September 4, 2003 - 2:27PM
A US pizza deliveryman who told police he had been forced to rob a bank was killed by a bomb that was attached to a locked metal collar secured around his neck, an FBI agent said Tuesday.
Hoping to find new leads in the bizarre case, law enforcement officials released photographs of the collar and the lock, believing someone may recognise the device and help them by calling a telephone tip line.
FBI Agent Bob Rudge and other members of the law enforcement group investigating Brian Douglas Wells' death provided few details about the bomb itself, though one law enforcement official said the explosive was of a kind he had only seen in Colombia.
A state police spokesman said investigators are still trying to determine whether Wells was a willing participant in the bank robbery outside Erie last week or if he was a "bomb hostage."
FBI experts in Quantico, Virginia, are reconstructing the bomb, which hung from the lock over Wells' chest, and analysing an extensive, multi-page note that was used by the robber, Rudge said. One part of the note was for bank employees, demanding cash during the robbery, and the other part was instructions for the robber, officials said.
On Wednesday, FBI spokesman Bill Crowley confirmed that a second weapon was also found with Wells, but he refused to describe it other than to say it was "unique." In an interview with Good Morning America, Kenneth McCabe, the agent in charge of the FBI's Pittsburgh office, said the weapon was "a sort of a gun."
Crowley also confirmed a statement by McCabe that the explosive used in the device was of a kind he had only seen once, in Bogota, Colombia.
Wells' death has transfixed northwestern Pennsylvania since last Thursday, when police surrounded the 46-year-old pizza deliveryman following the robbery of a PNC Bank branch. After exiting his car and being handcuffed a short distance from the bank, Wells told authorities he had a bomb strapped to him and that someone - he apparently did not say who, if he knew - had started a timer on the bomb and forced him to rob the bank.
While waiting for a bomb squad to arrive, the bomb exploded, killing Wells. No one else was injured.
In the moments before the bomb exploded, Wells asked police why none of them were helping to remove the bomb.
Since Wells' death, law enforcement officials have been chasing down leads but would not discuss if they have had any success. Rudge said Tuesday that authorities hope someone who recognises the collar and lock will give them information that could allow them to determine whether Wells was coerced into robbing the bank or lead them to anyone else who may have been involved.
The collar was "unique in its construction," including a lock with four keyholes and a three-digit combination dial, Rudge said. Bureau officials who examined the collar and lock do not believe it was commercially manufactured, he said.
Rudge and other officials refused to discuss the specific contents the note or the makeup of the bomb, including whether it had a timer or a remote control device.
About 50 people - including FBI personnel, Pennsylvania State Police, and officials with the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives - are involved in the investigation and are "chasing leads on an hourly basis," Rudge said.
He said he knew of no similar incident ever taking place in northwestern Pennsylvania.
Meanwhile, officials released information from an autopsy on one of Wells' co-workers, Robert Pinetti, 43, who was found dead Sunday at his home in nearby Lawrence Park Township. Pinetti had refused medical assistance around 5am that day and family members found him unresponsive in his bed a few hours later, police said.
Erie County District Attorney Brad Foulk said Pinetti had a history of substance abuse and preliminary testing appeared to show methadone and "valium-type" drugs in his system. There was no trauma and authorities said they have nothing connecting his death to Wells' case. Sure I remember that! AND there's been updates since then---on American Justice, on A&E and some other shows on Court TV....
Bizaarrrrrooooo.....some people think the poor pizza guy "knew" but "didnt know" exactly what those freaks were planning (like he knew part of it but not that they were going to use HIM or blow him up!).
I think the crazy nutso woman was the mastermind behind it. She just got busted but I cant remember her name. I LOVE CRIMELIBRARY.COM!
Fascinating stuff. Report It
There was a good story on this recently on 20/20. It seems there is a lot more going on than we first thought. yes im aware of that case, why are you so concerned about it I wonder if the pizza went to waste and what kind was it /
deluxxe ?
pepperoni ?
and was thier bread sticks involved in the loss? Yeah, so what kind of an answer were you seeking? I don't know about the show, but you win a prize for the TELL! Why are you reviving this story? Oh yes, that happened in my town. what a tragedy. |
