The pizza delivery, collar bomb and inheritance plot
A pizza delivery driver died after an Erie bank robbery involving a collar bomb. Marjorie Diehl-Armstrong was convicted of the plot and sentenced to life plus 30 years.
Key facts
- Defendant
- Marjorie Diehl-ArmstrongSource 4
- Victim
- Brian Wells, a pizza delivery driverSource 1
- Location
- Erie, PennsylvaniaSource 7
- Verdict
- Guilty on all three federal counts, November 1, 2010Source 4
- Sentence
- Life plus 360 months; amended judgment filed March 2, 2011Source 5
- Appeal
- Judgment affirmed November 15, 2012Source 3
- Later status
- Death on April 4, 2017, recorded in an August 2018 court orderSource 5
The bank robbery that ended in a death
On August 28, 2003, pizza delivery driver Brian Wells entered a PNC Bank in Erie, Pennsylvania, with an explosive device locked around his neck. A federal court account describes him handing a teller a note and revealing the device beneath his shirt. He left with $8,702.
Wells then retrieved another note at a nearby McDonald's. It was part of a sequence of directions supposedly leading to instructions for removing the bomb. Pennsylvania State Police stopped him before he could continue. He warned officers about the device, but it exploded before bomb technicians arrived, killing him.
An inheritance behind the plan
The Third Circuit's later account traces the plot to Marjorie Diehl-Armstrong's concern about family money. She had inherited $250,000 from her mother in 2000, while her father received an inheritance worth $3 million. She believed his spending was reducing money that would eventually pass to her.
According to that court record, she offered acquaintance Kenneth Barnes $100,000 to kill her father. The proposed payment would come from a bank robbery demanding $250,000, intended to finance the killing.
Years of investigation
The FBI described an investigation lasting three years and ten months, involving nearly 1,000 interviews and roughly as many leads. Its agents worked with Pennsylvania State Police and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. The federal indictment was returned on July 9, 2007, and announced two days later.
Investigators also examined the death of Diehl-Armstrong's boyfriend, James Roden. A September 2010 court order records that she had pleaded guilty but mentally ill to his third-degree murder in January 2005 and received seven to 20 years in prison. That was a separate state case. Reviewing the later federal trial, a judge identified testimony from Barnes and jailhouse witnesses as substantial evidence linking her to the robbery conspiracy.
The path to a jury verdict
Competence to stand trial required separate proceedings. After an initial finding that Diehl-Armstrong could not proceed, she underwent treatment at a federal medical centre. The court heard competing expert evidence and reviewed her ability to understand the case and assist her lawyers. Its detailed September 2009 findings concluded that she had recovered sufficiently for trial.
The trial began on October 15, 2010. On November 1, a jury convicted her of conspiracy to commit armed bank robbery, armed bank robbery in which death resulted, and using a destructive device in furtherance of a crime of violence. These were completed convictions after trial, rather than the allegations announced in 2007.
Life plus 30 years and unsuccessful challenges
An amended judgment filed on March 2, 2011, recorded life imprisonment plus 360 months, equivalent to another 30 years. The Third Circuit affirmed the judgment on November 15, 2012. The resulting federal sentence was separate from her earlier state punishment for Roden's murder.
Diehl-Armstrong later sought to have the judgment and sentence vacated. In December 2015, the district court rejected that application. The judge considered claims about her lawyers, witnesses and the conduct of the trial, finding no basis for relief. The court explained that some issues had already been rejected on appeal, others had not been properly raised, and the remaining claims lacked merit.
The disputed question and the later record
The extraordinary combination of a pizza delivery, a bank robbery, a bomb and an inheritance motive should not obscure a disputed part of the case. The appellate opinion expressly notes conflicting accounts of Wells's involvement: some testimony portrayed him as a knowing participant, while his family said he had been ambushed and forced to wear the device.
Diehl-Armstrong is no longer alive. An August 2018 court order records the government's report that she died in Fort Worth, Texas, on April 4, 2017. The judge stated that no appeal or petition was pending at her death and rejected a subsequent request to set aside the proceedings. Her historical conviction and sentence remain the basis of this account.
Case timeline
Wells robbed the Erie bank and died when the collar bomb detonated.
Source 7A federal grand jury returned the indictment against Diehl-Armstrong and Barnes.
Source 1A jury found Diehl-Armstrong guilty on all three federal counts.
Source 4The amended judgment recorded life imprisonment plus 360 months.
Source 5The Third Circuit affirmed the judgment.
Source 2
Sources & case status
Historical case. An August 2018 court order records her death on April 4, 2017; the federal judgment had been affirmed in 2012.
- Collar-Bomb Case: Charges in Bizarre ’03 Bank HeistFederal Bureau of Investigation · July 11, 2007Historical indictment account; its allegations about Wells are not treated as a settled resolution of his disputed role.
- United States v. Marjorie Diehl-Armstrong, No. 11-1601United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit · November 15, 2012Original nonprecedential appellate opinion; footnote 1 expressly records the dispute about Wells.
- United States v. Diehl-Armstrong: memorandum opinion and order denying motion to vacateU.S. District Court, Western District of Pennsylvania · December 28, 2015
- U.S. Attorney Statement On Guilty Verdict Against Collarbomb Defendant Marjorie Diehl-ArmstrongU.S. Attorney's Office, Western District of Pennsylvania · November 1, 2010
- Diehl-Armstrong / Mark Marvin v. United States: opinion and orderU.S. District Court, Western District of Pennsylvania · August 9, 2018Records amended judgment, completed appeal, later challenge and government report of death.
- United States v. Diehl-Armstrong: findings of fact and conclusions of law on competenceU.S. District Court, Western District of Pennsylvania · September 8, 2009
- United States v. Diehl-Armstrong: memorandum order on venue, venire and jury sequestrationU.S. District Court, Western District of Pennsylvania · September 20, 2010
This feature describes the cited historical record. It is not a live custody or court-docket service.