Evil Genius

When you were watching across the street, did you know Brian Wells was gonna die?

I had no clue.

- Did you make the bomb? -No.

When Ken Barnes confessed, it was the breakthrough

investigators had been hoping for.

Finally, an insider could tell them what happened to Brian

at the tower site, but also if Brian was actually in on the heist.

We learned through interviews with Barnes there was a pre-robbery meeting

at Rothstein's house to discuss roles for each person.

We asked about that, who was present. He described it.

He said, of course, Mr. Rothstein, Marjorie Diehl, and then Mr. Stockton.

Bob Pinetti was present.

And Brian Wells, he was there.

The FBI didn't record Ken Barnes' confession.

It was policy at the time. They believed a camera changes the interview dynamic.

I reached out to Ken, he had no problem telling me

exactly what he told investigators.

Ken said his role was to be a lookout

and that Marge came to his house shortly before noon on August 28th, 2003.

She picked me up. I said, "What's going on?" She said, "Today's the day.

Of the bank robbery." I goes: "Oh."

Jim was supposed to drive the getaway car.

I said, "Where's Jim?" She goes, "He's in bed. I think he's sick with flu."

And we went up to, um, like I said, to the Shell station,

Bill came down and made the pizza call.

We went from there up to his house.

And, uh, so, we was up there at the tower site.

With Rothstein, waiting, while Brian came up.

Brian delivered the pizza. He got out of the car.

And Bill's car was in front of her car.

And so he put it up on the hood. Or on the, uh, trunk, rather.

And, uh, Brian was standing there waiting to get paid for the pizza.

Marge and me and Rothstein were eating pizza

when Stockton brought the bomb out from the back of the building.

I don't know, probably within three feet of Brian.

And Brian, at that point, looked like he was terrified.

Like he knew there was something wrong. And started to run.

I walked up to him and said, "Quit being a puss,"

and I smacked him one.

And that's when Rothstein pulled out the gun, shot in the air,

and told him he wasn't going anywhere.

Margie and Rothstein grabbed ahold of him, tackled him down.

And, uh, they were holding him, and Marge and, uh, Stockton put the bomb on him.

And he says, "I don't wanna do this! I don't wanna do this!"

And, uh, I don't know if he thought it was real or if he thought it was fake

or what the situation was.

The T-shirt, Margie put that on him to cover up the bomb.

Somebody gave him the note and says

he was supposed to hand it in to get $250,000.

She said, "If you happen to get caught,"

she said, "Tell them some black guys held you down, put the bomb on you."

She said, "That way it won't bring any heat to us."

They gave him a shotgun. Said, "If you have trouble, use this."

We went from there back out and up to the parking lot of Eat'n Park,

which was across the street and over the hill from the bank.

Marjorie Diehl-Armstrong and Ken Barnes sat in a vehicle and observed

the bank being robbed through binoculars. They took turns passing the binoculars.

What we needed them for

was to see down into the front part of the bank.

And as she was looking down in there, she goes,

"Ha-ha-ha! Looks like somebody just robbed a bank!"

I said, "Let me see." And at that point the cops were coming in,

and, uh, I said, "Let's get the hell out of here."

From there, they drive south on Peach Street

to the Rothstein residence,

where they meet up with Bill Rothstein,

switch vehicles,

and that's when Marjorie Diehl-Armstrong gets back on the highway.

I-79, going in the wrong direction.

We believe going back to the McKean Township sign,

looking for that last site.

Later on that day when I was at home watching the TV,

I felt bad because it wasn't supposed to happen. It was supposed to be fake.

As far as I knew, or he knew, or anybody else knew,

it wasn't supposed to be real.

But between Marge and Rothstein, they ended up making it real.

Now that investigators had Ken's confession,

they were headed up to a Washington State prison

to confront Floyd Stockton, Bill Rothstein's roommate.

The guy Ken claimed helped lock the bomb around Brian Wells' neck.

Stockton, this is video of him from a police interview

during the frozen body case, knew he was cornered.

But his attorney got him an amazing deal,

immunity in exchange for testifying against Marjorie.

Floyd Stockton had been keeping secrets, too.

He did mention he may have, at Mr. Rothstein's request, asked him

to help make a couple of the pieces for the collar, but it didn't work out.

He didn't do them properly, and Mr. Rothstein took over.

We actually did a reenactment at the scene with Floyd Stockton.

He said Marjorie Diehl-Armstrong was there.

And he was ordered by Mr. Rothstein...

to place the device around the neck of Brian Wells.

When he described approaching Brian with the device,

he said he could see the fear in his eyes, and, uh--

And he became a little upset

regarding what he was about to do.

After he put it on, he wanted to get away from there

as soon as possible and started walking down that tower site location.

And told us he was serpentining because he thought

he was gonna be shot in the back. And he even said, "You know what?

I'm a convicted child abuser.

I could get shot back here and no one would even care."

Floyd Stockton should've been charged. Um, but if you looked at the group...

as a whole and their roles in this crime, um...

we agreed he was less culpable than the others.

Stockton and Barnes answered a lot of questions,

but several mysteries remained.

Both said they did not know who built the bomb and the cane gun,

who wrote the notes... or who was the mastermind.

Who put this in motion, who said, "Let's rob a bank for money"?

Who said that first, Marjorie or Bill? We don't know.

Stockton and Barnes couldn't tell investigators anything

about the involvement of Brian's coworker, Robert Pinetti,

who died of an apparent overdose after the heist.

Pinetti's role would never be cleared up.

And oddly, while both men claimed Brian Wells was in on the heist,

they couldn't say how or when he was recruited.

They might have been compartmentalized by Rothstein, where he segregated people.

So, Stockton might not have known what Ken Barnes was to do.

But they're all in the conspiracy.

I think the whole plan initially started out,

was... a way for them all to make some money.

But it developed into more than just making money.

It became almost a game to them. A diabolical, maniacal game,

but a game where, "Let's see how we can get away with this crime,

and we're really smarter than everybody else.

We're certainly smarter than law enforcement."

Breaking news tonight in the so-called pizza bomber mystery.

Tonight, we may finally have the answer to a 4-year-old mystery.

Officials say they'll file bank robbery and other charges

against this woman, Marjorie Diehl-Armstrong.

Authorities will also charge her buddy, Kenneth Barnes, a convicted drug dealer.

The mastermind, prosecutors say, was Marjorie Diehl-Armstrong,

who allegedly recruited Kenneth Barnes to kill her father and wanted to pay him

-with proceeds from the bank robbery. -This is a weird case, is it not?

Larry, this is as bizarre a case as you're going to find.

They hardly write them this way in Hollywood.

The purpose of the entire pizza bomber plot?

Money. Diehl-Armstrong needed cash to pay Barnes to kill her father.

Bill Rothstein needed the money to settle an estate.

The big question, was Wells a victim or participant?

Today, a stunning announcement.

Prosecutors say he was both.

Our investigation has led to the belief that Brian became involved

in a limited role.

Allan, one of the weirder aspects of this,

is it seems that the victim is being blamed.

In part, that is true.

And that is yet another weird aspect of all of this.

And the mother, in fact, and the siblings were at the press conference here today.

They were actually heckling the U.S. attorney.

I've never seen that in all of my reporting.

It may be that his role transitioned from that of the planning stages

to being an unwilling participant in this scheme.

Liar.

- Wouldn't that make him a victim? - Yes.

-Damn right. -Amen.

No charges will be filed against Brian Wells,

who died when the bomb went off.

Instead, officials say, he'll be listed simply as an unindicted coconspirator.

Just how surprising is it that Brian Wells has been named

as an accomplice in this whole case?

I think a lot of us were surprised.

For the past four years, we have been portraying him as a victim

because we thought he was a victim.

What evidence is there that he was involved?

Mr. Wells was at Rothstein's house the day before.

Uh, a witness, who was driving past Mr. Rothstein's house the day before...

Wells actually pulled out of Mr. Rothstein's driveway

leaving the meeting. The witness had to slam on his breaks

to avoid hitting him.

That witness was very strong and identified

Mr. Wells as being the driver

of the vehicle he almost hit leaving that meeting.

We stayed silent for four years.

And now we have prosecutors trying to implicate the murder victim.

When you have a bomb locked to your neck

and the federal authorities chop your head off

to get the bomb off,

there was no way Brian put that on himself.

Nineteen hours after the bomb had gone off,

the federal authorities chopped his head off

to get that collar off. Brian did not put that collar on himself.

I-- I can't imagine that, uh, they're trying to get the public to believe this.

What about the claims that he met with them the day before?

Uh, they can't prove that. Have you seen evidence?

I have not seen any evidence to suggest he knew these people in any way

other than he might have delivered them a pizza.

Prosecutors were also asked if murder charges will be filed

against anyone for the death of Brian Wells,

or if the coconspirators could face the death penalty.

We were told because Brian Wells was believed to be in on the heist,

those charges cannot be filed.

Under federal law, under the circumstances of this case,

the death penalty is not available, uh, for the conduct, uh,

included in this federal charge.

John, what's the feeling about no murder charges?

My reaction was I can't believe that, uh, they're gonna try to frame my brother

for his own murder.

Do we know who built the collar bomb and the cane gun?