Diehl-Armstrong, and William Rothstein discussed ways they could make money. Diehl-Armstrong suggested Barnes kill her father, Harold Diehl, so she would receive an inheritance. Barnes told her he was willing to do this for $250,000 (equivalent to $438,000 in 2025). The collar bomb-bank robbery plot was hatched to obtain enough money to pay Barnes to kill Diehl-Armstrong's father. In return for a reduced sentence, Barnes later told investigators that Diehl-Armstrong was the mastermind of the crime and that she wanted the money to pay Barnes to kill her father, who she reportedly believed was squandering her inheritance.
Diehl-Armstrong had a history of suffering from multiple mental illnesses including bipolar disorder. Before her mental health deteriorated in her twenties, Diehl-Armstrong was an "exemplary student" in high school and earned a master's degree from Gannon College. In 1984, she killed her boyfriend Robert Thomas by shooting him six times as he lay on the couch; she was subsequently acquitted of murder, claiming it was self-defense. Her husband and several other partners also died under suspicious circumstances. Diehl-Armstrong died from breast cancer in prison at age 68 on April 4, 2017.
Barnes was a retired television repairman, crack cocaine dealer, and Diehl-Armstrong's "fishing buddy". He suffered from diabetes and died in prison of small-cell lung cancer that had spread to his brain on June 20, 2019, at the age of 64–65.
Rothstein dated Diehl-Armstrong in the late 1960s and early 1970s. He was implicated in a 1977 murder after he gave a handgun to a friend who used it to murder a romantic rival; he later attempted to destroy the weapon but was granted immunity from prosecution in exchange for his testimony. Rothstein was a handyman and part-time shop teacher, and was part of a group called the "fractured intellectuals"— intelligent people who were not well-adjusted. Rothstein was admitted to the Millcreek Community Hospital on July 23, 2004, having previously been diagnosed with non-Hodgkin's lymphoma showing diffuse, large-cell type myeloproliferative lymphoma, and died on July 30 that year at the age of 60. Rothstein was the putative creator of the collar bomb.
Floyd Stockton was a convicted rapist of a disabled teenager and lived as a fugitive at Rothstein's house. He was granted immunity for his testimony against Diehl-Armstrong, but was never called to testify in court due to illness. Stockton died of acute respiratory failure in Bellingham, Washington on August 10, 2022, at the age of 74–75. His death was ruled accidental, and the offices could not provide any further details.
Conspirators' connection to Wells
Immediately after his death, investigators searched Wells' house and found a list of people he knew which included the names of two prostitutes unknown to other members of his family. One of the prostitutes he frequented knew Kenneth Barnes, who dealt crack and whose house was used by prostitutes.
Wells as conspirator
According to law enforcement reports, Wells participated in the planning of the bank robbery the day before and was aware of the complex plot; he believed the bomb would be fake but would serve as exculpatory evidence if he were caught. According to an FBI affidavit, two witnesses confirmed that Wells talked about the robbery about a month before it occurred. Wells was seen leaving Rothstein's house the day before the incident, and investigators believe he participated in a rehearsal. It was believed Wells was killed to reduce the number of witnesses.
Wells' family and friends dispute his involvement in the bank robbery and his own death; according to them, Wells was accosted at gunpoint and forced to wear the bomb.
Jessica Hoopsick, a woman who was Wells' friend, confessed in the Netflix documentary Evil Genius that she set Wells up to participate in the crime by providing his name and delivery schedule to one of the conspirators in exchange for money and drugs. She said he had no knowledge of the robbery.
Robbery and death
Collar bomb
The bomb used in the killing consisted of a hinged collar that worked like a large handcuff to go around the neck, four keyholes that went under the chin, and a rectangular housing unit containing two pipe bombs and two kitchen timers. One electronic timer hung down over the chest. The device had several decoys, such as unconnected wires, a toy cell phone, and deceptive warning stickers.
Pizza delivery
For 10 years, Wells worked as a pizza delivery driver at Mama Mia's Pizzeria in Erie until his death. Just after 1:30 p.m. on August 28, 2003, the pizzeria received a call from a payphone at a nearby gas station. The owner could not understand the customer and transferred the call to Wells, who was instructed to deliver two pizzas to 8631 Peach Street, an address a few miles from the pizzeria. The address was the location of the transmitting tower of WSEE-TV at the end of a dirt road.
According to law enforcement, upon arriving at the television tower, Wells found the plot had changed and learned the bomb was real. Wells' family disputes this account of the events at the television tower; according to them, Wells was accosted at gunpoint by strangers and forced to participate. The details of events at the tower that led to the bomb being attached to Wells' neck have never been firmly established, but evidence suggests there was a struggle and that Barnes, Diehl-Armstrong, Rothstein, and Stockton were all present at that time.
In interviews by law enforcement, Stockton claimed to be the one to put the bomb around Wells' neck. When Wells discovered that the bomb was real, Barnes said a pistol was fired in order to force Wells' compliance, and witnesses confirmed hearing a gunshot. After the bomb was applied, Wells was given a sophisticated home-made shotgun, which had the appearance of an unusually shaped cane.
Wells was instructed to claim that three black men had forced the bomb on him and were holding him as a hostage.
Scavenger hunt
Inside Wells' car, police found nine pages of handwritten instructions addressed to "Bomb Hostage", directing him to rob the bank. The instructions also included a scavenger hunt, listing a series of strictly timed tasks for collecting keys that would delay detonation and eventually defuse the bomb. The pages warned that Wells would be under constant surveillance and any attempts to contact authorities would result in the bomb's detonation. "ACT NOW, THINK LATER OR YOU WILL DIE!" was scrawled at the bottom of the instructions.
Robbery
Wells was instructed to "quietly" enter the PNC Bank at Summit Towne Center on Peach Street and give the teller an affixed note demanding $250,000, and to use his shotgun to threaten anyone who did not cooperate or attempted to flee. Upon entering the bank around 2:30 p.m., Wells slid the note to a teller. The note stated the bomb would explode in 15 minutes and that the full amount must be handed over within that time. The teller was unable to access the vault quickly and gave Wells a bag containing $8,702 and exited the bank.
At 2:38 p.m., a witness called 9-1-1 from the bank and reported a male leaving the bank with "a bomb or something wrapped around his neck". This is the first-known emergency call for the incident. According to witnesses at the bank and surveillance footage, after entering the bank, Wells waited in line. When he reached the counter, he began sucking a lollipop. He appeared confident as he left the bank, swinging his cane gun and the bag of money "like Charlie Chaplin" according to one witness.
Arrest and death
Around 15 minutes after Wells left the bank, he had completed the first task of the scavenger hunt. He was proceeding with the second task when police saw him standing outside his automobile and promptly arrested him, handcuffed him and left him sitting on the ground in the parking lot of a nearby business, Eyeglass World. Wells said three unnamed black people had placed a bomb around his neck, provided him with the shotgun, and told him they would kill him unless he committed the robbery and completed several other tasks.
The responding police officers did not attempt to disarm the device; they focused on clearing the immediate area of pedestrians and ensuring Wells could not detonate the device. The bomb squad was first called at 3:04 p.m., at least 30 minutes after the first 9-1-1 call from the bank and about 10 minutes after Wells was arrested. At 3:18 p.m., three minutes before the bomb squad arrived, the bomb detonated and blasted a fist-sized hole in Wells' chest, killing him in seconds. Traffic congestion in the area delayed the bomb squad's arrival but personnel from the ATF still considered their response appropriately quick.
Aftermath and subsequent developments
WJET-TV, Erie's ABC affiliate, broadcast the event live on the air, but did not show the moment of the detonation due to a technical problem. The station provided the footage to FBI investigators, ABC's head office, and sister station WKBW-TV in Buffalo, New York. The footage was subsequently leaked to shock jock Elliot Segal of DC101, a radio station in Washington, D.C. who posted it on his website in September 2003. Although he subsequently removed the video at WJET's request, by then it had been posted to numerous video-sharing websites.
Though the note claimed Wells would gain extra time by each key found, police later traveled the note's route and could not complete it in the allotted time, implying Wells would not have had enough time to get the bomb defused. The collar of the bomb was still intact so authorities were forced to sever Wells' head from his body so the bomb could be retained and investigated.
Murder of James Roden
On September 20, 2003, Rothstein, who lived near the television tower, called police to inform them the body of a man, James Roden, was hidden in a freezer in a garage at his house. After he telephoned police, Rothstein wrote a suicide note indicating his planned death had nothing to do with Wells. Investigators do not believe Rothstein ever attempted suicide.
Roden had been living with Diehl-Armstrong for 10 years. In custody, Rothstein claimed Diehl-Armstrong had murdered her then-boyfriend Roden with a 12-gauge shotgun during a dispute over money. Rothstein said she subsequently paid him $2,000 to help hide the body and clean the crime scene at her house.
Rothstein died of cancer on July 30, 2004 at the age of 60 before a federal grand jury handed up the indictments.
In January 2005, Diehl-Armstrong pleaded guilty but mentally ill to third degree murder and abuse of a corpse for killing Roden. She was sentenced to between 7 and 20 years in prison. She is believed to have killed Roden to prevent him from informing authorities about the robbery plot.
Diehl-Armstrong and Barnes charged
In April 2005, Diehl-Armstrong told a state trooper she had information about the Wells case and after meeting with FBI agents, said she would tell them everything she knew if she was transferred from the Muncy Correctional Institution to a minimum-security prison in Cambridge Springs. During a series of interviews, Diehl-Armstrong admitted to providing the kitchen timers used for the bomb, stated Rothstein masterminded the plot, and that Wells had been directly involved in the plan.