The Pizza Bomber Case: A Collar Bomb, a Bank, and a Deadly Scavenger Hunt

A Bank Robbery That Looked Like a Stunt

On August 28, 2003, afternoon customers at a small bank in a suburban plaza outside Erie, Pennsylvania, saw something that looked almost like a movie scene.
A pizza delivery driver, 46‑year‑old Brian Wells, walked in carrying a cane and an envelope — and wearing a bulky metal collar around his neck.
He handed over a note demanding $250,000 and warning that the device locked around his neck was a bomb that would explode if the teller didn’t cooperate.
Staff could only hand him a much smaller amount of cash, and Wells walked back out into the parking lot as calmly as he’d arrived, swinging his cane like a prop.
Within minutes, he was on the ground surrounded by police, telling them he’d been forced into a robbery and sent on a twisted scavenger hunt to save his own life.

Case Snapshot

• Location: PNC Bank branch in a strip plaza at Summit Towne Center, just south of Erie, Pennsylvania
• Date: August 28, 2003
• Primary crimes: Bank robbery with an explosive device; homicide when the collar bomb detonated

Key People

• Brian Douglas Wells, 46
  • Pizza delivery driver for a local shop
  • Died when the collar bomb exploded while he was detained on the pavement near the bank
• Alleged conspirators and masterminds:
  • Marjorie Diehl‑Armstrong – Erie woman with severe mental illness and a history of violence, later described by prosecutors as the mastermind behind the plot
  • Kenneth Barnes – Friend of Diehl‑Armstrong, who said he was recruited to help plan the robbery and that Wells believed the bomb was fake
  • William “Bill” Rothstein – Handyman who lived near the TV tower where Wells was lured; accused by others of helping build the bomb and design the scavenger hunt
  • Floyd Stockton – Associate of Rothstein who received immunity in exchange for cooperation
• Status:
  • Diehl‑Armstrong and Barnes convicted in federal court; Rothstein died before charges; Stockton never prosecuted
  • FBI and prosecutors consider the case solved as a conspiracy, but Wells’ exact role — victim, reluctant accomplice, or both — remains debated

Lured to a Tower Road

The story didn’t start at the bank.
Earlier that day, someone had placed an order for pizzas to be delivered to a remote area near a TV transmission tower outside Erie.
Wells drove there in his delivery car, expecting to drop off food and head back to work.
Instead, he was met by conspirators, overpowered, and fitted with a custom‑built metal collar that locked around his neck, attached to a box containing pipe bombs and a timer.
They gave him a cane disguised as a shotgun and several pages of detailed instructions, then sent him toward the bank.

The Collar Bomb and the Scavenger Hunt

The device around Wells’ neck was both theatrical and lethal.
It included a thick iron collar, a front box housing multiple small explosives, a visible timer, and several locks and dials that made removal extremely difficult.
The written instructions addressed him as the “Bomb Hostage” and laid out a series of steps he was supposed to follow:
rob the bank, then drive to specific spots around Erie to find more notes, keys, and codes.
On paper, it looked like a twisted treasure hunt with his life as the prize.

When investigators later mapped out the route and time limits, they concluded it was essentially impossible to complete the circuit before the timer ran out.
That suggested the scavenger hunt was never meant to save him — it was meant to keep him moving and to create confusion if he was caught.

The Parking Lot and the Explosion

After leaving the bank with a bag of cash, Wells didn’t get far.
State troopers stopped his car in a nearby lot, ordered him out, and handcuffed him on the pavement behind his vehicle.
Video from that scene shows him sitting, legs outstretched, telling officers he’d been forced into the robbery and begging them to get the bomb off before it exploded.
Police kept their distance, waiting for explosives experts to arrive, trying to balance their own safety with his pleas.

Before the bomb squad could reach him, the device on his chest began to beep.
Seconds later, it detonated, killing him instantly as cameras from local news crews, kept at a perimeter, recorded the blast from afar.
That moment turned what might have been a strange robbery into one of the most infamous collar‑bomb cases in U.S. history.

Unraveling the Conspiracy

The investigation that followed pulled in multiple crime scenes and side stories.
Detectives traced the delivery call to people connected to handyman Bill Rothstein, who lived near the tower where Wells had been ambushed.
Around the same time, police discovered that Rothstein had been hiding the body of a man named James Roden in a freezer in his house — Roden had dated Rothstein’s ex‑girlfriend, Marjorie Diehl‑Armstrong.

As agents dug deeper, a picture emerged of a small circle of people in Erie who were tied together by money problems, grudges, and overlapping schemes.
According to prosecutors, Diehl‑Armstrong wanted money to hire Kenneth Barnes to kill her father, and the collar‑bomb heist was supposed to fund that murder‑for‑hire plan.
Rothstein and Stockton were accused of helping design or execute parts of the bomb and the scavenger‑hunt route.

Trials, Pleas, and a Dead “Mastermind”

In 2007, federal prosecutors formally charged Diehl‑Armstrong and Barnes with the robbery conspiracy and the use of a destructive device.
Rothstein was named as a co‑conspirator but had already died of cancer.
Barnes took a plea deal, admitting his role in the plot and testifying that Wells had been involved in planning but had not known the bomb was real.

Diehl‑Armstrong went to trial, where the government argued she was the driving force behind the scheme, using her associates to build the device and stage the bank robbery.
She was convicted of armed bank robbery, conspiracy, and weapons charges, and sentenced to life in prison, where she later died.
Stockton, who was said to have been present for parts of the planning, received immunity and was never prosecuted.

Was Brian Wells a Victim or an Accomplice?

One of the most unsettling questions in this case has never been fully resolved:
Was Brian Wells a willing participant who thought he’d be part of a fake bomb plot, or was he a completely innocent hostage used as disposable bait?

Prosecutors put him on paper as a “limited” co‑conspirator, claiming he had agreed to rob the bank but was misled about the danger of the device.
They pointed to statements from Barnes and to aspects of Wells’ behavior that, in their view, suggested some prior knowledge.

His family, many crime watchers, and some independent reviewers strongly disagree.
They point to his panic in the parking lot, the impossibly short scavenger‑hunt timeline, and the complexity of the device as evidence that he was being manipulated by people far more dangerous and calculating than he was.
The documentary series and later coverage have kept that debate alive, turning the case into an ongoing “crime puzzle” instead of a cleanly closed file.

Why This Case Is on True Crime Maps

On True Crime Maps, the pin for this case marks that shopping plaza just outside Erie, anchoring a story that blends heist planning, explosive engineering, and unanswered questions about who was using whom.
It’s a case where geography becomes part of the puzzle: a path from a tower road to a bank to a parking lot, with one man caught in the middle of a design he likely never fully understood.