Collar Key In Deliveryman Death (Erie pizza delivery bank robbery bomber)

I think people said that the head came off in the explosion. There is video (although it is edited).

There was supposed to be a complicted/detailed message delivered with the robbery. Could it have been a political statement?

If the patsy didn't read the message (or couldn't because of language differences) then he would just be carrying out the "robbery" whereas the robbery would just be a ruse.

The police say that they are examining the handwriting in the note, why withhold the image or text of the message?

The wires for the bomb went through the collar (see the closeup). If it was okay to cut those wires, the bomb could have just been disarmed.

Maybe the bank note contained a bigger (yet false) threat and a political statement.

The Tampa Teen's suicide note contained both and we were shielded from the comments for about 2 months.

The remote location is supposed to be a radio tower.

Looks like a leg cuff modified to hold the charge. The wire suggest electric cap as a detonator. Lack of damage suggests a low order explosive versus the brisance of C-4 "or" my suggestion is small flex linear shape charge, about 20 grains per foot maybe. The kind used in industry to make emergency cuts. Very exact and very accurate clean cuts. Remote activation entirely possible via a pager or a cell phone gutted and installed to activate the cap when the alledged handler saw his bag man was caught.

Just a SWAG on my part........:o).....Stay Safe !

Is that the actual "used" device? It looks too small for a neck, based on the fingers. Where is the blood and gore? They would not have cleaned it, I hope, before a total CSI type forensic analysis, I hope.

That's the device...........pic released by the FiBi's and BatFag-E's as of a few hours ago. That's why I suggested a low order explosive or directional explosive "cut".

Stay Safe !

Here's a larger view of the device:

You're right about the size. It looks like it's about the right size for somebody's wrist or ankle, not their neck.

Thanks for your informative reply, Squantos.

I pretty much agree with your take except for one detail...

"Remote activation entirely possible via a pager or a cell phone gutted and installed to activate the cap when the alledged handler saw his bag man was caught."

This device had a keyed mechanical timing device. The man can be heard to say,"This thing is ticking..".

Of course, IMHO. Thanks again for your expert opinion and stay safe.

"Maybe the bank note contained a bigger (yet false) threat and a political statement."

That's the wild card in this whole ordeal.

"The old time mob maybe --- the foreign run drug cartels aren't discrete."

I agree. And the cartels are spreading their tentacles further east everyday. But Erie, Pennsylvania?

I could be wrong, but this don't seem drug related to me.

Aussie cattledog has found an article with some new info. From the article...

"Federal agents and police detectives have canvassed dozens of businesses in the industrial sections of this northwest Pennsylvania factory town, trying to find a machine shop capable of rigging up the three-banded plate-metal collar that was fastened around Wells' neck with four separate locks.

"Stopped a quarter-mile away by a state police patrolman, Wells emerged peacefully and was quickly handcuffed. Oddly, police now say, as officers approached, Wells made no mention of the device hidden beneath his white T-shirt -- and did not warn them. According to State Police Cpl. Mark Zaleski, Wells mentioned the device only after a patrolman noticed the bulge beneath the shirt and cut it away, revealing the bomb.

Police retreated and Wells began pleading with officers to help him. Television cameras caught him sitting cross-legged in front of a squad car, shouting to police. I'm not lying, he wailed. Did you call my boss? ... I'm not doing this. This isn't me. I'm not doing this.

Officers called the Erie County bomb squad, but before it arrived, the explosive -- described as a crude device similar to a pipe bomb -- suddenly detonated. County Pathologist Korac Timon said Tuesday that the shock of the blast caused lethal damage to Wells' heart, leaving a stamp-sized impression on his chest.

This is getting weirder by the minute. Good catch Aussie.

Feds focus on collar
Task force searches tower area

Bob Rudge, the FBI agent in charge of the bureau's Erie office, holds an image of the locking mechanism of the collar worn by Brian Wells. (Erie Times-News photo by Rich Forsgren)

Read More Local News

By Tim Hahn
tim.hahn@timesnews.com
and Jule Gardner
jule.gardner@timesnews.com

Pizza deliveryman Brian Wells was tethered to an unsophisticated bomb by a metal collar far more complex than the explosive that killed him.

That collar's similarity to a clamp used by TV technicians to hold cables prompted an hours-long search late into Tuesday night near a tower where Wells may have delivered his last pizzas.

Wells, who robbed a PNC bank branch on upper Peach Street Thursday afternoon, was killed a short time later when the bomb affixed to his chest exploded.

This graphic shows details of the collar which was attached to Wells. (Erie Times-News graphic by Chris Sigmund)

The bomb underneath Wells' white T-shirt was "a very common explosive device," Special Agent Bob Rudge of Erie's FBI office said.

But the metal collar around Wells' neck that held the bomb in place was both unique and sophisticated, Rudge said.

Authorities Tuesday night searched the wooded area around the tower on upper Peach Street for materials similar to those used in the collar and the bomb, an investigator said.

Wells, 46, of Millcreek Township, told police shortly before he died that he was forced by someone to rob the bank. Five days later, a multiagency law enforcement task force investigating the incident is focusing on three possible scenarios:

-Wells committed the act alone.

-Wells was a willing participant with others.

-Or Wells was a "bomb hostage" who was forced into it, Pennsylvania State Police spokesman Cpl. Mark Zaleski said.

An image of the locking mechanism that was part of the the collar that was attached to pizza delivery man Brian Wells. (Erie Times-News photo by Rich Forsgren)

More than 50 members of the state police, FBI, U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, U.S. Attorney's Office, Erie County District Attorney's Office and the Erie Bureau of Police Bomb Squad are working in teams to root out evidence in each of the scenarios, Zaleski said.

None of the evidence gathered so far has made a stronger case for any of them, he said.

Authorities weren't talking about their search Tuesday night, but employees of WSEE and WICU, which are owned by affiliated companies, said their general manager gave permission over the phone for police to search the area around the tower. The tower is at the end of a muddy, rutted road across from New Motors. Its address, 8631 Peach St. in Summit Township, was the one given to Wells over the phone at Mama Mia's Pizza-Ria, 5154 Peach St.

The Erie Bomb Squad, agents with the ATF, the FBI and others began searching the area around the tower before 3 p.m. At one point, several formed a line across and entered the woods. They grabbed flashlights when it became too dark and were still searching after 11 p.m.

An image of the collar that was around Brian Wells' neck. (Erie Times-News photo by Rich Forsgren)

A WICU employee said engineers from the station were also at the tower, aiding in the investigation. A WICU engineer tipped off the FBI that the collar resembled a cable clamp after a morning news conference where Rudge released photos.

"I looked at that, and thought it kind of looks familiar, and that maybe it's something that you clamp to a transmission line to hold on to the tower," said John Wilkosz, an engineer who works for WICU-TV and WSEE-TV.

Wilkosz said he drove to the tower Tuesday evening to explore his theory, and that FBI agents were there. He said the agents interviewed him about his theory.

Wilkosz said he also telephoned tower companies, and was unable to find anyone who was familiar with the type of clamp in the photograph the FBI released. Wilkosz said he "got cold on the theory" as the night wore on.

Authorities comb the woods near the TV tower area on Peach Street. (Erie Times-News photo by Isaac Brekken)

"It was just a hunch," he said.

Rudge said investigators had already asked several manufacturers if the collar, which was clamped tightly around Wells' neck and had a letter envelope-sized box at its base, had been made from materials that were familiar. None said it was.

The collar also had four locks and a dial-combination lock.

Rudge said Tuesday morning, "We do not believe it has any legitimate industrial use. Its likely purpose was specifically for attaching the device to the neck for (Wells)."

The FBI agent said he did not know if Wells or state police could have slipped off the device after Wells was stopped moments after the bank robbery.

"(The collar) is very important to our investigation. We believe it has significant value to us," Rudge said. "Hopefully, by showing it, someone may recognize the instrument, the metal, the locking material."

Rudge was not available to talk about the TV engineer's tip Tuesday night.

In general, investigators offered little new information about Thursday's incident on Tuesday, although Rudge said the pace of the investigation has been "robust" and that investigators are covering leads on an hourly basis.

Interest in the bombing and the incomplete puzzle surrounding it has also been robust. Extensive media coverage has been given to the story nationwide since the weekend.

Although little information is known about the bomb itself, Rudge did say what remains of it has been sent to the FBI laboratory in Quantico, Va., where agents are working to reconstruct it.

The incident began Thursday afternoon, when Wells was working his job as a delivery driver for Mama Mia's. He was sent on the 3.7-mile trip to deliver two small sausage-and-pepperoni pizzas to the TV tower address.

Police do not know what took place from the time Wells left the pizza shop at about 2 p.m. Thursday until he reached the bank branch in the Summit Towne Centre, 1.9 miles north of the transmission tower, about 40 minutes later.

Wells entered the bank and handed a teller a lengthy note demanding money. Shortly after he left with the cash, state police troopers stopped his car and ordered him out of it. Wells exited the vehicle and was handcuffed before he told troopers that he had a bomb on him, Zaleski said.

Troopers then sealed off the area and called in the Erie bomb squad. The bomb detonated at 3:18 p.m., before Bomb Squad members arrived.

Investigators refused to reveal the contents of the multiple-page notes Wells had on him. Rudge said they were written instructions for Wells and instructions for the bank teller.

All of the stolen money was recovered from Wells' vehicle. Police found no signs of the pizza, Rudge said.

The ongoing investigation will also try to determine any link between the robbery and Robert Pinetti, 43, Wells' friend and co-worker, who was found dead in his Lawrence Park home Sunday morning.

ONTHENET:www.fbi.gov

Thanks for the ping, Travis. Your ideas are worthy of note, and this whole case is definitely Weird, with a capital "W".

I hope we find out exactly what happened here, and why.

All I can say right now is that anyone who would ever attempt to fix such a gadget to me would die of acute lead poisoning.

It was the Erie Bomb squad.

I missed the reference to any key or manipulation by the victim.........sorry my bad.

Stay Safe !

You're absolutely right about the Tampa kid. Everyone said he was a good kid at school. Folks said the same thing about Malvo.

A newsperson said this dudes note reads like a manifesto. I think the entire scenario was planned including being on National TV.

The silence on collected info is a bit unsettling. BTW, it was the end of the work day for this dude but he agreed to still deliver the Pizza...so he wasn't expected back. And then another worker dies at the Pizza joint??