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Thread: Brian Douglas Wells and the Pizza Bomber Case

  1. #1
    SanDiegodeathhag19 Guest

    Brian Douglas Wells and the Pizza Bomber Case

    any thoughts? have you seen the video?

  2. #2
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    Who is he?

  3. #3
    ComputerGuy Guest
    Brian Douglas Wells (November 15, 1956August 28, 2003) was an American pizza delivery man who was killed by a time bomb explosive fastened to his neck, purportedly under duress from the maker of the bomb. After he was apprehended by the police for robbing a bank, the bomb exploded. The bizarre affair was subject to much attention in the mass media.

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    Oh, okay. Thanks!

  5. #5
    djdeath-hag Guest
    I've seen the video....and recall the news accounts. I currently am of the belief that he was a victim. I could *(and may) be easily persuaded to change my thoughts on this one.

  6. #6
    GODDESS6 Guest
    is the video out there, could someone post a link to it?~ as of late the media was trying to portray him as an accomplice, but his family says no-way~ i just think that is nuts~ i think of him as a victim also~

  7. #7
    cherryghost Guest
    Can we have the video?

  8. #8
    Cathy J. Guest
    I remember this !!

    I believe there was a video of this incident that appeared on You Tube awhile back.
    I don't think it is still there ( though I could be wrong..it is You Tube ).

    One odd thing about this ( among the other odd stuff ) was the location of where he was killed. On a country road in an antenna farm in Erie, Pennsylvania !!

    Most cities and towns with their own TV stations, usually their tall transmission towers and transmitters are clustered together. Some of the places are actually landmarks like LA's Mount Wilson or Denver's Lookout Mountain.

    However many of these palces like the one in Erie has/had restricted access ( to prevent possible visitors such as vandals and those with sucidal thoughts, touching one of these towers while its still transmitting can easily cause instant death ).

    Besides whether or not Wells acted alone, at the time this happened..there was also debate as to how this man got back there.

  9. #9
    Lisamarie Guest
    I feel so bad for him!! He was yelling someone get this thing off of me!! And then boom! He got blowed up !! I sure wonder who the hell would do sucha thing to a person.....

  10. #10
    burgtwngrl Guest

    Pizza Bomber

    Pizza Bomber
    I live in Ohio now but back in 2003 I lived in Erie PA. I worked on state street in the FBI building...a street over (Peach Street) A pizza delivery man; his name was Brian Wells was kidnapped by a still unknown assailant had a collar bomb strapped to his neck and was forced to rob a PNC Bank right in the heart of Erie's Shopping district. He was given 7 pages of rambling instructions and only given 20 minutes to get the job done. Poor Brian was kind of slow mentally anyway and when the cops showed up to arrest him he tried to tell him that he didn't intentionally rob the bank that he was kidnapped etc etc... as he was streaming for someone to help him BOOM the bomb went off killing him instantly and put a gigantic hole in his chest. (he had to be decapitated at autopsy to get the bomb off his neck) me working in the FBI building I was leaving work that day when two agents were carrying in the device that was around his neck... to make a strange story stranger a month later a man's body was found frozen in a chest freezer in a house not far from where Mr. Wells was kidnapped. The man who owned the house said it was not his freezer but that of his X-Girlfriend Marjorie Deal Armstrong (in Erie she is called Mad Madge) anyhoo... the man in the freezer turned out to be Mad Madge's other X-boyfriend that she chopped up. I think it was 2 years later that the police linked the pizza bomber case and the Frozen Boyfriend case together and Mad Madge is serving time for her boyfriend's murder and is right now being evaluated to see if she is competant to stand trial in the Pizza bomber case. The man who owned the house where the freezer was died of cancer before he could stand trial. she's the only surviving suspect in the case. Incidentally the poor frozen boyfriend was murdered, chopped up and frozen before Brian Wells was kidnapped. whew long story... i'll try to find a link to it and post it... it was on CNN and all the major world news stories but it's been 5 years ago so many probably forgot about oh and yes it was made into a storyline for "law & Order" also in 2004.

    Here's a link from America's Most Wanted...
    http://www.amw.com/fugitives/case.cfm?id=27382&state=other&OtherID=34763

    I tried to get a YouTube video but you have to be a member to get it. if you search under Brian Douglas Wells you'll get to see the original video taken by the CBS affiliate in Erie PA and it shows the bomb going off Killing Mr. Wells.

  11. #11
    relander Guest
    Interesting case indeed.

    Attached some of the pages:
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  12. #12
    tarsier Guest
    I remember the case for it's weirdness but didn't Mad
    Madge try to share her accountabilty with among others Mr. Wells and wasn't there something about her being upper middle class-ish and being involved in a conspiracy to kill her father? I hadn't heard about the frozen ex-.
    the braod was/is definitely a whack job but not legally insane.

  13. #13
    GODDESS6 Guest
    didn't sometime last year the police try to say that brian wells was in on this all too?~ but i think his surviving brother denied it~

  14. #14
    relander Guest

    Brian Douglas Wells explodes


  15. #15
    Cettie Guest
    I remember that well, still on the news here since Erie isn't far away. Marjorie Armstrong-Deal is in a prison that a friend of ours works at. He said that she was put on kitchen detail and was told "Remember, that freezer is for FOOD." Oh to have been a fly on the wall at that moment.

  16. #16
    Chevyheaven Guest

    Pizza? Frozen? If she had a yen for Ginos frozen pizza rolls this would come together nicely.. hmmm
    Maybe she loved them so much that she wanted to make pizza rolls out of men…but of course she would have needed funding so she had one of her men rob a bank.. wow.. that is some serious stuff there eh kids??

    That poor fella being blown to bits like that. I hate that. he looks so innocent and unknowing. That woman sounds looney as a toon!!

    A video?? How delightful thank you for sharing.

  17. #17
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    I remember this case well. I did see some show on it, a Dateline type thing and there was a pretty good America's Most Wanted special about it. I know that yes, some were trying to say that Brian Wells had something to do with it. The whole thing is just bizarre.

  18. #18
    burgtwngrl Guest
    Mad Madge actually is loaded. in the 70's she went to a state mental hospital for killing her then boyfriend and plotting to kill her father. Her father was RICH! and she inherited it all. She had a really nice house when they arrested her her house was FILLED TO THE CEILING WITH GARBAGE! It took 6 months to clean the house out (at her expense) they kept filling up dumpsters after dumpsters of garbage and they wore Haz Mat Suits. When they were done the house was spotless and sold.

    Madge is severely mentally ill I don't think she will see the outside of Prison or a mental hospital ever again.

    Yes at one point the FBI suspected Wells was in on it. I really don't believe that because he was mentally slow...If he was in on it Madge and her cohorts talked him into it and just left out the part where he would be blown up. No matter what the circumstances I believe the planned to blow him up no matter what and he was a pawn in her sick game.

  19. #19
    JestersKiss Guest
    http://news.findlaw.com/hdocs/docs/c...70907ind8.html
    http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,166160,00.html
    http://scaredmonkeys.com/2007/07/11/...ehl-armstrong/

    here are three links about the case, pretty interesting story.
    They arnt sure if shes competent enough, then..........there must be others involved.

  20. #20
    burgtwngrl Guest
    There were others involved...William Rothstein and Jim Roden (the frozen boyfriend) both are dead now...Rothstein died before they implicated him and madge of cancer. Roden was Murdered by Madge and Rothstein

  21. #21
    JestersKiss Guest
    but one of the reports say the boyfriend was hacked up before the bombing dude. so there are discrepencies

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    Poor little weasel never got to go round the mulberry bush even once.
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  23. #23
    JestersKiss Guest
    Quote Originally Posted by cleanskull View Post
    Poor little weasel never got to go round the mulberry bush even once.
    lmao,,,,funny cleanskull

  24. #24
    hoxharding Guest
    Perhaps a dumb question,but did they show the poor man being blown up on the news? Or did they tape it and just show the part before he went BOOM!

  25. #25
    burgtwngrl Guest
    They edited the footage and no they did not show him getting blown up on TV. Thankfully it was not a live news cast that day. I worked in the FBI building a street over and there are alot of businesses right next door to that bank (Fast Food, Target, Best Buy, Sam's Club) unfortunately ALOT of people saw him blow up in person at close range. My friend's fiancee was one and he couldn't sleep for a few nights.

  26. #26
    burgtwngrl Guest
    someone from the CBS affiliate released the unedited footage to the internet and you tube.

  27. #27
    Lisamarie Guest
    I wish I could make out whats what on that.....the video of him blowing up anyone know what kind of injurys he sustained?

  28. #28
    burgtwngrl Guest
    It blew a hole the size of a football in his chest. He was killed instantly mercifully. Then they could not get the bomb off of him they had to decapitate him in order to get the coller bomb off him. I saw the coller bomb the FBI were bringing it in that afternoon to take it apart when I was leaving work that day.

  29. #29
    Lisamarie Guest
    You saw it for real????

  30. #30
    Cathy J. Guest
    Brian Wells had an earlier thread in here..

    http://www.findadeath.com/forum/show...ht=brian+wells

  31. #31
    burgtwngrl Guest
    The bomb yes, the bomb going off No, I worked one street over in the FBI building on state street in Erie...The bank he robbed was on Peach Street a street over.

  32. #32
    NewYorkDoll Guest
    Quote Originally Posted by hoxharding View Post
    Perhaps a dumb question,but did they show the poor man being blown up on the news? Or did they tape it and just show the part before he went BOOM!
    I believe they showed him right up until the bomb exploded.

  33. #33
    burgtwngrl Guest
    Quote Originally Posted by burgtwngrl View Post
    They edited the footage and no they did not show him getting blown up on TV. Thankfully it was not a live news cast that day. I worked in the FBI building a street over and there are alot of businesses right next door to that bank (Fast Food, Target, Best Buy, Sam's Club) unfortunately ALOT of people saw him blow up in person at close range. My friend's fiancee was one and he couldn't sleep for a few nights.
    I believe I covered that question in a previous post.

    thank you

  34. #34
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    A new development in this odd, odd case:

    Bank-Robbery-Explosion
    INDEX:Banks, International, Justice
    Defendant in bizarre Pennsylvania collar-bomb case pleads guilty
    ERIE, Pa. - A man has admitted he helped plan a bizarre 2003 bank robbery that ended with the death of a Pennsylvania pizza deliveryman with a collar-bomb strapped to his neck.
    Kenneth Barnes pleaded guilty to conspiring to rob a bank and to aiding and abetting.
    He could be sentenced to life in prison.
    The pizza deliveryman, Brian Wells, told police he had been forced at gunpoint to lock the bomb onto his neck and rob the bank.
    He was killed when the device exploded as police waited for a bomb squad.
    Barnes' co-defendant, Marjorie Diehl-Armstrong, is accused of masterminding the plot.
    (The Associated Press)
    15:25ET 03-09-08

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    Excellent thread!!
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  36. #36
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    Pa. woman gets life plus 30 in collar bomb death




    By JOE MANDAK, Associated Press Joe Mandak, Associated Press – 40 mins ago
    ERIE, Pa. – A Pennsylvania woman was sentenced Monday to spend the rest of her life in prison for a bank robbery plot in which a [COLOR=#366388 ! important][COLOR=#366388 ! important]pizza [COLOR=#366388 ! important]delivery [/COLOR][COLOR=#366388 ! important]driver[/COLOR][/COLOR][/COLOR] was killed by a bomb locked around his neck — even though both she and the victim's family claim that she's innocent and that the real killers went free.
    It was a strange coda to a bizarre case with a defendant to match: 62-year-old Marjorie Diehl-Armstrong, the mentally ill Erie woman sentenced to life plus 30 years in prison in the bank robbery plot that killed 46-year-old [COLOR=#366388 ! important][COLOR=#366388 ! important]Brian [COLOR=#366388 ! important]Wells[/COLOR][/COLOR][/COLOR] on Aug. 28, 2003.
    "I believe the investigators solved the case, and we've brought to justice those who were in a position to be prosecuted," Assistant U.S. Attorney Marshall Piccinini said at a news conference.
    Diehl-Armstrong, already in prison for a slaying two weeks before Wells' death, has denied involvement in the plot. And Wells' sister, Jean Heid, supported her claim before Diehl-Armstrong was sentenced.
    Heid reiterated the family's belief that Diehl-Armstrong was just a pawn and that Wells wasn't a co-conspirator, as federal prosecutors allege.
    "My brother was a bomb hostage, not a bomber," Heid nearly shouted at one point in her statement to U.S. District Judge [COLOR=#366388 ! important][COLOR=#366388 ! important]Sean [COLOR=#366388 ! important]McLaughlin[/COLOR][/COLOR][/COLOR].
    "My heart goes out to the family," Diehl-Armstrong said before she was sentenced. "The true killers is still out there."
    Prosecutors contend Diehl-Armstrong and others plotted to lock the bomb onto Wells' neck, then sent him to rob a PNC Bank in neighboring Millcreek Township because Diehl-Armstrong wanted to hire her fishing buddy, [COLOR=#366388 ! important][COLOR=#366388 ! important]Kenneth [COLOR=#366388 ! important]Barnes[/COLOR][/COLOR][/COLOR], to kill her father.
    According to prosecutors, they were assisted by William Rothstein, Diehl-Armstrong's ex-boyfriend, who built the bomb collar using two egg timers she provided and helped force Wells — who prosecutors say may have gotten cold feet — to wear it.
    Rothstein was drawn into the case when he called police in September 2003 to report having the body of James Roden, 45, in his garage freezer. Diehl-Armstrong later pleaded guilty but mentally ill to third-degree murder — and is still serving her seven- to 20-year sentence for his shotgun killing 18 days before Wells died.
    Piccinini contends she killed Roden because he planned to tell authorities about the collar bomb plot. Diehl-Armstrong said Roden knew nothing about the plot because she wasn't involved in it, either, and that she killed him, instead, in a fit of anger that ended an abusive 10-year relationship.
    Heid blamed two other men, a co-worker of her brother's who died of an overdose and Rothstein's then-roommate, who couldn't be linked to the plot.
    The [COLOR=#366388 ! important][COLOR=#366388 ! important]victim's [COLOR=#366388 ! important]brother[/COLOR][/COLOR][/COLOR], John Wells, 47, of Phoenix, called the case last fall a "circus show trial" that would bring the family no justice, and Heid reiterated those claims Monday. She told The Associated Press after the sentencing that Rothstein blackmailed Diehl-Armstrong because he knew of Roden's murder and manipulated her into being in places that made her appear to be part of the plot.
    "I believe she was set up by Rothstein. ... He held the body of Roden over her head," Heid said.
    Diehl-Armstrong's attorney, Douglas Sughrue, said that he'll likely continue to represent her during her federal appeals, and that he agrees with some of what Heid believes.
    "I have never spoken with the Wells family, but I think it's a fair interpretation of the facts" to believe that Diehl-Armstrong was framed and manipulated, Sughrue said. But he does not believe, like Wells' family, that law enforcement officials didn't do enough to save him that day.
    Heid contends that police didn't call a bomb squad soon enough — though troopers testified at trial that one was called as soon as police confirmed there was a bomb — and that she was especially angry that investigators allowed Wells' head to be cut from his corpse so they could remove the bomb collar without destroying what was left of the device.
    "More respect was shown for the destructive device than for Brian's body," Heid told the judge.
    Police stopped Wells' car shortly after he took $8,701 from the bank, and he sat handcuffed on the pavement as officers took cover while waiting for a bomb squad.
    "All the more haunting to us were Brian's last words caught on the ([COLOR=#366388 ! important][COLOR=#366388 ! important]local [COLOR=#366388 ! important]TV [/COLOR][COLOR=#366388 ! important]news[/COLOR][/COLOR][/COLOR]) video tape," Heid said. "'I don't have a lot of time. It's gonna go off. I'm not lying. When is someone gonna come and get this thing off of me?'"
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  37. #37
    Djen Guest
    There was just a great article about this case in Wired Magazine in December. http://www.wired.com/magazine/2010/1...llarbomb/all/1 It's long, so I don't know if I should copy and paste it all (not sure what the rules are), but it's definitely worth a read...

  38. #38
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  39. #39
    aedgar5000 Guest
    Holy crap!

  40. #40
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    it's an amazing story.
    at some point brian wells must have realized he was going to die and knew that there was absolutely nothing he could do about it.
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  41. #41
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    wow...that is so fucked up!! wow...human beings can be so cruel. jfc.

  42. #42
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    Its so sad. The police from what I remember were not even caring enough about this man to un-do the bomb. So sad. His family should sue the county police officers.
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    Quote Originally Posted by pyt View Post
    Its so sad. The police from what I remember were not even caring enough about this man to un-do the bomb. So sad. His family should sue the county police officers.
    Was it that do you think or were they more likely advised to stay back by a bomb squad who had not yet had time to react?

    All I know about this case is what I've read here. So my question isn't meant to be snide. Just an honest question to anyone who might know the answer.

    PS. Thanks for the blammo video, Ichles.
    .

  44. #44
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    Quote Originally Posted by SomeChick View Post
    Was it that do you think or were they more likely advised to stay back by a bomb squad who had not yet had time to react?

    PS. Thanks for the blammo video, Ichles.
    IIRC, they were waiting on the bomb squad to arrive...the other officers were not trained or equipped to remove or deactivate it. Unfortunately, time ran out.

    Yes, Ich... a HUGE thank you for the video!

  45. #45
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    So creepy and unfortunate.
    I saw this thread up, and thought it might have had recent posts due to the release of the movie "30 Minutes Or Less" (a comedy in which two men kidnap a pizza-delivery boy and strap a bomb to him in order to force him to rob a bank for them). There was a little bit of buzz that Brian Wells' family was upset (understandably!) and possibly wanted to sue.
    Saw the movie and thought it was funny; it didn't remind me of the Brian Wells blammo incident, really.
    "We've had threads about guys fucking picnic tables, animals and dead bodies. Third boob ain't going to stop a damn thing." - cleanskull

  46. #46
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    Quote Originally Posted by Cynful View Post
    IIRC, they were waiting on the bomb squad to arrive...the other officers were not trained or equipped to remove or deactivate it. Unfortunately, time ran out.

    Yes, Ich... a HUGE thank you for the video!
    Thanks Cyn.

    Quote Originally Posted by MirrorDimly View Post
    So creepy and unfortunate.
    I saw this thread up, and thought it might have had recent posts due to the release of the movie "30 Minutes Or Less" (a comedy in which two men kidnap a pizza-delivery boy and strap a bomb to him in order to force him to rob a bank for them). There was a little bit of buzz that Brian Wells' family was upset (understandably!) and possibly wanted to sue.
    Saw the movie and thought it was funny; it didn't remind me of the Brian Wells blammo incident, really.
    While I feel for the guy's family, that'd be like me suing every other person on the planet who's ever posted a recipe for chocolate brownies on a website.
    .

  47. #47
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    police officers

    Quote Originally Posted by Cynful View Post
    IIRC, they were waiting on the bomb squad to arrive...the other officers were not trained or equipped to remove or deactivate it. Unfortunately, time ran out.

    Yes, Ich... a HUGE thank you for the video!
    perhaps a new regulation for police officers, is to be trained to deactivate a bomb .... It sounds like a good idea to me.


    And besides that, the officers I know there is only so much they can do- but if they actually cared enough to maybe I dunno keep him company or talk to him to calm him down while this bomb is counting down, they would know exactly how much time he had & tried to get the damn bomb squad to hurry up.
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  48. #48
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    Quote Originally Posted by pyt View Post
    perhaps a new regulation for police officers, is to be trained to deactivate a bomb .... It sounds like a good idea to me.


    And besides that, the officers I know there is only so much they can do- but if they actually cared enough to maybe I dunno keep him company or talk to him to calm him down while this bomb is counting down, they would know exactly how much time he had & tried to get the damn bomb squad to hurry up.
    Training every officer to deactivate bombs is probably not practical- it's VERY specialized, intensive and expensive to do as well. The same reason that every police officer is not trained as a SWAT member.

    The officers that were on scene were more than likely told to keep a safe distance, as they too would be killed if the bomb went off while they were standing right there. No department is going to take the risk of losing even more lives.

  49. #49
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    Arrow

    Quote Originally Posted by Cynful View Post
    Training every officer to deactivate bombs is probably not practical- it's VERY specialized, intensive and expensive to do as well. The same reason that every police officer is not trained as a SWAT member.

    The officers that were on scene were more than likely told to keep a safe distance, as they too would be killed if the bomb went off while they were standing right there. No department is going to take the risk of losing even more lives.
    well I understand but its just so tragic ... I wish there had been a different ending.
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  50. #50
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    Quote Originally Posted by pyt View Post
    well I understand but its just so tragic ... I wish there had been a different ending.
    Me too.

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