By David Lohr
(Continued)
On the day of the robbery, August 8, 2003, Diehl-Armstrong, Barnes and Diehl-Armstrong's former fiancé, William Rothstein, 60, allegedly met Wells at 8631 Peach Street in Erie, at which time they affixed the bomb to Wells' neck. Not long afterwards, Wells walked into a PNC Bank branch on Peach Street with a sophisticated homemade shotgun that had been disguised as a cane and demanded a quarter of a million dollars in cash. Wells collected the money and rushed out the door toward his getaway car. He did not make it far. Alerted by a silent alarm, troopers from the Pennsylvania State Police quickly surrounded Wells' green Chevrolet Metro and ordered him to the ground. As troopers handcuffed him, Wells said that a group of men had forced him to commit the robbery and that they had placed a bomb around his neck.
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| Brian Wells Captured |
State police troopers made no attempts to disarm the bomb, and, for reasons unknown, the bomb squad was not called for 32 minutes. Just three minutes prior to the squad's arrival, the collar bomb exploded and killed Wells. A WJET news camera filmed the entire event, and, within hours, television stations all over the world were broadcasting parts of it.
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| Collar |
It is believed that Rothstein constructed the bomb, due to his extensive knowledge of robotics and electronic devices. Rothstein died of cancer in July 2004 and took any knowledge that he might have had of the crime to the grave.
Following the press conference Wells' brother, John Wells, took the podium and spoke out about the indictment and expressed his anger at authorities for accusing his brother of being a conspirator in the robbery.
"Nineteen hours after the bomb had gone off, the federal authorities chopped his head off to get that collar off," Wells told reporters. "Brian did not put that collar on himself. I'm sorry."
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Indictments May Be Pending In Erie Collarbomber Investigation
See Crime Library Feature Story on the 'Collarbomber'
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