Pizza Delivery Man ~ Bomb Collar ~ Bank Robber?

[Casshew]

Remember this poor guy with the home made, yet sophisticated, bomb locked to his neck?

Has anyone heard any updates on who was behind this?

Brian Wells, 46, died when the device around his neck exploded after he robbed a bank... he was begging the fire department and police to help him.. it exploded before the bomb squad arrived.

[SieSie]

Oh man, I remember this, Cass! It was awful to watch this man sitting indian style on the ground and everyone around helpless, waiting for the bomb squad. I really never heard anything more about it, either.

I also remember that his friend and coworker died 3 days later, in his own home, and that they were going to do an autopsy to see if there was anything suspicious (connected somehow). I also don't recall ever hearing those results. Here are some links:

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2003/09/01/eveningnews/main571031.shtml
Quote: "Why is nobody trying to come get this thing off me?" "It's going to go off. I'm not lying."

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/3196055.stm

http://www.wtps.co.uk/frames/story&banner.asp?page=redirect&url_id=53954
Quote: At first they thought they were dealing with an ordinary crime. Now they believe that Mr. Wells was the victim of a murderous plot and are treating his death as murder.

Maybe someone out there in WS-land remembers hearing more than us.

[Babcat]

With the exception of the death of little Jake Robel, the six-year-old drug to death while his mother's car was being carjacked, this case has haunted me more than any other.

I've been "into" true crime now for well over 20 years... but few cases have caused me to wake at night with my heart pounding from the sheer terror they invoke. I don't know exactly why these two cases have haunted me so much. Perhaps it is the randomness of victims... or the bizarre nature of the crimes... or the total helplessness of onlookers to do anything for people who were definitely going to die.

There has been little in the way of of updates to the story of the pizza delivery man. But I did find this:

Wells' note to be released
By Ed Palattella
ed.palattella@timesnews.com

The FBI on Tuesday plans to release parts of the note found on Brian Wells after he died in a bomb blast in August.

The way the detailed note was written is just as important as what it says, the head of the FBI office in Erie said.

Special Agent Bob Rudge said the release will include photographs of the actual note so the public can see the document "in its original form."


More story here... (http://www.goerie.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20040205/NEWS02/102050331)



For anyone interested in knowing more about Jake Robel:
A story you won't soon forget (http://examiner.net/stories/022300/new_022300005.shtml)

[SieSie]

With the exception of the death of little Jake Robel, the six-year-old drug to death while his mother's car was being carjacked, this case has haunted me more than any other.

I've been "into" true crime now for well over 20 years... but few cases have caused me to wake at night with my heart pounding from the sheer terror they invoke. I don't know exactly why these two cases have haunted me so much. Perhaps it is the randomness of victims... or the bizarre nature of the crimes... or the total helplessness of onlookers to do anything for people who were definitely going to die.

There has been little in the way of of updates to the story of the pizza delivery man. But I did find this:

Wells' note to be released
By Ed Palattella
ed.palattella@timesnews.com

The FBI on Tuesday plans to release parts of the note found on Brian Wells after he died in a bomb blast in August.

The way the detailed note was written is just as important as what it says, the head of the FBI office in Erie said.

Special Agent Bob Rudge said the release will include photographs of the actual note so the public can see the document "in its original form."


More story here... (http://www.goerie.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20040205/NEWS02/102050331)



For anyone interested in knowing more about Jake Robel:
A story you won't soon forget (http://examiner.net/stories/022300/new_022300005.shtml)


Hey Babcat! I will bookmark that link for Jake Robel, as I'm unfamiliar with that case but it sounds horrible. Thanks for the update on this Wells case. At the link you provided above I also read the following:

Quote from: http://www.goerie.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20040205/NEWS02/102050331
"It is no secret that we haven't solved the case," Rudge said. "That is not to say we don't have more information now than we did on Aug. 28." Rudge said the FBI has collected volumes of evidence, but that the agency needs "specific information to bring this to closure."

We will definitely be hearing more about this case eventually. Keep your eyes and ears open!

[SieSie]

Oh Babs, that Jake Robel story is tragic! I'm so glad they found the creep responsible - thank heavens for the other motorists who helped stop and subdue him until police could arrive. The poor family, the mother especially since she left him in the car with it running, must feel such tremendous anger and loss. What a shame.

[Hammerized]

FBI releases notes found with Erie bank robber wearing neck bomb

http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/04042/271737.stm

[SieSie]

FBI releases notes found with Erie bank robber wearing neck bomb

http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/04042/271737.stm

Thanks for the link, Hammerized! The notes had drawings on them as well as writing - hopefully someone will recognize the style or doodlings. It is amazing the runaround this deliveryman was given - to go to all the different locations. Very bizarre.

[partyuv5]

I remember Jake's death very clearly. It was so horrific as was "the pizza man's." But they are different. Nobody listened to the pizza guy. LE just thought he was a bank robber. Poor Jake was left alone in his mother's SUV while she went into Subway. She left the vehicle running with Jake in it. Kim Davis,who had just been paroled (with other warrants outstanding) took the SUV along with Jake on a ride that will go down in KC history. I hope to God that no other child goes through what Jake did. For those of you that don't know, Jake was drug down an interstate highway stuck in his seatbelt. Many people tried to get the driver to stop but he kept going.

As we all know now, as well as before, never leave a child in a vehicle. EVER, especially with it running.

[debbywitt]

This conspiracy theorist from the same town as Brian Wells is a gunsmith and has a machine shop.

Gun dealer raided
Crawford County man charged by ATF; court papers sealed
By JOHN BARTLETT
john.bartlett@timesnews.com

MEADVILLE — A Crawford County gun dealer known for his outspoken criticism of government power was arrested on firearm violations Thursday after heavily armed federal agents raided his West Mead home and adjacent business.

Agents with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives served a search warrant and took self-proclaimed "patriotic, Christian American" Darrell Sivik into custody at about 9 a.m.

He was arraigned at about 4 p.m. in Erie before Federal Magistrate Susan Paradise Baxter. The courtroom was ordered closed, and the search and arrest warrants were sealed and not available.

Federal officials said the documents will be made available Monday.

Sivik in past interviews called himself a patriotic, Christian American, a member of the Patriot Movement and a member of the Pennsylvania Militia.

"By virtue of being a citizen, you have an obligation to be a militia member," he said in a 1998 interview.

Federal agents spent more than five hours searching Sivik's Williamson Road home, occasionally hauling out materials — most of which appeared to be files and metal ammunition boxes — and placing them in their vehicles.

The agents arrived in more than a dozen cars, vans and sport utility vehicles, one of which got stuck in a field across the road from Sivik's home.

State police established roadblocks about 100 yards both east and west of Sivik's home, turning back all traffic until about 2:20 p.m.

A half-dozen ATF agents wearing helmets and other combat gear and armed with pistols and what appeared to be fully automatic carbines clustered a small distance away in a field.

Agents in combat gear also set up, at least briefly, on two nearby roads that are parallel to Williamson Road.

The agents who searched the house wore casual clothes. Two police dogs also were at the scene.

Several times, agents at the scene would leave and then later return.

At 11:40 a.m., an agent drove into the scene in Sivik's Jeep, followed by another agent in a minivan. The jeep was left parked along the road in front of Sivik's home when agents left the scene.

At about noon a small, single-engine plane arrived, flying low overhead. It circled more than a half-dozen times, as if deliberately scouting the area, before departing.

At 12:20 p.m. a UPS van reached the roadblock and the driver said he had a delivery for Sivik. An ATF agent came out to the roadblock and talked with the driver. He checked the package addressed to Sivik and then returned it to the driver and sent him on his way.

ATF and other law enforcement personnel wrapped up their search at about 2 p.m. A few minutes later they withdrew the roadblock and left the area in a convoy without explanation.

The agents were apparently drawn from a wide area, with license plates on their vehicles including Indiana, Maryland and Virginia, as well as Pennsylvania.

Sivik's wife, Kathleen Sivik, who was then left home alone, refused to talk to reporters. A few minutes later the couple's son, Darrell Sivik Jr., arrived and went into the home.

After about 20 minutes he came out and spoke briefly with reporters.

"All I know at this point is basically the ATF served a search warrant and took into custody my father and transported him to Erie," Darrell Sivik Jr. said. "That's pretty much all we know."

Darrell Sivik Jr. said he did not learn of the search and arrest of his father until later in the afternoon after returning from a business trip.

"Everyone is fine. We just don't know what is going on," he said.

He expressed no surprise at the number and armament of the federal agents.

"We all know what happened in the past with ATF," Darrell Sivik Jr. said, without elaborating. "They will bring themselves prepared."

Sivik, who operates a gun shop and gunsmithing service, has often been in the news for leading tax protests, burning the U.N. flag in demonstrations in Meadville's Diamond Park, and rallying opponents of federal firearms laws.

Several times Sivik has run for local office.

He also gained notoriety for battling with the Federal Communications Commission over a low-power radio station he operates at 88.3 FM and calls Braveheart Radio.

"All we know is, (the federal agents) are claiming a violation of firearms laws," his son said.

[Maybe So]

Why does this note remind me of the JBR ransom note? Some letters look the same and ther overall strange unrealistic tone of the letter too. Very strange.

[Casshew]

What was in the huge blacked out areas of the note? I wonder.

Also ~ notice how it says 'use the weapon you were given' they could not of just handed him a loaded weapon - he could have shot them, so they must have left the gun for him somewhere to pick up?

[Ghostwheel]

I'm thinking the weapon he was given is the bomb? Threaten people that the bomb will go off if they don't comply?

[debbywitt]

2 linked to Wells case
FBI asks questions about recent Erie high school grads

One of the two men, a 2001 graduate of the Northwest Pennsylvania Collegiate Academy, is known to have worked at the pizza parlor where Wells was a delivery driver.

That graduate also lived in an eastside Erie house that was owned by Robert Pinetti, Wells' friend and co-worker.

Pinetti died of a drug overdose on Aug. 31, three days after Wells, 46, was killed when a homemade bomb locked to his neck exploded after he robbed a bank on upper Peach Street.

The other man the FBI inquired about recently graduated from Central High School in 2001. The Erie Times-News could not determine if the two men know each other.

Several sources confirmed the FBI's interest in both graduates, though the sources asked not to be identified because of the sensitivity of the Wells case. The Erie Times-News is not identifying the graduates because they have not been charged.

Erie school officials said the FBI visited Central and the Collegiate Academy during the past few weeks, asking about the students.

The administrators said they could release little information because of the investigation and because of privacy concerns.

"There was a recent inquiry involving the Brian Wells case," Erie schools Superintendent James Barker said.

Central High School Principal Gerry Mifsud said an FBI agent visited his school April 7, asking questions related to the case.

"He asked about a former vo-tech student that they felt had some skills that were related to the incident," Mifsud said.

Bob Rudge, the head of the FBI office in Erie, said he could not comment on specific information agents might have gathered in the nearly nine-month investigation of the Wells case.

The FBI has given no indication that an arrest is imminent.

"We are making progress every single day," Rudge said. "It's a case we're not going to let go of. We can't."

The case remains a top priority. It still leads the "Seeking Information" page on the FBI's Web site. There is a $50,000 reward offered to anyone who helps solve the crime.

The FBI has visited a number of Erie businesses and residences since Wells' death, and the U.S. Attorney's Office has convened a grand jury to investigate the case, which has gained international media attention.

The recent visits to Collegiate Academy and Central are not the first time city high schools have been the focus of the Wells investigation.

A Pennsylvania State Police investigator visited East High School in October to question faculty about their knowledge of substitute teacher William Rothstein, who lives at the head of the dirt road where Wells delivered two pizzas Aug. 28.

Rothstein was questioned about the Wells case after the body of Marjorie Diehl-Armstrong's boyfriend, James Roden, was found in a freezer at Rothstein's home at 8645 Peach St.

Rudge has said the FBI doesn't believe there is a connection between Rothstein and the Wells case.

The pizza bomber mystery started the afternoon of Aug. 28 when Wells, shortly after delivering two pizzas to the end of a dirt road off upper Peach Street, robbed the PNC Bank in Summit Towne Centre.

After leaving the bank, Wells was quickly arrested by state police in the driveway of Eyeglass World, 7200 Peach St. He told police he had a bomb strapped around his neck. It exploded at 3:18 p.m.

When he died, Wells was carrying a detailed, complex, multipage letter, directing him on a scavenger hunt of sorts.

Shortly before the bomb exploded, Wells pleaded with officers standing a safe distance away.

"This isn't me," he said.

[SieSie]

Snip: A Pennsylvania State Police investigator visited East High School in October to question faculty about their knowledge of substitute teacher William Rothstein, who lives at the head of the dirt road where Wells delivered two pizzas Aug. 28.
Rothstein was questioned about the Wells case after the body of Marjorie Diehl-Armstrong's boyfriend, James Roden, was found in a freezer at Rothstein's home at 8645 Peach St.
Rudge has said the FBI doesn't believe there is a connection between Rothstein and the Wells case.
Okay, now I wanna know why there was a body found in this substitute teacher’s freezer!! :confused:

Thanks for the update, Debby!

[Babcat]

debbywit:

Meadville and Erie are not the same town. They are about 45 miles apart. Meadville is where my husband served as a recruiter for the air force from January 1998 to July 2001. We lived about 15 miles from Meadville in the opposite direction from Erie.

Erie and Meadville are not only 45 miles apart in distance, but they are a world apart as far as lifestyles of the people who live there. Meadville is a very rural, very blue collar town. It has the "Mayberry" type of image, while Erie is much more metropolitan. It's the perfect steortypical environment to meet the criteria for a profile of a town likely to harbor militia types. It's called Tool City by many because the main source of employment for many years in the town was the factories of Channellock Tools that was founded there, and still remains to this day.

This Darrell Sivik character seems the type to possibly take a stab at robbing banks to finance his radical activities... so I wouldn't completely discount him as a potential conspirator in Wells death. But my guess is they will find their men closer to home.

[LinnieB]

Hey Babs...What do you think about Fredonia ? :D

[debbywitt]

Tuesday, April 27, 2004
Family Releases Info On Brian Wells Letter
The family of Brian Wells has released more information about the contents of the note Brian Wells carried with him when he robbed the PNC bank in SUmmit Township 8 months ago.

When the FBI released portions of the letter, much of it was blacked out, and only a few lines were revealed by authorities in hopes that someone would recognize the style of writing.

Since the FBI`s news conference, the family of Brian Wells has called for authorities to release the letter in its entirety. Tuesday afternoon, a member of Wells` family shared their recollection of what they read when they were shown one page of the unedited note.

The note reportedly said "Go into the bank quietly. Do not attract attention. We are watching you from cars." The letter told Wells, "You have a margin of time. You and others will die if you don`t come out of the bank. Don`t use your cell phone. Don`t disobey, and don`t call your boss or your company. We are monitoring radio and cell phone frequencies and police scanners."

The note also read, "Once we retrieve our notes, you can tell police you were a bomb hostage."

[debbywitt]

A Mystery for the Ages

Scott Bremner
8/4/04

The death of Bill Rothstein this week not only seriously jeopardizes a
high profile murder trial, but it also sets a stage that could turn
the Brian Wells bank bombing into a mystery for the ages.

Rothstein, who died from cancer this week, has always been something
of an enigma.

Here was a school teacher, a highly educated man who spoke several
languages, walking around in trademark overalls, thick glasses, and
Santa Claus beard.

He answered a question I asked him once in French, forcing me to
translate the tape with the help of a local college professor. Hey, I
only asked for a comment, I didn't specify in what language it should
be given.

Despite the brilliance behind the glasses, Rothstein seemed capable of
some pretty dumb moves, like agreeing to buy a freezer to keep a human
body on his property after his former girlfriend Marjorie Diehl
Armstrong allegedly killed her current boyfriend Jim Roden with a
shotgun.

Rothstein's testimony is seen as key in convicting Diehl Armstrong of
murder, a woman who emptied another gun into another boyfriend in 1982
but was found not guilty after her lawyers presented Erie County's
first battered woman defense.

Publicly prosecutors are stoically promising to march on with the
case; privately they are sickened at the thought that Diehl Armstrong
could go 2 for 2 against them.

But as Rothstein's illness sapped the last of his strength, it wasn't
those prosecutors scrambling to his bedside for last bits of
information; it was instead the FBI task force agents charged with
solving the Brian Wells case.

Wells robbed the Summit Township PNC bank branch on August 28th,
carrying a cane shotgun and wearing a bomb collared around his neck.

In a case that has received international attention, Wells was killed
when he was stopped by police and the neck device detonated.

Profilers quickly put together ideas on who might be behind such a
plan, people with a strange and lofty intelligence and a knack for
building and machining.

A guy, oh say, like Bill Rothstein.

Add in the facts that Rothstein used the same pay phone on the same
day as the call that lured pizza delivery man Wells to his death and
that Rothstein's property is next door to the road where someone
fitted Wells with the collar bomb, and the coincidences seem
overwhelming.

Bob Rudge, the FBI Special Agent in charge of the Wells investigation,
insists that Rothstein is not a suspect and was questioned for
information purposes only.

There's no reason to doubt him.

Still, if the bomb case isn't solved, the specter of the grassy knoll
rises, and conspiracy theorists may forever ponder a mystery for the
ages, of what secrets Bill Rothstein took with him to the grave.

Related articles:

http://www.goerie.com/apps/pbcs.dll/artikkel?SearchID=73180237418453&Avis=GE&Dato=20040731&Kategori=FRONTPAGE&Lopenr=108010481&Ref=AR

http://www.goerie.com/apps/pbcs.dll/artikkel?SearchID=73180237418453&Avis=GE&Dato=20040731&Kategori=FRONTPAGE&Lopenr=108010481&Ref=AR

[debbywitt]

Collar-bomb death of deliveryman still frustrates authorities
Wednesday, August 11, 2004
John Caniglia
Plain Dealer Reporter
Erie, Pa.- They watched Brian Wells race to his death with the bomb
they shackled around his neck.

They dreamed up the plan to have the pizza deliveryman rob a bank on
the city's busiest street last Aug. 28 and begin a life-and-death
scavenger hunt.

"Act now, think later or you will die!" they told him in hand-scrawled
iinstructions. "If police or air craft are involved, you will be
destroyed."

And when the bomb went off, they enjoyed it, some say.

"This wasn't about a bank robbery or a mur der," said Wells' brother,
John. "This was about a public execution. They did this so that they
can go back to their bunch of rats and say, 'Do you remember the pizza
guy who got blown up? Well, we did that.' It was all for attention."

But officials aren't even sure a "they" exists.

A year after the bomb detonated, authorities have not made an arrest
in one of the nation's most unsettling crimes. Wells' brother says he
believes arrests are imminent, including people from Ohio, New York
and Pennsylvania. Law-enforcement officials hedge, saying that's
premature.

The case continues to lead investigators through puzzling twists. In
the past year:

Two key witnesses have died, one of an overdose within hours of an FBI
interview.

A note found in Wells' car was released months after the bombing. It
details how to rob the bank and disarm the bomb. It is signed by "the
Troubleshooters."

A coroner's report reveals Wells had 55 minutes to live once the bomb
was strapped to his neck.

Wells' brother says he wants Brian vindicated, claiming he was a
simple man who was forced into a sinister plot.

Investigators won't go that far, saying they aren't sure of his
involvement and won't be until the time of an arrest.

In fact, the coroner's report states: "The possibility that the
decedent staged the event was also being considered."

That makes John Wells bristle.

"They knew from the beginning that my brother had nothing to do with
this," he said. "They have no evidence in any shape or form that he
was involved."

Interviews with federal agents, court records, autopsy reports and
notes seized from Wells' car give a clearer picture about what took
place just 90 minutes away from Cleveland.

As Wells was about to leave his lunchtime shift at Mama Mia's pizza
shop on Peach Street, the restaurant received a call from a pay phone
for two small pepperoni and sausage pies.

Wells sped out in his green Geo Metro to a wooded area where
construction workers often called in orders.

John Wells, of Phoenix, who says he received information from a source
he would not disclose, said his brother stopped and got out of the
car. Then, he said, he was told a group of people approached Brian
with guns and forced the bomb around his neck.

His brother stumbled and ran through the woods. Someone shot, his
brother said, and Brian Wells stopped in horror.

A nearby resident later confirmed hearing a shot.

Within minutes, Wells had a triple-banded metal collar wrapped around
his neck, a walking cane twisted into a makeshift gun and detailed
directions on how to rob a PNC Bank.

"Go to the bank and 'quietly' enter with the weapon you were given,"
the note said.

"Give the demands to the receptionist or manager. Avoid panicking the
tellers or customers."

About 2:30 p.m., Wells handed a bank officer a separate note: "No
alarm, panic or police! . . . no possible way to disarm it."

The deliveryman then followed the scavenger-hunt-like directions that
pointed him to a nearby McDonald's.

He had 55 minutes to rob the bank and follow the "elaborate"
instructions that bounced him "from one location to another,"
according to the coroner's report.

He made it past the drive-through window when Pennsylvania State
Police stopped him, noticing he was wearing a T-shirt covering
something around his neck.

He was handcuffed and about to be placed in a squad car when Wells
said he had a bomb - a move that caused police to evacuate the busy
street.

In those few moments with officers, Wells said he was threatened by a
group of people in the woods, forced to wear the bomb and given the
robbery instructions, the coroner's report said.

Officers were stunned. They left the deliveryman handcuffed and alone.

In the bright sunlight, Wells sat on the pavement and fidgeted as
television cameras rolled and people gathered.

And he wondered why police grabbed bulletproof vests and took cover
but left him helpless.

"Why isn't nobody trying to come get this thing off me?" he told
police.

"It's going to go off. I'm not lying. Did you call my boss? I'm not
doing this. This isn't me."

At 3:18 p.m., the bomb exploded, killing Wells and creating a mystery.

"Bombings are the toughest crime to solve because the suspect is
usually long gone by the time it goes off," said Patrick Berarducci, a
Cleveland agent of the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and
Explosives who has worked on the case.

In the beginning, some Cleveland investigators were brought in to
assist in the case that drew national attention.

"This bomb wasn't unusual," Berarducci said.

"It didn't take an engineer or a genius to make it. It just took a
person who lacked humanity."

FBI agent Robert Rudge said investigators have conducted more than
1,000 interviews, and he has assigned two agents to the case full
time.

"We're going extremely hard every day, and we're making good
progress," he said.

"We know a lot more this year than we did last year, and I'm confident
that we'll solve this." This year, the FBI offered a $50,000 reward in
the case.

He said the most frustrating part of the case stems from once-bright
leads that led nowhere.

For instance, a man whom the FBI interviewed extensively died of
cancer July 30.

William Rothstein lived in a secluded area a few yards from where
Wells made his delivery.

Before he died, Rothstein admitted to an unusual crime: He had stashed
the body of a man in his freezer to help a friend get away with
murder.

The body was on ice when agents questioned Rothstein about Wells,
authorities said.

Rothstein, whose obituary said he coached a high school robotics team,
denied on his deathbed any connection with the bombing.

He admitted he used a pay phone near his home the same day someone
used it to order the pizzas, which started Wells' fatal journey.

And three days after Wells died, another driver from the same pizza
shop died.

Robert Pinetti overdosed on drugs hours after speaking with FBI
agents, according to the coroner's office.

At the Donut Connection on Erie's west side, Wells' former neighbor,
Gary Porsch, sometimes talks conspiracy theories and mulls the case
with friends.

"I firmly believe that he was an absolute dupe," Porsch said. "A lot
of people are still curious about what happened. There's no closure."

Across from Porsch's home on Loveland Avenue, Linda Payne has a new
tenant, but she stops often to remember her last one.

"Brian was a good person who got into a horrible situation," she said
of the 46-year-old man who spent time working on his car and caring
for his cats. "It wasn't done for money or murder; it may have been
that someone wanted to humiliate the police, because that's what I
think has happened."

Others talk about the evil involved.

"The tragedy in this case is that a person lost his life and his
identity," said Erie County Coroner Lyell Cook. "Brian Wells will
always be known as the pizza bomber; people won't remember who he was.
To me, that's a shame. It's an additional indignity. How sad it is to
lose your life and identity in such a violent way."


And the FBI guy is leaving the area:

8/11/2004, 12:40 a.m. ET
The Associated Press

ERIE, Pa. (AP) — The head of Erie's FBI office is heading to
Pittsburgh, where he'll serve as second-in-command for about 100
agents there.

Robert Rudge, 44, is an 18-year veteran agent who's spent half of his
career in Erie. In mid-September, he'll become assistant special agent
in charge of the Pittsburgh office under Ken McCabe, another veteran
agent, who runs that office.

Pittsburgh FBI spokesman Jeff Killeen said no decision has been made
on replacing Rudge in Erie.

Despite the move to Pittsburgh, Rudge said he'll continue to oversee
the investigation into the death of Brian Wells, the Erie pizza
deliveryman who died when a pipe bomb locked onto his neck with a
crude metal collar exploded Aug. 28.

Wells died shortly after robbing a bank while wearing the collar and
told authorities he had been forced to wear the bomb and rob the bank
by unknown people who accosted him when he was sent on his last pizza
delivery.

[Reuters]

Hey... I know this is quite a cold case, and the thread is cold as well...but I just stumbled across your forum, and think it's pretty cool :)

The reason is because I am currently working within a forensic internship, and have been privy to some first-hand material from this case (which I think has since been released in part to the media, at any rate, none of the below compromises the now largely inactive investigation). I came to this forum site accidentally in search of more background info (since I did not follow it as closely as many of you when it first came out, after the first day of headlines).

I am right now reading a copy of the original "instructions" given to the hostage to read and give to the teller. It is scary how meticulous it is, including detailed maps, timing, "failure option" contingency plans... all written in handwriting that looks like it was a tracing of typeset. On the bottom of each page is written "ACT NOW, THINK LATER OR YOU WILL DIE". It has numerous threats that if so-and-so not met, then 1) BOMB and 2) RETALIATE, which details how they have sentries out that will follow bank employees to their homes to kill their families.

The entire "instructions" read almost like they came out of a script; and the part about unlocking keys is especially interesting... a lot like directions to a scavenger hunt. The especially interesting fact was the background... that Wells had been in the past an avid participant in annual Easter scavenger hunts. He also had brothers who were known to be "builders and tinkers", interesting not only due to the unique nature of the bomb, but also due to the homemade cane-gun (hollowed out cane made into a makeshift gun with a single bullet). This led to speculation that Wells had greater involvement than an unwilling hostage; though at this point, this many years out, it is unlikely we will ever know the truth beyond speculation.

[upallnite]

FBI has released photos of Brian Wells robbing the bank. Story was on Greta Van Susteran last night and Catherine Crier today, have no idea why they released the photos, but here is link to site his family set up.

http://www.brianwells.net/

[upallnite]

Also for those interested, as I am, here is America's most wanted"s take on this
http://www.amw.com/fugitives/case.cfm?id=27382

[upallnite]

I guess nobody that is on here right now is interested in this but me. My fiance and I sat and watched this on tv and we've been completely hooked. here's more..

http://www.sliceny.com/archives/2005/08/geraldos_pizza.php

[upallnite]

Has anyone who has been following the news figured out why excactly the bank photo was released other than to just bring attention to this case again?

[mic730]

UpallNite I am interested in this case.
I thought the GEraldo special a few weeks ago was good.
I don't think that those photos released today meant anything. The FBI saying he was too calm? HUH? What was he suppose to do?

[concernedperson]

He was a victim and there are people under the radar. Some are dead but the rest will be hunted.Keep the faith!

[upallnite]

UpallNite I am interested in this case.
I thought the GEraldo special a few weeks ago was good.
I don't think that those photos released today meant anything. The FBI saying he was too calm? HUH? What was he suppose to do?
I don't know about you Mic, but I don't think he looked calm, I think he looked really scared.

[mic730]

I don't know about you Mic, but I don't think he looked calm, I think he looked really scared.

I could not tell anything from those pics they released today.
But that FBI agent on Abrams saying he did not give a good description of who did this to him. What 40 minutes before he blew up that was suppose the be his concern? It was outrageous to me.

[mic730]

He was a victim and there are people under the radar. Some are dead but the rest will be hunted.Keep the faith!

I think he is a victim too.

[upallnite]

Here is a fox article about this case. I find it startling about how many of Marjorie Diehl-Armstrong"s boyfriends died suspiciously. Also startling is that Rothstein would help her out by keeping one of their bodies in a freezer and then turning around, calling the police and telling them he has the body. Strange in this article what she blurted out about Rothstein having harboring fugitive rapist in his house for two years.



http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,166160,00.html

[mysteriew]

Other articles on this case at this link:
http://websleuths.com/forums/showthread.php?t=27594&highlight=Brian+Wells

[pappanick]

[QUOTE=upallnite]I guess nobody that is on here right now is interested in this but me. My fiance and I sat and watched this on tv and we've been completely hooked. here's more..

Actually, Upallnite I just joined this forum and I am very interested in this case. I have been from the beginning. I am from Erie, PA. I am a lifelong resident and went to college here and I still live and work here. If there are any more details that you may have wondered about the location of this crime and specifics about you are not sure about then let me know. I also lived only a few houses down from Majorie Diehl growing up. Where Rothstein was a frequent visitor. (No lie.) Outside of Marjorie being a little off kilter though, her stay there was undistinguished. Until it came out about the murder of her significant other.

About this case, I find it as puzzling as the rest of you. I can tell you the community was horrified and many deliverymen still 'carry' to this day. I have been to the area where this happened since the incident and I find it just spooky to be honest with you. I almost had a sick feeling looking all the way back through the trees on the gravly road all the way to the woods.. Many feel Wells was an absolute victim and while a possibility, I have not come to that conclusion just yet. I would like to hear your opinion on what you or your fiance thinks may have happened. The truth here in Erie is you cannot get many people to agree on the same theory. I will post more of my feelings on this case in later posts. Maybe you and others will be interested.

[Paradise]

Sorry it's taken me so long to post this, but the name caught my eye when I read this in the paper and I knew he had been discussed in this thread.



Reading Eagle, Wednesday, October 5, 2005

Gunsmith sentenced for stashing unregistered guns

A Crawford County Man suspected of being a militia leader was charged after weapons were discovered at his home and at a cabin.

The Associated Press

ERIE - A Gunsmith accused by authorities of being a militia leader was sentenced to 35 months in prison Tuesday for stashing 10 unregistered machine guns at his home and a hunting camp, allegedly in preparation for a showdown with federal agents.

Darrell Sivik's attorney had asked a judge to confine Sivik to his home instead of prison, because of medical conditions, including a recent heart bypass surgery and diabetes. But Senior U.S. District Judge Maurice Cohill Jr. said the federal Bureau of Prisons is equipped to deal with Sivik's heath problems.

Sivik, 56, of West Mead Township, Crawford County, pleaded guilty in January to two counts of possessing unregistered firearms. He refused to comment as he walked out of the courtroom.

He remained free on bond and will have to report to the federal Bureau of Prisons in a few weeks.

"Given his health, it's a good question whether he'll survive" in prison, defense attorney Joseph Conte said. "He knows what he did was wrong."

Sivik was charged after authorities discovered machine guns at his home and at a cabin near the Allegheny National Forest about 85 miles northeast of Pittsburgh. Seven of the weapons were Sten guns, easily reproduced 9mm machine guns originally by the British in World War II.

Sivik was the last of five men to plead guilty or to be convicted in a federal investigation into one of the homemade machine guns that Sivik and another alleged militia leader, George Bilunka, sold to an undercover federal agent last year for $300.

Bilunka, 60, a retiree from Atlantic, Crawford County, was sentenced to 33 months in federal prison in December. He pleaded guilty in August 2004 to charges he owned two homemade land mines, a modified SKS carbine rifle, and a Sten gun. He also acknowledged selling the Sten gun to the federal agent along with Sivik.

Federal authorities said Bilunka had trained his six-member Christian American Patriots Survivalists to kill SWAT officers, stocked a bunker on his 27-acre homestead with six months' supply of food and taught his followers how to bury their guns until they were needed.

Federal prosecutors had alleged that Sivik was the leader of the Braveheart Militia, which broadcast a radio show and stashed arms to fend off federal agents. He also threatened agents, saying it was "time for the ammo box rather than the ballot box," and planned to muster militia members if authorities moved against the group, authorities said.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Marshall Piccinini said Sivik's paranoid and violent ideas became dangerous because of the training and arms the other militia members received.
The judge agreed in sentencing Sivik.

"Certainly the case had potential for violence and reflected a serious disregard for the law by showing people how to bury guns and all of that," Cohill said. "We feel that we must deal with this in as serious a way as the situation warrants."

Might I add that in the photo of Sivik that’s with the article, he’s wearing a baseball hat that says, “Death to World Government.”

[Becba]

I just thought if they had taken the bomb more seriously, help would have arrived much sooner.

We have had stupid scares where someone sees something along the road or near a building and the bomb squad is there asap.

Course I read there was not much they could have done. Sounded like it was going to blow no matter what anyone did.

[gatetrekker44]

and one of the things that struck me was the fact that they removed Brain's head during the autopsy, ostensibly to ensure that the device was not going to go off again. Can you imagine how that made his family feel-the ultimate insult to the ultimate injury?

The other thing that was very troubling was the fact that to this day the FBI has REFUSED to declare Brian Wells a VICTIM-instead they keep insinuating that he was somehow involved in his own death. Much as Richard Jewell was villified by the FBI after the Olympic bombings, it appears that LE is trying to divert attention from their own poor performance by making the VICTIM somehow involved in his own death! If that was the case, I believe he would have "sung like a canary" to LE prior to his death. Instead he kept pleading for help-which it did not appear that LE was in any hurry to provide!

I'm not sure how we can help this family achieve closure-but if anyone out there has any ideas, I'm all ears!


Bring Maura home!

[pappanick]

Sorry it's taken me so long to post this, but the name caught my eye when I read this in the paper and I knew he had been discussed in this thread.





Might I add that in the photo of Sivik that’s with the article, he’s wearing a baseball hat that says, “Death to World Government.”

If you were from the area you would know that Crawford County and Erie are two entirely parts of Western PA. First of all they are 40 to 50 minutes apart in proximity and are two entirely different ways of life. If Sivik were going to commit a crime like this he would not come to the busiest part of Erie to do it. The person who committed this crime had excellent knowledge of the immediate area in which this crime was committed. And this was not really a crime against the government. It was a crime against Wells and maybe our city and a sick prank.

[pappanick]

The reason why Brian Wells has not been completely cleared in this case is because none of it makes any sense. Wells actions do not even make any sense. If Wells was involved he was only involved through a sick prank he was talked into. There are many puzzeling questions surrounding this case you should ask yourself.Before you make any judgement either way.

*Why would Wells care about how much money was in the sack he took from the bank? He told the teller it felt light of the money he requested. Then when she told him the rest was in the vault he said "I'll be back against 15 minutes" Why would he care how much money was in the sack or want to come back for more? He is supposedly a hostage. Makes no sense.

*Wells made no distress signals at the bank to the tellers at all. Yet when the cops pulled him over he was at full disclosure right away concerning his situation and wanted help. ONCE he was CAUGHT. Not before at the bank.

*Wells walked into the bank with a loaded gun that could fire a single shot. In the note it said "Use the weapon you were GIVEN." I don't know anyone who has ever heard of a crime where someone was given the weapon to be used in a crime. And what if he was given a gun and forced by a single person or group to committ a crime. What was stopping Wells from taking that gun and just flat out blowing their head off? Think about it.

*Was this just a random crime against a deliveryman? Or was Wells to be involved all along? I find too many coincidences in this case to think that ANYBODY other than Wells was targeted.

*The game they played with Wells that was so resembling "The Great Key Hunt" played in the Erie paper which had just wrapped up and Wells so loved were similar with the "clue-finding" and all.

*Wells shift was just ending at the pizza shop. Was he duped into a scheme that day to try to get some money to move out of Erie which he had so planned on doing. The only thing that was holding him back was Money which he didn't have and planned on winning the Great Key Hunt to move. After he did not win the contest did he get desperate?

*Many feel Wells was shot at and that is where the damage to his knee came from. And that very well could be BUT think about it; someone or someone's took all this time and intricate planning to play this 'game' and then risked shooting him in a secluded area ruining all their planning and game? What if they shot him and they could not continue doing the game? Would they have just shot him to death? Then their whole plan is ruined. There is no bomb and their is no game which they so wanted. Nobody is 100% sure those pellets did not come from the bomb itself.

*There is so much more. i'll leave it their for now. Take care.

[HesterMofet]

I haven't read any of the linked articles, but has anyone else noticed the similarity to the plot of the movie "Saw?"

Rothstein is dying of cancer and forces another guy to ostensibly kill others in order to save himself from death.The main character of Saw was dying and forced his first victim into a situation where she would have to kill someone in order to survive.

Life imitates art or art imitates life?

[Paradise]

If you were from the area you would know that Crawford County and Erie are two entirely parts of Western PA. First of all they are 40 to 50 minutes apart in proximity and are two entirely different ways of life. If Sivik were going to commit a crime like this he would not come to the busiest part of Erie to do it. The person who committed this crime had excellent knowledge of the immediate area in which this crime was committed. And this was not really a crime against the government. It was a crime against Wells and maybe our city and a sick prank.
I wasn't saying that Sivik committed this crime, I was merely mentioning that when I read this article I remembered the name and the fact that it had been previously discussed in this thread.

[pappanick]

I did not mean that you were accusing him and no one else could have commited the crime. You were mearly suggesting it. I understand. I saw this brought up earlier in the thread by someone else as well. I think when talk about Sivik comes up people are getting off track though. At least one of the people who committed this crime knew Wells personally. I am convinced of it. Wells was NOT randomly picked out. They wanted him or the sole person wanted him but I believe more than one was involved. One of the best ways to break this crime in my opinion is to find the suspect who writes using the = signs to emphasize things. Something like that can absolutely break a case. It was done in the Sally Weiner kidnapping/murder case when a writer wrote with this as emphasis ****. He may have gotten away with it but he kept writing using these **** years later. They matched it to his ransom note and put the case together from there. The same could happen here. And the FBI needs to release more or all of the notes. They have kept it from us for so long that it may have ruined the case forever. This case has gone cold though that has been a major embarrassment for Erie. I will post again. I have more troubling questions about this case.

[Paradise]

I thought they did release most of the letter? From what I remember seeing there were very few parts of it that were blacked out.

[pappanick]

No, you are incorrect paradise. Most of the note is blacked out. It contains nine pages and only about half (if that) has been released. there are some pages of the note where only the first sentence is shown. The rest is blacked out. They should just release the whole note, they have not done enough with it. It is very important they get the public involved again. The note is on a website at I believe brianwells.net. It is a website that his family set up for him. You can check it out there.

[Casshew]

Fresh clues in pizza bomber death


New information surfaced in the murder investigation of Brian Wells. His name is, arguably, not as memorable as his occupation. Brian Wells delivered pizzas. Sunday, his family marked the second anniversary of his death and hope for some resolution to the bizarre circumstances that led to it: cryptic instructions, a bank robbery and a bomb strapped to the deliveryman’s neck.

After all this time, no arrests have been made and investigators say there are no new leads. But, the FBI says this was not a random crime.

“Brian Wells was identified as the person to be targeted in this case,” says Bob Rudge, FBI. “We don‘t believe that it was a random attack on just an unknown pizza delivery person."

Full Story (http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/9120093/)

[Paradise]

Fresh clues in pizza bomber death


New information surfaced in the murder investigation of Brian Wells. His name is, arguably, not as memorable as his occupation. Brian Wells delivered pizzas. Sunday, his family marked the second anniversary of his death and hope for some resolution to the bizarre circumstances that led to it: cryptic instructions, a bank robbery and a bomb strapped to the deliveryman’s neck.

After all this time, no arrests have been made and investigators say there are no new leads. But, the FBI says this was not a random crime.

“Brian Wells was identified as the person to be targeted in this case,” says Bob Rudge, FBI. “We don‘t believe that it was a random attack on just an unknown pizza delivery person."

Full Story (http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/9120093/)
What are the new clues? It specifically says in the article that there have been no arrests and no new leads.

[Casshew]

What are the new clues? It specifically says in the article that there have been no arrests and no new leads.
Holy cow.. I didn't read the whole article - but I just did and I don't see anything that is a new development :doh:

Sorry about the red herring article.

[Paradise]

haha that's ok I was just checking cause I'm really tired and I thought maybe I missed something there.

[pappanick]

Maybe the new information is that is was NOT a random crime. Many suspected for years now that it might have been. But there are too many coincidences for this to be random. Like I said before release the whole note for pete's sake. This was committed by more than one person familiar with Wells and familiar with immediate area in Summit where this occurred.

[mysteriew]

"AMERICA'S MOST WANTED: AMERICA FIGHTS BACK" SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 5, ON FOX

After AMERICA'S MOST WANTED aired an in-depth story about the murdered pizza delivery man in Erie, PA, who had a bomb strapped to his neck and then robbed a bank, new information was brought forth – only to AMERICA'S MOST WANTED. Now AMW reveals this exclusive new information, which could help authorities solve the case and unmask the mastermind of a horrendous crime.

On Aug. 28, 2003, Brian Wells, a 46-year-old pizza deliveryman, perished as a bomb that was strapped around his neck exploded. Authorities have been puzzled by the bizarre details of that day's events, unsure if Wells was involved in the bank robbery or a pawn in someone else's game. The FBI says that soon after he walked out of the pizza shop on an apparent delivery, he robbed a bank with a bomb strapped around his neck. When cops caught up with him, he said he had been abducted and forced to play a sadistic game – a scavenger hunt for his life. He also begged them to free him from the bomb. But before that could happen, the bomb went off, killing him. Tune in for exclusive new information that could solve this case on AMERICA'S MOST WANTED: AMERICA FIGHTS BACK Saturday, Nov. 5 (9:00-10:00 PM ET/PT) on FOX.
http://www.thefutoncritic.com/cgi/pr.cgi?id=20051031fox01

[pappanick]

Thank you for posting that upcoming program that will air Saturday. I am very interested in hearing what they have to say. Hopefully it is something about the note writer's printing being recognized by someone out there. That is one of the best ways to solve this case at this point.

[upallnite]

If you were from the area you would know that Crawford County and Erie are two entirely parts of Western PA. First of all they are 40 to 50 minutes apart in proximity and are two entirely different ways of life. If Sivik were going to commit a crime like this he would not come to the busiest part of Erie to do it. The person who committed this crime had excellent knowledge of the immediate area in which this crime was committed. And this was not really a crime against the government. It was a crime against Wells and maybe our city and a sick prank. I agree Papp, I think that's excactly what this was, a sick prank. it sort of reminds me something the zodiac killer dreamed of doing. I think the killer is still out there and I think he will either do it again or confess someday.

[upallnite]

"AMERICA'S MOST WANTED: AMERICA FIGHTS BACK" SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 5, ON FOX

After AMERICA'S MOST WANTED aired an in-depth story about the murdered pizza delivery man in Erie, PA, who had a bomb strapped to his neck and then robbed a bank, new information was brought forth – only to AMERICA'S MOST WANTED. Now AMW reveals this exclusive new information, which could help authorities solve the case and unmask the mastermind of a horrendous crime.

On Aug. 28, 2003, Brian Wells, a 46-year-old pizza deliveryman, perished as a bomb that was strapped around his neck exploded. Authorities have been puzzled by the bizarre details of that day's events, unsure if Wells was involved in the bank robbery or a pawn in someone else's game. The FBI says that soon after he walked out of the pizza shop on an apparent delivery, he robbed a bank with a bomb strapped around his neck. When cops caught up with him, he said he had been abducted and forced to play a sadistic game – a scavenger hunt for his life. He also begged them to free him from the bomb. But before that could happen, the bomb went off, killing him. Tune in for exclusive new information that could solve this case on AMERICA'S MOST WANTED: AMERICA FIGHTS BACK Saturday, Nov. 5 (9:00-10:00 PM ET/PT) on FOX.
http://www.thefutoncritic.com/cgi/pr.cgi?id=20051031fox01
Thanx mysteriew!!! I'm a gonna watch it!!!!!

[upallnite]

The reason why Brian Wells has not been completely cleared in this case is because none of it makes any sense. Wells actions do not even make any sense. If Wells was involved he was only involved through a sick prank he was talked into. There are many puzzeling questions surrounding this case you should ask yourself.Before you make any judgement either way.

*Why would Wells care about how much money was in the sack he took from the bank? He told the teller it felt light of the money he requested. Then when she told him the rest was in the vault he said "I'll be back against 15 minutes" Why would he care how much money was in the sack or want to come back for more? He is supposedly a hostage. Makes no sense.

*Wells made no distress signals at the bank to the tellers at all. Yet when the cops pulled him over he was at full disclosure right away concerning his situation and wanted help. ONCE he was CAUGHT. Not before at the bank.

*Wells walked into the bank with a loaded gun that could fire a single shot. In the note it said "Use the weapon you were GIVEN." I don't know anyone who has ever heard of a crime where someone was given the weapon to be used in a crime. And what if he was given a gun and forced by a single person or group to committ a crime. What was stopping Wells from taking that gun and just flat out blowing their head off? Think about it.

*Was this just a random crime against a deliveryman? Or was Wells to be involved all along? I find too many coincidences in this case to think that ANYBODY other than Wells was targeted.

*The game they played with Wells that was so resembling "The Great Key Hunt" played in the Erie paper which had just wrapped up and Wells so loved were similar with the "clue-finding" and all.

*Wells shift was just ending at the pizza shop. Was he duped into a scheme that day to try to get some money to move out of Erie which he had so planned on doing. The only thing that was holding him back was Money which he didn't have and planned on winning the Great Key Hunt to move. After he did not win the contest did he get desperate?

*Many feel Wells was shot at and that is where the damage to his knee came from. And that very well could be BUT think about it; someone or someone's took all this time and intricate planning to play this 'game' and then risked shooting him in a secluded area ruining all their planning and game? What if they shot him and they could not continue doing the game? Would they have just shot him to death? Then their whole plan is ruined. There is no bomb and their is no game which they so wanted. Nobody is 100% sure those pellets did not come from the bomb itself.

*There is so much more. i'll leave it their for now. Take care.
I think if I had a bomb strapped around my neck, damn straight I'd make sure the bank gave me the desired amount of money and weren't the notes found consecutively and one of them led him to the weapon he was to use,thus explaining why he couldn't shoot his enslavers. Also I thought I read that he was shot at another location. i think whoever did this was playing with him, it's not like he could get mad about being shot and quit. Maybe they were following him and watching him.

[shadowangel]

I agree Papp, I think that's excactly what this was, a sick prank. it sort of reminds me something the zodiac killer dreamed of doing. I think the killer is still out there and I think he will either do it again or confess someday.
Odd...This is my first time reading this thread, and when I read the note I was struck by the similarity to the letters sent by the Zodiac. The construction of the note, the seemingly careful lettering, as though copying over a template (as I believe someone else noted here) and the commanding tone...To me, it closely parallels the construction of the school bus bombing letters. Maybe someone took some tips from Robert Graysmith's books...

[pappanick]

I think if I had a bomb strapped around my neck, damn straight I'd make sure the bank gave me the desired amount of money and weren't the notes found consecutively and one of them led him to the weapon he was to use,thus explaining why he couldn't shoot his enslavers. Also I thought I read that he was shot at another location. i think whoever did this was playing with him, it's not like he could get mad about being shot and quit. Maybe they were following him and watching him.Actually Up allnite the first note in Wells letter that he was given tells him to "use the weapon you were given." Nowhere in the note does it lead him to the weapon. If someone gave me a gun to commit a crime the first thing I would make sure to do with it is blow their damn head off their shoulders. We would at least be even if a bomb exploded on my chest. He was shot at the location where he delivered the pizzas. 8316 Peach St., which leads back to into a radio tower and some woods. It is rarely accessed unless you are going back there to mess with the towers. Here is my point Upallnite, he is believed to be shot at 8316 Peach St. back in the woods in the knee area. If they shot him and blew his knee out the game would have been OVER! There would have been no game. They would have had to shoot him in this secluded area BUT there would have been no game. The game would have been over. Would they risk shooting him and ruining their devious plan? You see what i am saying. This was at least a YEAR in the making.

Two other things I do not think get enough play in this case. Which I think are important. 1) Wells was mentally challanged to some extent making him the perfect victim. That fact along with the way the plot was carried out and I would bet that at least one if not more people who did this to Wells knew him and well enough that they thought this would work. I believe if the truth ever comes out at least one co-worker will be found to be involved from Moma-Mia's pizza. We will see.

Release the whole note!!

[pappanick]

The update tomorrow on AMW will focus on Floyd Stockton Jr.. A man who lived with William Rothstein during the period where this occurred in Erie, PA. Stockton and Rothstein lived together near the radio towers where the pizza's were to be delivered and where Brian Wells went on his delivery. Stockton is a convicted rapist who spent time in jail in Washington state before being released and making his way to Erie, PA. The FBI is focusing on Stockton because he does fit their profile in what they are looking for at this time. Stockton is currently not in jail anymore and I do not know where his whereabouts are at this time but he no longer lives in Erie.


Release the whole note!!

[pappanick]

I should have said Jay Stockton and not Floyd Stockton. I think they are onto something with this guy. I knew the little equal signs would come back to haunt the note writer. I have been saying that all along.

[upallnite]

I should have said Jay Stockton and not Floyd Stockton. I think they are onto something with this guy. I knew the little equal signs would come back to haunt the note writer. I have been saying that all along.
I agree, I think this guy was directly involved in this and maybe it was even his idea, and what a demented idea it was.

[pappanick]

So, Floyd Stockton and Jay Stockton are the same person. How confusing is that?:bang: There was a ironic story in our Erie paper about a year ago that talked about the time Stockton spent at Rothsteins house. It talked about one time when the cops came looking for Rothstein and Stockton thought they had come for him. Could you imagine that? "Oh no, the cops are here for me!" "Oh you didn't come for me but for Bill."-- "O.K. how can I help you officer."
I will say I am surprised Stockton's wife did not come forward sooner and was interviewed intensely about his case earlier. It is TWO years later! And why did it take the AMW detective to conduct these interviews and unearth this information? Shouldn't the FBI be doing more of this? The biggest problem with these people coming forward is that they all have an axe to grind. Stockton's wife and Marjorie Diehl. Diehl isn't the person you would want on the stand in court. That is for sure. She is still bitter about Rothstein putting her away for an old murder she committed. Stockton's wife could be bitter about the way things ended between her and Jay. I am still very disturbed about the legnth of time it took for her to come forward.

[SieSie]

I forgot how to get to these cold case threads! :doh:

Found this from America's Most Wanted (http://www.amw.com/fugitives/case.cfm?id=27382) site:
The FBI and ATF have reconstructed the bomb, deconstructed the cane gun and analyzed the notes. In August of 2004 the FBI Behavioral Analysis Unit released a profile of the person they consider the mastermind behind the whole event. They refer to this person as the Collar Bomber.

They say the goal of the Collar Bomber was more than a bank robbery. This person choreographed the whole event. The FBI also believes the Collar Bomber did not act alone. They say "there were multiple motives for the offender, and money was not the primary one."

They describe the Collar Bomber as a pack rat who is frugal, saving everything including scraps of materials to reuse in building projects. This is evident in the type of material found in the bomb and cane gun. They say the Collar Bomber works with wood, metal, wiring and plastic and is comfortable around power tools.

The Collar Bomber had access to an area, such as a home workshop, where long periods of time could be spent working alone and undetected. The also believe the cane gun may have been built many years ago and may not have been the only weapon built by the Collar Bomber. He may have also built a variety of objects, such as knives or swords. They describe him as mechanically inclined and as someone who takes pride in fixing and building things.

It's good they have a description, I hope they make some arrests soon. I will never forget this case and watching it live on tv. Prayers for his family to find peace and hopefully some answers.

[amnesiac]

http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/pp/05224/552896.stm

i hope that works (im not computer savvy).

[welder 79]

http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/pp/05224/552896.stm

i hope that works (im not computer savvy). It work just fine for me...It's a shame it's been this long and they still not cought these people that did this to this poor simple guy that was doing he's best to make a living...LE in this case sure made some mistake's that make's me wonder if they just maybe they trying to cover there own behind's more than catching these people that did this. To me the bomb design was very "rookie" made!! look's like a 1st year shop student could made it. I never thought it be this long where's ATF?, FBI,

[Lurker Steve]

Did anyone watch last night's AMW? They did a fairly comprehensive overview of the case as it stands.

I have to say, the female sounds very suspicious. I'm wondering if she was the "ringleader" behind this. Thoughts?

[mel36]

I live about 60 miles SE of Erie. The town next to Erie is called Corry, Corry's prefix for their phone numbers is 664 and also there is a 665 prefix. What I find to be interesting is that the Corry Metal Products companies phone number is 814-664-7087 now this normaly may not be important BUT the phone number that is scribled on the paper (thats what I believe that it is) goes like this 664 then the last two digits they have are 07 but what if they got it wrong and the last two digits are 87 and I think that the RC may be someone who worked there like a contact.:twocents: I don't know alot about metal machining even though my father worked in a machine shop years ago, but I do question how an intricate piece of work like that collar bomb could be made in a garage or a basement in someones home?

[rayray]

Saw this on AMW this weekend, and I was totally enthralled by the case. It reminded me of that horror movie SAW on a few different levels. Just the idea of that torture bomb device was enough to scare me. I really felt for this mans family.

[laini]

This sort of reminds me of Saw, also.


I was just reading on AMW about the Guess shirt that Wells was wearing. This was the first i had seen mention of the shirt. They say it was not made by the well known Guess company, but maybe sold by a street vender. Anybody else find this intersting? Apparently the bad guys put the shirt on him after placing the bomb on him. So finding the source of the shirt could maybe find who bought it?

Also, is there anything significant to their signing the note "The Troubleshooters" ?

[laini]

Here is a picture of the shirt.

http://www.amw.com/popupimage_view.cfm?id=13737

[rayray]

There are alot of places around here that sell "bootleg" shirts, purses, etc. that are MADE to look namebrand. I doubt that finding the person (s) who manufactured or sold the product would make much difference. I doubt they keep any records of whom purchased the goods.

[poppypetals]

http://www.phillyburbs.com/pb-dyn/news/103-02172007-1300511.html

[Paradise]

http://i28.photobucket.com/albums/c222/Niffa2003/scan0004.jpg



http://i28.photobucket.com/albums/c222/Niffa2003/scan0003.jpg