>> pop star david cassidy claims he was ripped off over a pop idol image. but first, a pizza delivery man robs a bank with a bomb around his neck. >> these suckers say you got 55 minutes, man. what are you going to do? >> and that's just the beginning of one of the most bizarre crimes ever. cnn's drew griffin unravels the twisted tale of the man known as the pizza bomber. >> 911. what is your emergency? >> yes. we've just been robbed. >> was anyone hurt? >> no. he just walked out the door. >> august 28, 2003, erie, pennsylvania. within minutes of robbing a bank brian wells is surrounded by police, cross legged on the ground and handcuffed. he told police he was a pizza delivery man and he delivered a pizza. the group he delivered it to captured him, he told police, put this bomb on his neck, and told him to rob a bank. >> can kaul my boss? >> yes. >> he asked police to call his boss. then to save his life. >> why is it nobody is trying to help? >> 25 minutes ticked by. then the device begins to beep. in an instant the bank robber is dead. the death of brian wells in this parking lot that day turned out to be only the beginning of the most elaborate, intricate, and some say still unsolved bank robbery case the fbi has ever had. >> at the end of it all, our system worked. our law enforcement partners solved the puzzle, and we achieved convictions and long sentences. >> the fbi, the local police, and the u.s. attorney's office simply want this case to be closed. but is it? tonight you decide. did the fbi catch all the suspects? did the fbi let one of them walk? and did the fbi make a mistake putting blame on a pizza delivery man whose secrets blew up in a parking lot? it was a hot thursday afternoon. jane hyde was expecting to see her brother at a party that night, but she had one errand to run -- a quick shopping trip on erie's peach street. but there was trouble. police had blocked the road. cops and cars everywhere. she turned around and went home. it was only later that night, watching the 10:00 news, she learned what that traffic was all about. >> my kids are sitting on the couch and then the story airs of bank robbery and a man came into the bank with a bomb on him. >> you are recognizing your brother. >> my brother sitting there with this bomb on him. i'm thinking okay. the police have him. they'll find out who did this to him. then as it goes on it's like, brian exploded. you know, the bomb went off. brian's dead. i'm like, i can't believe this. >> after the explosion, one of the first things the cops did was look inside his car. they found these. meticulous notes that amounted to a bizarre scavenger hunt. notes given to brian wells instructing him to follow a lengthy set of orders if he wanted to survive. >> laying out this puzzling, highly complex scavenger hunt directing him to go to specific places. >> rich shapiro is a journalist who's written extensively about the robbery for "wired" magazine. >> the notes suggested that at the very end of this if he completed it in the allotted time, which wasn't much, that he would be able to save his life. >> have you asked yourself why didn't my brother brian get in that car and drive straight to the police station? >> no. i have never asked that because brian was in survival mode. i truly believe that he was trying to save his life and others' lives. >> but the police had no idea what to think. was brian wells a victim? was he in on the robbery? what were those notes all about? who wrote them? why? there were no answers but money of agencies wanting to be involved in the biggest case erie had ever seen. >> we have formed a multiagency task force comprised of the pennsylvania state police, the atf, the erie police department, specifically their bomb squad, the united states attorney's office and the erie county district attorney's office. >> i wouldn't be surprised if some game warden from warren, p.a. was on the task force. >> jim fisher, a former fbi agent and criminologist studied the case from the beginning. >> so you have 50 people running around randomly conducting leads with very little coordination. no one really seemed to be in charge. >> from the outset, he believes the fbi, the erie police all the law enforcement agencies involved, were on the wrong track. this was not, he says, a bank robbery. >> you believe brian wells was murdered. >> well he was murdered and it was a first-degree murder. this was an intentional, premeditated, homicide. moreover, it was extremely cruel in the way the crime was executed. >> not just the crime, the actual bomb was a crude masterpiece of someone's twisted art. police would find intricate decoy cables, home made lock, all made into a bizarre puzzle wrapped around the neck of the victim. and whatever this was, a bank robbery, violent murder, the case was about to take another bizarre, almost unreal twist. >> there is a frozen body. it's in the freeze inner the garage. >> a second body. this one hidden in the freezer and a new suspect telling an even stranger tale. >> what came first, the body or the freezer? 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[ male announcer ] we are insurance. ♪ we are farmers ♪ bum, ba-da-bum, bum, bum, bum ♪ as brian wells was on the ground in that half hour after he robbed the bank, another man was watching everything unfold from across the street. according to an fbi affidavit informants said a 63-year-old handyman named william rothstein was sitting in his car, eyes focused on brian wells. bill rothstein, officials later said, was the mastermind behind the entire scheme. >> i put a cut piece of green tarp down here to put his body on. >> okay. >> this is bill rothstein a few months after that bank robbery in a police evidence tape where he's explaining to a detective how he helped a former girlfriend marjorie armstrong dispose of a body. >> what came first, the body or the freezer? >> the body came in. i'll put it on a cart. the cart with the big wheels not the small wheels. yes, that one there. >> but what's really going on here? what did that body in the freezer and bill rothstein's confession have to do with the collar bomb explosion that killed brian wells? in a word, everything. bill rothstein told police he was just doing marjorie a favor. he claimed marjorie had killed her abusive ex-boyfriend named jim roden but the fbi's investigation tells another story. roden knew about the bank robbery plot and was about to go to police. rothstein made that messing away. >> he came to the house and helped. he took the body out, cleaned the walls, replaced floor boards, replaced everything. painted, got rid of everything that might have blood on it. >> after rothstein turned her into police for the murder of her ex-boyfriend, marjorie stunned investigators with another twist. she connected rothstein to erie's biggest bank robbery. >> i mean, to build the bomb and test the bomb and all the components he had to have already been building it and designing it. in doing that he also said, i need some money so marjorie just gave him like $75,000 worth of money that she also kept at the house so bill rothstein was left with two of the most important things to hold over marjorie diehl armstrong. number one all of her money and, number two, a dead body that would make her lose her liberty for the rest of her life. >> even though marjorie diehl armstrong had been talking with police, it took the fbi nearly four more years before it could tie up all the loose ends. everybody the fbi said was involved with the robbery. bill rothstein, marjorie diehl armstrong, even another suspect, a crack dealer named kenneth barnes and barnes claimed brian wells was in on the plot from the beginning. and that he was duped. >> wells was essentially told he would be robbing the bank with the device being put around his neck that would be fake so he would not be putting himself in harm's way. as it turns out, he was double crossed. >> criminologist jim fisher believes it was rothstein who wanted to pull off the perfect diabolical crime that would baffle investigators. the elaborate scavenger hunt would eventually send police to a dead end. the confusing yet meticulously crafted collar bomb. even the white t-shirt brian wells wore into the bank spray painted with the word "guess" to fisher all of it hatched in the mind of a mad man. >> the kind of motives we can't understand. like a standard bank robbery, someone needs the money. then we have a category of crime involving motives that a normal person can't really understand. >> you're describing bill rothstein. that would be bill rothstein in my mind. to me he fits to a "t" the profile of someone who would commit such a bizarre and pathological crime. >> but now four years after the original crime the government had to prove in court its theory was correct. and there were two big problems. rothstein, the alleged mastermind, died before even officially being linked to the crime. the other main suspect, marjorie diehl armstrong, had told so many lies she was showing evidence of mental problems and a personality disorder. >> the mental illness was a 30-year history. the personality disorders were a 30-year history. >> over many delays and many more years, the government finally obtained convictions on charges of bank robbery and murder. life plus 30 years for marjorie diehl armstrong. a lesser sentence her accomplice kenneth barnes because he testified on behalf of prosecutors. brian wells, who died with that bomb around his neck, well, the federal government said he, too, was in on the crime. >> brian delivered the pizza. he was accosted at gun point by a group of strangers who he did not know. they shot at him. when he tried to run away, they knocked them to the ground. >> the fbi version as you know is different. >> that's a lie. that's a lie. that's all their fabrication. >> the fbi did agree to sit down with cnn to explain their case and their prosecution. how it all went down. they just wanted to know the day we'd arrive here in erie and where the interview would take place. then the fbi began asking us questions. who else would be interviewed for this report? and suddenly, the interview with the fbi was off. jim fisher says the fbi and the u.s. attorney took the easy way out and never really solved the case. >> bill rothstein died about a year after the crime and he died with, in my opinion, all of the secrets, all of the answers. and to that extent, well, nobody literally dies laughing. he went to his grave knowing that he had out foxed everyone. >> neither the u.s. attorney's office nor the fbi would comment to cnn about fisher's assertions. and yet there is someone who is alive, who kenneth barnes says was at rothstein's house the day of the robbery, but was never charged in the crime. he is the convicted sex offender granted immunity in exchange for testimony he was never asked to give. next -- brian wells' family really wants to know about you, sir. >> could this man hold the answers that would finally solve the case? ♪ i may be mud, but i have standards. mops? please. some of them have bacteria. ♪ and they try to pick me up? ew. i'm really hard to get. uh! ♪ what about love?! 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[ female announcer ] yoplait greek. it is so good. it's pretty good! personal pricing now on brakes. tell us what you want to pay. we do our best to make that work. deal! my money. my choice. my meineke. . in her search for justice, jean heid says she spent years trying to learn the truth from the one man she believes now holds the key to her brother's innocence. his name is floyd a. stockton a convicted sex offender who authorities say was living with bill rothstein on the day of the bank robbery. he goes by the nickname jay. >> jay stockton is a convicted rapist, serial, sexual battery of his wife, and he's out there. he's out there, people. >> he is the only one left alive and sane enough to tell the truth she believes. yet the federal government has allowed him to go free. >> they know that my brother is innocent 100% and they know that bill rothstein, jay stockton, are the coconspirators in this crime that killed brian. >> according to this fbi affidavit investigators learned of stockton's knowledge when stockton talked about it in a monitored phone call from jay. stockton was released then given immunity to testify for the government in the pizza bomb case. investigators say they compared stockton's handwriting to this handwriting of those scavenger notes found in brian's car. it was a perfect match. >> the authorities blaefd there were at least two people who wrote the notes and jay stockton is definitely one of them. >> on camera is kenneth eugene barnes. >> there is also the testimony of this man, kenneth barnes. >> like i say, i'd never kill anybody. >> barnes pled guilty and is serving a 20-year sentence for his role in the case. but it's this fbi search warrant affidavit now obtained by cnn which raises even more questions about why jay stockton has been allowed to go free. according to the affidavit barnes and others involved in the case say floyd stockton was deeply involved in the plot. barnes even telling the fbi on the day of the crime it was stockton who went into the garage, got the collar bomb, and handed it to rothstein. when we asked then u.s. attorney for western pennsylvania mary beth buchanan why stockton never testified and was never charged she initially told us stockton was sick, suffered several strokes, and was unable to travel. after our initial phone call buchanan never talked to us again and at a news conference in erie the current u.s. attorney david hickton wasn't forthcoming either. >> what about mr. stockton? will he ever be prosecuted for this? >> we are not in a position to comment on mr. stockton. >> douglas shagru says there is good reason the u.s. attorney and fbi want to keep quiet about jay stockton. >> do you think he is the person who got away with this? >> oh, yes. he got immunity from the government absolutely free and clear. convicted sex offender, multitime. the government felt he was the least involved person and so they gave him immunity. >> they shouldn't have given him immunity. he didn't deserve immunity. he is the guilty one. he killed my brother and deserved to be brought to justice. >> stockton has been featured on the television show "america's most wanted." private investigators have tried to track him down but stockton has literally vanished. at least that is what he may have thought. until the day we found him. these are pictures of stockton today. two hours north of seattle dune side street in bellingham, washington we found stockton where he told our investigator he has been living in this duplex for the past six years but was soon to leave. a week later we spotted him leaving the duplex in the pickup truck. we followed. he was eying a large, recreational vehicle at an rv sales lot. it was perhaps the first time in years anyone mentioned his involvement in the pizza bomb case. >> how you doing, mr. stockton? right? drew griffin with cnn. how you doing? it's taken a long time for me to find you. i wanted to ask you some questions. no, sir. brian wells' family is really wanting to know about you, sir. please. >> as fast as he could, with his driver's side window lowered, jay stockton sped away, not saying a word. >> mr. stockton this is drew griffin again with cnn. brian wells' family is really just trying to get to the truth of the matter about particularly their brother. you're the only one alive and sane enough to tell the truth and that's what they're after. >> he has refused all of our phone calls, refused to respond to notes placed at his door. the assistant u.s. attorney who prosecuted the case insists to us jay stockton would tell us what the federal government has proven in court that brian wells was involved with the bank robbery. >> no one could have sat through this criminal trial without understanding the degree of evidence linking mr. wells to these particular participants. >> in fact, the same affidavit that implicates stockton repeatedly implicates jean heid's brother. suspects involved saying brian wells knew the plot all along was involved in the planning, was part of the ban of criminal misfits trying to rob a bank. jean heid will never believe that. she blaefs her government is lying. >> they let an innocent man, my brother, die while in their custody and didn't even lift a finger to help him. this case is going to be looked at for years to come. and they don't want it known that they screwed up. brian never would have done this. >> next on "cnn presents" -- >> there we go. >> coast guard rescue swimmers. embedding with those who save lives for a living. later -- >> are you fighting for more than money? >> i think fairness.