Case 81

Brian Wells

Around midday on August 28 2003, 46-year-old delivery driver Brian Wells clocked in for his usual lunchtime shift at Mama Mia’s Pizzeria in Erie, Pennsylvania. At 1:30 PM, he was called to deliver two pizzas at an address at the end of a dirt road on Peach Street.

There, he was fitted with a collar bomb and given a series of bizarre and complex instructions as part of an elaborate bank robbery plot. No one was prepared for what happened next.

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RESOURCES

BOOKS

Mania and Marjorie Diehl-Armstrong – by Clark, J & Palattella, E. (2017) Rowan & Littlefield

Pizza Bomber: The Untold Story of America’s Most Shocking Bank Robbery – by Clark, J. & Palattella, E. (2012) Berkley Books: New York

Engendered Death: Pennsylvania Women Who Kill – by Laythe, J. (2011) Lehigh University Press: United Kingdom

ARTICLES

Erie bombing ‘victim’ was in on bank robbery – Cleveland.com

Erie bomb victim was the dupe in a greedy plan – Cleveland.com

Double-crossed – Cleveland.com

Jury convicts woman in collar bomb robbery – CBS News

Collar bomb bank robber gets 45 years – CBS News

Pizza delivery man who robbed bank had neck measured for bomb collar – Fox News

New details revealed in ‘pizza collar bomb’ heist – CNN

Collar bomb probe gets weirder – CBS News

Was pizza deliverer a robber or a victim? – USA Today

Hostage to misfortune – The Guardian

Erie”s Marjorie Diehl-Armstrong subject of new book – Erie Times-News

Pizza collar bomb case solved, official says – NBC News

Indictment: bomb victim in on bank plot – USA Today

Erie’s Diehl-Armstrong meets lonely end in Texas – Erie Times-News

Court petition seeks Diehl-Armstrong’s remains – Erie Times-News

Why does the weird find its way to Erie – Erie Times-News

Admitted bank robber has sentence cut for his testimony – Reuters

Pizza man bombing remains odd mystery – Fox News

The Incredible True Story of the Collar Bomb Heist – Wired

Suspect pleads guilty in collar bomb case – Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

12th anniversary of Erie pizza bomber case – Your Erie

Truth about US collar bomb robbery remains elusive – BBC

Strange death belies pizza man’s quiet life – The Philadelphia Enquirer

Woman, 68, jailed for bizarre plot to rob bank by attaching bomb to neck of ‘pizza delivery boy’ and blowing him up dies in prison – Daily Mail

Garage searched in bank robbery blast case – Gettysburg Times, p.3. (6 September 2003)

Tool owner denies knowing Erie robber – Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, p.33. (7 Sep 2003)

Officials say chaos delayed call to bomb squad after robbery – Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, p.10. (8 Sep 2003)

Robbery still unsolved – The Sentinel, p.10. (22 Aug 2004)

One year later, ‘pizza bomber’ is still a puzzle – The Philadelphia Enquirer, p.B06. (23 August 2004)

Feds say they have figured out pizza bomber case – Indiana Gazette, p.3. (17 February 2007)

Attorney: indictment to come soon in bomb case – Indiana Gazette, p.3. (10 July 2007)

Feds says collar bomb victim was part of plot – Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, p.1. (11 July 2007)

Elaborate plot is linked to death of pizza man – The Philadelphia Enquirer, p.B06. (12 July 2007)