The notes say we are following you. It seemed like someone playing a game. The whole plan was designed for him to die. Interviews heard here first. It was murder. I held my silence for 15 years. Inside the riveting story datelines covered from the start. There is a frozen body. Its in the freezer in the garage. We have three different deaths. How are they related . Im thinking, wow, she could really be the mastermind of this. Evil and death and greed. Its not a script. Its not makebelieve. How horrible can you be . May they burn in hell. What a pretty late summer afternoon it had been along the great lake. August 28th, 2003, a day that people of erie, pennsylvania, will long remember, not for its pleasant breezes but for that spasm of unexpected violence. Dateline was there. It all started with a pizza delivery. It ended two hours later in one of the most bizarre Crimes Police have ever witnessed. Maybe you remember bits of it. A pizza delivery guy robbing a bank claiming he had a ticking time bomb locked around his neck. The images are hard to forget and still painful to watch. Horrific, bizarre, almost like the mother of all, you know, whodunits. Strange indeed. But on that day, we didnt have a clue about all that was ahead. A few weeks after the bank heist this happened. There is a frozen body. Its in the freezer in the garage. A 911 caller said there was a man dead in a freezer in his garage, and a woman in his living room very much alive. Who is she to you, sir . Uh, i helped her do some stuff that i shouldnt have. That call was made by a huge guy in bib overalls who looked like an extra from the old show heehaw. He was the smartest guy in the room. He would become one of the leads, maybe the mastermind in a colorful cast of characters, people on the fringes of society. Lets just call them unconventional. All the broken toys of erie, pennsylvania, show up in one story. Marjorie diehlarmstrong. Where do you even begin . She had danger written all over her. She did. She has a magnetic quality about her. You know, some people have described it as magnetically revolting. The amazing part for me is that these people all found each other with the same likemindedness of evil and death and greed. It started on a thursday 1 30 in the afternoon. An order came into mama mias pizzeria. Two sausage and pepperoni pies for delivery. The driver scribbled down the address. It wasnt a home or even a business. The caller wanted the pizzas delivered to a cluster of tv station antennas and satellite dishes nestled in the woods. The delivery man headed out. About an hour after that, another call came in, this one to 911. This is an emergency. We have a bank robbery at pnc bank. Fbi special agent jerry clark was in his office looking forward to a long labor day weekend. I was downtown and got notified that there was a bank robbery at 7200 peach street. This one sounded different though. Security cameras showed just how different. The robber was brian wells, the delivery guy from mama mias. He handed the teller a note saying this is a bank robbery, i have a bomb, and i need 250,000 in cash. He had something underneath his shirt. But you really couldnt see exactly what it was. Whatever the device was, it was attached around his neck with something that looked like a giant handcuff. He was holding a bag in one hand, a cane in the other. At least it looked like a cane. He was calm. That was a bizarre thing for us. Sort of swinging the cane and walking with the money very casually. Grabs a lollipop which they have on the counter. To feel comfortable enough to reach into the basket and pull out a lollipop actually surprised me. Wells strolled out with a bag of money, but he might not have been so calm if he knew just how fast Law Enforcement was responding. A guy just walked out with a, i dont know how much cash in a bag. He had a bomb or something. Hes sitting in the mcdonalds parking lot. Im watching him now. State troopers were closing in. I got called that there was a bank robbery in progress. Pennsylvania state Police Crime Unit supervisor lamont king rolled out. Jerry clark of the fbi was on his way. So was the erie pd bomb squad. Tv news live vans were not far behind. The pizza guy turned bank robber drove out of the mcdonalds parking lot out of the bank but didnt get far. Wells was intercepted just up the hill by troopers only a few hundred yards from the bank itself. I had him get out of the vehicle, at which time they noticed the collar around his neck. The robber told him he was wearing a bomb. They werent about to doubt him. The troopers took precaution, handcuffed the individual, kneeled him down and then they proceeded to take cover. Fbi man jerry clark arrived moments later. I came screaming up peach and i pulled exactly to the end of the lot and thought, oh, man, thats too close. So i immediately reversed, came around, and got into this parking lot. And hes talking to the officers . He is. Wells identified himself, said he was a pizza delivery man. Sitting on the pavement crosslegged and handcuffed, wells seemed more desperate than desperado. He pleaded for a cigarette and help. And then he told his story, his words, some black men had accosted him, locked the collar around his neck and activated the bomb. The conversations back and forth and went on for quite a while. Police didnt know what to make of the man with the bomb. But they knew he was dangerous and kept a safe distance. It was a stalemate with no easy way out. Wells sat on the pavement for ten minutes, then 20, all the while, tick, tick. The bomb squad was getting close, but traffic by now was hopelessly snarled. Theyd be there in a few minutes. Nobody knew if that would be time enough. Coming up. Hes pleading can you get this thing off me . A race against the clock. Had you ever seen anything like it . Like that . No. And what they would see as the case unfolded would be darker than any of them imagined. I just was overwhelmed by this dark feeling. Everybody was lying. If shes at the center of this, what does this mean . When dateline continues. Decor and more during the season of Savings Event right now at lowes. Instwith vicks sinex saline congnasal mist. For drug free relief that works fast. Vicks sinex. Instantly clear everyday congestion. Every minute. Understanding how to talk to your doctor about Treatment Options is key. Today, we are redefining how we do things. We find new ways of speaking, so youre never out of touch. Its seeing someones face that comforts us, no matter where. When those around us know us, they can show us just how much they care. The first steps of checking in, the smallest moments can end up being everything. Theres resources that can inform us, and that spark can make a difference. 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The device was locked around his neck like a handcuff. But wells didnt have a key, and he said the bombs timer was ticking down. Wells was on the ground, hands cuffed behind his back and surrounded. Police with guns drawn. Tv news crews getting it all. How close can you zoom in with that . Were live. Fbi agent jerry clark was just 20 feet from wells. The man people described as calm when he robbed the bank seemed increasingly anxious. Hes pleading can you get this thing off me . No one dared approach. The standoff lasted 30 excruciating minutes. And then something happened. You hear a countdown beep almost like a bomb moving . Very faintly a beep, beep, beep, a digital countdown timer. Lamont king heard the beeping too. He grabbed a pair of binoculars and zoomed in on wells. I hear another beep. Once i heard the second beep, he got agitated. The standoff had now lasted 31 minutes. The clock hit 3 18. The device locked around brian wells neck exploded. Ive never forget it. Mr. Wells fell back, and i watched his chest, and the air went out but never came back. And i thought this is a fatal situation. And debris sailing through the air . You could hear the percussion from the device. I felt a couple pieces hit right down around here. What sticks in my mind is the eyes going into the back of his head. Then he just went down. Brian wells died moments after the explosion. The bomb crushed his crest and lacerated his heart. It was a horrifying scene, all of it captured by news cameras. Later that night brians sister was relaxing at home completely unaware. I turned on the news, somebody robbed a bank. And i looked and i was like there is my brother brian. Whats he doing there sitting there . Sitting on the road . Sitting on the road. And then i said to the kids does that look like uncle brian . And they said yeah. It seemed impossible, couldnt be true. Jean turned to her husband. She said, jean, your brothers not a bank robber. I said i know my brothers not a bank robber but it looks like brian. And as she watched the standoff play out on tv, she saw exactly how he died. And you had been watching the last moments of brians life. Right. My brother was sitting there, you know, handcuffed. Police officers were pointing guns at him, you know, like hes a criminal. What did he need at that moment, jean . Brian needed assistance. Brian needed compassion. Brian needed to be heard. But none of that happened. Maybe what brian needed most was for bomb techs to defuse the bomb around his neck. They didnt get that chance. Coming from another part of town they arrived just two minutes after the explosion. The commander suited up into his bomb gear. What did you make of it . The collar still remained on his neck. So you could see that, and we couldnt tell whether there was any explosive devices inside, what remained of that collar. Had you ever seen anything like it . Like that . No. Really, nobody in the United States had seen anything like that. That included jerry clark, with 20 years of Law Enforcement experience under his belt. He was joined at the scene by his fbi supervisor. After both of us initially said, oh, my god, i cant believe what we saw. I said i gotta have this case and he said its yours, lets go. From the first moments, every move agent clark made would be under intense scrutiny. It was a media frenzy. I mean live satellite dishes, local, national, international news. It was a big event. One of the people watching the coverage was Trey Borzillieri. He was a couple of hours away in buffalo settling his mothers estate. It was a bittersweet two weeks in buffalo, new york, packing up her things. I was wrapped up, done, reached out to some friends. Lets all meet, have a drink to say goodbye. He was saying goodbye to his hometown and heading back home to his new life in new york city where he was trying to become a documentary filmmaker. All he needed was a good story. What do you think the ingredients are . It had to be something that was shocking that really pulled you in. While raising a farewell glass with friends, trey noticed the coverage of the bank robbery in erie. The newscast came over on the tv in the corner of the bar and i was hooked. It seemed like it had all the pieces right from the start. Had you found your white whale . Absolutely. And i thought, wow, how desperate did that man have to be . Back in erie, brian wells big sister barbara was also thinking about how desperate her brother looked in his last moments. That fit her belief that brian was a victim. Nothing else made sense for the brother she loved. Brian was a fun person, a quiet person, a humble person. Brian was one of eight children, an easygoing guy. He liked puzzles and Scavenger Hunts, watched action movies with his mom. It was a simple life and it suited him just fine. He never wanted to be in the spotlight. If he could even imagine what had happened to him the last several minutes of his life, hed say, no, no, thats not me. Younger sister jean says brians last hour was not spent as a criminal, but as a hostage of the real bank robbers, the people who accosted him, locked the collar around his neck, and activated the bomb. It was exactly as brian said. He delivered pizza and these guys strapped this thing on him . Yes. Jerry clark heard brian wells say that with his own ears. It sounded like a declaration of innocence by a man who seemed to know he was about to die. But clark wasnt ruling anything in or out. For him it was just one piece in an already strange and complicated puzzle. Coming up. Could someone have unlocked the bomb in time . A Scavenger Hunt to find the key. Each site was to have notes on where to go next. And another hunt begins for a suspect. They ran up on me just like gangbusters like i was Charles Manson or somebody. When dateline continues. 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Investigators also recovered handwritten notes with detailed, complicated instructions, apparently written for wells on how to carry out the robbery. The notes involved in this case were voluminous. There were nine total pages of notes. They were peppered with dire warnings like bomb has tripwires, forcing or tampering will detonate, and we are following you. If you delay, disobey, or alert anyone, you will die. The collar bomb locked around wells neck had four keyholes. The notes also included maps and instructions directing wells to a location where hed find a key, and more instructions on where to find another key, and then another, until finally hed be free of the bomb. An illustrated manuscript of treachery. I get the sense that there is a Scavenger Hunt going on. And if he follows the notes in a timely manner, he can go from point a to b to c to d and come up with the holy grail, which is the key to unlock this thing. Thats basically what it was. It was a Scavenger Hunt. And each site was to have notes on where to go next and a key to one of the four keyholes that held the device around his neck. Jerry clark had never seen anything like it. No one had. Investigators decided to retrace wells steps. It looked as though he was following the instructions to the letter. Jerry, im looking over. I see an urgent care business. But in 2003 that was the bank, huh . Yes. That was the pnc bank. Mr. Wells robs the bank and proceeds down keystone drive here, turns right into where we are standing. And this is the start of this crazy Scavenger Hunt . This is point a. So what mr. Wells is to do at this location is to go into this flower bed, turn over a rock or stone that was in the flower bed and retrieve a note. The note under the rock directed wells to his next destination, but he never made it. Law enforcement makes an entry here, does a felony car stop, and basically placed mr. Wells under arrest right here. So is this the standoff . This is it right here. Wells Scavenger Hunt and his life ended here. Less than an hour after the explosion, lamont king of the state police took the notes and followed the rest of the directions exactly as written. We went down to the first site on interchange road. He was supposed to find a coffee jar and a couple other things, which we found. Everything we found we bagged for evidence. King made all the stops, while another trooper timed the trip. It took well over an hour, and that was a crucial point, because the bombs timing device turned out to be a common 60minute kitchen timer. Would you have had enough time to make all of these rounds on the Scavenger Hunt and recover the key and save your life . You would have never had the time. So that indicated to us that that device was never meant to come off. Plus, there were no keys found at any of the sites. There never was a key . So there never was a key. That whole plan was not designed for him to live. It was a very cruel death. The thought was chilling. Brian wells appeared to be the victim of a diabolical plot, a wrong time wrong place patsy. A search of his home supported the theory. Did you find any how to make a bomb things from the internet . Nothing of the kind. But agents did discover a list of names and wells hand written by wells. They started making calls. A woman on the list had an africanamerican boyfriend. The fbi tracked him down. He had a history of knowing explosives. He was in the military and actually had spent some time working with explosives. And your victim is saying black guys did this to me . It looked really good. And his girlfriends name is, in mr. Wells handwriting in his apartment. The man was known by his initials, j. J. Officials found him at work and then went to his home. We did a search warrant at his residence. How did that go down . Well, he was upset. Dateline talked to j. J. Back in 2003, not long after that search warrant executed. He was still upset. I voluntarily let them search my home the first time. The second time they ran up on me just like gang busters. Like i was Charles Manson or something. The search of j. J. s home was exhaustive. But it turned up nothing. None of the evidence pointed that j. J. Had any involvement in this at all. So he wasnt going anywhere, he is dropping off your list . Hes coming off the list. An early lead had fizzled. J. J. Was cleared. But a new suspect, a woman with a macabre his