Brian Wells was just an average delivery guy – that is, until the day he robbed a bank with a bomb strapped to his neck. A much grander conspiracy would later be revealed, and yet no one knows the true reasons why he did it.

It's never easy to determine a criminal's motivations, and investigations are still inconclusive 16 years after Brian's death. While there are many testimonies and theories, they tend to contradict each other. Let's see if we can piece together the puzzle of the true mastermind behind the bizarre collar-bomb robbery...

Brian Conducted A Quiet, Quick, And Terrifying Robbery

On August 28th, 2003, Brian entered a PNC branch carrying a homemade shotgun and with a bomb strapped to his neck. He quietly passed a note to the tellers stating the amount of money he wanted them to give him, a grand sum of $250K.

The note further explained that the bomb was set to go off in 15 minutes. However, this wasn't enough time to open the vault and give Brian the amount he had requested, so the tellers gave him just $8,702 in a bag. The entire heist lasted for only about 12 minutes.

He Died Horribly Before The Bomb Squad Arrived

The police apprehended Brian and waited for the bomb squad to get there, but there was a lot of traffic. Meanwhile, the officers made sure he couldn’t detonate the device himself. Brian kept saying that the bomb was set to go off unless he continued a "scavenger hunt."

The police sat Brian on the ground and tried to clear the area as numerous spectators gathered around. Camera crews arrived on the scene in order to cover the bizarre situation. Tragically, Brian’s time ran out three minutes before the bomb squad got there. The device detonated, and he died on the spot.

Nobody Understood Why He Tried To Rob A Bank

Investigators were baffled as to what had happened. They had a pizza guy with no criminal record who was on a scavenger hunt and robbed a banking branch for much less than he had asked for. Furthermore, there was no indication that Brian knew how to build a bomb.

There were clearly other people involved in this case, but who? And how many? The questions kept piling up, and investigators couldn’t find the right answers. Eventually, they got a tip that led them to a complicated plan devised by either a genius or a sick mind.

Brian Had Led An Unremarkable Life Before The Incident

Brian was a high school dropout who had been working at Mama Mia's Pizza for about 10 years and never gotten into any type of trouble until the robbery. He was 46 years old and unmarried with no children when national news headlines were flooded with his name.

However, police later found out that Brian kept company with unsavory characters who may have been key to his involvement in the plot, though his family insists that he would’ve never willingly taken part in something like this. As police investigated, a conspiracy slowly emerged.

He Claimed That He Was A Hostage

Right after the police apprehended him, Brian said that other people had forced him to do what he was doing, describing himself as a hostage who was acting against his will. This was where the facts of the case presented an even more interesting twist.

Normally, the motive for robbing a bank is simply to loot the vault. But in Brian's case, it may have been a matter of survival. This was the first clue to the convoluted story of one of the most bizarre robberies to ever take place in the United States.

A Delivery That Changed His Life Forever

Brian told the police that he had been delivering a pizza when some men strapped a bomb on his neck and gave him instructions detailing what he was to do. Although most of this later proved to be false, Brian was indeed out delivering an order before he robbed the PNC branch.

He delivered the order to a television transmission tower, where he met with Marjorie Diehl-Armstrong and others involved. It is unclear at this point whether Brian put the bomb on his neck voluntarily or they forced it on him. That would be the last order he ever delivered.

Evidence Hints At Brian Being A Willing Participant

Despite his statement, prima facie evidence suggests that Brian may have willingly participated in the robbery. First, his demeanor throughout the heist was so nonchalant that he even took a lollipop on his way out of the banking branch. Second, he lied about who had put the bomb on him.

Furthermore, Brian claimed that the robbery was part of a scavenger hunt. Investigators later found out that he actually loved scavenger hunts. While these are all signs that Brian was more involved in the plot than he let on, they're not nearly strong enough to hold up in court.

Events Unfolded In Quick Succession

Just as Brian’s heist took only 12 minutes, the police apprehended him only 15 minutes later as he was standing next to his car, probably about to head to the third part of the scavenger hunt. The most controversial and defining events in Brian's life took place in under one hour.

Brian died 48 minutes after he made the fateful decision to rob the PNC branch. The collar bomb exploded through his chest, killing him instantly. And yet the events of that day have held the attention of the American people for more than 15 years.

Brian’s Gruesome Death Was Caught On Camera

As noted earlier, there was a crowd surrounding the area where Brian was apprehended. TV crews made it there as well and broadcasted the events, though Brian's death wasn't broadcasted live due to technical difficulties at that exact moment. The news outlet gave the video to the police.

Unfortunately, the video was leaked onto the internet. Although the person who had originally leaked the video took it down after Brian's family protested its release, the damage had already been done. Once something is on the internet, it’s very difficult to make it disappear.

The Most Bizarre Scavenger Hunt Ever

Brian said there was a scavenger hunt underway in which he had to go on a series of quests, the first of which was robbing the PNC branch. And indeed, he had already gone on to complete the second one before the police apprehended him.

When the police searched Brian’s car after his death, they realized he had been telling the truth. There were detailed instructions specifying the steps Brian had to follow if he wanted to live. There was a warning not to contact the authorities, of course, and the notes stated that he was being watched.

Brian Never Stood A Chance

During the course of the investigation, police officers followed the route of the scavenger hunt. According to the instructions, time would be added to the bomb’s timer when Brian completed each step in the hunt. However, the math did not match what the instructions said.

This indicated that Brian was never meant to survive the hunt. Even if he had carried on with the scavenger hunt, there was not sufficient time for him to finish it. The moment the bomb got placed on his neck, Brian was as good as dead.

To This Day, Brian's Family Fiercely Defends Him

Despite circumstantial evidence to the contrary and the testimonies of the people involved, Brian's family continues to defend his absolute innocence. Although the district attorney concluded that he had partially participated in the crime, the family categorically denies it. No one can really tell if they’re wrong or not.

After all, the DA office's main reason to believe in his involvement is the testimony of known criminals, whereas Brian had no criminal record. However, it has been proposed that he agreed to his role in the belief that the bomb around his neck was fake.

The Most Likely Mastermind

Despite their certainty that Brian hadn't acted alone, the officers conducting the investigation couldn't seem to find any definite clues to who was behind the plan. However, evidence eventually came to light that the true criminal genius behind the robbery was Marjorie, the woman Brian had met on his last delivery.

It appears that Marjorie and a group of co-conspirators planned the entire heist. Unlike Brian, these people had criminal records and a history of living on the edge of the law. Though the motives were uncertain, investigators were surprised by the complexity of the crime.

Marjorie Was Brilliant But Disturbed

Marjorie once seemed to have a bright future ahead of her. After all, she had graduated as a valedictorian and even gotten a master’s degree. According to numerous reports, however, she was diagnosed with bipolar disorder and suffered from several other mental illnesses as well.

During her twenties, Marjorie's state of mind kept deteriorating. It is very likely that she wasn’t taking any type of medication that could’ve helped her. Over the years, she became more and more unhinged. By the time she stood trial for Brian's case, the judge initially found her mentally incompetent.

Marjorie Had A Dead Body In Her Freezer

The local police knew Marjorie. She had a string of boyfriends who tended to disappear without a trace. In fact, they had placed her under arrest for killing Robert Thomas, but she was acquitted because the jury determined that it had been a case of justified self-defense.

What no one could’ve suspected was that Marjorie had put the body of her most recent boyfriend, James Roden, in her freezer after killing him with a shotgun. This revelation from an unlikely source turned out to be the break that investigators needed in Brian's case.

She Confessed Her Involvement While In Prison For Murder

Two years after the events of Brian's case, Marjorie pled guilty during her trial for the murder of her ex-boyfriend, James, but stated that she was mentally ill. As a result, she was given a sentence of 7 to 20 years in a high-security prison.

Months after she was incarcerated, Marjorie offered to give information on the PNC case in exchange for a transfer to a minimum-security prison. During her statement, she admitted to having been involved in the robbery but claimed that someone else had planned the entire thing.

According To Marjorie, William Rothstein Was The True Mastermind

Marjorie claimed that William Rothstein had been behind the whole plan to rob the PNC bank and that Brian was directly involved as well. William had dated Marjorie in the '60s. The curious thing is that William was the one who had made the call about the body Marjorie kept in her freezer.

William had told the police that Marjorie killed James and then asked him to help her hide her ex-boyfriend's body, paying him $2K for his assistance. He had claimed that he was turning on Marjorie because he feared for his life. According to him, she was the main organizer of the robbery.

Marjorie Wanted The Money From The Robbery To Pay For Her Father's Assassination

At one point, Marjorie's father had a net worth estimated at $1.2 million. However, as he grew older he started giving his fortune away to charities and friends. Marjorie considered her father’s fortune to be rightfully hers, so she sought to hire someone to kill him.

However, Marjorie couldn’t afford to pay the hitman, Kenneth Barnes. She is believed to have concocted the plan to rob the PNC branch in order to compensate the killer with the proceeds of the crime. Kenneth is said to have met Brian through a mutual acquaintance.

Marjorie Still Would’ve Inherited Nothing

The inheritance Marjorie was aiming for no longer existed. Her father had given most of it away during his final years, and he had left her only $2K. But she wouldn't even have received that amount because it was used to pay his medical bills.

It's unclear whether Marjorie knew there was nothing for her to inherit when she allegedly came up with the PNC plan. She had been estranged from her father for a while after he cut off all contact with her because he suspected her of criminal activities.

Jessica Hoopsick May Be The Missing Link

Jessica Hoopsick, a female escort, said that she was involved with both Kenneth and Brian. According to her, when Kenneth asked her about someone he could use for the PNC plans, she directed him to Brian in exchange for cash and drugs even though Brian was her friend.

Jessica has maintained that Brian was innocent but that she pointed the conspirators toward him because he was weak-willed. She thought they would be able to push him into committing a crime without giving him any prior information. Yet she didn't reveal any of this until 2018, 15 years after the fact.

The Main Conspirators Were Sentenced Years Later

Kenneth pled guilty to the charges against him in the PNC case in 2008. The government sentenced him to a penalty of imprisonment of 45 years. Marjorie’s trial was much more complicated. At first, the judge found her unfit to appear in court for trial due to her mental state, ordering that she be taken to a medical facility.

After Marjorie received treatment for her mental health, the judge found her competent. Her trial took place in 2010, and she got a life sentence consecutively with her current sentence for the murder of James. She appealed the verdict multiple times but was always denied.

15 Years Later, Most Of The Conspirators Are Dead

In 2017, Marjorie died of breast cancer while she was serving her prison sentence. William, the man she claimed was the real mastermind, also passed away in 2004, before Kenneth and Marjorie went to trial for the PNC case. Meanwhile, Kenneth is still in prison.

A judge reduced his sentence for his cooperation, and Kenneth will be able to leave prison in 2027. He’s 64 years old. According to him, Brian volunteered for his role, but shots were fired when Kenneth and his accomplices put the bomb on his neck.

The Media Attention Continues To This Day

The strange circumstances surrounding Brian's case, plus the bizarre discoveries the police continued to make, earned it a lot of media coverage. As new information keeps emerging through the years, interest in the case has continually been renewed, so that people's fascination with Brian's story remains unabated.

There have been allusions to Brian's case in TV and film entertainment despite his family’s complaints. Numerous podcasts and YouTube shows have also commented on the case in past years as the mystery behind what really took place that day remains unsolved. Even books have been released.

Pizza Bomber Hits The Shelves In 2012

Much fascination surrounds true-crime stories, especially in the United States. After all, the things humans are able to do don’t cease to surprise us. Brian Wells’ iconic case made history, which was why authors Ed Palattella and Jerry Clark decided to delve deep into this story.

After a lot of research, the authors published Pizza Bomber: The Untold Story of America’s Most Shocking Bank Robbery, though their work has received mixed reviews. Copies are still available wherever books are sold. Jerry and Ed have published numerous true-crime works throughout their careers.

Netflix Released An In-Depth Docuseries About The Case In 2018

Netflix has made various true-crime docuseries with great success. In 2018, it released Evil Genius: The True Story Of America’s Most Diabolical Bank Heist. The four-part docuseries attempts to determine what really happened in the events leading up to Brian's death on August 28, 2003.

It was on this show that Jessica, the female escort, discussed her involvement. In their quest to make sense of it all, the makers of the series even got Marjorie's side of the story before her death. Despite their valiant efforts, however, this case may never be completely solved.