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Breaking News: Indictments handed down in Brian Wells Case
Posted by Mike on July 11, 2007
The news has broken regarding the Brian Wells Pizza Bomber Case and it’s just as bizarre as everything that’s gone on to this point. Here’s a snippet from CNN:
A woman hatched a bizarre, complicated plot to fund the murder of her father with proceeds from a bank robbery using a co-conspirator posing as a hostage, federal authorities announced Wednesday.Marjorie Diehl Armstrong’s plot fell apart when bank robber Brian Wells, a pizza deliveryman who was drawn into the conspiracy, died when a bomb attached to his neck detonated, U.S. Attorney Mary Beth Buchanan said at a news conference in Erie, Pennsylvania.
Wells died August 28, 2003, after he claimed gunmen had grabbed him, locked the bomb around his neck and ordered him to rob a bank.
After the robbery, he was detained, sat on the pavement and recounted the story to police. A bomb squad was called, but the device exploded before the squad arrived.
Post your reactions and thoughts in the comments.
Here is the full statement from U.S. Attorney Mary Beth Buchanan:
Earlier today, we met personally with the family of Brian Wells. As prosecutors and investigators, we have not been able to discuss with them the details of this investigation.For some time, they have wanted us to publicly disclose the role of their family member. We can only make decisions in a case based upon what the facts actually are, not what we want them to be.
Unfortunately, our investigation has led to the belief that Brian became involved in a limited role with a group of individuals who planned to rob the PNC Bank.
We do not know the extent to which the others planned on him dying that day. But we do know, unfortunately, that Brian participated in a limited role in the planning and in the carrying out of this robbery. Sadly, the plans of these other individuals were much more sinister … and he died as a result. It may be that his role transitioned from that of the planning stages to being an unwilling participant in this scheme.
Posted by Mike at July 11, 2007 5:55 PM
Comments
It's certainly plausible that Wells was a part of the bank robbery scheme. I know that the Wells family is convinced he wasn't part of this plot but they're also very biased. I can't blame them for believing what they do but I think that with the bizarre nature of the case, this theory put forward by the Feds makes sense. Of course we'll have to wait until the trial to see all of the details before making a final conclusion.
Posted by: richard at July 12, 2007 8:21 AM
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